Latest Ornithology Stories
Scientists on Tuesday published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology their work on a completely reconstructed fossil of a giant penguin that lived in New Zealand some 25 million years ago, work that will give researchers insight into prehistoric penguin diversity. The fossil of the Kairuku -- Maori for “diver that returns with food” -- penguin, a bird that stood 4 feet 2 inches tall, was discovered embedded in a cliff at Waimate in the South Island in 1977 by Dr. Ewan Fordyce, a...
There are many untruths associated with birds and bird feeding and they can be extremely persistent, regardless of the actual facts. Being in the wild bird feeding business, Duncraft hears them all! One amazing myth that persists is that hummingbirds migrate to South America by hitching rides on the backs of Canadian geese. Canadian geese don’t ever go to South America, much less carry a passenger on their way! Here, Duncraft gives the facts behind five more bird feeding myths. (PRWEB)...
HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection has begun its annual live, 24-hour webcast of a nesting pair of peregrine falcons living on a ledge on the Market Street side of the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg. Three cameras chronicle the falcons while streaming the footage live on the Internet to viewers around the world. "Technology enables us to provide the world's bird lovers with a front-row seat to...
Thousands of snowy owls have made the journey from the Arctic into the contiguous 48 U.S. states this winter, with sightings having been reported in Idaho, Montana, Missouri, Massachusetts, North Dakota, and New York. Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute in Montana, told Laura Zuckerman of Reuters that the mass migration into the south is "unbelievable" and "the most significant wildlife event in decades." "A certain number of the iconic owls fly south from their Arctic...
An international team of researchers say that they have unearthed a 190-million-year-old dinosaur nesting site that they are calling the oldest such location in the world. In fact, according to a January 23 press release announcing the discovery, lead author and University of Toronto Mississauga biology professor Robert Reisz and colleagues claim that the newly discovered excavation site, which is located at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa, pre-dates the oldest...
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- If you are interested in connecting with wildlife in your own backyard, beginning Monday, Jan. 23, the Pennsylvania Game Commission will be selling bluebird nesting boxes at its Harrisburg headquarters at 2001 Elmerton Avenue. The boxes sell for $9.54 (includes sales tax), and customers can select from assembled boxes or kits that can be assembled as a wood-working project. "Bluebirds are early nesters, so now is the time to...
Adapting to changing environmental conditions in the Southern Ocean Wandering albatrosses have altered their foraging due to changes in wind fields in the southern hemisphere during the last decades. Since winds have increased in intensity and moved to the south, the flight speed of albatrosses increased and they spend less time foraging. As a consequence, breeding success has improved and birds have gained 1 kilogram. These are the results of the study of an international research team...
HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Game Commission officials are urging wildlife enthusiasts to join the tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the United States in the Audubon Society's 112th Annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC), which will take place Dec. 14 through Jan. 5. "Bird enthusiasts, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists, will head out on an annual mission - often before dawn - to make a difference and to see nature...
Binocular Brigades Volunteer Up and Down the Hemisphere NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The longest running Citizen Science survey in the world, Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place from December 14, 2011 to January 5, 2012. Tens of thousands of volunteers throughout North America will brave winter weather to add a new layer to over a century of data. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111205/DC17057) "Audubon was a social network...
Scientists believe that baby turtles have the ability to communicate with each other before hatching, and can arrange to emerge from their eggs at the same time. Researchers from the University of Western Sydney said that Australia's Murray short-necked turtle embryos synchronized their hatching to prevent smaller turtles emerging alone and being attacked by predators like goannas and foxes. They believe unhatched turtles may be able to sense each other's heart vibrations or may detect...
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...
