The Egyptians line their beaches with fine two-metre high nets that can stretch for miles across the Nile delta and will catch any bird coming close; the Maltese will cover whole trees in nylon; the Cypriots smear branches in glue to stop birds flying; the Italians will kill nearly anything that flies and the French […]
Tag: migratory bird
Amazing: Tiny Birds Fly Without Landing for Three Days
Warblers that weigh about as much as a stack of 12 business cards fly thousands of miles across the Atlantic during their fall migration. Imagine a journey that requires you to first pack on the pounds, then get rid of your intestines, and finally to forgo eating and sleeping for three days. For the blackpoll […]
Malta approves public referendum of bird hunt that kills over 15,000
Malta’s Constitutional Court has upheld a public referendum to decide the fate of the country’s controversial spring bird hunt, which kills over ten thousand migrating birds every year. The Constitutional Court threw out objections by Malta’s powerful hunting lobby, and instead sided with the 11 conservation groups who organized the referendum, known as the Coalition […]
Champions of the Flyway, a bird race with a difference!
Champions of the Flyway is an extraordinary bird race for conservation that takes place annually, in the unparalleled and legendary migration hotspot – Eilat, Israel 24-hour ‘bird races’, ‘big days’ and ‘bird-a-thons’ are now well known throughout the world. These events always draw the interest of local birders and the excitement they generate attracts considerable attention from a […]
New hope for spoon-billed sandpipers as hand-reared bird heads for breeding grounds
Good news this World Migratory Bird Day; the first of a hand-reared group of critically endangered birds has been spotted migrating back towards where it was hatched by conservationists. The tiny spoon-billed sandpiper – the only bird in the world to hatch with a spoon shaped beak – could be down to fewer than a […]
Scientists bring the northern bald ibis back to Europe after 300 years
The northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), also called the hermit ibis or waldrapp, is a migratory bird. Once, the bald ibis lived in the Middle East, northern Africa and southern and central Europe, but due to hunting, loss of habitat and pesticide-use, the birds disappeared from most of these areas and is currently considered Critically […]
6 Reasons You Should Be Drinking “Bird-Friendly” Coffee
Environmentally conscious coffee drinkers already know that the brew they choose matters. They comb supermarket shelves looking for labels like “USDA Organic,” “Rainforest Alliance Certified” and “Fair Trade Certified.” Did you know, however, that there’s one more label you might want to be sure your morning cup of joe carries? Check to see whether your […]
Stronger BirdLife Partnership takes action for Mediterranean migrants
The BirdLife Partnership’s project to develop flyway conservation capacity in the Mediterranean – funded by the Mava Foundation – is already delivering results, including a hunting ban at an important stopover site in the Balkans, and progress in two Mediterranean hunting and trapping blackspots. CZIP (BirdLife in Montenegro) has secured a two-year hunting ban at […]