A recent study indicates that birds living in urban environments sing faster, shorter songs than their country counterparts. The study was conducted by Dr. Hans Slabbekoorn of the University of Leiden.
Songs of Great Tits in different European cities were recorded and compared to songs from the same species in nearby natural areas. City birds were found to use higher frequencies in their songs, and to sing faster.
Minimal rains fell on Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, India this season. The dry conditions have forced migratory birds to seek other areas to spend the winter. The lack of birds in the park has hit the Bharatpur economy hard.
The usual species of migratory birds, including spoonbills, egrets, cormorants, cranes and ibises, arrived at the park at the start of the monsoon season. But with little rains during the following weeks, most of the birds left to breed elsewhere, closer to a water supply.
Bharatpur’s rickshaw drivers have reported a dip in earnings as few tourists are visiting the park. Birders, aware of the situation, are staying away in droves. The few visitors that have been coming to the park are unaware of the poor conditions and leave in disappointment. One hotel manager reported a 50% drop in customers from last year.
A ‘safe harbor’ agreement is being offered to Hawaiian landowners in an effort to save five endangered species of birds endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.
Financial and technical help will be available for landowners who sign up for the agreement. Future land use restrictions will not be imposed by the government. In exchange, landowners need to provide some management to benefit five endangered birds: Hawaiian goose, Hawaiian duck, Hawaiian moorhen, Hawaiian coot and Hawaiian stilt.
Over 500,000 migratory birds have arrived in the Kashmir Valley in India this winter. Low temperatures in nearby, usual bird wintering areas have driven the birds to seek new places to spend the coldest months.
Wildlife officials expect a record number of winged visitors this season. The valley has long attracted migratory birds from Siberia, China, Europe, Central Asia and even South America. The extra bird life in the area has also meant more birders are coming to view the spectacle. State authorities are scrambling to take advantage of an increase in tourism.
Donald Trump has big plans to build a two course golf resort in the northeast of Scotland. The plan is opposed by various environmental groups, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
The area near Balmedie is home to thousands of seabirds, ducks and divers. A wide range of invertebrates, plants and breeding birds inhabit the coastal sand dunes, and the RSPB is determined to protect the environment from Trump’s development, estimated to cost over 300 million pounds.
Developers building 50,000 homes in the heaths of Surrey, Berkshire and Hampshire have proposed to force future homeowners to sign an agreement never to own a cat. Cats kill approximately 55 million birds in the UK each year.
Imposing a cat ban for homeowners is the only way real estate developers would be allowed to build the homes close to the nesting areas in the heathland. The plan is designed to protect such birds as the Dartford Warbler, Nightjars and Woodlarks. The RSPB is backing the plan, though they are skeptical that a ban on cat ownership would remove a threat to the nesting birds.
The juvenile court in Lelystad, the Netherlands, has sentenced three youths to public service for the abuse of two cormorants.
The youths, all younger than 21, dragged the birds behind motorized bikes and threw stones at them.
Two of the youths must perform 25 hours of pubic service. The third youth, who already had a record with the court, was given a sentence of 80 hours. A fourth suspect, an adult, is still to be tried. The birds were targeted because they depleted the fish population in the canals of Urk.
Various environmental groups in the Netherlands have called on the Dutch parliament to invest money in bird protection. Last week Natuurmonumenten and the Dutch partner of BirdLife International, together with five other agencies, sent the strong message to the Minister of Landscape, Nature and Food Quality.
The number of meadow birds in the Netherlands is declining dramatically. The Meadow Bird Alliance (Weidevogelverbond) was created to slow or reverse this trend. On 15 June this year, various parties involved in the well-being of these birds created an action plan. Groups in attendance included forest rangers, land-management groups, volunteer groups and government agencies. The alliance’s plan hopes to halt the decline of meadow birds by 2010.
Public support for protecting the birds is great, in large part due to successful information campaigns conducted by various environmental groups over the years. The Netherlands is a great breeding ground for many migratory birds and therefore does have a regional and global responsibility to take care of the birds that breed and raise their young in Holland.
Source: Eensgezinde oproep aan Kamer: investeer in weidevogelbeheer
A fishing vessel in the Kermadec islands has reportedly killed 51 albatrosses on a single fishing trip by using the longline fishing method. 19 of the world’s 21 different albatross species are threatened with extinction.
New Zealand’s Fisheries Minister proposed a temporary ban on longline fishing following the incident. Most of the albatrosses killed in this incident were Antipodean Albatross.
A 62-year-old game warden from Assen, the Netherlands, was arrested last week for having 40 pheasants in his car. The police were conducting a routine ‘control’ (random traffic stops) when an officer noticed moving gunnysacks in the backseat of the perpetrator’s car.
Ten sacks each held four living birds. The man was arrested for transporting the birds without having rings and not in proper cages. The warden was in possession of the birds for some days before being caught. It is thought that he planned to slaughter the birds for consumption or resell them.
The man risks losing his hunting license.
