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 […]
State of the Maya Biosphere Reserve
In a recent ceremony in the National Palace in Guatemala City, staff of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) presented Álvaro Colom Caballeros, president of Guatemala, and other high-level officials with the State of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a report detailing the successes of, and current threats to, the country’s largest protected area. With the assistance […]
2011: “Annus horribilis” for African Elephants, says TRAFFIC
As the year draws to a close, TRAFFIC warns that 2011 has seen a record number of large ivory seizures globally, reflecting the sharp rise in illegal ivory trade underway since 2007. Although official confirmation of the volume of ivory involved in some cases has not yet been registered, what is clear is the dramatic […]
Restoring the Philippines’ Forests
The Haribon Foundation (BirdLife in the Philippines), with the support of the Disney’s Friends for Change has produced a 6-minute video aimed at children on deforestation and its impacts, and what Haribon is doing to tackle the problem and restore degraded forests as part of BirdLife’s Forests of Hope programme.
Reindeer Are Fading Into Holiday Myth
CHRISTMAS is tied to the magical north and to the reindeer — creatures of mythical power that fly through the night across the world, helping to distribute happiness and good will. But reindeer do exist — we call them caribou in North America — and these animals and their home in the boreal woodlands and […]
Why Don’t Presidential Candidates Go Birding?
Opting not to hunt for votes one day after Christmas, a gun-toting Rick Santorum went on a different kind of hunt on Monday. The black pheasants, quail and chukars set in his sights didn’t have a chance. “I had four clean kills and then I had some group kills,” the Republican presidential candidate boasted after […]
Restoring the Philippines’ Forests
The Haribon Foundation (BirdLife in the Philippines), with the support of the Disney’s Friends for Change has produced a 6-minute video aimed at children on deforestation and its impacts, and what Haribon is doing to tackle the problem and restore degraded forests as part of BirdLife’s Forests of Hope programme. For several years, Haribon has […]