[I say "RELEASE them all"]

A 20 year old killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando died Sunday afternoon from complications while giving birth to a calf, park officials said.

Taima, an orca who was herself born at SeaWorld Orlando in 1990, died 20 hours after she went into labor Saturday evening. The calf was stillborn.

Taima was one of eight killer whales at the park and had successfully given birth to three calves previously.

Veterinary experts at SeaWorld Orlando said Taima's calf was in an unusual position in the birth canal when she went into labor. She was also suffering from a condition where the placenta is delivered before the calf.

The calf's father was Tilikum, who made headline in February when he grabbed the hair of his trainer Dawn Brancheau and pulled her underwater where she died of severe injuries to her head and body.

SeaWorld said in a statement the park has an excellent history of successful calf births since 1985 and this was the first killer whale to die giving birth in 25 years, saying losing the calf was more common.

I say "RELEASE them all"

[females.]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two peregrine falcon chicks living high above downtown were named and banded to help track Ohio conservation efforts.

The falcons, which hatched last month, were named Swoop and Spirit, 10TV News reported.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources showed the 3-week old falcons to school students.

http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2010/06/08/slideshow_falcons.html Pics of banding

State Office Tower in Columbus, Ohio.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Banding Goes Great!
The Columbus banding event went extremely well. We believe, based on overall size that both chicks are females. The kids who won the naming contest were extremely enthusiastic to help put one of the leg bands on "their" falcon.

Believe it or not we sometimes get criticism from a few individuals for banding these birds. It's a shame that people do not undertand the significance of banding. The process is important for research purposes (how else would we know where our Columbus young disperse to and that it is Scout nesting in Columbus and where she came from?); and 2.) the actual banding event really helps to raise awareness about the species and wildlife conservation in general. Only a handful of people actually are able to attend the banding, however, live streaming the event makes it available to the world.

Regarding the naming contest, we are able to educate an entire school about peregrine falcons and increase the appreciation of the kids for wild creatures in their communities. Besides each individual student, through conversations the interest, knowledge and excitement is transferred to their parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, neighbors and so on and so on. Consider it an investment in the future!

While the chicks and adults may be stressed during the event they recover very, very quickly. We know from many years of banding many nestlings, that an hour out of the lives of these birds is well worth the exposure that the species receives resulting in increased education and awareness of people all over.

Here are the details on names/bands. Each bird received a purple U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service band on the right leg and a black over red band (b/r) on the left leg:
Swoop: 08/Y
Spirit: 09/Y

At some point in the near future we should have a video of the banding available on our website. It will take a little time for editing. As soon as it's ready and posted, I'll post the link here. Thanks to everyone for watching the banding! Now we prepare for the next stage--fledging! It won't be long!

We got "Whirlyhead"
Poor Beauty, she's such a Pooh Magnet! 

[KNOT]

Thanks piglet! New 'puter yet?

KNOT yet piggy...won't even be sent out til the 16th...

Archer looks like he wants to feed the kids

Hiding it from Beauty
Jigs up, she's back with more food.

   Yum... spaghetti for breakfast!

Ewww, I guess.

New Jersey scientists knew red knots were world-class flyers that make epic migrations from pole to pole each year.

Now research suggests the little robin-sized birds make part of this odyssey in one incredible bound.

One bird studied this year left Brazil on May 19 and arrived at the Delaware Bay on May 23.

That's four days and nights of nonstop flying across more than 3,200 miles of rainforest and open water without pause for food, water or sleep. That is a longer nonstop flight than any offered by Atlantic City International Airport.

"It's crazy. After a night of losing sleep, I can't even think straight," said Amanda Dey, a principal zoologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

She and her husband, biologist and consultant Larry Niles, have been studying red knots for the past 14 years. Each spring the birds fly from New Jersey to their nesting grounds in the high arctic along Hudson Bay. In the late summer, most fly the length of two continents to the tip of South America, where they spend the winter in Tierra del Fuego, Spanish for the "land of fire."

Finding red knots in Cape May County is easy.

The birds gather by the thousands along the same beaches of Middle and Lower townships, where they fatten on the eggs of horseshoe crabs that spawn each May in Delaware Bay.

The birds are so predictable that the state fences off the same beaches every year in anticipation of their arrival.

But finding the rare shorebirds in Canada is much harder. Imagine 16,000 birds scattered across thousands of square miles of lichen-covered rocks, each of which vaguely resembles a bird on a nest.

