Latest news with #birders
E&E News
14-07-2025
- General
- E&E News
Judge orders FWS to think again about a ‘secretive' bird's critical habitat
A federal judge ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday to reconsider its decision not to designate critical habitat for the threatened eastern black rail, a bird some fear is at risk both from overenthusiastic birders and a big liquefied natural gas project. In what amounts to a notable but incomplete victory for environmentalists, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss directed the federal agency to take a second look at the case for and against designating critical habitat. He left the final designation decision, though, up to FWS. 'After cataloging the threats to the eastern black rail's habitat at length, the [earlier decision] contains no discussion of whether or to what extent the birds would benefit from a critical habitat designation,' Moss wrote. Advertisement The environmentalists who challenged the Fish and Wildlife Service's initial decision not to designate critical habitat had urged Moss to order not just another assessment but an actual designation. Still, they welcomed Moss' order for a do-over.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- The Guardian
Birdwatch: a newish arrival to England's southern shore means gulls galore
I rarely go out without my binoculars. When I do, I feel rather tense, in case an unusual bird should appear. But I decided that a stroll through Gravesend with my two-year-old grandson was unlikely to test my birding skills. On the way, I showed Sammy the usual sparrows, starlings, feral pigeons and a flock of black-headed gulls loafing about on the Thames foreshore. Then I noticed that some had a blacker head than their familiar cousins, and their wings were not tipped with black, but pure white. These features, along with their blood-red bill, made them look like a black-headed gull with a makeover. They were, of course, Mediterranean gulls. Back in Somerset, this is a scarce visitor – I've seen just one this year on my coastal patch. But in Kent they are common residents, and we now see them every time we visit Sammy's favourite playground. The species' name is misleading, as Mediterranean gulls are not especially common around the Med. When I began birding, they mainly bred near the Black Sea, and were considered globally threatened. But in recent decades they have spread north and west to colonise Britain. Yet unlike other newish arrivals, such as the collared dove, Cetti's warbler and great white egret, they have stayed under the radar – probably because people tend to lump them into the catch-all category 'seagull'. So next time you are visiting a seaside town in southern England, look out for these attractive birds.
Telegraph
27-06-2025
- Telegraph
What it's like to swim with puffins – while disguised as one
It's 7.45am in west Pembrokeshire and an impromptu convoy is snaking down a back road to nowhere. Delivery drivers scowl in passing places as cars stream past. We're en route – that's me and eight other cars – to Martin's Haven. More precisely, we're en route to Skomer Island nature reserve to experience the largest puffin colony in southern Britain. In late-May The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales counted 43,626 puffins on Skomer, a new record. How could it be so precise? 'The island is broken into seven sections and we systematically count every bird: on land, rafting on the sea and estimate the number in the air,' explains Skomer warden Leighton Newman. 'It is,' he adds with masterful understatement, 'no small undertaking'. From early April, when they arrive to breed, until their departure in late July, puffins are the big draw for the 250 birders who visit Skomer daily. I'm sure they have a blast striding along cliffs. There is an alternative, however. The big draw for the 250 birders who visit Skomer daily. I'm sure they have a blast striding along cliffs. There is an alternative, however.
