Category: Uncategorized

This video says about itself:

Hail Hail The Lance-tailed Manakin Gang’s All Here – April 5, 2019

A female, two adult males and a juvenile male all shared the display perch at once today. The males took turns practicing their display. The juvenile male in attendance got a thorough and vigorous dance lesson.

Watch Live at http://allaboutbirds.org/manakins

This cam shows one display perch in a population of Lance-tailed Manakins on Isla Boca Brava, Chiriquí, Panamá, that has been monitored intensively since 1999.

Green Winged Macaws have green feathers on their wings and red feathers on their faces. They are red, green and blue, and live in South America.

Scarlet Macaws are red, yellow and and blue, with white faces.

Scarlets live in South and Central America and Mexico.

I was amazed to come upon this friendly scarlet in Costa Rica.

I couldn’t figure out why he was performing for me, until his mate turned up, and I realized they were feeding their chick in a nest in the hollow of this tree.

I have never seen nesting wild macaws so this was quite a thrill!

Macaw populations are scattered in the wild and rare to find.

Their numbers have been decimated by habitat destruction and the pet parrot trade.

Macaws are highly intelligent and mate for life.

Cheers to you from the incredible Scarlet and Green Winged Macaws~

This 8 October 2018 video says about itself:

The Arctic Tern, the longest known migration known in the animal kingdom.

It was long believed that Arctic terns flew about 22,000 miles (35,200 km) on their journey from the Arctic region to Antarctica and back. Recent studies, however, revealed that the birds actually fly much farther.

Tiny instruments called geolocators were attached to a number of birds. About the weight of a paper clip, these amazing devices revealed that some terns flew an average of 56,000 miles (90,000 km) on the round-trip—the longest animal migration known. One bird flew nearly 60,000 miles (96,000 km)!

Why the revised estimates? No matter where they began their migration, the Arctic terns flew an indirect route. As shown in the illustration, a common Atlantic Ocean route took an S shape. The reason? The birds simply take advantage of prevailing wind systems. During their lifetime…

Elephants in Chobe River

Our California winter this year has been blessed with abundant rain. As I walked in my neighborhood park last week, I marveled at the numerous rivers and streams.

I pondered what my favorite river on earth was, thought about it all week.

Rivers traverse all the continents. Over the centuries, cities have been founded on rivers for their power. They support large populations, and carry heavy loads of people and products. Rivers are the basis for the growth of civilization.

I have known so many rivers. How could I pick just one? Could you?

One favorite at the top of my thoughts: the Chobe River in Botswana. A popular watering place for African game. We watched wild dogs celebrating a kill, elephants crossing, and hundreds of ungulates.

Wild Dogs, Chobe River Nat’l Park, Botswana

Chobe River, zebra crossing from Botswana into Namibia

Waterbuck, Chobe River, Botswana, Africa

Then…

by Carol Walker Director of Field Documentation for Wild Horse Freedom Federation

We won our lawsuit to prevent the gruesome sterilization experiments that the BLM proposed conducting on 100 mares from the Warm Springs HMA, which is almost 500,000 acres.  I, American Wild Horse Campaign, the Cloud Foundation and Animal Welfare Institute blocked the study by our lawsuit.  The BLM dropped the experiments from their plan for the HMA, and now they have decided to release a devastatingly small number of wild horses and no burros back into the Herd Management Area despite having removed almost 100% of the wild horses and burros during the roundup in 2018: The helicopter roundup removed 846 wild horses and 41 burros. These wild horses and burros are currently being held at the BLM Burns Corrals in Hines, Oregon.  They plan to release only 66 wild horses and zero burros.  This would leave 1…

This September 2018 says about itself:

Cute Sea Otter Behaviour Decoded

From holding paws to rubbing their faces, sea otters are otter-ly adorable. But why do they do it? Discover the science behind the cute.

From the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany:

Sea otters’ tool use leaves behind distinctive archaeological evidence

Researchers used an interdisciplinary approach combining ecology and archaeological methods to study sea otters’ past behavior

March 14, 2019

An international team of researchers has analyzed the use by sea otters of large, shoreline rocks as “anvils” to break open shells, as well as the resulting shell middens. The researchers used ecological and archaeological approaches to identify patterns that are characteristic of sea otter use of such locations. By looking at evidence of past anvil stone use, scientists could better understand sea otter habitat use.

Sea otters are an especially captivating marine mammal…

River Otter walking

In January I went to a flooded agricultural field to observe ducks and cranes. At one point there was a curious underwater movement…unidentifiable. We waited, and watched. And a river otter popped out!

River otter swimming in field

We have been going to this field for three decades, have spent close to 50 hours observing wildlife on this one field. Every winter it is loaded with songbirds, ducks, cranes, raptors, waders, and more…but we have never seen an otter here.

Flooded field with ducks, January 2019. Compare this scene to the photo below from January 2014.

We have, however, seen the river otter hunting on a nearby river several times.

River otter with fish. December 2008

There are 13 species of otters on earth, and they are all aquatic in nature, feeding primarily on fish and invertebrates. In North America we have the river otter (our focus…