Monthly Archives: May 2006

The Bird Hospital Of Delhi

by Amy Posted on 24 May 2006

In March as part of our visit to Rajasthan in India we had the chance to visit a bird hospital in Delhi. The hospital is run by Jains at the 16th-century Digambara Jain Temple.

Jain Bird Hospital, Delhi, India
Mural on the Jain Bird Hospital

Followers of the Jain religion revere all life and are vegetarians. Some strict observers wear cloths in front of their mouths in order to avoid accidental inhalation of insects, and brush the ground before them as they walk, so as not to step on any living thing.

Unfortunately we arrived at the hospital after the normal opening times and could only have a quick look at the facility. Here are some photos we took at the hospital.

Top left to bottom right: The exterior of the temple complex; the hospital facility; some patient roosts; the “small birds ward”.



The exterior or the temple complex


The hospital facility


Patient roosts


“Small Birds Ward”

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Posted in India, Rehabilitation | Leave a comment

Expedition To Search For Dodos

by Amy Posted on 24 May 2006

An international research team will try to reconstruct the habitat of the extinct dodo bird during an upcoming expedition to Mauritius. The team wants to determine the cause of the dodo’s habitat destruction and ultimate extinction.

The team also hopes to find complete skeletons of adult and young dodo birds. In October 2005 researchers in the southeast of Mauritius found a large burial site with bones of dodos and other domestic animals.

The team will depart the Netherlands on Friday, 2 June and returns on Monday, 3 July. The team is maintaining a weblog of their adventures, which is available at www.dodo-expeditie.nl (in Dutch).

Source: Expeditie op zoek naar oorzaak verdwijnen dodo’s

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Posted in Aside, Europe, Extinct, Netherlands | Leave a comment

Pelican Living In Friesland, The Netherlands

by Amy Posted on 24 May 2006

In the last few days on the Tjeukemeer body of water in Friesland a Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) has been spotted. The bird was first seen in the Netherlands at the beginning of May on the south part of the lake. Meanwhile the pelican has also been spotted on the Wadden Islands Ameland and Terschelling, as well as other parts of Friesland.

The pelican is wild, rather than an escapee. The bird has no ring or marking on the wing which would indicate it came from a zoo. The pelican does not have its full head crown yet, so it is a young bird. It probably became lost or disoriented during the spring migration from Africa, possibly due to inexperience. Pelicans winter in East Africa and spend the summers in the Balkans. The birds normally fly via Israel, when they float over thermal streams to conserve energy. While soaring the bird may have been knocked off course and not noticed something was wrong.

Great White Pelican, Etosha National Park, Namibia
Great White Pelican, Etosha National Park, Namibia by Frank.Vassen, Creative Commons on Flickr

The bird, which eats freshwater species, should be able to survive the summer in the Netherlands, as appropriate food should be available in inland Dutch waters. This case is not the first time a wild pelican has found itself in the Netherlands. Since the first part of the last century, five or six pelicans have been spotted but then moved on.

Source: Pelikaan neergestreken in Friesland

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Posted in Netherlands, Offbeat, Rare / Vagrant | Leave a comment

White-Tailed Eagle Returns To The Netherlands

by Amy Posted on 23 May 2006

A pair of white-tailed eagles has successfully hatched chicks in the Oostvaardersplassen. The white-tailed eagle is the largest bird of prey in Europe with a wingspan up to 2.5 meters. Until recently it was thought that the eagle would never breed in the Netherlands again. The closest known breeding pair, prior to the the Oostvaardersplassen birds, breed in Sleeswijk-Holstein, in the north of Germany.

Ten years ago the WWF tried to introduce the eagle back into the Netherlands. The plan faced much criticism and never materialized. The birds in the Oostvaardersplassen have come to the Netherlands of their own volition.

According to forest rangers, who are responsible for the area, the birds have a nest in a willow tree, approximately six meters from the ground. The pair began building the nest in January, and began sitting on eggs in March. The exact number of living chicks is not known. The nest is the first for the female, who was ringed in 2002. The male is an older bird and has already had successful nests.

Source: Zeearend broedt in Nederland

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Posted in Netherlands | 1 Comment

Gay Storks Raising Young

by Amy Posted on 19 May 2006

Three homosexual stork couples in the Dutch zoo Parc Overloon are raising and caring for baby storks, the zoo announced Friday. There is one pair of lesbian storks while the other two couples are males.

While homosexuality is not uncommon in the animal world, the fact that these couples are raising young together is unusual. Most homosexual behavior in wild animals is limited to mating rituals. All of the storks in Overloon are caring for and feeding their young.

The zoo is not sure how the storks, especially the males, came to have eggs. It is possible the male couples stole eggs from another nest.

Source: Homo-ooievaars broeden eieren uit

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Posted in Netherlands, Offbeat, Zoo | Leave a comment

Big Fight Over Tiny Owl

by Amy Posted on 16 May 2006

Conservation groups have gone to court to try to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from removing a tiny owl from the endangered species list. The cactus ferruginous pygmy owl — which is only about 6 inches long and weighs less than 3 ounces — has been at the center of a battle between environmentalists and developers for years.

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Posted in Aside, Endangered, North America | Leave a comment