Results from the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Big Garden Birdwatch revealed a decline in back yard birds across the island nation. Resident and migrant birds have abandoned residential gardens for wilder areas.
The RSPB believes the mild winter across Europe resulted in fewer birds migrating to the UK and more birds feeding in the countryside.
The House Sparrow was the top back yard bird with just under 4.5 per garden.
The first Bald Eagle nest in 200 years was discovered recently in Philadelphia. The birds are being monitored by wildlife officials but the nest location is not being revealed to the public.
Results from the recent Great Backyard Bird Count reveal that more migratory birds across the United States are remaining in their summer breeding grounds year-round.
Birds are a sensitive indicator of changes in the environment; changes in distribution occur long before population changes as birds can simply fly to locations better suited for survival. Many more years of data are required before this year’s results can be considered a larger trend pointing to global climate change.
Read more about the changes in migratory bird habits across the United States.
Four Black-tailed Godwits, an endangered species across Europe, have been nesting in the Ribble Estuary of Lancashire for the past decade. The two pairs are due to return to the nesting grounds soon, and when they do, they’ll be under the watchful eye of a group of volunteers.
Godwits are endangered due to loss of habitat but also because their beautiful eggs are prized by collectors who steal them. The Fylde Bird Club is working with the RSPB to guard the two Lancashire nests 24 hours a day to ensure the eggs will reach maturity.
Chinese scientists have implanted electrodes into a pigeon’s brain to control behavior by electrical stimulation. Using remote control, the scientists have been able to command the bird to such tasks as turning during flight and landing.
The stimulation to the robo-pigeon’s brain is controlled by computers. Robot birds might be used for tasks like surveillance, rescue and mapping in the future.
The province of Zuid Holland in the Netherlands has given permission to fauna management to shoot geese outside of protected areas. Permission was granted considering the overpopulation of geese in the province are causing significant damage to agriculture.
The fauna management group consists of landowners, forest rangers and hunters. Besides shooting, the group was also given permission to capture geese and shake eggs. Shaken eggs do not hatch and when they are replaced in the nest the geese will not produce more eggs.
The Dutch town of Katwijk is urging residents to take measures against seagulls nesting town rooftops. The relatively mild winter is coming to an end and experts say the gulls’ breeding season could start early this year.
Advice on the Katwijk city website advises residents to take a stroll on flat rooftops a few times per week to deter gulls from nesting there. Plastic raptors or owl statues are also suggested as a means of scaring off potential nesters. Laying wires or nets may also ward off the gulls.
Friesland in the Netherlands is the only area in the EU where the plundering of Lapwing nests is not only allowed but encouraged. The tradition of finding, stealing and then eating the first found egg of the year is rewarded by local government.
The first Frisian Lapwing egg of 2007 was found by Christiaan Noordhuis of Bolsward on Wednesday, March 7.
At 6pm Wednesday evening a representative of the Queen, Ed Nilpels, followed protocol by accepting the first Lapwing egg at the Leeuwarden provincial hall. Nijpels must eat the egg according to tradition. Noordhuis’ reward for the egg: EUR 15.
Several years of meager monsoons have left World Heritage bird sanctuary Keoladeo Ghana National Park in India without the water needed to sustain bird life. The wetlands, once over run by breeding storks, cranes, herons, ducks, and other birds, are now dry and barren.
Pumps have been sucking up groundwater from the park to nearby farms which have suffered from seasons of drought. The thousands of migratory birds that usually return to the park to breed over the winter have had to find alternative locations to raise their chicks.
If the dry trend continues in the park, it may lose its World Heritage site status.
The pair of White-tailed Eagles that successfully fledged a chick last year in the Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands has returned. They were the first White-tailed Eagles to breed in the Netherlands since the Middle Ages.
The pair are busy preparing the nest which they used last year. A webcam has been placed on the nest so visitors will be able to observe the birds. The exact location of the nest has not been revealed to the public and the area remains inaccessible so as to not disturb the birds. The webcam will be broadcast on the website www.staatsbosbeheer.nl from 08 March.
The pair successfully fledged one chick last year. The young eagle is living close to the area it was born and has been spotted around the Oosvaardersplassen throughout the seasons. The sex of the bird is unknown.
The Oostvaardersplassen is an ideal area for the eagles to breed as they can remain all year. They usually sustain on fish but in the winter if the fish supply is diminished they will also feed on deer carcasses.
