A recent study led by the Wild Bird Society of Japan (BirdLife Partner) has found that the Izu Islands, on the Pacific side of Japan, hold the second largest concentration of the threatened Japanese Murrelet Synthliboramphus wumizusume (Vulnerable). Extensive surveys have been conducted since 2009. Around 500 Japanese Murrelets were recorded on the islands each […]
Author: Supertrooper
Founder and Executive Editor
Coast Guard Plane Survives Albatross Strike
Bird strikes are a chronic problem for pilots, but an incident Wednesday over the East China Sea involving a Japan Coast Guard patrol plane was particularly serious. After hitting an albatross at around 5:10 p.m. at an altitude of 300 meters, the Bombardier DHC8-315 sustained a big hole in its nose, and the dead bird […]
Chinese consumers urged to be wary what they eat during New Year festivities
TRAFFIC is advising consumers to be especially vigilant in the lead up to Chinese New Year to minimise their consumption of threatened wildlife species. “During Chinese New Year, friends and families gather to celebrate and exchange gifts, but some of the wildlife products consumed at this time are from highly threatened species, and we urge […]
A Win For The Cranes
Kentucky fish and wildlife officials say they are not disappointed that Kentucky hunters killed only 50 sandhill cranes — far less than the 400-bird limit they had set — during a controversial 30-day hunting season that ended Sunday. Actually, they should feel not only disappointed but ashamed. This was an ill-advised and unjustifiable effort to […]
Barn Owl Wing Adapted For Stealth
Their screech is one of nature’s eeriest sounds, but barn owls hunt in almost total silence. Now researchers in Germany have revealed how the predators’ wings are specially adapted to allow noiseless flight. Their supreme stealth is thanks, largely, to their ability to fly so slowly – with relatively little beating of their wings. And […]
Scientists Estimate Up to 6.7 Million Bats Dead From Fast-spreading Disease
A mysterious, fast-moving disease has now killed as many as 6.7 million bats in North America over the past six years, according to an estimate released today by bat biologists. The new estimate is dramatically higher than the previous one, dating from 2009, that white-nose syndrome had killed 1 million bats on the continent. The […]
The Message of the Lyrebird
The Lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) is the world’s best impersonator. It can mimic the sound and songs of other birds perfectly but its talent does not stop there. It is also known to have imitated sounds of chainsaws, dogs barking, babies crying, musical instruments and explosions.
Talking with a Pale-Billed Woodpecker
Magnificent and elusive, the Campephilus woodpeckers include the Ivory-billed and Imperial woodpeckers, which may be extinct, and the Pale-billed Woodpecker, which still haunt the forests of Costa Rica today. Join the experience as scientists Martjan Lammertink and Chris Saker search for this little-known species in a tropical forest, using a wooden “double-knocker” as their most […]