October 26, 2011 – 3:56 pm
It’s not every day you get a chance to look back in time at a bird that probably no longer exists. But Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientists were able to do that with the spectacular Imperial Woodpecker of Mexico, when researcher Martjan Lammertink tracked down the only known film footage ever taken of this raven-sized [...]
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Posted in Birds, conservation, Uncategorized
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Also tagged birding, Birds, birdwatching, Campephilus imperialis, endangered species, fieldwork, Imperial Woodpecker, Martjan Lammertink, Tim Gallagher, travel, video
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September 15, 2011 – 2:18 pm
Just a day after the news of Machi the Whimbrel’s shooting by hunters on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe (see previous post) comes the report that a second satellite-tracked bird also died in the same hunting area on the island. The second Whimbrel’s name was Goshen, a female that had been tracked since August 2010 [...]
September 13, 2011 – 9:37 pm
A migrating Whimbrel named Machi has been shot on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, French West Indies. The bird (pictured at left) had likely landed to rest up after detouring around Tropical Storm Maria. Machi became one of thousands of shorebirds that are hunted for sport each fall—but she stood out from the flock because [...]
In a year that started with six of southeastern Arizona’s driest months on record, wildfires have burned nearly a million acres of mountain forests in the state. Though fire is an integral part of this western ecosystem, the burned areas are so large this year that the region’s incredible diversity of hummingbirds may be short [...]
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Posted in Birds, conservation, Uncategorized, what you can do
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Also tagged Arizona, birding, Birds, birdwatching, fires, hummingbirds, Kaytee, SABO, Sheri Williamson, Southeast Arizona Bird Observatory
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The emergency effort led by Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to save Spoon-billed Sandpipers got off to a rousing start with a flurry of hatching in the last few days. In all, 17 tiny sandpiper chicks have hatched, right on schedule as the team were transporting eggs from the field site where they have been [...]
Gerrit Vyn, a producer in our Multimedia program, has been spending the summer in remote eastern Russia filming one of the world’s most endangered birds, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. In the last post he sent us, he described the plight of this species as well as his first sighting of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Here’s his next [...]
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Posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, slideshow, travel
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Also tagged birding, Birds, birdwatching, endangered species, fieldwork, Gerrit Vyn, photos, shorebirds, sightings, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, travel, Wildfowl Wetlands Trust
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In the arctic tundra of eastern Russia, a sparrow-sized shorebird with a one-of-a-kind beak is facing extinction—and a few scientists are doing all they can to save it. In recent years the Spoon-billed Sandpiper‘s population has dropped by a staggering 25 percent per year. Fewer than 200 pairs now remain. So this year, shorebird experts [...]
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Posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, slideshow, travel
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Also tagged arctic, birding, Birds, birdwatching, endangered species, fieldwork, Gerrit Vyn, Russia, shorebirds, sightings, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, travel
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On an overcast and occasionally rainy day in Cape May, the Cornell Lab Redheads and Anti-Petrels found enough good “gets” to offset the painful misses from a slow day of songbird migration. Both teams won their divisions in the 2011 World Series of Birding: the Redheads won Cape May County with 163 species, and the [...]
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Posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, News, slideshow, travel
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Also tagged Andy Johnson, Anti-Petrels, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Charles Eldermire, France Dewaghe, Hope Batcheller, Jay McGowan, photos, Redheads, Scott Haber, shorebirds, sightings, travel, World Series of Birding
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(The Redheads and the Anti-Petrels are in southern New Jersey scouting their routes for the World Series of Birding on Saturday, May 14. More info and scouting reports.) Dusk is gathering under the pines at Belleplain. Swainson’s Thrushes and Veeries called off and on through the day, but what’s ruling the airwaves right now is [...]
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Posted in Birds, News, slideshow, travel
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Also tagged Belleplain, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Charles Eldermire, France Dewaghe, New Jersey, photos, sightings, travel, World Series of Birding
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It’s been two weeks since Team Sapsucker set the Big Day record in Texas—but that’s not quite the end of the 24-hour birding marathons. The World Series of Birding is next Saturday, May 14, in New Jersey, and in this post and the next we’ll introduce the two teams we’re sending: the Redheads, made up [...]
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Posted in Birds, conservation, News, travel
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Also tagged Andy Johnson, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Hope Batcheller, Jay McGowan, Redheads, Scott Haber, travel, World Series of Birding
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