The latest release in the humpback whale’s haunting sound collection is a track so unusual that scientists hardly know what to make of it. Unlike anything on the hit album Songs of the Humpback Whale (released in 1970, the wildlife recording went multi-platinum), the mysterious new noise has such a low beat it’s scarcely audible. […]
‘Flat out scary’: Only 9% of world’s migratory birds adequately protected
Migratory birds are awe-inspiring. Every year, millions traverse across oceans and continents, many each racking up thousands of miles as they fly. The longest marathon migrant, the Arctic tern, covers more than 70,000 kilometers (about 44,000 miles) annually during its journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and back. However, very few migratory bird species […]
Breakfast Flock
In Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach wrote about a gull that “… was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.” I watched a flock of gulls dashing and darting at the outflow of an open watergate, feeding on something in the roiling water. I couldn’t […]
POLL: Should Japan be sanctioned for fueling the slaughter of elephants?
Before Chinese demand for ivory began driving the black market and illegal killing of tens of thousands of elephants each year, it was Japan’s market for hanko, personal seals used to sign contracts, that fueled the ivory trade. For at least a thousand years, they’ve been made in Japan out of a variety of materials. […]
The Maned wolf: saving South America’s unfortunately-named canid
The Maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is by all accounts a bizarre creature. Nicknamed a “fox on stilts,” it is perhaps best known for its once-heard-never-forgotten “roar-bark.” A single look at this strange, gangly and rather scruffy creature, with its bobbing gait and bat-like ears — with the body of a wolf, face of a fox, […]
POLL: Should grizzly bears be removed from the endangered species list?
State and federal wildlife officials are set to strip grizzly bears of their protection from hunting around Yellowstone national park, with a plan that would remove one of the species’ last populations from the endangered species list. A leaked letter from Dan Ashe, director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, to state officials notes […]
Citrine Wagtail – Sabkhat Al Fasl
When birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl 20 November 2015 with visiting birder Edward Pollard we found at least two Citrine Wagtails Motacilla citreola. This species was until the last few years a scarce winter visitor to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, but more birds are now being seen making it an uncommon winter visitor […]
POLL: Should wind energy companies face legal action for killing birds?
How do wind energy companies kill protected bald eagles and golden eagles via turbine strikes every year without facing legal repercussions? They have renewable permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that exempt them from laws making it illegal to kill the birds. However, the U.S. District Court of Northern California has […]