The Common Quail is one of seven flagship birds in our Flight for Survival campaign to raise awareness of the scope and scale of the illegal killing of migratory birds. The small, seemingly shy Common Quail Coturnix coturnix prefers to stay hidden amongst the rough grasses of farmland as it forages with its long, sharp […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Over the last few weeksI’vebeen overloaded with guiding, monitoring, managing and in between being a father to my two sons who are enjoying a Passover vacation and a husband to my lovely wife who supports me throughout. This has led to lack of writing time for the blog…YesterdayIreceived a complaining mail from Shacahr Shalev, a […]
Like every year this time is very thrilling. Each day brings its surprises and there are plenty of new birds throughout and also a growing number of birders aretravellingaround and bring more updates from the field. Last weekend, the IBRCE ringing station has started its season operation and we have 2 new volunteers – Markus […]