Way to go, Team Peregrine! A new Personal Best... 

Will you be posting a list of species? Anything unexpected? Would love to know...

[Has CITES had its day?]

This piece goes back to April, but it is a worthwhile essay on the politics of international trade in endangered species... and politics, unfortunately, is very much to the fore...

Has CITES had its day?

VIEWPOINT: Mark Jones


Governments, conservationists and pro-trade groups have been trying to make what capital they can from their respective "victories" at [April's] meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). But, asks Mark Jones, is the 37-year-old convention successfully doing the job it was established to do?

CITES is mandated to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants, or products derived from them, does not threaten their survival.

An impressive-sounding 175 parties (member countries) are committed to implementing various protection measures for some 5,000 species of animal and 28,000 plants.

Yet at times on the floor of [the April 2010] conference in Doha, Qatar, one had the impression that the arguments and outcomes had more to do with protecting commercial interests than protecting wildlife.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8606011.stm

Found this piece about that falcon smuggler we all read about last month and thought you would be interested in knowing how things turned out...


As one of the RSPB's Senior Investigations Officers, I've been involved in many cases involving crimes against peregrines. You might have read about this particular case in the papers or seen it on TV - it shows some of the threats that these spectacular birds still face.

The peregrine has the accolade of being the fastest bird in the world, stooping from the sky like a thunderbolt. Unfortunately, it is still far too slow to escape human greed and prejudice.

On 19 August 2010, Jeffrey Lendrum pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle 14 peregrine eggs out of the UK, and taking these eggs from four nest sites in Wales. He received a 30-month jail sentence - ironically, caged like many of the birds he had previously supplied from the wild...

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/investigations/archive/2010/08/20/falcon-smuggler-caged.aspx

I stayed up far too late last night, watching 9/11 documentaries on Irish and British TV. The sadness does not cease. On that fateful day, as my family in the States found it impossible to contact each other, it was I, so far away, who kept them in touch. Thank you, Donna, for reminding us... as if we could forget...

You reckon it's a leg, then? Good enough for me... (kind looked like a pencil... is someone writing their memoirs??)

Awwww, Patti Lucky ole you! Kinda like seeing the Birder's Book of Kells...

Where is this nest-box, Annette? That is one tall building! Eeeeek  NOT for me!! I get a bit woozy if I stand on a kitchen chair...

Racing pigeon ring? Sounds about right... but shouldn't there be a leg in it??? 

Who-hoa, Annette... great views on this site... but just a teensy bit vertiginous for me!!! (I see the red thingie too...)

 

Go, Team Peregrine, Go!



(I've done a few "bird races" here and they are wonderful fun...)

[MAKfalcon (MAK):]

MAKfalcon (MAK): B flying high heading north and then west Lost her behind buildings DebbieH here now

Link:
http://twitter.com/MAKfalcon/statuses/24096903193

While many of us (including me!) go back and forth with various messages on a truly broad range of topics, it is easy to forget those of you who are in the field, always reporting to us on the ROC Falcons - what bought us together in the first place... thanks to all!

[K Bobbie, your #1 on my list!]

I'm bidding on that one!

I got dibs on borrowing it first when you're finished!

K Bobbie, your #1 on my list!
[/quote]

Yippee Ki-yay, Baby!

As they say here... you better get out on the bridge with your tin cup to raise the funds...

Wonder what the starting bid will be?   

One of the reasons why there aren't many complete copies of this book is because people took them apart to sell the pages with pictures of the birds on them separately for framing.  The pictures in these old bird books are stunning.

I had also read that, Carol. In addition to actually holding such a treasure, I would love to give it a good sniff... a must for a fine book. Sure wish I could find a link for us that would show more plates than the site I noted... must have a look. Probably on the Sotheby's website, now that I think of it.

http://www.google.com/images?q=John%20James%20Audubon%27s%20Birds%20of%20America&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=576 Try this Bobbie

Well done, Girlfriend!! The very thing! (And yet another excuse to delay the big print-out I have to do...) The images are breathtaking...

Wonder what the starting bid will be?   

One of the reasons why there aren't many complete copies of this book is because people took them apart to sell the pages with pictures of the birds on them separately for framing.  The pictures in these old bird books are stunning.

I had also read that, Carol. In addition to actually holding such a treasure, I would love to give it a good sniff... a must for a fine book. Sure wish I could find a link for us that would show more plates than the site I noted... must have a look. Probably on the Sotheby's website, now that I think of it.

I'm bidding on that one!
[/quote]

I got dibs on borrowing it first when you're finished!

The Irish weather is a tad iffy today, Anne - and after we had such a long, sunny spell. The trees are looking a bit autumnal too. The big horse chestnuts are usually the first to go, but with all the recent warmth, the butterflies are on a bit of a resurgence... wonderful to see. We still have swallows larking around the garden... they come here to play and frolic, it seems, then head elsewhere to build their nests and raise their young. How rude is that?!

And... oh dear... cheep?! You bet! (I think you might need some rest, m'dear!)

Slainte!

Bobbie

(Here's one... the spell check tells me that "m'dear" should be "Medea"...)