Nature lover captures rare moment of cuckoo flying with egg in its beak

THIS is the rare moment that a cuckoo has been caught flying through the air with an egg resting in its beak.

Stephen Davies caught the unusual moment when he stopped in the countryside near the Ochil Hills.

He got his camera out when he spotted a cuckoo flying from the nest and could not believe his eyes when he noticed a full egg resting gently in between its beak.

The 48-year-old from Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, did not realise how unusual the picture was until he checked his camera at home.

The phone shop manager said: "Two cuckoos actually flew in front of me. I stopped and got the camera out of the car and captured the female cuckoo carrying the egg.

"It looks like she found a nest then removed the eggs to lay her own eggs.

"I didn't know I had actually captured it. So when I got home I noticed it in my pictures, I knew it was something I've never seen before.

"I knew it was a female cuckoo when I saw the colouring of the bird.

Read more and see photos 

Egg accidentally cracked by Charles Darwin goes on display

Darwin's mistake among exhibits in show on birds' cultural impact at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

Mark Brown, arts correspondent

The Guardian, Monday 26 May 2014 18.54 BST

An egg mistakenly cracked by Charles Darwin is among the items in The Wonder of Birds exhibit. Photograph: Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

It is an unassuming object, a smallish, strangely glossy brown egg, and it is broken because of the carelessness of the last person you would expect – Charles Darwin.

"He squashed it into too small a box and it cracked, unfortunately," said curator Francesca Vanke, explaining the state of the spotted tinamou egg going on display at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

The object is the only known surviving egg from Darwin's HMS Beagle voyage during the 1830s. Probably drawn to its glossy sheen, Darwin signed it C. Darwin and brought it back to Britain after collecting it in Uruguay.

The egg was discovered by a volunteer in the collections of theUniversity Museum of Zoology in Cambridge five years ago and goes on display in Norwich as part of a summer art show exploring the cultural impact of birds.

"It is a coup," said Vanke, "but we have lots of coups."

Continued

Scientists find egg of bird presumed extinct

WELLINGTON: New Zealand scientists announced on Friday they had found the egg of an endangered bird that was presumed extinct for more than a century. 

Researchers found the New Zealand storm petrel egg on Little Barrier Island, off the northeast of the North Island, a year after the birds were tracked to breeding sites on the island. 

Scientists took the opportunity when the female was off the nest to check the egg, which is expected to hatch in April, and record data, Xinhua reported citing a statement issued by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) statement. 

"It was exciting to see the egg of a bird once thought to be extinct," Graeme Taylor, DOC principal science advisor, said in a statement leading the team. 

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Rare bird egg found at university

An egg of one of the world's most endangered species of bird, dating back almost 100 years, has been discovered at a university.

Details of the surprise find in a collection at the University of Aberdeen's zoology museum in 2008 have just been revealed.

The egg is 2-3cm long and is similar to the size of a small duck's egg, but it took five years to establish the egg's identity, including DNA analysis.

Breeding habits of the south Indian bird called Jerdon's Courser, or Rhinoptilus bitorquatus, are unknown and an egg has never been found by an ornithologist.

Experts hope that the discovery will help conservationists identify the species' egg in their work to save it from extinction.

Dr Alan Knox, the university's emeritus head of museums, said: "I was looking through drawers of uncatalogued eggs in the university's zoology museum when I spotted an egg labelled as belonging to this species.

"It was one of those eureka moments - finding something nobody else knows about, something so rare and exciting. I could hardly believe my eyes.

"My first question was how do you identify something that the books say has never been discovered?

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Rare UK crane egg given 24-hour guard - via Rebecca Lang

THE first common crane egg laid in western Britain for more than 400 years has been given a round-the-clock guard, conservationists say.

The nesting pair that produced the egg are part of the Great Crane Project, which has been rearing cranes in captivity since 2010 and reintroducing them to the Somerset Levels and Moors where they would have been found centuries ago.

The egg laid at a nest at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's (WWT) Slimbridge Wetland Centre is the first known to be laid by the project's cranes, which were hand-reared at the centre and the oldest of which only reached maturity this year.

Once widespread in Britain, the species was driven to extinction as a breeding bird by hunting and habitat loss by 1600, although a small population has been established in the Norfolk Broads since 1979.

A long lens video link has been set up to give visitors to the wetland centre and online a close-up view.

The cameras will also assist the guards to protect the egg against egg collectors.

Egg collecting has been illegal in the UK for almost 60 years but a few people still raid nests.

WWT's Nigel Jarrett said cranes were an iconic part of British wildlife that was all but lost for centuries.

"There is a long way to go before cranes become widespread again, but it is absolutely momentous to see this egg laid at Slimbridge," he said.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/rare-uk-crane-egg-given-24-hour-guard/story-e6frfkui-1226646522744#ixzz2Tq7P2yFK