20-Apr-23, 07:55:34 AM
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Rochester Falcons / Rfalconcam Website News / Re: New idea for top menu
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on: 29-Jan-10, 10:51:02 AM
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It may just be my evil, slow work 'puter, but the drop downs are lingering a bit too long after I move off them, ghosting over the next one. And a tad too sensitive for my taste...they're dropping down with even a glancing touch of the cursor...one of my pet peeves on other sites.
Other than that, I do like the idea.
I have the slowest PC and mine doesn't do that Ei...I tried to make that happen but all work fine. They are a bit on the sensitive side but all in all good. My Yahoo mail had that very sensitive talking add that always seemed to go off even if I didn't go near it. Nasty thing that is. I have added the "NO Scripts" to my Firefox and it won't allow any any junk like that unless I let it. Sometimes that is a pain too. There are way too many adds out there and some can be dangerous. |
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23783
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Birds Are Taking Off for Migration Sooner; Not Reaching Destinations Earlier
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on: 29-Jan-10, 06:39:22 AM
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Science Daily (Jan. 29, 2010) — Migrating birds can and do keep their travel dates flexible, a new study published online on January 28th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveals. But in the case of pied flycatchers, at least, an earlier takeoff hasn't necessarily translated into an earlier arrival at their destination. It appears the problem is travel delays the birds are experiencing as a result of harsh weather conditions on the final leg of their journey through Europe.
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The discovery may in a sense be good news as far as birds' potential to cope under climate change, but it also highlights the vulnerability of long-distance migrants to environmental conditions in general.
"We have been claiming for a while that migratory birds have difficulties in adapting to climate change because of their rigid and rather inflexible timing of spring migration; in Africa and South America, they cannot know when spring starts at their northern breeding grounds," said Christiaan Both of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. "This study shows that timing of spring migration is flexible and that birds do respond to climate change, although in a rather indirect way: breeding dates have become progressively earlier, and birds are thus born earlier in the spring. We now show that the effect of early birth is also that the birds migrate early, and migration time has advanced over the last 25 years. The reason that the birds did not advance their arrival is thus not due to a failure to start migration earlier, but because circumstances at passage in Southern Europe have not improved."
Pied flycatchers are one of the best-studied migratory bird species in the world. With records going back more than 50 years, researchers have been able to investigate the birds' reaction to climate change over time. Pied flycatchers are also forest-dwelling, which makes them particularly interesting because of the strong seasonality in food dynamics in the forest.
"Forests are characterized by a short burst of insects rather early in spring," Both explained. "If the birds miss this insect peak for raising their chicks, they do not produce enough offspring to keep up their population sizes."
Like many migrants, pied flycatchers must tackle a rather remarkable and grueling trek each spring to reach their breeding sites. They spend their winters in Western Africa, anywhere from 5000 to 9000 kilometers from their breeding grounds across Europe and western Siberia. Their wintering grounds in Africa become progressively drier over the course of the season, and by the end of that dry spell, they somehow have to accumulate enough resources to fly about 2000 kilometers across the Sahara desert. The birds recover in Northern Africa before heading to their final destinations.
"Based on our calculations, they are covering the distance from Northern Africa to The Netherlands in about 6 days, and to central Sweden in about 12 days," Both said. Only a small fraction of birds make it through that harrowing journey. For those that do, "in some of the northern or eastern breeding grounds, the first birds often arrive when the breeding areas are still snow-covered. And these birds are strictly insectivorous -- earlier arrival probably means death because there are not enough insects to be found." In The Netherlands, circumstances are better at arrival, he added, but the birds there get little or no chance to rest before breeding and nest building must begin. In most cases during the warm springs of the past decade, birds in The Netherlands have laid their first eggs 7 to 8 days after completing their journey.
Both's team found that the birds left their wintering grounds and made it all the way to Northern Africa 10 days earlier in the year in 2002 than they did in 1980. Still, they didn't arrive at their European breeding grounds any sooner.
The findings imply that "little should be expected in terms of an evolutionary response [to climate change]: any genetic variation in spring departure is likely to be masked by environmental constraints and not translated into earlier arrival," the researchers conclude. "More generally, because climate change often alters temperatures differently at different periods in the year, adaptation of life cycles in animals with a complex annual cycle is not likely to be solved by simple phenotypic or evolutionary responses toward earlier phenology. An adaptive evolutionary response most likely is needed on a whole suite of different traits simultaneously, and it remains to be seen whether evolution can alter species quickly enough to stop their decline."
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23784
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Large number of dead barn owls found in Highlands (UK)
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on: 29-Jan-10, 06:34:44 AM
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The charity said it believed severe winter weather could have led to the birds starving to death.
Conservation worker Stuart Benn said deep snow had made it harder for the owls to catch food like mice and voles.
Finds along the coast of the Moray Firth suggested barn owls had flown from inland territories to hunt for the mammals.
Mr Benn said he found the remains of a barn owl close to the Norbord factory near Inverness Airport. Other deaths have also been reported to RSPB Scotland.
The conservation officer said: "It's not just small birds that have suffered during the cold spell. We believe that a number of larger species have also suffered severely.
"Barn owls, in particular, seem to be doing badly."
He added: "In recent years, due to a series of mild winters, the barn owl population had increased quite markedly in the north with the birds spreading into Sutherland.
"I suspect that progress has been put into sharp reverse by the weather."
Woodcock and wood pigeons have also been affected.
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / Wallaceburg swan killer Nathan Salisbury fined $1000 (Canada)
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on: 29-Jan-10, 06:29:16 AM
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A Wallaceburg man who purposefully drove his boat into a family of swans on Running Creek has been fined $1,000 and forced to forfeit his boat and motor to the Crown. Nathan Salisbury, who pleaded guilty to charges under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and Migratory Birds Regulations in the Ontario Court of Justice in Chatham Jan. 20, has also been forced to surrender his migratory bird hunting permit to a conservation officer. The court heard that on July 11, 2009, Salisbury intentionally drove his boat into a family of swans on Running Creek, killing one of the adult swans. Two days later, one of the cygnets was found dead. Justice of the Peace Marsha Miskokomon ordered Salisbury to pay $500 for using a boat for the purpose of killing wildlife and another $500 for unlawfully hunting a migratory bird during closed season. Chatham Kent Police Services, Environment Canada Wildlife Enforcement and the Ministry of Natural Resources were all involved in the investigation.  |
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23789
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Other Nature Related Information / General Nature Discussion / FWP seeks comment on peregrine falcon, shed-antler hunting proposals
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on: 28-Jan-10, 07:56:37 PM
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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public comment on proposals for the 2010 peregrine falcon take and on shed-antler hunting on wildlife management areas.
The 2010 proposal on peregrine falcon would authorize five nestlings or fledged peregrines be taken between June 1 and Aug. 31. Only one bird could be collected per successful applicant. Peregrines would not be taken from eastern Montana to help the breeding population there expand, and birds from nests of high value to wildlife viewers would also be excluded.
The proposal on shed-antler hunting on WMAs would create walk-in only access to WMAs for the first three days of shed-antler hunting, beginning the day WMAs open each spring. The proposal would apply to all WMAs that are closed to winter access.
Comments are due by Friday, Feb. 19, and may be sent via e-mail over the FWP Web site at fwp.mt.gov on the Hunting page, or mailed to: FWP – Wildlife Bureau, Attn: Public Comment, P.O. Box 200701, Helena, MT 59620-0701. For more information, check details available on the FWP Web site, or call 444-2612.
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with Lola's face, Pale Males mate. She is so cute.
to rescue her.
