Rare albino turkey vulture found in Stuart

By Holly Kozelsky

May 13, 2018

STUART-Brenda Bowman figures her granddaughter’s got a leg up on her: 11-year-old Kylee Tyson is seeing something her grandmother is only seeing at the age of 63.

It was an albino turkey vulture, something even an expert has only heard about three times.

They saw it on April 29, when “my granddaughter and I went out to take an evening stroll. Kylee is the one who spotted it,” Bowman said. They live in Patrick County between Stuart and the state line.

“There were other vultures after it — 10 to 14. I think they were trying to kill it,” she said.

The large white bird “circled around and landed on the tractor shed. It was pretty smart,” she said. “It walked along the tractor roof and hid itself under a tree from the other vultures.”

She got her binoculars to get a closer look at what she had thought was a hawk. She saw it looked like a vulture.

She and Kylee “waited a while, then we walked on toward the tractor shed, trying to scare the black vultures off.”

The white vulture flew away after the black ones had left, she said. It flew to the back of her property toward a creek.

Read more  

Conservationists gather in Middle East to protect migratory birds

14 May 2018

The first ever global summit for migratory birds brought together key players from all over the world in Abu Dhabi, UAE this April. In addition to global strategies, great progress was made in tackling threats to birds in the Middle East. Here are the main outcomes.

By Dima Obeidat

“A Summit for the Flyways” united 100 different organisations from 70 different countries to address one problem: how to protect migratory birds on their incredible journey. And with millions of migratory birds passing through the Middle East, it was the perfect opportunity to tackle regional issues, too.

BirdLife took advantage of the fact that conservation giants of the Middle East would be under one roof by holding a Middle East Partnership Meeting prior to the launch of the Summit. H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, Board Member, Rapporteur of IFHC Governing Board and Managing Director, opened the meeting with a speech on the value of collaborative work, praising Birdlife’s partners for their hard work across the region, despite the challenging political climate.

The meeting’s keynote speaker, Dr Mike Clarke, CEO of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), took the opportunity to highlight the crucial role that local organisations play in spreading awareness of bird conservation among younger generations. Mike went on to share valuable insights on preserving bird habitats in the region. The meeting concluded with participants recommending strategies to further the work being done, with the support of BirdLife Chair Council, Mr. Khaled Irani.

Fruitful discussions continued throughout the Summit, with participants from the Middle East holding sessions on issues important to the region. For instance, illegal hunting and killing is still a major threat to birds. Assad Serhal, the Director General of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), urged the need to take action, and showcased success stories where collaborative work had made a big impact in the country.

Continued  

Eastern curlew, a visitor from Siberia and Alaska, draws calls for help to save it from extinction

ABC Far North 

By Kristy Sexton-McGrath

Posted Thu at 3:17am

A wildlife group is calling on the Federal Government to tighten the country's environment laws to help save a bird that migrates from as far as Siberia or Alaska each year from the brink of extinction.

BirdLife Australia says eastern curlew numbers have dropped by 80 per cent over the past three decades due to the destruction of their habitat along Australia's east coast.

The bird, not to be confused with its noisy cousin the bush stone curlew, takes up residence on mud and sand flats from Cape York to Tasmania.

They are known for their long bill and legs and eerie call and use their time in the country to fatten up before making their return.

BirdLife Australia's acting head of conservation Dr Jenny Lau says the bird is already critically endangered and she fears they will become extinct in the years to come.

She said direct Government action is needed to protect Australia's coastal habitats.

Read on 

Great White Pelican discovery in Turkey

9 May 2018

by Burak Özkırlı & Gui-Xi Young

A major stopover site of Europe’s Great White Pelicans has recently been discovered in Turkey. A count conducted by our Turkish partner Doğa Derneğishowed that more than 15,000 pelicans stop off at the Karacabey Floodplain to roost and feed during their spring migration.

The Sea of Marmara may be the smallest sea in the world, but it is now home to a very big discovery for bird lovers – a major stopover spot for more than 15,000 Great White Pelicans breaking up their epic spring migration journey. The site at the Karacabey Floodplain, in Turkey’s north-western region of Marmara, is of global significance because it holds at least half of the species European population during spring migration – and five percent of the world population. The wetland is now also considered important for other waterbird species such as Dalmatian Pelican and Glossy Ibis.

