That was the lyre bird. This is the liar bird: Continue reading Lyrebird … or should we say”liar bird”
Tag Archives: Birds
The White-necked Picathartes
A survey of the Western Area Peninsula Forest (WAPF) in Sierra Leone has discovered two new breeding colonies of the Vulnerable White-necked Picathartes Picathartes gymnocephalus, in addition to the 16 sites already known.The survey was part of a one-year project carried out by volunteers from the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL, BirdLife in Sierra Leone), the University of Sierra Leone, and the government’s Forestry Division, with help from local communities.
Cambodia’s Water Birds
Storks, pelicans, ibises, and other rare waterbirds from Cambodia’s famed Tonle Sap region are making a comeback, thanks to round-the-clock protection by a single team of park rangers. In a project established by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Ministry of Environment of the Royal Government of Cambodia, former hunters and egg collectors have found new employment in monitoring the breeding bird colonies. This novel approach guarantees an active role for local communities in the conservation of this important seasonally flooded wetland.A new report shows that some of the waterbird species have rebounded 20-fold since 2001, when the conservation project began. Before that time, rampant harvesting of eggs and chicks had driven the colonies to the brink of local extinction. “This is an amazing success story for the people and wildlife of Cambodia,” said Colin Poole, director for WCS-Asia. “It also shows how important local people are in the conservation of wildlife in their own backyards.”
Source: Wildlife Conservation Society
Save the Great Cormorants of Lake Constance
Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU – BirdLife in Germany) is protesting vehemently against the planned destruction of Lake Constance’s only colony of Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo.”It is hard to believe that Freiburg local authority intends to commit such a destructive act, not only in a National Nature Reserve but especially within a European Special Protected Area (SPA)”, said Dr Andre Baumann (chairman – NABU Baden-Württemberg). “This persecution of Great Cormorants not only contradicts common sense, it also contravenes European bird protection legislation and is morally unjustifiable”. NABU is protesting to the authorities in Freiburg against the planned operations and has started an online petition.
Read the rest here.
Agri-tourism could help save colorful prairie chicken
This is a photo of a Tympanuchus cupido male drumming away on the lek to find a mate. The lek is the traditional breeding ground of the prairie chicken (and many other animals uses lek’s) on which the males display, and to which the females travel to pick a male with whom to mate.This bird, the greater prairie chicken, is threatened, and there is now a move to employ ecotourism to save it. Continue reading Agri-tourism could help save colorful prairie chicken
Should you feed the birds?
It is a little ironic that all nature enthusiasts know that it is “bad” to feed the animals … they become dependent on the food, and in some cases will become a nuisance or dangerous, prying open cars or breaking into homes to get more food. Then the animal has to be put down or moved to a new habitat. But that sort of bad outcome is more common with, say, bears than it is with, say, chickadees. The irony here is that bird lovers, who are always nature enthusiasts, do not seem to balk at setting up bird feeders. In fact, approximately on half a million metric tons of seed is put out for the birds in the United States and the United Kingdom.This must have an effect on the birds, for better or worse. Two studies just published by the same research team address this issue. Continue reading Should you feed the birds?
Boreal and South American Birds
Fall, a very sunny, very breezy day on the lake, Amanda and I sitting in the cabin minding our own business.Suddenly, …thwack…… well, it was a sort of tiny miniature thwack, but a thwack nonetheless. Peering outside through the window, we could see the the last death throws of a tiny greenish bird that had run into the window. The lighting conditions must have been just right for this bird to think that it could fly through the cabin, because this was an odd and unusual event. (We later made further adjustments to the window to see to it that this did not happen again, of course.)But ex morbido cum ergo identeo, or words to that effect … we were at least able to get a really good look at this tiny warbler, it being dead and all. And it turned out to be one of those rare Canadian tundra species that is only seen in Minnesota for a few minutes while it is whizzing past on its way to Ecuador or even beyond Ecuador. Continue reading Boreal and South American Birds
Power Line Safety for Hungary’s Hawks
Power lines kill raptors. Tens of thousands of raptors a year die on power lines. But there are ways to avoid this.
On 26 February, the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME; BirdLife in Hungary) signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), and all relevant electric companies in Hungary, to provide a long-term solution for bird-electrocutions. The signing parties promised to transform power lines in Hungary, and to make them more ‘bird-friendly’ by 2020.Since the 1980s, electrocutions and collisions with electric power lines have caused the death of thousands of protected birds in Hungary and other European countries. The real extent of the problem, and the approximate number of affected birds, were not clear until MME started to systematically gather data on electrocuted birds in 2004.To date, five national surveys of power lines have been completed by 150 volunteers and national park employees. They covered all important bird habitats in Hungary.In total, 2,183 carcasses of electrocuted birds were found underneath 19,216 electric poles. Based on these findings, MME estimated that at least 30,000 birds (especially Raptors and Corvids) are killed annually.”Electrocution is one of the most Significant causes of death for several globally threatened raptor species, such as Eastern Imperial Eagle Aquila heliaca, Saker Falcon Falco cherrug and Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus” said Márton Horváth (MME).Another serious problem concerning electric power lines is birds colliding with the wires. These incidents affect mainly large migratory species such as cranes and geese, as well as the Vulnerable Great Bustard Otis tarda.
