Is there an available link to this?
Thanks 
Carol
WV

I will try to find it, Carol...

Bobbie

you are not alone I have been getting them too. I had other problems earlier today and thought they were connected. well maybe they are in some way.

What's the Michael Jackson one??? "You are not along/I am here with you/Tho we're far apart..."

WELL! That's enough of THAT!!! (I blame this on being off-line today for HOURS! YEAH!)

Or maybe...

"You are not alone..."??

(Bang goes that little chuckle...)

Forum posts' dates have been corrected. We're back in business even though our clock is a little slow.

Meant to say... before I pitched a major wobbly about being off-line today...

Thanks for all you do, Shaky! I, for one, am most grateful. Must be tough at times, and goodness knows, I would not have a clue about how to proceed if things go awry. (So don't tell ME you are always working on your book!!!)

Slainte!

Bobbie

you are not alone I have been getting them too. I had other problems earlier today and thought they were connected. well maybe they are in some way.

What's the Michael Jackson one??? "You are not along/I am here with you/Tho we're far apart..."

WELL! That's enough of THAT!!! (I blame this on being off-line today for HOURS! YEAH!)

[Garden birds at risk from feedersBird lovers are advised to clean feeders regularly]

Among a number of interesting pieces I found today is the following... and it probably involves most of us. I will save the others til tomorrow so as not to overload. This one is a subject to ponder...


Garden birds at risk from feeders

Bird lovers are advised to clean feeders regularly

Researchers at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) are concerned that garden bird feeders could be putting birds at risk.

A 13-year study has found that the salmonella infection can build up on feeders and then spread among birds. The study revealed that greenfinches and house sparrows appeared to be particularly vulnerable to the disease.

Bird lovers are being advised to disinfect feeders regularly to minimise the risk of infection.
The research has been published in the journal, The Veterinary Record.

Tom Pennycott, from the SAC consulting veterinary service, examined the findings from 198 incidents of salmonellosis in garden birds in Scotland between 1995 and 2008.

The research also found that in the north of Scotland, finches, especially greenfinches, were most commonly affected, but in the south of Scotland, the salmonella infection was found in house sparrows. The long-term survey also highlighted significant differences in the strains of salmonella found in the north and the south of Scotland.

In the north, one type predominated but in the south of Scotland, two types were commonly found.

However, salmonella was not the only challenge facing our garden birds. Long-term monitoring from 1995 identified a recent dramatic fall in the number of greenfinches found dead from salmonellosis.
   
For the first three years of the survey, 34 of 36 garden birds with salmonellosis were greenfinches. In the past three years, to the end of March 2010, only eight of 38 infected birds were greenfinches.

Mr Pennycott believes the reduction in greenfinches found with salmonella may be to do with a more significant overall fall in greenfinch numbers. He said this may be due to another infection of garden birds, called trichomonosis, which was first diagnosed by SAC veterinary services in Scotland in 2005 and has since become widespread in Britain. He said: "Long-term monitoring like this shows that salmonellosis of garden birds is a more complex disease than we originally thought. And when another disease such as trichomonosis appears out of the blue, the combined effects can be disastrous. Members of the public can play a key role in all this, by maintaining good hygiene at bird feeders and by alerting us if they find unusually large numbers of dead birds."

[Man jailed for smuggling falcons' eggs]

...and another one bites the dust!! B.
_______

Man jailed for smuggling falcons' eggs
? 
A businessman was jailed for 30 months in Britain today after he admitted trying to smuggle the eggs of a rare peregrine falcon to Dubai.

Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, was caught with 14 eggs strapped to his body at Birmingham International Airport on May 3 after he was spotted acting suspiciously by a cleaner.

He had wrapped the eggs, worth £70,000 (€85,000), in socks before taping them to his chest.

Today Lendrum, of Towcester, Northamptonshire, admitted one count of trying to export the eggs illegally and a second charge of stealing them from a nest in South Wales during a hearing at Warwick Crown Court.

The court heard the 14 eggs were destined for falconries in Dubai, where breeders will pay thousands of pounds on the black market for eggs snatched from the wild.

Lendrum had previous convictions in Zimbabwe and Canada for stealing rare eggs and had at one stage abseiled from a helicopter to reach a remote nest.

He was caught after a cleaner working in the Emirates business class lounge of Birmingham International Airport spotted him dashing in and out of the shower.

When she went to investigate the shower had not been used and she called in counter-terrorist officers, fearing the defendant had a more sinister purpose.

The court heard there were only 1,400 breeding pairs of Peregrine falcons in the UK and the birds were regarded as one of the most endangered species.

Thanks for posting those pix, BC... Good, huh?

Whoa! When I logged on this morning (GMT), I got this "maintenance" thingie... and it was there most of the day... and I did not know what to do next! So... yaaaaaay things are back in business again. How sad am I?!

Slainte!

Bobbie

(If it weren't for Donna, I would have been certifiable...)

Although this could probably fit under the General Nature section....

Before Falcon Watching, I volunteered for quite a few years, working at this site.  Long days, but lots of fun.  You never knew what would be dug out of the swamp land next.  I actually got to hold a Mastodon tusk!  Very cool!  

http://artvoice.com/issues/v9n23/digging_for_matodons#SlideFrame_0

The things you Watchers do! VERY cool indeed!   

