The diminutive ʻElepaio (pronounced “el-a-pie-o”) had remarkable powers, according to native Hawaiians. Canoe-builders considered the bird an incarnation of their patron goddess Lea: If the bird pecked at a fallen koa tree, it was a sign that the tree was riddled with insects and unusable for boat-building. Farmers believed that this insectivorous bird was the […]
Tag: endangered species act
Protect the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo from Extinction
Yellow-billed Cuckoos can only be found in a fraction of their former range in the American West, a decline linked to the loss of over 90 percent of their breeding habitat—the cottonwood and willow forests that once lined the banks of western rivers. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has proposed protecting the western […]
Add Your Voice to Protect the Red Knot from Extinction
The Red Knot has one of the most impressive migrations in the world, traveling over 9,000 miles twice a year along the Atlantic Flyway from the Arctic to Argentina and back, but habitat and the food resources to fuel this demanding journey have declined, putting these birds at risk. Since the 1980s, populations have fallen […]
Wolves boost food for Yellowstone’s threatened grizzlies
Wolves and grizzlies aren’t best buddies. Burly bears can barge in on a feasting pack, making off with the wolves’ fresh kill. Wolves have been known to dig into bear dens and snag a cub. But after gray wolves returned to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, grizzly bears ate more berries in the summer for […]
Does It Really Make Sense for 6,000 People to Kill 600 Wolves?
In a shortvideo recently released,the Center for Biological Diversity asks if you would pay $19 to kill a wolf. You probably wouldn’t, but 6,000 people in Montana just did. Montana has an estimated 625 wolves left. Sadly, new changes to the hunting season, which started in September, could prove to be a disaster for those […]
Are We Giving Loggerhead Sea Turtles Enough Protections to Survive?
A recent lawsuit prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on July 17 to propose 36 ocean areas as critical habitat for threatened loggerhead sea turtles along the Atlantic Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. The lawsuit, jointly filed by Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Turtle Island Restoration Network, came five […]
Florida declares two butterfly species extinct as pollinator crisis worsens
Conservationist’s faced a crushing blow last month as two butterfly species native to Florida were declared extinct. “Occasionally, these types of butterflies disappear for long periods of time but are rediscovered in another location,” said Larry Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife state supervisor for ecological services. We think it’s apparent now these two species are […]
Future of Great Whites in the Hands of California Leaders
We are alarmed by the recent decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) not to provide needed protections for U.S. West Coast great white sharks under the federal Endangered Species Act. NMFS declined protections despite current science estimates of only a few hundred sub-adult and adult white sharks at their primary aggregation sites. The […]