Why shouldn’t wedding guests throw rice at newly married couples? “Don’t do it for the birds, do it for the inlaws.” Read about this urban myth in the Snopes.com article Against the Grain.
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.
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.
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.
This part scarecrow, part robot contraption is armed with motion detectors, noisemakers and motion activated sprinklers. Birds won’t dare come near.
read more | digg story
Newborn wood duck hatchlings jump 15 feet down from tree nest to join mother in the water – caught on film. Watch the young ducks take the plunge at the National Geographic website.
Officers at an outpost police station in India rescued an injured peacock about six years ago, and got themselves a mascot in the process. The wild animal was released into the forest by the police at least two times, but the bird always returned to the police station. The bird, called Sonya, “has a wing span of two meters (and) expresses his joy of living with (the police) through his dance and preference to stay at the outpost.” Read the full story Injured bird visits police, stays on as guest in the Times of India.
NASA is trying to rid the Kennedy Space Center of vultures after the shuttle struck one of the large birds during lift-off last year. The space agency, which is located within a protected natural area, has set up a ‘road-kill posse’ to clean up the vultures’ food source.
read more | digg story
“Key West’s city commissioners approved a resolution Tuesday for the removal of free-roaming chickens from city streets and parks, and private property upon request. There are roughly 2,000 to 3,000 chickens in Key West, which lies at the southern end of the Florida Keys island chain.” Read the whole story Citing bird flu fears, Key Westers vote to remove free-roaming chickens in the Sun-Sentinel.
Last week a six-meter tall crow was placed atop the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The museum hopes the statue will prevent birds from flying into the glass windows of the building.
Birds regularly fly into the windows of the museum, killing themselves in the process. The birds are generally added to the collection of the museum. The museum has tried using models of birds of prey on the building to prevent the window crashes, to no success.
The huge crow is a work by Rotterdam artist Florentijn Hofman. The bird silhouette is made of black metal and was created for the 2005 Crossing Border Festival and stood for a time atop the city hall of The Hague.
The body of the unfortunate Domino Sparrow will join other sparrows in the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam in a “Hall of Fame” exhibit. The Domino Sparrow was shot last November in a bid to save a domino-felling record chance.
Other birds will join the Domino Sparrow in the museum’s Sparrow Hall of Fame. For example, a sparrow killed by a live cricket ball during a 1936 cricket match in the U.K., currently housed in the MCC Museum in London, will probably be included in the exhibit.
The Sparrow Hall of Fame will be open to the public on 14 November 2006, exactly one year after the Domino Sparrow’s death.
