UAE: Rare owl surprises researchers

By News from Elsewhere......media reports from around the world, found by BBC Monitoring

2 hours ago

The Omani owl was only discovered in 2013

An owl discovered only two years ago and thought only to exist in the Gulf state of Oman has been reportedly identified in the United Arab Emirates.

Researchers in the mountainous and protected wetland area of Wadi Wurayah in the east of the emirates say they heard the distinctive call of the rare Omani owl when they played recorded owl calls through speakers, The National newspaper reports. The team from the Emirates Wildlife Society said that the owl, Latin name Strix omanensis, responded to their recordings "with an hour-long singing session". The cliff-dwelling bird is so rare and difficult to pin down that it was only discovered in 2013, and only seven birds living in a valley in Oman were observed at the time.

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Supplemental feeding for endangered avian species

Date:

March 9, 2015

Source:

University of Kent

Summary:

Reproductive benefits and hidden costs of supplemental feeding for endangered avian species have been explored in a new study. The research examined the successful recovery of the once critically endangered Mauritius parakeet using more than twenty years of data spanning several generations.

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Habitat degradation, climate shifts impact survival of the white-collared manakin

Date:

March 6, 2015

Source:

USDA Forest Service - Pacific Southwest Research Station

Summary:

To better understand the interacting effects of habitat degradation and climate on bird populations, researchers spent 12 years studying the white-collared manakin, a fruit-eating tropical bird, in mature and young forests along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

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Britain's national bird: Red kite, puffin or robin? Voting opens to decide

TOM BAWDEN

ENVIRONMENT EDITOR 

Monday 16 March 2015

America has the bald eagle, France the Gallic rooster and India the peacock – but when it comes to national birds, Britain is notably lacking.

That looks set to change, however, thanks to a campaign devised by a leading ornithologist. David Lindo, the broadcaster also known as “The Urban Birder”, is asking Britons to pick their favourite bird from a shortlist of 10 – including red kites, kingfishers and, of course, robin redbreasts.

Members of the public have until general election day on 7 May to choose which British bird they would like to see represent the country, with barn owls, blue tits, wrens and blackbirds also in the running.

Mr Lindon says he will pass on the result of the vote to the Queen and the new Prime Minister – and lobby them to instate the winner as the UK’s national bird.

“I feel embarrassed as someone who lives in the United Kingdom that we don’t have a national bird. The US has had one since 1776, while places like Sweden, Latvia, Bhutan, Jamaica, Mexico all have one and we haven’t. We’re supposed to be the national leaders when it comes to being animal lovers. It’s high time we put our money where our mouths are,” he said.

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Falconer catches aggressive owl that terrorized Dutch town

PURMEREND, Netherlands (AP) — A falconer has captured an aggressive eagle owl that terrorized a Dutch town by swooping out of the sky and sinking its talons into residents' heads.

The bird earned the nickname "terror owl" in Purmerend, 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Amsterdam where it attacked some 50 people in the last year.

Some of the bird's victims required hospital treatment to stitch up deep scratches. Residents took to walking the streets with umbrellas or wearing hats to ward off aerial attacks.

Purmerend municipality announced that a falconer it hired caught the bird Friday. It said the bird was in good health and is awaiting a suitable new home.

Alderman Mario Hegger said the municipality would have preferred to leave the "magnificent bird of prey" alone but "it became too risky."

Source ..

What does a hen do with her unfertilised eggs?

Saturday 14 March 2015

A hen does not know if her eggs are fertilised or not. In fact (much like a human) a rooster can be infertile, so a hen's eggs might not be fertilised even if she is in a flock with a rooster.

Many modern breeds and commercial hybrid hens will do nothing with their eggs other than lay them and walk away. Many have had the instinct to brood [sit on their eggs to hatch them] bred out of them over generations. In a modern egg production facility, you do not want a hen to "go broody". When hens are ready to raise chicks, they will stop laying eggs for that period and it's very hard to convince them to give up the idea.

This does not mean that no hens will brood eggs; many breeds still retain their instincts to mother. Silkies, for instance, are renowned for their desire to sit on eggs. Other breeds, such as Orpingtons, Brahmas, Cochins, Marans, Cornish, and others go broody quite regularly. When a hen that has broody instincts lays an egg, she is forming a 'clutch' of eggs. She does nothing to care for these eggs other than hide them in a secure place until she is ready to sit on them. She will continue to lay eggs in this clutch until she has 'enough', which is a number anywhere from seven to as high as 20-plus. Once there are 'enough' eggs, a hormonal switch will occur that will put her into what's best described as a broody trance. She will stop laying eggs and begin to sit on them instead.

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Eagle makes history as it flies from the top of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa tower

An eagle has made history, becoming the first bird to fly from the planet’s tallest building.

Darshan, an imperial eagle, flew from the top of the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai with a tiny camera attached to its back, in what was the highest recorded bird flight in the world.

Freedom Conservation, an organisation that campaigns to raise awareness of threatened species, organised the epic feat.

Jacques-Olivier Travers, a falconer at Freedom Conservation, said: “This was an incredible challenge and the most difficult of my career.

"Not only is this the highest vertical flight that has ever been done, but the eagle also had to fly in a totally different environment, with strong wind disturbances caused by the skyscrapers.”

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