Officials are on the hunt for the killer of an endangered chick found dead in Louisiana. The Dallas Zoo, where the chick was born, announced the death last week, saying the bird was found with gunshot wounds two months after being released into the wild – it was part of a conservation program to increase […]
Tag: Whooping crane
May 28th is Whooping Crane Day
Today we celebrate this amazing bird Which makes birdie noises Like you’ve never heard One of the oldest bird species and endangered, too Their future uncertain… It is up to you!
Those Poor Whooping Cranes May Never Be the Same Again
To some observers, the noise sounds like fireworks, to others the noise mimics gunshots. With a few visitors fortunate or not so fortunate to observe the USDA’s Wildlife Services shooting the explosive cartridges out of a blank 22 handgun inside the park. The Safety Data Sheet lists the cartridge as an “exploding bomb”. The explosive […]
Some birds that fly together in big colonies have evolved brightly-coloured feathers under their wings to avoid mid-air collisions, study suggests
Birds with brightly-coloured feathers under their wings may have developed them to avoid mid-air collisions, experts believe. Researchers compared the underwing colours of 1,780 species and found that larger birds, as well as those that flocked together in big colonies, were most likely to have colourful, contrasting feathers. The researchers think this is because larger […]
How Many Birds Are Killed By Wind Turbines?
Renewable energy development is a critically important part of the fight against climate change. Unfortunately, we also know that wind energy development has a substantial negative impact on birds. But just how many birds are killed by wind turbines? A Google search can turn up a wide array of answers to this question, with a […]
Whooping Cranes Need to Socially Distance, Too, According to New Report
Standing five feet tall and with a wingspan of nearly eight feet, the charismatic Whooping Crane is the tallest bird in North America. It also looms large as a conservation symbol. More than 800 Whooping Cranes survive in North America today—a monumental increase from a low of 16 in the 1940’s, when the population plummeted […]
A Whooping Crane’s Killer Got Off Easy, Frustrating Conservationists
Last month, a Louisiana man was sentenced in a federal district court to 120 hours of community service and two years on probation for shooting and killing a Whooping Crane, one of the most endangered birds in the world. The decision was far lighter than conservationists had hoped and advocated for. According to court documents […]
Energy development vs. endangered species: winner takes all
Widespread species decline at the hands of humans is a powerful tale. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than 27 per cent of 100,000 assessed species are threatened with extinction. This disappearance is a warning that something is amiss on Earth. The Anthropocene is the newly recognized geological epoch defined as […]