[Woolly mammoth extinction 'not linked to humans']

(You reckon this could be categorised as "General Nature Discussion"?)


Woolly mammoth extinction 'not linked to humans'

By Pallab Ghosh - Science correspondent, BBC News

Woolly mammoths died out because of dwindling grasslands - rather than being hunted to extinction by humans, according to a Durham University study.

After the coldest phase of the last ice age 21,000 years ago, the research revealed, there was a dramatic decline in pasture on which the mammoths fed.

The woolly mammoth was once commonplace across many parts of Europe. It retreated to northern Siberia about 14,000 years ago, where it finally died out approximately 4,000 years ago.

The reasons for its extinction are unclear and have been a matter of heated scientific debate. Some scientists have argued that it was principally the result of climate change while others say that it was driven by pressures of a growing human population, or even a cataclysmic meteor strike.

Now, according to Professor Brian Huntley of Durham University, that debate has been settled.

"What our results have suggested is that the changing climate, through the effect it had on vegetation, was the key thing that caused the reduction in the population and ultimate extinction of mammoths and many other large herbivores," he said.

Professor Huntley and his colleagues created a computer simulation of vegetation in Europe, Asia and North America over the last 42,000 years.

They did this by combining estimates of what the climate was like during this period with models of how various plants grow under different conditions. They found that the cold and dry conditions during the ice age, with reduced concentrations of carbon dioxide, didn't favour the growth of trees.

So instead of forests there were vast areas of pasture, which was ideal for large herbivores, such as woolly mammoths. But as a result of a warmer, wetter climate and rising concentrations of carbon dioxide at the end of the ice age, trees emerged at the expense of the grasslands.

"During the height of the ice age, mammoths and other large herbivores would have had more food to eat," said Professor Huntley.

"But as we shifted into the post-glacial stage, trees gradually displaced those herbaceous ecosystems and that much reduced their grazing area."

[A new species of orange-headed bird found in Ireland?]

Sorry I do not know how to post pix (life's too short and all that...). But if the piece below intrigues, go to

http://www.birdwatchireland.ie/Publications/eWings/eWingsIssue11August2010/Neworangeheadedbirdspecies/tabid/1026/Default.aspx

for pix

Kinda fun!



A new species of orange-headed bird found in Ireland?

Over the past few weeks BirdWatch Ireland HQ has been receiving lots of phone calls and emails about strange birds with bright orange heads that have been visiting gardens around Ireland.  They tend to flock with Starlings and House Sparrows and can be quite numerous in some areas, though they can’t be found in any field guides.

Rather than being some exotic new visitor, these in fact ARE Starlings and House Sparrows that have been feeding on a plant called New Zealand Flax (Phormium tenax).  Though native to New Zealand, this species has been planted commonly in gardens around the country and has even become naturalised in the wild in many areas.  Its high antler-like flower-stalks which grow out from the centre of a fan of long, narrow leaves are highly distinctive and will be familiar to many people.

We are used to plants being pollinated by insects and even by the wind, but New Zealand Flax uses another method: it is pollinated by birds.  The tubular flowers produce a rich, sweet nectar that many birds find irresistible.  As they stick their beaks down into the flowers to feed, a small brush-like appendage dusts the tops of the birds’ heads with brightly coloured pollen, staining it a vivid orange or red colour.  When they move on to feed from another flax flower, these birds bring the pollen with them, helping the plant to reproduce.

In New Zealand the main pollinator is a unique native bird called the Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), which has even evolved a beak with exactly the same curvature as the flax flower to allow it to feed more easily.  We don’t have any Tuis in Ireland, so the plants have to make do with the Irish birds, mainly Starlings and House Sparrows, that have learned that flax nectar is a good source of food.

The staining on the bird’s crown feathers is only temporary and doesn’t cause them any discomfort or harm: they are probably completely unaware of how odd they look to our eyes.  It is not at all surprising that people think they have seen a new species of bird, as the addition of such a vivid splash of colour to otherwise rather drab and muted species really catches the eye and stands out as something unusual.  It will be interesting to see whether this feeding behaviour spreads to other bird species and whether it aids the spread of this invasive plant species in Ireland.

Now, there's a thing! I did not know that birds of prey would hybridise... as the Gyr Falcon and Peregrine Falcon hybrids in the piece from Donna. I have certainly heard of it among deer species (quite a lot with Sika x Fallow here). But never with BoPs...

Do tell, anyone - who, how, why...

Slainte!

Bobbie

(... and Dale... I could not figure out how to get a New in BD messages... so yours came through as OT... nothing personal, you understand!!!)

CHIRPY BIRD-DAY TO YOU, DALE!

Hope it is full of fun and celebrations!

 

Slainte!

Bobbie

Lucifer = light-bearing. How fascinating!

I love word origins... The world's best book? The OED... Un-put-down-able!

Matchsticks were called lucifers back in the day

Splendid!!

Lucifer = light-bearing. How fascinating!

I love word origins... The world's best book? The OED... Un-put-down-able!