This cute little guy was as fast as a the duck-bill platypus, diving with an almost same ritual and diving to escape danger rather than take flight. Unusual is also the ability to take flight during the night (I suppose during clear celestial nights or moon nights). They use their lobed feet during underwaterswimming rather […]
Bird-Friendly Wind Power
Bird collisions have been one of the primary negatives of the recent growth in wind power across the United States and beyond. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) estimates that almost a half million birds are killed each year in the U.S. by wind turbines. “Birds can die in collisions with the turbine blades, […]
PhotoShare: Kruger Kuduscape
Things are buzzing by my head now at a pace so frantic it’s hard to keep up. I am heading off to Mana Pools in Zimbabwe next week, a dream destination for me. Afterwards I shall have plenty of time to wind down and catch up on things like regular blogging, etc. In the meantime […]
Different Views of Nature
I was developing a research project on Grey Partridge a number of years ago and part of the experimental aspect of the work involved releasing pen reared birds on what appeared to be suitable farmland habitat. I identified with a farmer in Kildare, Ireland, who had a great love of Partridge. He vividly recounted where […]
No quacks .. just whistles.
The grass whistle duck (plumed whistling-duck) is not a true duck because they are monochromic (both sexes have same colour plumage) and have long legs and necks. Also the traditional “quack” is a actually a whistle. Predominately found in N. Australia and scattered groups in New South Wales & Victoria, with only a small area […]
Parrots Laterality
Laterality is the motor and sensory controls in our body. In another words in humans is mostly identifiable as utilising either the right or left side of our body in our motor and sensory control. Most humans are right handed, although the trend from decades ago has undergone some social changes, it is said that […]
Western Sandpiper on the Go
It dawned on me this morning that I haven not posted an image of a Western Sandpiper (Calidris mauri) here yet so I pulled this one out of my archives that I photographed at Fort De Soto, Florida as the small shorebird ran in front of me on the shoreline. Western Sandpipers winter along the […]
South Island Saddleback, Philesturnus carunculatus carunculatus.
South Island Saddleback are one of the success stories of New Zealand species conservation. Once common throughout the South Island, by 1962 they were restricted to just 4 offshore islands at the south of Stewart Island. Rat predation having seen the rest off. And then in 1962 rats were discovered ashore on these islands and […]