In 1914 the world’s last passenger pigeon died. Nicknamed Martha, she was not killed by hunters—like so many others of her species—but simply old age. With her passing, the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was lost forever to extinction. A hundred years before Martha’s death, however, the passenger pigeon may have been the most populous bird […]
Category: Wildlife
Murder Most Foul in the Faroes
Once again, another cruel summer opens to the horror show of evil that the Faroese call the grindadráp, which translated means “the murder of whales.” This year the Faroese not only have the Faroese Coast Guard and the Danish Navy to defend these brutal and pitiless killers, but the whalers also have the services of […]
Milk Snake
I saw this milk snake, Lampropeltis triangulum, being moved from a dangerous parking lot into the woods at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in northern New Jersey last year around this time.
Vicious murdering bully chosen as Britain’s national bird
So we’ve chosen a vicious murdering bully for our national bird? It’s bad enough that we probably plumped for our self-important red-breasted friend because the Victorians sentimentalised the robin as a symbol of Christmas. Yet I suspect that the main reason it has been chosen is because it’s the one bird most people can actually […]
A Bestiary – Scarlet Tanager
My ‘A Bestiary ~ Tales from a Wildlife Garden’ continues over at Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens. While I was writing the piece on the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea), I had my first sighting since 2012. This beautiful songbird sings out from the tip tops of trees and can be difficult to see. He sometimes […]
Bandurria boreal (Buff-necked Ibis) Theristicus caudatus
Únicamente si nos escondemos y las esperamos, o también si las aves a través del tiempo se acostumbran a nuestra presencia y confían en que no somos una amenaza para ella, pueden lograrse acercamientos espectaculares con especies poco habituales de observar para muchos. En Rincón Ombú chico ocurre lo segundo porque la colonia de Bandurrias […]
Iceland sends shipment of 1,700 tonnes of whale meat to Japan
A ship carrying 1,700 tonnes of whale meat left Iceland on Thursday bound for Japan, said a leading animal welfare group that is protesting against the controversial delivery. The website Marinetraffic.com also showed the vessel, known as Winter Bay, leaving the port of Hafnarfjordur in western Iceland just after 10.30 GMT. “Winter Bay has left […]
How does the Brown Thornbill Scare off Predators?
A tiny Australian bird, the brown thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla), mimics the hawk warning calls of neighboring bird species to protect its nest from predators such as the pied currawong. “It’s not superbly accurate mimicry, but it’s enough to fool the predator,” said Dr Branislav Igic of the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, lead author […]