Bird protection campaigners are to lodge an official complaint with the European Union accusing France of breaking rules on hunting and trapping and failing to protect endangered species. The Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) is using the 40th anniversairy of the EU’s “bird directive”, which outlaws the “massive or non-selective” killing of birds […]
Tag: Wood Pigeon

What makes a forest healthy? Māori knowledge has some answers.
RUATĀHUNA, New Zealand — In certain seasons, the forest used to look like a bride, recalled Māori elders in Ruatāhuna: vibrant, healthy, and clothed in all its glory. These days, they agreed, it looks more like an old lady, ragged and tired. There’s a feeling of loneliness there now, too, as if the forest is […]

Europe faces ‘biodiversity oblivion’ after collapse in French birds, experts warn
The “catastrophic” decline in French farmland birds signals a wider biodiversity crisis in Europe which ultimately imperils all humans, leading scientists have told the Guardian. A dramatic fall in farmland birds such as skylarks, whitethroats and ortolan bunting in France was revealed by two studies this week, with the spread of neonicotinoid pesticides – and […]

Colorful Birds of Kruger Park
Watching Wood Pigeons and Blackbirds digging in the snow out of my window now, but my head and heart are still in South Africa. Luckily those images keep the memories fresh and warm. On February 16th we drove around Satara, to the south and to the east. We left very early, especially for big mammals. […]

Twite in the sun
The weather today was gorgeous and I was down to a t-shirt before noon. But days with blue skies are generally speaking poor for birds and today was no exception. I stuck to Maridalen where I hoped some raptor migration might save the day but the only I raptors I had (Sparrowhawk, Goshawk and Buzzard) […]

Good stuff
Yesterday was cloudy and warm(ish) but clear skies overnight with a resulting heavy frost were going to cause a big change in bird activity this morning. The fields and marsh areas in Maridalen were covered in ice and there was hardly a thrush to see. With the clear skies any viz mig was so high […]

Common wood pigeon
This bird was about 45 meters from me but with the 500 mm lens plus the converter 1.4, I managed these fairly decent pics, although far from competition quality: Pigeon ramier ou Palombe dans le sud-ouest: Avec une focale de 700 mm (500 mm + convert 1/4) plus l’effet ‘petit capteur’, je suis parvenue à […]

Wildlife Licences: Can’t Shoot Robins, but Egyptian Geese are Game
Landowners wanting to be allowed to shoot robins, pied wagtails, starlings and other favourite birds seen eating their crops have been rebuffed by the government. But shooters will be able to legally kill or destroy the nests of Egyptian geese and trap and release protected birds like song thrushes, blue tits and dunnocks found foraging […]