Endangered Scarlet Macaws have established a breeding colony on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The colony consists of macaws born in captivity at the ZooAve Center.
Read more about the program: Endangered parrots born in captivity reproduce in wild.
Volunteers working in the field for BirdLife Malta have faced danger as they report on illegal hunting and trapping activities. Earlier this week a car belonging to volunteers of the Spring Watch Camp was vandalized. Two tires were cut and the windshield was smashed.
In a separate incident this season, vandals left pieces of wood with nails in them along the path of volunteers’ cars, in an attempt to puncture the tires. The volunteers are reporting on direct violations to the EU Birds Directive.
Source: Spring Watch Camp volunteers face increasing threats and attacks
A Black Lark has been spotted by British birders at the sand dunes of Winterton-on-Sea. The bird was first reported by a Winterton-on-Sea resident on Sunday afternoon. Since the sighting was posted online, hundreds of twitchers have come to Winterton-on-Sea to try and get a glimpse of the rare bird.
The Black Lark is native to Russia and Kazakhstan. It has only been seen in the United Kingdom twice before: once in 1984 and again in 2003.
Source: What a LARK! Twitchers throng lonely coastline as rare bird visits Britain for only third time ever
Plans for the construction of a £500m onshore wind farm in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland have been rejected by Scottish ministers because of the significant adverse impact it would have on rare and endangered birds in the area. The wind farm, which would be one of Europe’s largest, had been objected to by nearly 11,000 islanders and has been in the middle of a controversy since 2005.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) says the wind farm could wreak havoc on an environmentally sensitive area. The Golden Eagle is one of the protected bird species in the area.
Source: Endangered birds come first: Scottish ministers say no to huge wind farm on Lewis peatland
Today we visited Madurodam, the smallest city in the Netherlands. The popular tourist attraction near the Hague is a model of a Dutch town at a 1:25 scale, composed of typical Dutch buildings and landmarks. There were a lot of Jackdaws walking around the tiny streets and buildings. This was actually quite funny to watch and with a little imagination they were like giant birds straight out of a bad monster movie.
For the third year in a row the Dutch White-tailed Eagles at Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands have successfully hatched, and this time there are two chicks. Until recently it was thought that Europe’s largest bird of prey would never breed in the Netherlands again. Twelve years ago the WWF tried to introduce the eagle back into the Netherlands, but this plan never materialized. The birds in the Oostvaardersplassen have come to the Netherlands on their own and have received much media attention.
A webcam that was placed at the nest recorded one chick in 2006 and another one in 2007. This year the eagles decided to nest somewhere else and left the cam-fitted nest. This week two new chicks were spotted by chance in photos made from a bird-counting plane of Staatsbosbeheer, an organization that controls and conserves Dutch forests. This is the first time that two little White-tailed Eagles were born at the site.
Source: Twee zeearendjongen in Flevoland
I’ve been trying to find a list of bird species that can be found on all continents except Antarctica, and this has proven rather difficult. There’s a short article on Wikipedia that explains that a species is said to have a cosmopolitan distribution if it can be found almost anywhere around the world. It then gives some examples such as the Painted Lady butterfly, Brown Rat and of course Humans. I’ve started to make a list of bird species and came up with the following so far:
The last two are obviously introduced to several continents by humans, but I’ve included them in the list because they are breeding in the wild in significant numbers, and the list is already so short! Surely there must be more species then this.
What other birds can be found on all six continents? Can you help to expand this list?
Check out this video of back yard birds feeding in Hampshire, Great Britain. The birds are European finches including Eurasian Siskins and European Goldfinches.
Check out this super-cute video of back yard birds set to Funkytown. Do you get any of the featured birds in your yard?
A 70-year-old Belgian was arrested by Dutch police in Liempde last Saturday for possessing 32 illegally-held birds. The birds, including Chaffinches and two types of lark, were found to be illegally ringed. The handler was fined €1250.
The birds were confiscated by authorities and will be examined. If they are healthy the birds will be released into the wild.
In recent years the Netherlands has seen an increase in illegal bird trade. In this case the police were tipped off by a citizen.
