getting big and cuter
1 day apart

THEY’RE big and beautiful but residents of Baronga Ave, Avoca Beach, can’t stand them.

About a dozen peacocks and peahens are roaming the street, invading gardens and leaving their large droppings behind.

Some have even attacked cars.

It’s also mating season and with several dominant males in the pack, nightime is noisy with males calling out to females.

“It started out with two or three birds about eight years ago,� resident Don Cook said.

Mr Cook said residents initially thought it was great to have the birds in the street, but not so now.

“Even if they lay two eggs each, we’ll have more than 20 next year,� Mr Cook said.

Not only are they messy, noisy and destroying gardens, the males will often fight each other and attack cars if they see their reflections, mistaking it for a rival bird and resulting in damaged duco.

Mr Cook said residents would have to learn to live with the peacocks because there was absolutely nothing authorities could do about the growing population.

“We have rung the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the council and even the RSPCA, but none of them can do anything about them,� Mr Cook said.

“I am a big softie and couldn’t hurt them, none of us could, but please if anyone wants them come and get them.

“I really don’t know what we can do about them - they are beautiful but they really are a pest.�

[Team Peregrine...you guys did an awesome job. It was a full days work and I'm sure your all paying for it today. I think I'd drop dead if I saw 103 different species of birds in ONE day. I'm very proud of you 4. Thank you so much.]

Team Peregrine...you guys did an awesome job. It was a full days work and I'm sure your all paying for it today. I think I'd drop dead if I saw 103 different species of birds in ONE day. I'm very proud of you 4. Thank you so much. 

They're Baaaack and that's all I gotta say.
Ok,  one more thing....(LOOK @ his FACE!!)
Beauty's in the mood today. 

Archer leaves

SeaWorld San Diego announced this week that one of its killer whales has died mysteriously. The whale, a 12 year old male named Sumar, was the star of the orca show.

Officials said Sumar began to act lethargic on Monday and was given antibiotics by the parks veterinarian. His condition worsened and he died on Tuesday. A necropsy is planned to determine his cause of death.

There has been a series of tragic events occurring in the SeaWorld company this year. In June a whale named Taima died while giving birth to a stillborn calf at the Orlando park. Also in Orlando last February, trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by the whale Tilikum during a training session.

Sumar

[The film follows former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, who gained popularity in the 1960's for capturing and training dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation "Flipper." But he admitted his life turned around when one of these intelligent creatures committed suicide in his arms by holding its breath while in captivity.]

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/09/12/10/cove-stirring-defense-dolphins more here

The film follows former dolphin trainer Ric O'Barry, who gained popularity in the 1960's for capturing and training dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation "Flipper." But he admitted his life turned around when one of these intelligent creatures committed suicide in his arms by holding its breath while in captivity.

As I don't know how to post images,  I am including this link to show a cuckoo chick and its hapless "parent"... Loads of other links, but this pic is The Biz!

http://www.bto.org/birdtrends2009/

Very cool Bobbie, thanks.

Blah blah, you get the idea. Same ole same ole

[MAKfalcon (MAK):]

MAKfalcon (MAK): Team Peregrine has ended the day with a Juvenile female PEREGRINE FALCON! Final Count-1O3

Team peregrine closes bird count with a juvie. GREAT! 

and did this juvie peregrine (female) have bands?

BirdLife Malta and the German organisation CABS (Committee Against Bird Slaughter) said today that they would be paying the police for extra escort duties during conservation camps due to start tomorrow.

In a joint statement, they said they welcomed the authorities' recent confirmation that police officers on extra duties would be assigned to the conservation camps to ensure the security of the bird watchers, who have faced many attacks in the past.

BirdLife and CABS last July requested police officers on extra duty, against payment by these organisations, after an escalation of violence against bird watchers.

The windscreen of a Raptor Camp car blasted with a shotgun while parked 20 meters from a children's playground, rocks were thrown at volunteers and two BirdLife volunteers were beaten up Dingli, among other incidents.

To date only the two aggressors who assaulted BirdLife volunteers in Dingli have been convicted, thanks to video evidence of the attack gathered and presented by BirdLife Malta.

BirdLife said its office had received many reports of illegal hunting after a storm brought many migratory birds into Malta seeking shelter.

A Common Kestrel from Delimara and a Purple Heron from Gozo - with two pellets embedded internally - were delivered to BirdLife office yesterday. An injured Grey Heron was also passed on to the ALE in Delimara. BirdLife also received a shot Night Heron with three internal pellets from Hal Far today and a shot Little Bittern from Marsa a few days ago.

