Seabirds, from cormorants to puffins, spend most of their lives at sea. Beloved by birdwatchers, these animals can be hard to study because they spend so much time far from shore. New research led by the University of Washington uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to Alaska to understand how […]
Tag: Shearwater
‘You’ve got to remove every rat’: the race to protect Round Island
As the boat weaves between the jagged rocks of the Scilly archipelago off the coast of Cornwall, Round Island, uninhabited but for a lonely Victorian lighthouse, comes into view. Those on board preparing for their visit are not armed with cameras and binoculars but with buckets of toxic cereal bait and rat traps. When signs […]
Albatrosses can plunge up to 62ft underwater to pursue prey – more than twice as deep as previously thought, study reveals
New research by scientists from the University of Oxford, British Geological Survey, and Portugal’s Marine and Environmental Sciences Center shows that the black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) can dive to much greater depths (19 m, or 62 feet) and for much longer (52 seconds) than previously thought — three times the maxima previously recorded for this […]
Tasmanian devils wipe out thousands of penguins on tiny Australian island
An attempt to save the Tasmanian devil by shipping an “insurance population” to a tiny Australian island has come at a “catastrophic” cost to the birdlife there, including the complete elimination of little penguins, according to BirdLife Tasmania. Maria Island, a 116-square-kilometre island east of Tasmania, was home to 3,000 breeding pairs of little penguins […]
British birds’ long-distance feats and longevity are revealed
Flying around the world may have become an unappealing prospect or a distant dream for most people during the coronavirus crisis. If you are a Manx shearwater, however, there is no limit to your long-distance travel, and one of these small seabirds from the Hebridean isle of Rùm was last year clocked journeying more than […]
Balearics at Dungeness and a Bonaparte’s at Oare
Birding has been very limited of late save a quick trip to Fairlop in the the week to catch the local Hoopoe so today we decided on a trip to Dunge for a spot of early morning sea watching. Arriving at 6.30am we were rewarded for a two hour stint with several Arctic Skua, three […]
Climate Change Caused One of the Biggest Seabird Die-Offs Yet
In 2014 scientists and beachgoers began finding west coast shores littered with thousands of small bodies. Their tragic discoveries would turn into what would become one of the largest seabird die-offs recorded yet, and now scientists have linked the cause to climate change. The birds who were washing up were Cassin’s Auklets, a portly little […]
Green Heron Llan-mill Pembrokeshire
After leaving home at 4am this morning we found ourselves walking down the lane to the old mill in the village of Llan-mill in Pembrokeshire by 7.30am. As we approached the MP Simon Harts home we were greeted by another birder who directed us into the back garden which overlooks the large flooded pond where […]