Forgotten your penguin suit? Rare Albino bird makes debut at zoo in Poland but faces being left out in the cold as other animals could reject it for being the odd one out

Penguin also prone to diseases because it lacks a black pigmentation 

Hatched in mid-December at Gdansk Zoo but sex has not yet been identified 

Director Michal Targowski said bird would have been first to be attacked in wild

By HARRY HOWARD FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 19:30, 22 March 2019 | UPDATED: 02:20, 23 March 2019

An extremely rare albino penguin has made its debut at a Polish zoo but faces being rejected by other birds because it is the odd one out. 

The albino penguin hatched in mid-December at Gdansk zoo, and has been under veterinary care since then. 

In footage of its release, the timid little bird is shown being prodded into its new enclosure with its companions. 

In the wild, such an unusual-looking penguin would be rejected by other penguins and would have little chance of survival. 

At its new home, it has its parents and two other birds for company. 

The bird's sex has not yet been determined. It weighs 1.1 pounds and stands 11 inches tall.

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Coal mining poses new threat to Aquatic Warbler

29/01/2018

A fresh threat to breeding Aquatic Warblers has emerged in Poland's Polesie National Park.

Aquatic Warbler, which is categorised as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, is particularly affected by hydrological changes, including to wetland habitats. The species' global population decreased by more than 90 per cent during the 20th century, and there are currently only 10,200-13,800 singing males breeding in an area of 600 square miles. Now, potential coal mining within a few miles of Bubnów Marsh in Polesie National Park, is putting the species under further threat.

Bubnów Marsh, close to the Polish-Ukrainian-Belarus border, is one of the largest calcareous fen mires in Europe. It is a significant wetland area that survived drainage during the communist era. The marsh is protected by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, is an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area, a Cross-border Biosphere Reserve (Polesie Zachodnie) and a Natura 2000 area. In 2014, 389 singing male Aquatic Warblers were found at the marsh, representing between 3 and 4 per cent of the global population.

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Nesting in cavities protects birds from predators, to a point

Date: July 12, 2017

Source: American Ornithological Society Publications Office

Summary: Nesting in cavities provides birds with some protection from predators -- but it isn't foolproof. A new study explores how Poland's cavity-nesting marsh tits deal with predator attacks and finds that while tactics such as small entrances and solid walls do help, adaptations like this can only take the birds so far.

Read on

Monster slugs are attacking birds in Europe

Slugs aren't usually considered predators.

BRYAN NELSON

August 29, 2016, 5:28 p.m.

Death by slug: It's not a good way to go, but that's exactly what's happening to baby birds in Poland. Researchers there have witnessed a surprising pattern of large slugs of the Arion genus crawling into the nests of birds and eating the hatchlings alive,reports New Scientist.

A trail of slime is the only evidence remaining from such attacks. The behavior is so unusual that the birds' parents don't even try to defend them, possibly because they don't see the slugs as a threat until it's too late. One parent bird was even witnessed incubating a slug feeding on its dead chicks.

“The actual moment of slugs predating on nestlings isn’t easy to observe,” explained Katarzyna Turzańska from the University of Wroclaw in Poland, one of the researchers in the study. "You are more likely to come across the traces of the ‘tragedy’: dead or alive nestlings with heavy injuries, covered in slime – and often slugs’ droppings found nearby."

The researchers' work appeared in the Journal of Avian Biology.

Turzańska and colleague Justyna Chachulska have been researching this behavior since they observed it for the first time while studying whitethroat birds near Wroclaw, in Poland. Although predation by slugs has been recorded before across Europe, almost all of these reports pertain to bird species that nest close to the ground. That giant slugs would seek out treetop-nesting birds as food is a surprise, however. It appears unprecedented.

Slugs in the Arion genus can grow quite large, and they'll eat almost anything. While most slugs spend their time dining on leaves and rotting plants, they have been known to devour earthworms and other smaller slugs. Decomposing animals are certainly on the menu as well. And, apparently, now they've expanded their appetite to include live chicks.

Read on