Like something out of your nightmares, the fangtooth (Anoplogaster cornuta, Anoplogaster brachycera) lurks in the darkest depths of the ocean. Wielding huge, saberlike teeth, the fangtooth has the largest teeth in the ocean relative to body size. The phrase “relative to body size” is important to remember here, however: the larger of the two species […]
Thermals and more…
Migration: Black Kites are the first raptor to migrate and cross The Strait of Gibraltar. The skies will continue to be filled with them slowly moving down towards Tarifa and if the wind is too strong for them to cross to Morocco there will be a huge build up as more and more arrive in […]
Hope for the Red-knobbed Curassow
The Red-knobbed Curassow is an endangered species from Brazil. Once inhabiting the Atlantic Forest, it is very hard to find nowadays. Its population is decreasing due to hunting and deforestation. Some of them can still be found in the preservation units of Espirito Santo. Leonardo Merçon found a whole group of Red-knobbed Curassows nearby the […]
Acapulco Birds
I spent last week in Acapulco, Mexico. I wasn’t there for birding. I was there with a small group of people that were working in an orphanage. I barely went anywhere outside the orphanage, but I did walk the streets nearby in the mornings, and once in the afternoon, just to see what I might […]
Illegally captured parrots finally free to fly
In 2010, Bulgarian airport authorities confiscated 108 African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) from a smuggler. Last month, the 28 parrots who survived the stress of being stuffed into dog kennels, constantly handled by humans, and the absence of their native habitat, completed their three-year journey to freedom. The journey began late one afternoon in 2010, […]
More than 700 seals counted in Thames Estuary
More than 700 seals have been spotted in the Thames Estuary in the first ever count carried out by air, land and water. Conservationists and volunteers recorded 708 grey and harbour seals along the Thames in a survey stretching up the estuary to Tilbury, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said. The survey involved recording […]
US is Ending Wolf Protection – Help Stop this Tragedy!
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has just announced plans to end protection for grey wolves under the endangered-species act. This marks the end of 50 years of federal efforts to help restore wolf populations. The only wolf populations that will be protected going forward would be Mexican wolves in southern Arizona and New Mexico. […]
Great Black Wasp
Great black wasps are big — up to almost an inch and a half long — and dramatically black with blue iridescence on the wings. I saw a few of them on summersweet (Cethra alnifolia) and milkweed bushes in Brooklyn Bridge Park this week. Adult great black wasps eat flower nectar and are important pollinators. […]