The Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) is a rather bizarre wading bird of Florida and Central and South America. This heron-sized member of the Ibis family (Threskiamithidae) is easily recognized by it’s pink plumage and spatulate bill. Most often found swishing it’s bill from side to side as it wades in shallow pond edges and drainage […]
First assessment of Endangered Northern Rockhopper Penguins since 2011 oil spill
Almost a year since thousands of endangered penguins’ lives were threatened by an oil spill on Nightingale Island – part of Tristan da Cunha, a UK Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic – a survey to assess the birds’ population has taken place. The bulk carrier, MS Oliva, ran aground on 16 March last year, […]
Newfoundland Photo Trip
I returned from a splendid three week trip to a place that is affectionately referred to as “The Rock” in August 2011. After a few weeks driving around the beautiful province of Newfoundland I can see why as the rocky geology and rugged coastlines aptly earn their nickname. The landscape also creates perfect habitat for […]
Bears ‘commit suicide’ to escape horror of gall bile farms
Wildlife campaigner Louis Ng is no stranger to close encounters with animals in distress. But nothing quite prepared him for the emotional exchange with an adult bear outside a bear farm in Laos. A film-maker had stumbled upon the farm and contacted Ng, the co-founder and executive director of Animal Concerns Research and Education Society […]
Counting Kererū in New Zealand
All Forest & Bird (BirdLife in New Zealand) members, bird enthusiasts and Kiwi kids are being encouraged to get behind the inaugural Kereru Count this month. From February 19-27, volunteers are being asked to keep a look out in their local areas for kereru – the native pigeon also known as kūkupa and kūkū in […]
New Rule To Help Protect Endangered Piping Plovers at Cape Hatteras National Seashore
The National Park Service has published the final rule on the contentious issue of off-road vehicle (ORV) use at North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras National Seashore following a seven-year process which had prompted a lawsuit from several conservation organizations. Hatteras was designated as the nation’s first National Seashore in 1953. In recent years, it has experienced […]
Reddish Egrets in Florida
Reddish Egrets are the rarest, and arguably the most beautiful, of the Florida herons. Once relatively common along the coastlines of Florida in the 19th century, plume hunters nearly eradicated the species from Florida by the early 20th century. Since the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Reddish Egret has been increasing in numbers in […]
The World’s rarest dolphin faces extinction…
With the recent death in January of another Maui’s dolphin by entanglement in static fishing gear cetacean biologists around the globe are resigning themselves to yet another whale species facing extinction within the next few years; joining the recently extinct Yangtze river dolphin and the ranks of other critically endangered marine mammal species like the […]