American Bird Conservancy (ABC), World Land Trust (WLT), and their Colombian partner Fundación ProAves, have inaugurated a new reserve to protect one of the last strongholds for the endangered Gold-ringed Tanager. Worldwide, the bird is known to inhabit only five locations, all along 150 miles of ridge top on the Pacific slope of the western […]
UAE Spring migration begins !
In recent weeks the spring migration has started in the UAE. So far an exceptional spring for Wheatears, with large numbers of Isabelline and Pied Wheatears moving through, certainly many more than in recent years. In with these species we have also recorded Northern Wheatear, Eastern Black-eared Wheatear and the occasional vittata sub-species of the […]
Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis) by Fabiola Forns
Dawn begins to break as the sun rises slowly on the horizon and a female Snail Kite shakes her feathers briskly as she prepares to begin her day. Her two-toned feathers have the luster of youth and her pose is proud. Her keen eyes scan the horizon and she bobs her head as she gets […]
A family of the Philippines’ biggest owl
This year is probably the best year for the Philippine Eagle-Owl. The year started with a sighting of a family of Philippine Eagle-Owls right in busy Manila, with the mother and father eagle-owl guarding a immature roosting in a planters box (check out Birding Adventure Philippines’ Trinket Canlas blogpost about this encounter here). Several of […]
New area for over-wintering White-spotted Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica cyanecula)
Whilst ringing at Alba Marshes, Bahrain, on Friday 2nd March 2012, with Brendan Kavenagh and Nicole Proven, we caught a male White-spotted Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica cyanecula) which is a scarce passage migrant to the region, unlike the Red-spotted Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica svecica) which winters in good numbers. The White-spotted Bluethroat breeds locally in central & […]
Green Queen Ant
Strong winds and rain in North Queensland caused the early nesting of some fertilised winged Green Ants called a queen to be damaged or destroyed. Some have died in result of trying to re-established their nesting grounds, by attempting to lay another clutch of eggs (one third in size of the initial egg quantity), dying thereafter possibly […]
Return of the Waldrapp Part 1
The Northern Bald Ibis, or Waldrapp, is one of the most endangered birds in the world. Once common in Central Europe, it became extinct here by the end of the 16th Century Revered by the Ancient Egyptians, today there are very few wild birds left in North Africa and the Middle East. In 1997 a […]
New BLM Logging Plan Not What’s Needed for Owl and Murrelet Recovery
A new plan announced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) threatens to enshrine forest management policies favoring logging, including mature forests needed by the threatened Northern Spotted Owl and Marbled Murrelet – species dependent on an old-growth forest ecosystem that also provides clean air, clean water, and viable fish and wildlife populations. “The Northwest […]