“The Indian government has taken the crucial first step in reversing the plunge to extinction of three vulture species, by ordering a halt to the production and sale of the veterinary drug diclofenac within three months.” Read the full story India bans production and sale of vulture death drug at BirdLife International.
“Biologists alarmed by an explosion of cormorants plan to slaughter 7,200 of the birds in Ohio, including most of the booming colony on an island in the state’s largest reservoir.” Read the full story Wildlife officials fight aquatic birds.
Conservation groups have gone to court to try to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from removing a tiny owl from the endangered species list. The cactus ferruginous pygmy owl — which is only about 6 inches long and weighs less than 3 ounces — has been at the center of a battle between environmentalists and developers for years.
The population of Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix) is rising in the Netherlands. This year park rangers and volunteers counted 23 of the bird in the National Park de Sallandse Heuvelrug in the province Overijssel. That’s the highest count in the last six years.
Last year only 13 birds were counted. In 2002 only 8 birds were found.
The Black Grouse is a protected species in the Netherlands and is extremely vulnerable. To preserve the species in this country, the agencies Staatsbosbeheer and Natuurmonumenten have been working together to improve the habitat for the birds.
The preservation agencies are working to improve the variety of plant species found in the heathlands where the birds live and breed. This will insure that insects thrive in the area, which is important for the Black Grouse as their young feed almost exclusively on bugs. Adult grouse feed on grasses, weeds and other plants. Improving the landscape for the grouse also has benefits for other ground-breeding birds, as well as lizards, butterflies, snakes and even deer.
The offspring of migratory birds arriving in the Netherlands this spring are starving to death. The chicks feed on caterpillars, but due to earlier spring weather the caterpillar population is peaking before the chicks have a chance to hatch. Read the full story Earlier Spring Starves Migratory Birds at LiveScience.
Dutch bird protection groups SOVON and Vogelbescherming have named 2006 the Year of the Skylark (Alauda arvensis). The Skylark population in the country is declining due to decimation of habitat. The bird agencies will conduct a study in 2006 on the population of the species in the Netherlands. The groups hope the study will inspire action to save the Dutch Skylark population. The groups are seeking volunteers to help in a nation-wide Skylark count.
Smuggling in the Middle East and Asia is driving some falcon species to extinction. The black market in birds of prey can yield bigger profits than selling drugs or weapons. Read the full story Falcon smugglers swoop to profits, endanger birds from Reuters.
“Eighteen globally threatened species of bird occur in the marshes between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, alongside three types of bird that are found almost nowhere else in the world. Drained of water during the Saddam Hussein era, 90% of the marshes became almost devoid of wildlife. Since the collapse of the regime, a rehabilitation programme has begun. Water has started to return to the internationally important wetland, restoring a vital habitat that is critical for the survival of several bird species in the region.” Read the full story at BirdLife International.
Did you know that 19 of the world’s 21 species of albatross are seriously threatened by longlining, a form of sea fishing? The most at-risk species, the Amsterdam Albatross, has only 17 breeding pairs remaining in the wild.
100,000 albatrosses die each year on fishing hooks, many from longline fishing. Longline fishing fleets set out lines as long as 80 miles. Each line contains thousands of hooks baited with squid and fish, which attract the albatrosses. It is estimated that a third of the albatross deaths are caused by illegal fishing operations.
Save the Albatross is a campaign begun in 2000 by the organzation Bird Life International, in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
The website of the campaign highlights solutions to the problems caused by longline fishing. It also outlines steps the organization has taken to save albatrosses all around the world. Albatross species and their way of life are also explained in detail. How the campaign is progressing and how readers can help the campaign are also topics.
“Georgia wildlife biologists are getting federal funding to bushwhack their way into the Okefenokee Swamp in search of the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, believed extinct until last year.” Read the full story Scientists to seek once presumed-extinct bird in the Macon Telegraph.