… read the rest here.
Saving the Red Breasted Goose
Branta ruficollis is endangered. The Red Breasted Goose International Working Group (RbGIWG, which is unpronounceable) has a new species action plan to save this critter.Here’s some info from Redbrested Goose Central:
Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis) is a charismatic globally threatened species highly dependent on wetlands and farmed areas. In the last 50 years, the distribution of the breeding and wintering grounds of Red-breasted Goose has changed dramatically for unknown reasons.This species has a small wintering range with 80-90% of the population concentrated in just five roost sites covering less than 20 000 km2 and the remainder occurring in a few other areas.The European wintering population is estimated to be more than 27,000 individuals, but this has fluctuated wildly.It is markedly lower than during the period 1970 -1990, but after remaining stable from 1990 to 2000, significant reductions have recently been observed. For these reasons, in 2007, Branta ruficollis was up listed to Endanger.[source]
And here is a cool goolge map thingie that lest you monitor the geese on their flyway. Continue reading Saving the Red Breasted Goose
Philippine Eagle
Don’t mess with me, man, I’m a Philippine Eagle, Pithecophaga jefferyi. You can call me Jeff.This bird is almost extinct.
Saving the rare Azores Bullfinch
Azores Bullfinch, known locally as Priolo, is confined to eastern São Miguel in the Azores, Portugal. It has suffered through widespread loss of native forest and invasion by exotic vegetation, which has largely overrun the remaining patches of natural vegetation within the species’s breeding range. These funds will enable the continuation of crucial habitat restoration work to increase the core range of this species. The exact number of bullfinches is unclear. In the 1990s the population was estimated at 200-300 individuals. However, surveys since 2002 have indicated a rise to around 340 individuals, a sign that habitat restoration is already having an effect.
Read about efforts to save this bird here.
Is there a limit on the number of species in a clade?
A “radiation” (sometimes called an “adaptive radiation”) is when a single ancestral species gives rise to a number of novel species, often in a fairly short (geological) period of time. Following this radiation event, it seems often to be the case that subsequent speciation is less common. In fact, many living clades that have only a small number of extant species have such radiations in their history. It is quite possible that the radiation event occurred for reasons local in time and space, such as a recent extinction leaving various niches open, or the presence of a particular adaptation suddenly enhancing fitness as it had not previously because of an ecological change.But one basic question (among many) that needs to be addressed when thinking of these issues of macroevolutionary patterning is this: For a given clade, where we can presume that there is a great deal of competition among closely related species, is there a sort of maximum limit on how many species you can get? In other words, as a clad starts to diversify, does it fill up the available eco-morpho-nichey space, which would eventually slow down the rate of speciation because new species become less likely to arise?The answer is a resounding: Probably! Continue reading Is there a limit on the number of species in a clade?
Sandhill Crane Cam
Well, it is migration season for many birds. The other day as we drove north to the cabin, we came across a flock of what I’m pretty sure were tundra swans resting on their long journey north. We are lucky to spend a lot of time in a major flyway for migratory birds, and we get to see lots of them.Audubon and National Geographic have installed a web cam on Nebradka’s Platte River in the Audubon Rowe Sanctuary, through which you can observe sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis). Look in the early morning and evening, at this URL. Continue reading Sandhill Crane Cam
Birds Saved from Volcano
Ten Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus chicks have been moved by helicopter, from their current stronghold on Torishima Island to the site of a former colony 350 km to the South-east.The potential for future volcanic events on Torishima is among the most serious threats to this Vulnerable species. Currently, 80-85% of the world population breeds on a highly erodible slope on the outwash plain from the caldera of an active volcano. Monsoons send torrents of ash-laden water down this slope across the colony site. A volcanic eruption could also send lava, ash or poisonous gases through the colony.The translocation site, Mukojima, part of Japan’s Bonin Islands (and administratively part of the Metropolis of Tokyo), is non-volcanic. Short-tailed Albatross bred here at least until the 1920s.”Establishing viable breeding colonies in other safer locations is paramount to ensuring the survival and recovery of the Short-tailed Albatross”, said Judy Jacobs of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which has worked on the translocation of the albatross chicks with staff from the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, and other Japanese and US organisations which together form the Short-tailed Albatross Recovery Team (START).
Extinct Petrel Not!
A bird that was known only from two records from the 1920s has been discovered in the Pacific after a gap of 79 years. Sightings of the Critically Endangered Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria becki – published by the British Ornithologists’ Club – have finally proven the species is still in existence, and delighted conservationists.A voyage into the Bismarck Archipelago, north-east of Papua New Guinea, successfully managed to photograph more than 30 of these elusive seabirds. This included sightings of fledged juveniles – suggesting recent breeding. A freshly dead young bird salvaged at sea also becomes only the third specimen in existence. “This re-finding of Beck’s Petrel is exceptional news and congratulations to Hadoram Shirihai [the finder] for his effort and energy in rediscovering this ‘lost’ petrel,” commented Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global Species Programme Coordinator.