Since the start of the hunting season BirdLife said it had recorded illegal shooting at protected species including Osprey, Honey-buzzard, Eleonora's Falcon, Hobby, Night Heron, Red Knot, Little Egret and Mediterranean Gull. Illegal sea hunting for protected Oystercatchers and Shelduck using high powered speedboats has also been recorded by BirdLife field teams.

A shot Turtle Dove, which may be legally hunted, was also received yesterday.

68 volunteers from 10 countries are joining the BirdLife and CABS conservation camps until September 26.

[This article actually made me cry!]

Just releasedy in Aug.

One of a group of red kites, reintroduced into Cumbria for the first time in 160 years, has been shot dead.

The male bird was one of 30 released in Grizedale Forest in the Lake District in August.

Cumbria Police said a post-mortem examination revealed the bird, which was found in Artengill in Dentdale, had been shot four times in the chest.

Police have begun an investigation with the Forestry Commission and Natural England to catch those responsible.

The bird was identified by a wing tag and leg ring put in place when it was released.

Cumbria Police wildlife officer Pc John Shaw, said: "It is the first time in 160 years that these birds have flown in Cumbrian skies and we are shocked and deeply saddened that anyone would kill one.
'Mindlessly shot'

"To persecute these birds after all the hard work and effort which has gone into reintroducing them is disgraceful."

Iain Yoxall, Forestry Commission wildlife ranger in charge of the red kite reintroduction project, added: "The news that one of these magnificent birds has been mindlessly shot out of the sky is very sad indeed.

"I cannot understand why anyone would want to shoot one of these fabulous birds. They do not attack gamebirds or livestock as they are predominantly carrion feeders."

Red kites almost became extinct from the UK between the 16th and 19th Centuries because they were over-hunted and lost their habitats.

The Grizedale programme is the ninth reintroduction of red kites into different regions of the UK, and the final reintroduction phase in England.

This article actually made me cry! What a beautiful bird. Pretty sad what people can do, (just for fun)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SiA6z-fc1g&NR=1 Some of the most beautiful in the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkKWfMPqxAw&NR=1

Ten spoonbill chicks fledge from Holkham National Nature Reserve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCpUfzWBjH8&feature=player_embedded Short video

.... and border to border, the Birding Trail program offers opportunities to find birds. On a summer trip in New England, along the Connecticut River between Vermont and New Hampshire, you can hear the vividly colored Blackburnian Warbler. Texas birding trails offer birds that can’t be found anywhere else in the United States. Washington State’s birding loops guide you through diverse habitats. Learn more about birding trails here, or find a trail near you at the American Birding Association website.



http://www.audubonmagazine.org/features0807/birdTrails.html more info on birding trails

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is launching a new, $1.4 million lead paint clean-up effort for former military buildings on Hawaii’s Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. American Bird Conservancy and other environmental groups have repeatedly expressed their concerns about the deaths of thousands of birds there.
According to letters from FWS, a $1.4 million study has been approved to develop and evaluate lead paint removal alternatives, and implement appropriate action by July 2011. This will mark the second phase of lead clean up that began in 2005 with the remediation of 24 buildings at a cost of $841,000.
“We are very happy to hear that the FWS lead clean-up effort is going to continue. We wish this whole process could have been accelerated so that tens of thousands of Laysan Albatross chicks could have been spared a slow and painful death from lead poisoning. Nevertheless, news of this latest move to solve the problem is gratefully received by all concerned about the fate of the albatrosses,� said Dr. Jessica Hardesty Norris, Director of ABC’s Seabirds Program.

The world's largest colony of Laysan Albatrosses, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, breeds on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge each year. This remarkable spectacle is marred by the terrible sight of thousands of poisoned birds dying of lead poisoning. Their deaths are caused when lead-based paint, peeling from dozens of aging buildings is eaten by curious albatross chicks. The chicks soon develop a lead poisoning condition known as droopwing, whereby they are unable to lift their developing wings off the ground. Each year, as many as 10,000 chicks are dying of the toxic effects of lead—which include starvation and dehydration.

FWS initially experimented with trying to prevent the chicks from eating the paint by covering the ground around the buildings in plastic shade cloth, and fencing off areas. However, this proved ineffective, because birds became entangled in the shade cloth as it degraded and birds adjacent to fenced areas continued to exhibit lead poisoning.