[Archer.........whatta guy!]

Archer.........whatta guy!    bguitar

Archer's nightmare

  She's back   

[Yeah, like he didn't know it was illegal and he was NOT selling them...UHUH]

Yeah, like he didn't know it was illegal and he was NOT selling them...UHUH 

  They are known for their nastiness. Been there! 

[That video is amazing...Thanks Bobbie.]

That  video is amazing...Thanks Bobbie.

Staff and visitors at RSPB Leighton Moss nature reserve in Silverdale were cracking open the champagne as well as the Easter Eggs this week when they at long last heard the 'booming' of a bittern from the reeds.

This very rare and much loved bird normally 'booms' to seduce the females on or around Valentine's Day, but this year he lost his romantic streak and chose Easter Sunday to start his courtship instead!

David Mower, the reserve's warden said "We've been eagerly anticipating this fantastic news and are all extremely thrilled! It's been a huge relief to know that there's still a booming male bittern here despite the worst winter weather for many years."

The first calls are a bit like a grunt as the birds 'tune' up, but then build to an impressive 'booming' call that sounds a bit like a foghorn and can be heard for several kilometers.

David continues, "With a lot of bitterns being seen on the reserve over the winter, we're keeping our fingers crossed that this will be a good year for breeding bitterns."

Leighton Moss is the only place in the north-west where bitterns are known to breed and extensive work to restore and create reedbeds has been carried out in recent years to improve the conditions for these elusive birds which has been part-funded by the EU-LIFE bittern programme and DEFRA.

The smartly camouflaged brown 'heron-like' bittern was actually extinct in Britain in the early 20th Century due to the extensive drainage of wetlands. Thanks to the work of the RSPB and other conservation organisations it's been making a slow comeback in recent years. The numbers of booming males in the UK have increased from a worryingly low 11 in 1997 to a record 82 last year - the best number for over 120 years!

Jen Walker, Visitor Officer at Leighton Moss adds "Why not visit Leighton Moss this spring and experience this wonderful sound and see our other wonderful wildlife too. Throughout May you can join our 'Booming Bittern' guided walks that are run every Wednesday evening from 7.30 pm to dusk. The cost is £4.50 (£2 for RSPB members). There's no need to book so just come along-we'd love to see you!"

Saving threatened species like the bittern is a key part of the RSPB's Letter to the Future campaign, which is a direct call to politicians to do more to protect our wildlife, countryside and the environment. You can sign the letter at your nearest RSPB reserve, where you'll be adding your name to hundreds of thousands of others determined to ensure future generations inherit a world worth living in, or sign online at www.signtheletter.org

[This is so sad Bobbie....why are people so cruel? Wolves are so beautiful.]

This is so sad Bobbie....why are people so cruel? Wolves are so beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6dDesUPkMo&feature=player_embedded#! video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCN5m6GbFGA&NR=1 Video of a Scottish family who just returned from Iceland...long video but amazing footage.

Archer's shift is starting 5:39

Tucking in
almost
still trying
relief

​Not far from Miami International Airport, there's a little pink house where one man lives with 24 pigeons. Adrian Acosta-Gonzalez is a 37-year-old, Cuban-born landscaper with bronze skin and good bone structure. He slides open a birdcage in his back yard and snaps his fingers twice.

Out hops a plump pigeon named Verde, who tilts her head in the manner of an obedient dog. Acosta gives a low whistle and -- on cue -- she jumps from a plank, flies in a perfect circle, and squeezes back into her cage.

Acosta has a bashful grin. "I train them from the time they're babies," he rasps in Spanish. "I love everything about birds. I don't know why; it's just in my blood."

Six days earlier, his bird obsession got him into some trouble. Just after 10 a.m. April 6, investigators from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) staked out a canal east of Krome Avenue in Homestead. They'd been tipped off: Men were trapping migratory songbirds there and then selling them illegally. Wildlife cops aimed to put a dent in the exotic pet trade.

Officers found Acosta near the canal in a black Toyota Corolla, filled with bird traps. Inside were seven blue and candy-red birds called painted buntings, according to police reports. No bigger than a Christmas tree ornament, the pretty little things go for about $100 on the black market. Selling them is a federal offense; the buntings suffer from habitat loss.

Cops released the creatures and charged Acosta with a misdemeanor. He faces fines and possible jail time. (In February 2001, Acosta was arrested for possessing a credit card that wasn't his. The case was later dropped.)

"These birds do not belong in captivity; they belong in their natural habitats," FWC Lt. Jay Marvin says. Three more men were charged with the same crime two weeks ago.

Acosta contends it was a hobby, that he didn't know trapping was illegal and never intended to sell the birds. "I just like to hear them sing in the morning," he shrugs. Back in Cuba, catching and breeding them was no big deal.

He'll go to court in a few weeks, but the whole thing makes him think. There are too many weird rules in this country, he says. "I came to the United States because I wanted to be free. But it's just like communism here -- only with food."

This agile cat performed a stunning acrobatic routine in a desperate bid to catch a dove for dinner.

The African Wildcat had already devoured two doves at the same spot when he returned in search of a third meal.

Looking like a house cat playing with a toy, he leapt more than 6ft through the air and demonstrated a perfect pirouette and backflip routine as he tried to grab one of the birds, but it was all in vain as meal number three prey got away.



The extraordinary performance was captured by photographer Jaycee Rousseau in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, which straddles the border between South Africa and Botswana.

Jaycee, 34, was driving through the park with his 33-year-old wife Suzaan when they spotted the Cape Turtle Doves by a waterhole.

Just as they were about to drive away they noticed the cat lying in wait for the doves and whipped out the camera.


So close: Feathers fly, but the cat returns to earth without catching his prey




Jaycee said: 'We positioned our vehicle in the best position possible under the circumstances and out came the camera. Then we waited.

