Standing 5 feet tall, the whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America. With fewer than 500 of these birds left in the wild, they are on the verge of extinction. Already up against weather and powerline collisions on their migration routes, endangered whooping cranes are now facing an additional threat from humans. In […]
BirdLife Pacific Invasive Species Programme
The BirdLife Pacific Partnership has started a new four-year European Union funded regional Invasive Species programme which seeks to reduce the spread and the environmental and socio-economic impact of invasive alien species by supporting the eradication and control of invasive alien species and also enhancing biosecurity. BirdLife Partners involved in the programme are Te Ipukerea […]
EU Environment Ministers fail to stand up for nature in face of farm lobby interests
On Monday 19 December the EU Environment Council in Brussels came out with conclusions on the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, in which the interests of the farm lobby purveyed over biodiversity protection. BirdLife Europe isdeeply concerned by the long and painful efforts of certain EU Environment Ministers that were revealed in weakening biodiversity protection in […]
Whooping Crane Found Fatally Shot in Indiana
News report that a Whooping Crane has been shot and killed in Indiana. What kind of person can wilfully shoot and kill such a graceful creature?
My Top 20 for 2011
It’s that time of year again…a time for resolutions and reflection. I think most nature photographers make resolutions about visiting more exotic locations and getting that one elusive image that keeps evading them…and I would be lying if I said I don’t have at least some aspirations like that. On the whole I would just […]
Save the Last Houbara Bustards in Tunisia
Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis undulata undulata is protected by the Tunisian law and several international conventions to which Tunisia is signatory. This did not prevent the near-extermination of the Tunisian population of Houbara Bustard by poaching of the emirs of the gulf states and which was authorised during more than 20 years by the Ben Ali […]
Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge Very Productive In December
In the past Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge has had good activity during the months of Jan-March, but this year it started early. The ducks started to arrive, then the roseate spoonbills, avocets, reddish egrets and the like. Also, a local favorite gave us some really nice photo ops by staying in the same place, with […]
Timor Bush-warbler rediscovered
There had been no confirmed field observations of Timor Bush-warbler Bradypterus timorensis since two specimens were collected on Mount Mutis, West Timor, in 1932. A paper published online in BirdLife’s journal, Bird Conservation International (BCI) [1], reports the rediscovery of the Timor Bush-warbler in Timor-Leste (East Timor) in 2009, prompted by the discovery of a […]