The discovery was made recently by Doğa Derneği (BirdLife Turkey) in the context of their ongoing work to safeguard migratory birds passing over the country along the Africa-Eurasia flyway. As part of their education and community outreach work on illegal bird killing – boosted in the last year thanks to funding by the 2017 Champions of the Flyway race – Doğa Derneği had been working in cooperation with the municipality of Karacabey and other local groups to co-organize a migratory bird monitoring event. Over these three days of systematic counting, the great pelican discovery was made!

Continued  

Incredible “Incubator Bird” to be saved by rat removal on Pacific island

8 May 2018

Kayangel Atoll is set to become the first inhabited island in the Pacific nation of Palau to be cleared of rats. As well as a healthier ecosystem for fascinating Endangered birds, residents look forward to better livelihoods through increased crop yields.

By Jessica Law

Read the project press release here

The Micronesian Scrubfowl Megapodius laperouse is a genius at inventing ways to keep its eggs warm. Those on the Northern Mariana Islands burrow into volcanic cinder fields or use the geothermal heat beneath the ground to warm their unhatched young. Across the Palau archipelago, they bury their eggs in large mounds of sun-soaked sand in beachside forests. Ingeniously, they incorporate the warmth of rotting vegetation into the construction, adding more to the pile to increase the heat of the nest, or removing it if it becomes too hot.

And that’s not the only remarkable thing about their upbringing, because Micronesian Scrubfowl chicks are super-precocial – meaning they hatch in a more mature condition than almost any other bird species. They emerge as fully-feathered miniature adults, ready to run, pursue prey and, almost uniquely among birds, can even fly on their first day of hatching.

But sadly, it seems they have been no match for rats. Invasive rats have been attacking bird nests and, without the timely intervention of a new project*, the Micronesian Scrubfowl’s extraordinary natural behaviours could have been lost forever. The species is currently classed as Endangered - and these birds aren’t the only ones feeling the devastation.

Read on 

Earth-Mounds In Australia May The Result Of Mound-Building Birds

MAY 20, 2018 @ 11:30 AM 484 2 Free Issues of Forbes

Many areas in the world are covered by hundreds of almost nine feet high, dome-like mounds with a diameter of ten to over hundred feet. In Washington state, the hillocks are called Mima-mounds after the Mima Prairie in Thurston County. In California and Oregon, they are named hogwallow-mounds, prairie-mounds in New Mexico and Colorado and pimple-prairies in the southeastern states. In South Africa, they are called "heuweltjies" or just little hills, in Brazil “campos de murundus” or the fields of mounds. In the Alps there are hump-meadows and even Australia has its own earth-mounds.

Various theories have been proposed over time to explain the strange little hills. First explorers believed that the Mima mounds were prehistoric burial sites, but no human remains were ever found there. In recent times, geologists explained the mounds as soil disturbed by earthquakes, sinkholes caused by chemical weathering, formed by glacial or periglacial activity, sediment accumulated around former tree stumps or the action of animals. Burrowing animals like gophers, insects or worms are indeed able to modify entire landscapes and this theory is supported by some recent computer models - by simulating the behaviour of burrowing mammals, a program can produce virtual mounds. Now, though, new research is suggesting another possible animal responsible for the mounds in the Australian outback: birds.

Continued  

Birds are dropping dead off Australia's coast, and it's all our fault

Confronting new images have revealed the cost of Australia's obsession with plastic, with appalled scientists recovering hundreds of fragments from the stomachs of fledgling chicks.

By Nicole Hasham

18 May 2018 — 9:26pm

Deep in their burrows, hungry shearwater chicks on Lord Howe Island await a meal. Their parents have been scouring the sea in search of fish and squid. Instead, they return to feed their babies clothes pegs, bottle tops and Lego pieces.

The flesh-footed sheerwater population at Lord Howe Island is dwindling due to a tidal wave of marine plastic being mistaken for food.

After 90 days the fledglings emerge from their burrows, stomachs bulging with plastic. They prepare for their first flight. Many are so malnourished they die outside the nest. Others make it to the beach, but their undeveloped wings flap in vain and waves engulf them.

Ian Hutton, a naturalist and museum curator on Lord Howe Island, pulls the bodies off the beach. Researchers slice open their stomachs to confirm the cause of death. Once, they found 274 plastic fragments.

“It’s so upsetting to think this bird has been reared by its parents, it’s been fed and it should have a chance to go to sea but it’s died,” he said.

Continued