'And the cat didn't disappoint. He jumped, caught a dove and ate it. Then he jumped a few times without catching anything and suddenly it was all over.

'The next morning we went back to the waterhole, but the cat wasn't there. That same afternoon we went back again and sure enough, the cat was there again.

'Same story. We got the camera ready and waited. He jumped and caught a dove, went into the grass out of sight and ate it.'

Jaycee said the cat fled when another car approached.

He added: 'The car only stayed a few minutes and drove off. We waited a while and after about ten minutes the cat reappeared.

'He got back into his hunting position and jumped. Of all the jumps, that one was the most spectacular. It took some time to get those shots, but patience certainly paid off.

'We've seen time and again that spending time on a regular sighting often produces something special.'

[(yeah and)?]

Not even America's symbol of liberty can avoid attack from bad South Florida  golfing.

Wildlife officials said an errant golf shot nearly ended the life of a young bald eagle that was flying across a golf course in Vero Beach late last month, according to TCPalm.com.

The 2-year-old bird was minding its own business flying across the Sandridge Golf Course when it entered a fairway and became the accidental target of a tee shot. The unidentified golfer was probably aiming for a different eagle, the one on his golf score sheet.

The golf ball hit the bird in the wing and witnesses said the eagle came crashing out of the sky, eventually hitting a tree before laying limp on the grass.

It suffered a broken wing and has since been recovering at the Treasure Coast Wildlife Center in Palm City. Vets say the animal is doing well.

No word on who the golfer was or if he yelled out "FORE!" as is proper bad golf shot procedure, but the incident is being ruled as an accident. It is illegal to attack or trap a bald eagle, which is federally protected as a threatened species.

In case you were wondering, Tiger Woods was gearing up for The Masters during the time of the eagle incident. (yeah and)?

Whooper swan Y6K, which is being tracked using satellite technology, seems to have flown into difficulty on its return migration to Iceland. It was last recorded at 10.46 this morning (Friday) heading towards the cloud of ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano.

WWT researchers noticed the bird’s position on the online tracking map www.wwt.org.uk/whooper. Y6K is approaching Iceland from the south east, which is one of the main landfall areas for swans arriving in the country, but this is very much in line with the fallout from the volcano. The satellite transmitter attached to the bird is due to give a further reading in two days time, so it will be an anxious weekend for researchers and enthusiasts those following its progress online.

Migration to Iceland

Given that this is the main goose migration period, there is also concern for the welfare of greylag geese, pink-footed geese, light-bellied brent geese, Greenland white-fronted geese and Greenland barnacle geese migrating to or through Iceland at this time.

On Iceland itself, the volcanic eruption is causing concern for the returning waterfowl. A report from WWT’s colleague Dr Olafur Einarsson in Reykjavik confirms that that there is dense ash and total darkness to the southeast of the volcano, near the area dubbed “Whooper Airport� because it is where most of the birds land after their migration.

Previous eruptions

Dr Einarsson reports that bird deaths have occurred during previous eruptions of other volcanoes in Iceland, when the feeding areas were covered with ash, causing major problems for farmers and birds. Fortunately at the moment the main area affected, between Vik (in the west) and Kirkjubaejarklaustur (in the east), is primarily an area of sand and gravel, leaving internationally important whooper swan staging or breeding sites still suitable for swans.

Y6K is being tracked as part of WWT’s ongoing conservation work with whooper swans. The project aims to determine the migration routes that the swans take, the heights and speeds at which they fly, and the effects of weather conditions on their flight patterns, and is being carried out in collaboration with COWRIE (Collaborative Offshore Wind Research into the Environment) and DECC (Department of Energy and Climate

 When Utica’s resident peregrine falcon couple failed to produce a viable egg last summer, local observers hoped the next mating season would bring them better luck.

Instead, the opposite seems to be true.

Maya, the female falcon, has been seen sitting at her M&T Gold Dome Bank nesting site for several weeks. But the last confirmed sighting of her mate, Tor, was nearly two months ago, Spring Farm CARES naturalist Matthew Perry said.

It may be that he’s met an untimely end.

 â€œI’m starting to lean toward the thought that he is gone,â€� said Perry, who received an unconfirmed report several weeks ago that Tor may have crashed into a Genesee Street window and been injured.

Peregrine falcons typically mate for life and this particular couple is nonmigratory, so it’s unusual that Tor would be missing for so long, Perry said.

Some unofficial falcon watchers believe they’ve seen him since February, however.

“It’s possible he is still alive but isn’t hanging around yet,� Perry said. “We have to remember that this particular pair mated very late.�

The falcons, who have nested unsuccessfully on the bank building for two years, laid their first egg on June 4, 2008, and their second on June 6, 2009, Perry said. In between the two seasons, state Department of Environmental Conservation officials installed a gravel-filled nesting box on the bank’s roof ledge and removed pigeon wire to make it more hospitable for the couple.

Perry said Tor’s death would not necessarily put an end to Maya’s hopes of becoming a mother, however.

“If Tor is gone, she may hook up with another male coming through the area,� he said. “There was a record number of peregrines that hatched last year in the state. That means there are a lot of peregrines that don’t have a territory that will be in the general area of New York state.�

He added that Maya finding “a new man� would be the clearest indication that Tor has died. If she just leaves the nest in coming weeks, it could mean that she’s single again or that the couple simply found a new nesting site somewhere else.

 Both birds were seen together in the city as recently as mid-December, Perry said.

Maya and Tor, the Peregrine falcon pair that nests in downtown Utica, are shown here last year while they were incubating an egg. As of Tuesday, Tor had not been seen since February, and some watchers are concerned he may have died.

(movie) Remember the show (How do they do that)? Well, same goes here.