Buzz over sighting of 'extinct' woodpecker at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

PUBLISHED

MAY 9, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT

Birdwatchers hail reappearance of species here after it was spotted in nature reserve

Audrey Tan

Environment Correspondent

The great slaty woodpecker is not the most attractive of birds, with its bald head and grey cloak of feathers.

But a rare sighting near the summit of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve last week has got the birding community in Singapore buzzing with excitement.

The reappearance of the woodpecker, thought to be extinct in Singapore due to forest clearance during the Republic's developing years, has been described by veteran birdwatcher Alan OwYong as the greatest ornithological event in Singapore in the last decade.

"Since 1950, the great slaty woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in the world, has disappeared from our forests along with seven other woodpecker species," Mr OwYong, committee member of the Nature Society's (Singapore) Bird Group, told The Straits Times.

"Its reappearance a few days ago was most unexpected, as it is the rarest among the eight species."

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Positive signs for Rathlin Island corncrakes

8 May 2018

Few people in Northern Ireland will have ever heard the call of the once common corncrake, never mind seen one.

Modern farming methods are blamed as the prime factor for its retreat.

In a rare good news story for the migrant bird, a member of the rail family, it has been heard again on Rathlin Island, off the Antrim coast.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is crossing its fingers that the shy species on its red endangered list has returned to breed.

One of Ireland's rarest birds, the secretive creature has a distinctive call.

Its unmistakable "crex-crex" was heard in Rathlin at the weekend, much earlier in the season than usual, prompting hopes that it has successfully bred on the island where it had been heard and occasionally sighted in recent years.

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Woman trying to save ‘dazed’ owl gets attacked by bird in car

By Joshua Rhett Miller

May 9, 2018 | 1:16pm

This owl didn’t give a hoot that this lady was just trying to help.

A woman who spotted a disoriented great horned owl late Monday thought she was doing a good deed when she put the bird in her car and drove away for help – until it came to and attacked her behind the wheel and held her hostage.

“This owl, dazed when a motorist got it off Oracle Road last night, revived inside her car,” officials with the Arizona Game & Fish Department in Tucson said in a tweet. “It then latched onto her sleeve and steering wheel for some time.”

Mark Hart, a spokesman for the wildlife agency, told the Arizona Republic that the unidentified woman intended to “render aid” to the animal after it was apparently struck by a car. The woman’s mother contacted the agency after she became trapped inside her vehicle.

A department official then told the woman to pour water on the owl in an attempt to jar it loose, but instead the animal drank the water and kept its talons dug into the woman’s sleeve and her car’s steering wheel.

“She’s fortunate she wasn’t hurt,” Hart told the newspaper. “We have instances ranging from people trying to aide a coyote hit by a car and down on the street only to be bitten, to people separating young wildlife from their mothers in the mistaken notion that a mother has abandoned the small animal.”

The owl ultimately released its grip and hopped out of the car, Hart said. The animal appeared to be OK and was later spotted by the woman’s mother in the same area on Tuesday.

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Endangered Bird With Ankle Identifier Found on Lehigh University Campus

The bird was found with an ankle identifier, which means someone's probably looking for it right now

By Franki Rudnesky

Published at 5:41 PM EDT on May 11, 2018 | Updated at 5:52 PM EDT on May 11, 2018

This rare bird, believed to be a Sun Parakeet, was found on Lehigh University campus Thursday. Police are searching for its owner to hopefully return the bird home.

A rare, brightly-plumed bird was spotted on a college campus in Pennsylvania Thursday and police are now searching for its owner in hopes of returning the bird home.

Employees at Lehigh University in Bethlehem found a bird believed to be a Sun Parakeet, otherwise known as a Sun Conure, in a tree on campus.

The parakeet is an endangered species of parrot native to South America that can grow to be nearly two feet long.

Officers from the Lehigh University Police Department were able to place the bird in a cage. The bird, which police say is unharmed, was wearing an ankle identifier when found.

