Gorgeted Puffleg

664-3: What I've learned this week

World Wide Words newsletter (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009

Non-Invasive New Scientist magazine mentioned a term that I’ve since learned has been around since about 2003 but which is not well known. That may in part be because it’s specialist, but also because its subject matter is gruesome. Autopsies are very messy procedures, involving extensive post-mortem surgery that by its nature is destructive. Some religious groups don’t allow them....

Squinancywort - Anonymity Rules

A New Band A Day! (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009

You know what to expect from modern leftfield electronic music by now. Made as a one person/laptop hybrid operation, the creator will hide behind a bank of deliberately obtuse sounds, strange imagery (musical and visual) and a series of curious song and artist names. So far, so predictable. What makes returning to these seemingly identikit bands worthwhile are the songs - each invariably packed with...

Colombia's endangered species at the mercy of jungle drug cartels

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 10/27/2009

A global campaign will make young people aware of the danger the illicit drug trade represents to hundreds of species in Colombia's rainforests By Jamie Doward, The Observer , Sunday 25 October 2009 Until recently, the Gorgeted Puffleg was rather obscure – in fact, until four years ago it did not officially exist. But although the tiny hummingbird was discovered only in 2005, in a small and remote...

Colombia's endangered species at the mercy of jungle drug cartels

Vox Verax (Free subscription) | 10/25/2009

James Doward The Observer A global campaign will make young people aware of the danger the illicit drug trade represents to hundreds of species in Colombia's rainforests Until recently, the Gorgeted Puffleg was rather obscure – in fact, until four years ago it did not officially exist. But although the tiny hummingbird was discovered only in 2005, in a small and remote region of rainforest in...

• Jungle drug cartels threaten species - The Guardian
• Tiny bird pinup in drugs war - New Zealand Herald

Lear's Macaw now listed as endangered

Times of the Internet (Free subscription) | 06/09/2009

WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- The American Bird Conservancy says Lear's Macaw, a blue parrot found in northeastern Brazil, has been reassessed from critically endangered to endangered. The drop to the lesser threat category on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources list was a direct result of conservation action, ABC officials said. The current population of Lear's...

Cocaine trade pushes gorgeted puffleg on to endangered Red List

Times Online (Free subscription) | 05/14/2009

The illicit trade in cocaine from Colombia has brought a colourful species of hummingbird to the brink of extinction. The gorgeted puffleg has been added to the Red List of endangered bird species.

• Cocaine trade pushes gorgeted puffleg on to endangered Red List - Precious Kingdoms