I took a lot of bird photos over the last week and didn’t know what to do with them so I thought I’d have a bird beauty contest. My favorite for this week was this Cedar Waxwing so I’m giving it first place. I thought these baby Canada Geese were kind of […]
World’s Smallest Porpoise Is on the Verge of Extinction
The world’s smallest and rarest porpoise, the vaquita, is on the verge of extinction. A mere 60 remain, the Mexican government announced Friday. Their numbers have dropped 40 percent in two years, down from 97 in 2014, due in large part for illegal fishing for another endangered species. The totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder […]
Some scarce and unusual birds – Abqaiq Wetlands
Whilst birding Abqaiq Wetlands on 1 May with Phil Roberts we came a cross a number of good birds with the best probably being a Eurasian Crag Martin. This species is a scarce passage migrant in the Eastern Province mainly in the spring and I have only seen one before in the Eastern Province over […]
Will Zimbabwe Sell Off Its Rare ‘Painted Dogs’?
Last week Zimbabwe announced that because of the drought that’s ravaging the country—and leaving four million Zimbabweans in need of food aid—it will “destock” its national parks and reserves by selling off wildlife. The announcement by the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (also known as Zimparks) doesn’t say when the sales would begin, nor does […]
Warbler Day
Today is the day I celebrate every year as Warbler Day. Up here in Duluth, warbler migration is just kicking in, but in other places I’ve lived—Chicago; Lansing, Michigan; Madison, Wisconsin; and Ithaca, New York—warbler migration usually is peaking right about now. I selected May 11 as Warbler Day because that’s the day I identified […]
Arctic Warming Is Shrinking This Adorable Shorebird
The red knot shorebird is a tough, long-distance flier that migrates yearly from the Arctic into the Southern Hemisphere and back. For decades, the bird has been at risk because its food sources, such as crab eggs, have declined in the feeding grounds along its migratory route. Now an alarming discovery by an international team […]
Red-footed Falcon at Vange Marsh
A quick trip to Abberton today so the Jim’s could connect with the Essex Franklin’s Gull where we added Arctic and Black Tern to the year lists before making the short drive down to Vange Marsh where we very quickly got on both Red-footed Falcon and a mating pair of Black-winged Stilts. Year list now […]
POLL: Should neonicotinoid pesticides be banned to save our bees?
More than a quarter of American honeybee colonies were wiped out over the winter, with deadly infestations of mites and harmful land management practices heaping mounting pressure upon the crucial pollinators and the businesses that keep them. Preliminary figures commissioned by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) show that 28% of bee colonies in the […]