The plains-wanderer is a small, critically-endangered bird with a tawny marking on its chest that can only be found in south-eastern Australia’s arid grasslands. It is estimated that only 250 to 1,000 of these speckled birds are left in the wild, according to Bush Heritage Australia. The plains-wanderer is at risk of impending extinction and […]
Tag: Quail
Israel to ban hunting of quail, place 3-year ban on hunting turtle doves
Israel is set to extend wildlife protections to two types of birds, banning the hunting of turtle doves for three years and banning the hunting of quail altogether, Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg announced Wednesday. The move to ban hunting of turtle doves for three years comes at the request for the Convention on the […]
POLL: Should the practice of duck shooting for sport be banned?
A study of Victorian duck shooters has found that only one in five were able to correctly answer questions about identifying protected bird species, raising pressure on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to ban duck hunting ahead of the 2021 season. Last year, the season was shortened from May to June after dry conditions and bushfires […]
Ground-feeding birds in Southeast Asia may be going extinct outside protected areas
Nature reserves in large parts of Southeast Asia may be the last strongholds for charismatic ground-feeding birds such as quails, partridges and pheasants, together called galliforms, according to a recent study in Conservation Letters. Researchers estimate that five species of galliforms no longer survive outside protected areas in Sundaland, a region comprising the Malay Peninsula […]
Do Partridges Really Live in Pear Trees?
The lucky recipient in the classic Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas” got 23 birds over the course of the holiday season. Hopefully they didn’t live in a studio apartment. In the yuletide spirit, we’re taking a closer look at the birds immortalized in the English folk song, first published around 1780. Seven Swans […]
87 new bird species considered threatened with extinction
Scientists have added 361 new bird species to the IUCN Red List following a major taxonomic review of non-passerine birds, i.e. non-perching or non-songbirds. Worryingly, 87 of these new birds are threatened with extinction, a percentage nearly double the overall threatened percentage for all birds, which currently sits at 13 percent. Many of these new […]
Summer Scenes of Critters at the Pond
A couple of weeks ago I kept hearing a simple, three pitched call from the yard. I went out to investigate and it was the Black-headed Grosbeak fledgling calling to be fed. Click on photos for full sized images. It was a familiar song but I hadn’t heard it since last year and it is […]
South Texas Photography Trip
Over the last several years, in a number of photography forums I follow, I kept seeing wonderful images from several of the photography ranches in south Texas. Each year I would say, I need to get down there. Well, last summer I decided to plan the trip. I asked three of my photog friends if […]