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Jun 152013
 
Best Photo of the Week Competition 15 Jun 2013

During the last two weeks our authors and photographers have posted some outstanding articles packed with top-ranking wildlife images. Our competition is called “Best Photo of the Week”. Click on the first image and then page through the slideshow. Please select the three images you like best of all and vote for them at the [...]

Jun 192013
 
Iceland's fin whales are endangered. Stop this bloody cull

Last night, Hvalur 8 and 9, two whaling vessels owned by millionaire entrepreneur Kristjan Loftsson, left Reykjavik harbour in Iceland, bound on a north-westerly course for the open Atlantic. Hvalur 8 was last logged at 64 degrees latitude, 23 degrees longitude before it went out of range of commercially available data. Together with its sister [...]

Jun 192013
 
Costa Rican Murder Shines Light on Poaching, Drug Nexus

The murder of an environmental activist in Costa Rica has shaken the country’s ecology-minded public and has cast a light on what appears to be the growing overlap between animal poaching and drug trafficking on the country’s Caribbean coast. Early on the morning of May 31, masked gunmen abducted 26-year-old Jairo Mora Sandoval from a [...]

Jun 182013
 
Summer time

Shachar Shalev (our Kiwi representative)  has gone birding over the weekend and the following report shows that it is never boring around here. When there are few migrants, there is plenty of time to enjoy some of the region’s very interesting species… I Went out 5:30 in the morning not seriously expecting to find anything. I Started at [...]

Jun 182013
 
On the trail of the large tortoiseshell, the UK's most elusive butterfly

It was, joked Matthew Oates, a “lunatic fringe” mission. Scouring the hedgerows for the caterpillar of a butterfly that has been extinct for more than half a century might not be most people’s idea of fun, but Oates, a National Trust naturalist, has spent 50 summers tracking down the most elusive British butterflies. I joined [...]

Jun 182013
 
A Bestiary ~ Songbirds : Warblers

For months I have been working on ‘A Bestiary . . . Tales from a Wildlife Garden’ writing and sharing photos of the wildlife that live here on our land . . .  from mammals to birds and now featuring the songbirds. Starting with the wonder of warblers. The Chestnut Sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica, returns [...]

Jun 182013
 
Third of all honeybee colonies in England did not survive winter

More than a third of all honeybee colonies in England died over the winter, according to figures from the British Beekeepers Association, the worst losses since its winter survival survey began. On average, 33.8 colonies in every 100 perished over the long winter of 2012-13 compared with 16.2% the previous winter. In the south-west of [...]

Jun 182013
 
Fishing ban proposed near Rockall after rare scientific finds

Fishing is expected to be banned near the Atlantic islet of Rockall after a rare methane gas vent in the seabed and two new shellfish species were discovered by British scientists. The methane, which leaks through a so-called “cold seep” vent in the ocean floor, was found last year by scientists working with the government [...]

Jun 172013
 
A very close encounter with an Arabian Red Fox – Dhahran Hills

After spending an evening out with my daughters looking for insects and birds we went to try to see if we could again see the Arabian Red Fox that lives nearby. When we arrived at the location where I have seen the fox previously I saw one running off in the distance. The girls did [...]

Jun 172013
 
The Ethical Flap Over Birdsong Apps

Last April I was leading a group of beginning birders along a trail beside the Arkansas River, helping them learn to spot and identify some of the dozens of species present on this beautiful spring morning. At one point I heard a distinctive song coming from a thicket: the wichity-wichity-wichity of a male common yellowthroat. [...]

Jun 172013
 
Gavilán planeador (Long-winged Harrier)

Mañana fresca y con mucha niebla, visibilidad muy reducida, actividad de aves muy escasa salvo alguna que otra Garza acercándose al tronco seco para perchar un rato mirando el arroyo en búsqueda de alimento; solo se escuchaba el repetitivo canto del Curutié colorado y por momentos algunos varilleros se hacían notar pero no se hacían [...]