A 60 mile drive after work this evening delivered another lifer in the form of the Great Reed Warbler at Paxton. The bird could be heard calling above the Nightingales on arrival and was quickly found sitting up in the distant reed bed. The song was loud and distinctive and the sight of the huge […]
Category: Wildlife
Deadly Brain Disease Is Driving Swamp Birds Insane
It’s not easy to make a living as a bird of prey, especially if you’re a Florida snail kite. Once at risk of starvation due to declines in its favored prey, the endangered bird is now facing a terrifying threat: a deadly disease that drives birds insane. True to its name, the foot-long snail kite […]
Spring Migration Update
More and more birds are arriving in the north woods now. On Thursday the 12th I had my first hummingbird of the season along with a Least Flycatcher and Black-and-white Warblers in my own yard, and I’ve had a few warblers here and there. A few Yellow-rumps and several Pine Warblers were on territory on […]
POLL: Can there be too many eagles?
There can never be too many eagles, right? The comeback of northern Europe’s largest bird of prey could challenge that notion. Some scientists are worried that the white-tailed, or sea, eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), which has recovered from near-extinction in the 1980s, poses a new threat to other at-risk birds. There are now as many as […]
I did my flies up
Yesterday was Norway’s National Day which sees a lot of flag waving, hot dog and ice cream eating, general celebration and the consumption of vast quantities of champagne. Whilst imbibing by second glass of champagne I gazed skyward and saw a very high and very large bird. Its jizz did not fit with Crane, heron […]
Down to the last three: can science save northern white rhino from extinction?
Under the watchful eyes of a group of heavily armed guards, three rhinos graze on the grassland of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Most of the world knows that the rhinoceros is threatened, but the status of these animals is in another league. They are the planet’s last three northern white rhinos. None is […]
Goose Reflections
I was watching a Canada goose family (Branta canadensis) and was impressed by how often they did exactly the same things at the same time and struck identical poses, especially the goslings. Congruent like the two above.
POLL: Should Poland’s Białowieża forest be protected?
Europe’s last primeval forest is facing what campaigners call its last stand as loggers prepare to start clear-cutting trees, following the dismissal of dozens of scientists and conservation experts opposed to the plan. Poland’s new far right government says logging is needed because more than 10% of spruce trees in the Unesco world heritage site […]