Eleven captive-bred helmeted honey-eaters will be released into the Bunyip State Park, east of Melbourne today, to boost the bird’s numbers. Seven of the critically endangered birds were bred at Healesville Sanctuary and four came from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Bruce Quin, of the Department of Sustainability and Environment, says volunteers will be keeping [...]
It is early spring in 2012 and I am watching an iconic lone male Golden Eagle performing spectacular sky diving displays in the valley of Riggingdale in the stunning remote location of Haweswater. The huge raptor can be seen patrolling his resident territory along with Red Deer grazing the hillsides and the first Meadow Pipits, [...]
Typically Harlequin Ducks are found in coastal waters but in the spring they do migrate inland. Yellowstone National Park is thought of as being the southern most inland area where you can find them. Harlequins prefer fast moving water, which makes LeHardy Rapids an ideal spot to find them. But, timing is everything. This section [...]
Love lost in summer evenings, too bright to ignore, a lawn transforms into a field of delicate, fiery stars. • Firefly | Lampyridae | Photinus pyralis
Weka (Woodhen) [flowplayer src='http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/weka-lead-in.mp4' width=640 height=480 splashend=show splash='http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Weka.jpg' width=580 height=386 autoplay=false] Weka, note the beak. I have seen one dispatch a large rat with a single strike Spend anytime in New Zealand forest and you will surely come across a weka. Flightless, agressivly omniverous and forever hungry they are the “wide boys” on our [...]
A few years ago I had some wonderful photo ops with this 4-year-old Bald Eagle at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area, it often perched on an old wooden pole by the boat launch (before they stuck a bat house on the pole it was a favorite for raptors, I hope the bat house rots and [...]
Aplogies for the delay in writing my updates but I have been extremely busy tour leading during May. I flew to Corsica at the beginning of the month and had a great tour with friends on this fantastic Mediterranean island. (I’ll post photos and a trip report of this tour later). From Corsica I flew [...]
Her story lost in a chain of plot twists, she makes a sharp turn past unruly buds into a theme park of cool light. • Eastern black carpenter ant – Camponotus pennsylvanicus
For people interested by this odonate family, you know that the Calopteryx specie is very fragile and easily destroyed by the agricultural treatments. Here in Switzerland, they are legal recommendations for agricultural workers about the moment to spray your treatment with insecticide, you can’t make it when bees are out for example on fruit trees, [...]
Cheatgrass is invasive but I sure think it can be pretty especially with a lovely bird amongst it like this male Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) that I photographed on Antelope Island State Park recently. Cheatgrass is lacy and delicate looking, there can be a slight reddish/pink casts to the stems and seedheads and it flutters [...]
