The Black-tailed Godwit rebounds in Sweden

After ten years of conservation efforts, one of Sweden’s rarest breeding bird species, the Black-tailed Godwit, is making a stunning recovery.

In 1758, Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus named one of the large waders of his native country Scopopax limosa. Linnaeus was famously the ‘father of modern taxonomy’ and it is to him that science owes its two-term, Latin naming system (‘binomial nomenclature’) for living species. In this case limosa derives from limus, meaning ‘mud’ – quite apt for a species biologically equipped to wade through wet grasslands with its distinctive long legs and long bill. And now, exactly 260 years after its Linnean naming, this particular wader – that many will recognise by its English common name, the Black-tailed Godwit - is making a stunning recovery in Sweden following several decades of decline.

The Black-tailed godwit is one of the rarest breeding bird species in Sweden and is Near Threatened globally. Although widespread with a large global population spanning western Europe to Central Asia and Russia, the species’ numbers have dropped alarmingly rapidly along significant parts of its range. The root cause lies unequivocally with the dawn of industrial agriculture. The plight of the Black-tailed Godwit is shared by many other European wading birds, notably the Curlew, Oystercatcher and Northern Lapwing. These species were once a familiar sight around Europe’s farmland but earlier mowing dates are disrupting the breeding season and modern drainage practices are destroying their habitats.

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‘Racist’ birdies ruffling feathers? Sweden renames ‘neger’ species

The names of some birds in Swedish have been changed by the Swedish Ornithological Society over concerns that they could sound racist.

The society has just compiled a complete list of bird names. Its employees have been receiving numerous questions from translators and bird watchers, who want to know the exact names of birds.

"We haven't had an official list of what all the birds in the world are called in Swedish until now, we just had an unofficial list put together about 10 years ago," Anders Wirdheim from the Swedish Ornithological Society told the Local. “We decided to compile a list and while we were doing that we decided to change the names of any birds that could have stirred up a debate,” he added.

Among the rechristened birds are all which include the word ‘’neger’’ (negro), for instance negerfinken. They changed it to the Swedish “svart,” meaning “black.”

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Swedish man dies of rare parrot fever, eight others infected

A man in the southern region of Sweden has died of parrot fever, a rare disease. Several people who spent time with the man during his illness are now also reported to have been infected.

A Swedish man recently died in the southern region of the country of a rare disease known as Psittacosis, or parrot fever.

Normally, it is passed from birds to other birds, but humans handling various types of birds or their droppings are sometimes infected.

While the bird-to-human form is rare, even rarer is human-to-human transmission.

Since the 75-year-old man's passing in March 2013, at least eight other people have become infected. All of the individuals, including his caretakers, had reportedly spent time with the man, according to The Local.

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