Thirty men squat on concrete outside a colourful urban café on the Indonesian island of Java. Their gaze is focused on a rainbow palate of cages dangling from a corrugated metal roof. They listen even more intently – for inside the structures, birds are competing to get their songs heard. The onlookers are just as […]
Tag: birdlife international
Investigating the mystery behind Guinea-Bissau’s mass vulture deaths
In late February, a local worker in a rice field on the outskirts of Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, discovered a group of around 200 recently-deceased vultures. This shocking scene was the first of many to emerge across the West African nation over the next few days. Soon, more incidents of mass vulture deaths were reported, both on […]
Tracking technology confirms controversial cause of Hen Harrier decline
In the UK, Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus spend their summers on upland moors, nesting amongst the deep heather. They are one of our most treasured upland species, famous for their spectacular displays of sky-dancing and aerial exchanges of food during the breeding season. Sadly, Hen Harriers are also one of our most persecuted birds of […]
A Widespread Pesticide Causes Weight Loss and Delayed Migration in Songbirds
With winter approaching, White-crowned Sparrows are migrating south from North America’s boreal forest to central and southern United States and Mexico, sometimes flying hundreds of miles in one night. The weeks-long trek is already a major endeavor for the one-ounce songbirds, and pesticides may be making the journey even more perilous, a new study shows. […]
25 Million Birds Slaughtered in Southern Europe Every Year!
Rare and beautiful birds – including the national bird of Britain – are being illegally shot dead for fun or trapped before being plucked, skinned and eaten – or simply discarded. Across southern Europe and North Africa birds are dying at rates that are driving endangered species to the brink of extinction. From the lawless […]
Marina plan threatens to destroy final stronghold of Endangered curlew
Everyone knows that Australians love to relax on the beach. But for some species, Moreton Bay on the east coast represents the difference between life and death. Every year, over 40,000 migratory shorebirds overwinter here. Among them is the Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis (Endangered), a bird whose population has plummeted by 80 per cent […]
Scale of illegal bird killing in the Middle East revealed for first time
A study out today, for the first time, estimates the scale and extent of the illegal killing and taking of wild birds in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Iran. Using a diverse range of data sources and incorporating expert knowledge, we estimate that at least 1.7–4.6 million birds of at least 413 species may be […]
‘We are silencing the natural world’: can the turtle dove be saved?
Under the torrential rain of a fickle British summer, 25 soggy pilgrims gather in front of the Plough, an ancient oak-beamed pub in the West Sussex village of Rusper. Above the drone of planes bringing travellers into Gatwick, the walkers – variously devotees of trekking, folk music or wildlife – raise their voices to sing […]