"With that red breast, you would think they'd stick right out on a barren rocky landscape," Dey said. "But they are super-camouflaged. They nest on mossy plants. They blend right in with the vegetation. It's not easy to find them at all when they're on eggs. They're virtually impossible to find."

New way to track

When Niles first conceived tracking the birds' migration for the DEP in the 1990s, he used VHF radio transmitters to locate them by airplane at their Southampton Island nesting grounds, not far from where polar bears roam. But the transmitters were heavy, placing a burden on the birds, and had a weak 8-mile signal that required long, expensive days of airborne searching, he said.

Last year, the researchers decided to try a new tracking device called a geolocator, a little green flag lighter than a paperclip that is attached to a bird's leg. The geolocator works like a sextant, recording the rising and setting sun to determine the bird's position on the globe.

The geolocators are so effective that they can tell researchers which birds nested. The parents blot out the midnight sun when they incubate their eggs.

The study is giving scientists a greater appreciation both for the birds and their close relationship with horseshoe crabs.

The prevailing theory about red knot migration suggested they hopscotched up and down the coast, resting or even feeding between flights. But the study shows some birds are making longer and more perilous journeys.

"We figured they flew along that long South American coastline. But with the geolocator birds, they make a straight flight across the Amazon," Dey said.

Since red knots are not tree-dwellers and do not swim, they cannot stop for a breather in the equatorial jungle like songbirds or rest on the ocean's surface like gulls. And while the distance might be 3,200 miles as the crow flies, coastal storms can make the trip 4,000 miles or more for red knots.

"It's transformative in a way," said Niles, who has made annual trips to the arctic and South America in pursuit of the shorebirds.

"The common view is that birds leave here and go there - a kind of straight-line, mechanical flight not unlike when we get on an airplane and go someplace," Niles said. "What we are seeing instead is a lot of drama. When you look at the migration of individual birds, you see how desperate it turns out to be."

The problem with geolocators is researchers have to recapture the banded birds to recover the data. So far, the New Jersey team has recovered three of several dozen flags they attached last year. One bird departed from New Jersey last year and flew east 300 miles, apparently to avoid a storm front, before aborting the trip and returning to New Jersey to give it a second try, Niles said.

"Their migration is even more difficult than we thought," Niles said. "When they encounter bad weather, they can get blown hundreds of miles out to sea and still have to make it to land."

Importance of bay

Red knots have declined in population from more than 80,000 in the 1980s to just 16,000 last year. The good news is the birds have not lost any ground. Researchers counted about the same number in May, Dey said.

But the geolocator is confirming previous findings that the Delaware Bay is a crucial spring rest stop. The birds arrive starving and emaciated but immediately begin gorging on eggs, nearly doubling their weight in a matter of weeks to resemble flying Nerf footballs.

"It's the great equalizer," Dey said. "If they arrive at low weight, they can make up the difference in the Delaware Bay. If they encounter snow or a lack of food in the arctic, they can survive because they made weight in the Delaware Bay. It is a big buffer for them."

Red knots are one of several local shorebirds that depend on the bay and have suffered similar declines. Researchers speculate the birds cannot find enough crab eggs to make weight for the trip. States from Virginia to Massachusetts responded by placing restrictions on the harvest of horseshoe crabs.

New Jersey took the most drastic step, banning all fishing for crabs since 2008. Dey said she would like other states to do likewise.

"What we really need is enough food for a restored shorebird population - back to the 90,000 red knots and 1 million shorebirds," she said. "That's the level we need to be to restore the bay. I don't think the current horseshoe crab population can do that."

And the longer it takes for horseshoe crabs to recover, the longer local fishermen will have to wait to resume their harvest, she said.

The researchers plan to catch more birds on their southbound migration later this year in Florida.

The flags will give them a day-by-day record of a bird's movements around the world.

No explanation needed. 
Guarding her food
"Look, I can feed just like momma!"

A slideshow of the banding at the Hamilton ON Sheraton nest of Madame X & Surge

Madame X nailed the guy taking the eyases from the nest...

Wow..talk about a fierce momma! I have a feeling Beauty will be NO slacker! 

M&K -> Freedom -> Archer -> eyases

  well done

Adorable, thanks gayle 

Prey resting on her feets!
"WHAT, I'm plucking it!"

Archer brings in lunch.

OOOOO ouch...poor bird 

Thanks for thinking of me when you saw the pooh! 

   AND Who makes the Pooh movies ?   

The pooblisher!

  

  Funny Ei!!!

  The PoohMeister        

Ahhh Pooh you's 

Thanks jeanne...time flies and so do falcons!