Archive for surfbirds archive
Birds to Benefit from Snake Ban
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has banned the importation and interstate transportation of four nonnative constrictor snakes. Release of snakes into the wild is threatening birds and other animals in the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems across the United States. Continue reading
Increasing emissions targets will save billions, report finds
Major new analysis out today concludes that introducing tougher carbon emissions targets will save the UK, and other European countries, millions of pounds. It would also lead to significant health and environmental benefits. Continue reading
Habitat loss drives Sumatran elephants step closer to extinction
An immediate moratorium on habitat conversion is needed to secure a future for Sumatran elephants, conservation organization WWF says. The Sumatran elephant has been uplisted from “endangered” to “critically endangered” after losing nearly 70 per cent of its habitat and half its population in one generation. The decline is largely because of elephant habitat being deforested or converted for agricultural plantations. Continue reading
BirdLife and ITTO agree to pursue common goals on tropical forests
BirdLife International and The International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance cooperation between ITTO and BirdLife International through activities relating to the conservation and sustainable use of tropical forest biodiversity in accordance with the work programmes of both organisations. Continue reading
Will our birds fret that it’s been mild and wet?
Over half a million people will be taking part in the world’s biggest wildlife survey this weekend, the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch (28-29 January). Continue reading
Modern Day Birding Record Set in DC in 2011 Big Year Event
Jason Berry, a researcher at American Bird Conservancy – the nation’s leading bird conservation organization – has broken the modern day record for the number of bird species seen in Washington, D.C. in a single year. Continue reading
Endangered Bird Produces a Chick on U.S. Soil for Second Time in History
For the second time ever recorded, an endangered Short-tailed Albatross has nested in the United States and produced a chick. The recent discovery of the nest and chick on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands follows the fledging of the first U.S.-born chick last year at the same site by the same parents. Continue reading
One hundred year anniversary of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s heroic voyage
On 17th January (1912) one hundred years ago, Captain Robert Falcon Scott arrived at the South Pole – 33 days after his rival Amundsen. The rest, as they say, is history as sadly they never made it home, but for WWT this day played a pivotal role in its own history.
Searching for Pacific Petrels
Until recently, Beck’s PetrelPseudobulweria becki was only known from two specimens: a female taken at sea east of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea in 1928, and a male taken in the Solomon Islands in 1929. After a long gap of nearly 80 years it was only definitively re-recorded when, in July and August 2007, an expedition encountered the species on seven days and at at-least four localities off New Ireland. Continue reading
Targeting hunters to save Spoon-billed Sandpiper
It is estimated that at least 220 Spoon-billed Sandpipers, about half the global population, winter in Myanmar’s Gulf of Martaban. “Although not specifically targeted, Spoon-billed Sandpiper is regularly caught in nets that are set to catch other waders for food. Continue reading
