Latest Ornithology Stories
The fate of three condor chicks born in April in the wild are currently unknown. The chicks play a critical role in California's reintroduction of the threatened species, which have a low breeding rate and lay eggs only once every two years. One nest was in the fire's path, and flames had spoiled an aviary where captive chicks are held and trained before being released into the wild."We have three mating condor pairs this year and three active nests that we are really concerned about....
By John Dodge, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash. Jul. 8--The state Forest Practices Board threw its unanimous support Monday behind a group made up primarily of timber industry officials and conservationists to work on spotted owl habitat protection on private forestlands. On a 10-0 vote, the board signaled a new approach to a controversial issue it's been wrestling with little success for years. "This is a breath of fresh air to see the timber industry and the conservation caucus come...
The low, booming sounds produced by greater prairie chicken cocks accounts for the common reference to their leks as "booming grounds." ... On a quiet spring morning, these sounds can carry as much as two miles across the open prairie, serving as an audible beacon to prairie chicken hens. - Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Web site, www.kdwp.state.ks.us By Jan Biles THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL MANHATTAN - Kansas State University biologist/researcher Robert Robel believes prairie chickens...
By Donita Naylor Naturalists at Napatree Point Conservation Area chronicle endangered wildlife and hold their breath as the inevitable crush of vacationers approaches. WESTERLY -- "We actually saw the spotted sandpiper chick.""We saw all three oystercatcher babies." Two naturalists and a summer intern were briefing a U.S. Fish & Wildlife coordinator at Napatree Point Conservation Area on what they saw at Napatree last week. It sounded like a busy corner in a maternity hospital. "Do...
Researchers have developed surveillance technology that can identify thousands of near identical African Penguins and then monitor them over long periods of time.The system will boost our understanding of the animals and it could even help ecologists solve the mystery of how long penguins live, the team said.It could also be used to track other species, from cheetahs to sharks.The Royal Society's Summer Exhibition is currently displaying the groundbreaking technology."Until now, if you wanted...
By Jeremy Manier and Tim De Chant, Chicago Tribune Jun. 27--When a falcon swoops from the sky to seize its fleeing prey, no one would mistake the sleek predator for a gaudy parrot. Yet the secret kinship of falcons and parrots is one of many surprises in a landmark genetic study of 169 bird species being published by Field Museum researchers. The lovely birds we see each day may never look quite the same again. One likely consequence of the study in Friday's edition of the journal...
Officials at a Boston zoo have brought two African wattled cranes together, hoping they will reproduce. Kotze and Pepe were put in a joint exhibit at the Franklin Park Zoo on Memorial Day. So far, the two have shown little interest in each other, the Boston Globe reports. The female, Kotze, did a mating dance Wednesday as a reporter watched. But she aimed her ardor at the zoo's curator, Fred Beall. That's not what I want, Beall said. That's what they should be doing to each other. Only...
Observing local birds' 'mob' behavior helps migrants avoid predators, say Queen's biologistsMigrating songbirds take their survival cues from local winged residents when flying through unfamiliar territory, a new Queen's University-led study shows.It's a case of "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," says biologist Joseph Nocera, who conducted the research while working as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen's under the supervision of Biology professor Laurene Ratcliffe.Avoiding...
A U.S. wildlife biologist says the government is trying to find ways to prevent birds from running into power lines and wind turbines. Al Manville of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the Western Area Power Administration is working with the agency on a project in North Dakota that could reduce the number birds killed each year along the Central Flyway bird migration route, USA Today reported Tuesday. The researchers last year placed colorful diverters on power lines to give birds a...
U.S. scientists say many birds are migrating earlier because of global warming, but some might not be able to keep pace with changing climate. Researchers at Boston University and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences analyzed changes in the timing of spring migrations of 32 species of birds along the coast of eastern Massachusetts since 1970. Their findings show eight of 32 bird species are passing by Cape Cod significantly earlier on their annual trek north than they were 38 years...
Latest Ornithology Reference Libraries
This bird of prey is known more as a pigeon hawk. The Merlin is from the Northern Hemisphere with some migrating to subtropical and northern tropical areas during the winter. There has also been a discovery that there are two different, very distinct, species: the North American and the Eurasian. The North American Merlin was first described by a Swede taxonomist, Carl Linnaeus. The Merlin is between 9 and 13 inches long with a wingspan of 20-29 inches. The Merlin is an exceptionally...
The White-throated Hawk (Buteo albigula), is a bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae, which includes hawks, eagles and Old World vultures. In British usage, it would be called a buzzard rather than a true hawk. It is a rather small Buteo, 42 to 45 cm in length. It lives in the Andes mountains of South America and ranges down to the coast in the O’Higgins region of Chile, favoring wooded areas. It’s closely related to the more widely distributed Short-tailed Hawk and was...
The Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) is a small, dark colored crane. Its body is grey and the top of the head and neck is white, except for a patch of bare red skin above they eye. It’s one of the smallest cranes, but is still a fairly large bird, a 3.3 ft in length, weighing 8.2 pounds and a wingspan of 6.2 feet. It breeds in south-central and southeastern Siberia. Breeding is also assumed to occur in Mongolia. Over 80% of its population winters at Izumi, southern Japan. There are also...
The Great Egret (Ardea alba), also known as the Great White Egret, Large Egret, Great White Heron or Common Egret, is a large and widely distributed egret. Dispersed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions throughout the world, in southern Europe it’s rather localized. In North America it’s more widely distributed, and it’s everywhere across the Sun Belt of the United States and in the rainforests of South America. It’s occasionally confused with the Great White Heron...
The Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) is a small sized wader, although, it is the largest of the calidrid species. Their breeding habitat is tundra in the northeast parts of Siberia. They nest on the ground, laying about four eggs in a ground scrape. They are strongly migratory, wintering on the coasts in southern Asia through to Australia. This species forms extremely large flocks during the winter. It’s a rare vagrant to western Europe. This bird has short dark legs and a...