The bird has yellow, orange and green feathers, and its age is unknown.

The bird is currently being held at the Lehigh University Police Department while they try to track down the owner. Police have already received a couple of inquiries about the bird.

If you have information about the bird's owner, contact Lehigh University Police at 610-758-4200.

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Africa's Most Endangered Parrot Fighting for Survival

There are fewer than 2,000 Cape parrots left in South Africa's southern mistbelt forests.

By Christine Dell'Amore

PUBLISHED MAY 11, 2018

HOGSBACK, SOUTH AFRICA 

South Africa’s Hogsback State Forest is a magical preserve of dewy ferns and giant trees covered in a fuzzy lichen called old man’s beard. Rumor has it that the region’s mist-wreathed hills and plunging waterfalls inspired the literary imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien, the South African-born author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Hogsback is a haven for yellowwoods, South Africa’s national tree. Logging companies favor the tall evergreen for furniture, and since the late 1800s they’ve razed 60 percent of the country’s yellowwood forests.

The widespread loss of these native trees has had dire consequences for South Africa’s only native parrot, the Cape parrot, which relies on yellowwoods for food and nesting cavities. An often-fatal virus called psittacine beak and feather disease has also taken a toll. The virus’s origins are debated, but research suggests wild parrots may have caught it from captive birds kept in aviaries. (Learn more about the impacts of deforestation.)

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Bald eagle sightings are on the rise locally

By MARK TODD mtodd@starbeacon.com

May 13, 2018

CONNEAUT — Bald eagles, once on the road to extinction, have been seen in abundance in Ashtabula County in recent days, bird-spotters are reporting.

Large numbers of young birds have been seen along the Lake Erie shore, especially in the vicinity of Conneaut Harbor, observers said. Janet Szekely, who lives along the lake in Conneaut, has a front-row seat for the sightings.

Eagles often perch in trees on her property, said Szekely, who often takes a short trip east to the city’s harbor for a bit of bird-watching. Recently, she has seen large numbers of eagles on the harbor sandbar and breakwater.

“They’re everywhere in Conneaut Harbor,” she said. “I see them early in the morning.”

For three years, Szekely has maintained a Facebook page — Ashtabula County Eagles — that welcomes photos and comments from fans of the national symbol. Others who have posted to the page in recent days agree eagle sightings have been plentiful.

The resurgence of the bald eagle in Ohio is a wonderful success story, said Laurie Graber, a wildlife research technician with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The number of eagles seen locally mirrors population growth enjoyed in other parts of the state, she said.

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Chhatbir zoo seeks state bird baaz in India, abroad

 The Chhatbir Zoo in Punjab is set to welcome a new inhabitant — the majestic northern goshawk, ‘baj’ or ‘baaz’ in Punjabi, the state bird, that has not been sighted in the region for a long time. 

Published: 13th May 2018 09:13 AM  |   Last Updated: 13th May 2018 09:13 AM  |  A+A A-

By Harpreet Bajwa

CHANDIGARH: The Chhatbir Zoo in Punjab is set to welcome a new inhabitant — the majestic northern goshawk, ‘baj’ or ‘baaz’ in Punjabi, the state bird, that has not been sighted in the region for a long time. 

The development follows the wildlife department’s hunt for the bird spotted in the portraits of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of Sikhs, across the Middle East and Eastern Europe countries. Speaking to The Sunday Standard, Chief Wildlife Warden, Punjab, Dr Kuldeep Kumar admits that the state does not currently have the bird in captivity anywhere.

“We have taken permission from the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Central Zoo Authority to rescue a baaz from the wild. The bird has earlier been sighted on the foot hills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but we haven’t heard of any recent sighting. We are also trying to locate baaz in other parts of the country, chances of which seem bleak,” he says. 

“If we do not find the bird here (India) then we will have to get it from Middle East or Eastern European countries. We plan to get three to four pairs of the bird as the founder population to then facilitate breeding here. The infrastructure at the zoo has already been renovated for the new member,’’ says Kumar.

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