Consecutive wet years have boosted breeding colonies of waterbirds in eastern Australia but not enough yet to increase total bird numbers, according to the latest edition of one of the world’s largest and longest nature surveys. Researchers on the annual survey, now in its 39th year, flew 38,360km – or almost enough to circumnavigate the […]
Tag: Shoveler
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 […]
Ban Cruel Duck Shooting in New Zealand and Protect Native Ducks
Fish & Game New Zealand fervently defend the “sport” of duck shooting for which the season just began in late May (it was pushed back from March due to COVID-19 restrictions). However, organizations are concerned about New Zealand’s native bird species. Animal rights organization SAFE says the sport is “inherently cruel” and should be banned. […]
November and Early December
Well, November seems to have passed me by without seeing a single bird of any note while much of the UK seemed to be awash with rare Swift’s. I have barely managed to get out due to work commitments and a general low ebb in my birding enthusiasm, this comes to me once in a […]
Black-throated Divers back in the Dale
It’s all getting a bit too busy for blogging! The end of April is always my favourite time and at the moment it is the movement of Teal and other dabbling ducks that is occupying me with the never-ending searching for something rare in their midst. Yesterday I was at Nordre Øyeren. At this time […]
Pennington Marsh – 5th and 9th March
I visited Pennington Marsh on 5th and 9th March and on both days saw much the same. Its a pretty static time of year with winter birds steadily but barely noticeably declining and very few migrants appearing. The Lapwing are now in regular display and are busy making nesting scrapes on the marsh while Black-tailed […]
Pennington Marsh and Woodchat Shrike at Chipping Sodbury
Another beautiful sunny morning at Pennington Marsh and I decided to walk my normal circuit in reverse, first out past Fishtail and to Keyhaven and back past Butts and Jetty Lagoon and finally past Pennington Lagoon and Shoveler Pools. I had much of the morning to spare after dropping Tobias off so my birding was […]
Pennington Marsh – 6th August
It was a beautiful sunny morning for a change, August has been a very unsettled month to date with long spells of often heavy rain and low temperatures. I was up early and decided on a walk around Pennington Marshes for a few hours. Arriving at 06:30 I first walked along the Ancient Highway for […]