New York Times
27-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
To Take on Trump, Think Like a Lion
One late afternoon long ago at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, I was with a group of birders when we located a pride of sleeping lions. As evening approached, they yawned big-fanged yawns and slowly roused. About 10 in total, scarred veterans and prime young hunters. It was time for them to hunt. But first they licked one another, pressed bodies and indulged in much face rubbing. They reaffirmed, 'Yes, we are together, we remain as one.' Only then did they set off. Their tawny bodies flowed up into the tall golden grass along the ridge of a low hill. One sat; the others kept walking. Ten yards on, another sat while the others walked. And so on until the ridge was lined with a hidden picket fence of hungry lions all attentively gazing onto a plain where a herd of unsuspecting zebras grazed. Then one, who'd remained standing, poured herself downhill. Her job was to flank and then spook the zebras into running uphill, directly into her veteran sisters and their spry younger hunters. Rubbing noses does not catch a zebra. But only after the lions rubbed noses and reaffirmed a shared identity were the zebras in any danger. Those lions showed me that a sense of community is prerequisite for coordinated strategy. They did not succeed in that hunt. But they would try again. Failure, these lions had learned, is necessary for success. Like the lions, I learned about success through failures. My earliest lessons were in seemingly lost causes. As a child poring over picture books in Suffolk County on Long Island, N.Y., my favorite was about birds of prey — eagles, ospreys, peregrine falcons — all endangered at the time. By my teens I'd read sickening accounts of how DDT was causing their eggs to break. I assumed I'd never see any of these magnificent raptors: Complete extinction was expected. I had seen 'landscapers' in our neighborhood spraying trees, insects raining down, and robins eating those insects and going into convulsions right in the street, while I was walking home from school. But in 1966, several adamant people sued the county's mosquito commission to stop the indiscriminate spraying of DDT in our salt marshes. They shocked everyone by winning, a prelude to the banning of the destructive pesticide nationwide in 1972 when I was in high school. Half a century later, those doomed birds have recovered. Art Cooley, a high school biology teacher who led the effort in Suffolk County, reflected years later, 'It's possible for a small group of people who are committed and have their facts right to really make a change in the way society does business.' Sometimes facing what seems hopeless is how we realize what is possible. As individuals we cannot always formulate the full fix. But we can be a part of a movement to forge one. And I believe a fix to correct the depredations of the White House's current occupant is coming. The Trump administration continues slashing funds and services that have protected families and seniors; kept our land, air and waters clean; kept poor children fed and vaccinated; enabled American science to be on the cutting edge of medicine and technology; honored the nation's social safety net; and on and on. Summer jobs that our students had lined up on public lands and in laboratories have been canceled and former students have lost their full-time dream jobs. Everyone will be touched by one or more of these assaults. We have seen acquiescence by tech billionaires, big law firms caving to the president, and dozens of colleges and universities abandoning their commitment to diversity. But acquiescence is futile. Keeping one's head down is stupid. As the historian Timothy Snyder noted in his book, 'On Tyranny,' appeasement is how people cede their power to would-be tyrants. The public, states, the judiciary and private institutions are stepping up. The administration is facing a barrage of legal challenges to its policies. So far, as of May 22, in at least 170 rulings, courts have stayed some of the administration's polices. We are now seeing united opposition by 150 universities and several big law firms. As the administration dismantles agencies and policies that protect people, we must all say, very publicly, what is on our minds. We must support the courts and people skilled at defending the Constitution. We can reverse fear and acquiescence, energize public engagement, and demonstrate how unpopular these moves are. If the rule of law holds, if voters wake Congress, the country will come back on keel. We need a laser focus on election integrity for 2026 and 2028. Without functional elections, we're lost. We must support independent media. The huge cuts to scientific research and government agencies threaten to derail cutting-edge medical and environmental research that can save lives and perhaps protect agriculture and coastal communities from the chaos of warming and extreme weather. We must loudly oppose those cuts. Already universities are slowing admissions of Ph.D. students. One missing generation of scientists means the end of U.S. dominance; no one will be on hand to train a new generation. Like those waking lions, we don't know how the coming challenges will play out. We know that there will be failures and that success is possible. But it's important that we now reaffirm our sense of pride, our shared purpose, our dedication to our common good. As the lions showed me, community comes before strategy. So many people are waiting in the tall grass of decency, ready to rush out to restore the nation that we have all loved, the great America that promises liberty and justice for all. So let us rouse and rub noses and greet and remind ourselves who we are.
CTV News
25-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Animal centre issues plea to hummingbird feeders after bird poisoned in Victoria, B.C.
An animal welfare organisation in Victoria, B.C., is calling on birders to be cautious hummingbird was fed a toxic concoction that will ultimately lead to its demise. Wildlife rescue centre MARS issued a statement on social media Thursday saying it had taken in a hummingbird that was suffering a fatal fungal infection after being fed honey, or another substance detrimental to her health. The small bird was left unable to retract her tongue after fungal spores had germinated in her mouth, either on her tongue or in her gullet, a veterinary technician from the rescue centre said in the post. The bird will inevitably die because she can no longer feed. The post requested those with hummingbird feeders use a specific sugar water mixture that will safely lure birds to a home, comprising only one-part white sugar to four parts water. No organic, raw or brown sugar should be used, and no sugar substitutes like powdered sugar, honey, or artificial sugars and sweeteners. A concerning reminder for those with bird feeders to not use 'toxic red color liquids, such as kool aid,' was also issued. Plain white sugar with water is a concoction most similar to a bird's natural diet of flower nectar, and thus should be the only option, the centre said. Sugar water mixture should be changed every couple of days, especially during high temperatures as it will begin to ferment if left outside for too long. 'If you can't or won't do this, please do not put out a feeder at all,' the post advised.
