Websites about the Harpy Eagle

The Harpy Eagle is one of the most spectacular birds in the world. It has talons the size of a Grizzly Bear and is the largest and most powerful raptor in Central and South America.

I have collected interesting websites and documents about that amazing bird (English or Spanish):

Captive Breeding information by the Peregrine Fund

Harpy Eagle conservation by the Peregrine Fund

Harpy Eagle species account at globalraptors.org

Harpy Eagle conservation in Panama (Spanish)

Harpy Eagle in Peru (PDF, Spanish)

Three amazing videos about the Harpy Eagle

If you know more websites, please leave a comment.

A billion trees for Brazil

The Nature Conservancy launched a new campaign to plant one billion!!! trees in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. That forest has one of the highest diversity of animals, including birds (almost 950 species). Some unique birds to this area include Red-billed Curassow, Brazilian Merganser and several threatened parrot species.
Unfortunately more than 90% of that forest has been destroyed and the rest is fragmented. Now the Nature Conservancy wants to plant trees covering an area of around 2.500.000 acres (about 1.000.000 hectares or 10.000 square kilometers). That’s bigger than the size of Yellowstone National Park.
This is a very ambitious project that will not only help local wildlife but also many people in the area.

Today, nature conservation needs big visions. The Plant a Billion Trees campaign is such a vision. Let’s hope that similar projects will be started in other areas, like Western Africa, South-East Asia and the Amazon forest. Similar projects could also be started in Europe or North America, even if it’s only 1 Million trees.

More information:
www.plantabillion.org
www.nature.org/pressroom/press/press3443.html

Lead Poisoning still a threat to birds

Lead poisoning is still killing many birds, especially raptors who feed on carrion. When an animal is shot with lead ammunition and is later consumed by an eagle or other bird, the bird will also swallow the lead. That can either kill the bird or dramatically compromise it’s health through loss of balance, tremors or and impaired ability to fly. Such a bird will almost always end up as a dead bird. Sometimes, when found by humans, the bird can recover, but most of the time it’s too late.

According to a recent press release by the Peregrine Fund, Ravens in the Greater Yellowstone area show high lead levels during the hunting season. Hunters, after shooting elk and deer, left behind the gut piles which where consumed by the Ravens, of which many later had high levels of lead in their blood. Of course, the lead would not only affect Ravens, but all birds who feed on the gut piles like Golden Eagles or Bald Eagles. Grizzly Bears also are known to feed on the gut piles regularly.

Another problem are lead fishing weights which threaten loons and probably other birds with a similar biology than loons. See here for more information about this.

The best way to avoid future deaths of birds or other animals is to ban lead ammunition and fishing weights and replace it with something saver. Alternatives exist. It’s time that those unnecessary deaths of (often endangered) species come to an end.

Why bird conservation is important

I just came across this wonderful post why bird conservation is important. Many people ask why we should care about birds and other animals at all. The Birdfreak Team has published that very helpful list about why the conservation of birds is so important. Read it and pass it on to your friends. It’s even available as a printable PDF.

Born Again Bird Watcher: another great bird blog

This is another great bird blog I recommend reading:
Born Again Bird Watcher.
John Riutta, the blog owner writes regularly about interesting stuff in the birding and bird world. He also writes regularly about conservation. Recently he has written an interesting article about a ridiculous fine levied against two poachers in Cypress who killed 52 Red-footed Falcons.

Hope for Albatrosses in New Zealand

According to this news by Birdlife International, New Zealand will take further measures to reduce the number of seabirds killed in New Zealand’s fisheries.

This is great news for many endangered seabird species, especially the albatrosses. It’s estimated that about 100.000!!! albatrosses die each year on fishing hooks used by long-line fishing. The long lines (many kilometers long) has hundreds or thousands of hooks with bait on a single line. When the long-lines are set out on the water, many seabirds try to eat the bait and swallow the hook. Due to the weight of the line, the birds are pulled underwater and drown.

Albatrosses are long lived species which only raise a chick every year or some only every second year. Additionally, some species start breeding first after reaching the age of ten years or even more. So it takes a long time for a population to recover.

Up to 19 of the 22 albatross species (the actual number of albatross species is still open to debate) are already endangered, mostly because of long-line fishing.

The new measures taken by New Zealand should help reduce the senseless dying of those magnificent birds.

For more information about albatrosses, the threats they face and how you can help, click here: http://www.savethealbatross.net.

Biofuel madness threatens birds in Kenya

The biofuel madness continues. What first looked like a great idea to fight climate change, now turns out to be a disaster for bird conservation. As the demand for biofuels has grown during the last years, more and more areas have been used to grow energy plants. Unfortunately this often resulted in the destruction of important wildlife habitat like rainforests. Also, farmland that has been set aside for farmland birds and other animals like hares is now used to grow biofuels, reducing the number of endangered farmland birds like Skylarks, Yellowhammers and others even more. For more information about the negative side effects of biofuels check out this site by The Nature Conservancy.

One of the areas recently threatened by biofuels is a wonderful wetland in Northern Kenya according to a recent report by the RSPB. The impacts on the local birdlife would be severe, threatening species like the Basra Reed Warbler or the Golden-breasted Starling.

I think there should be strong rules for the growth of biofuels and the destruction of important wildlife habitat must be prohibited.

New record year for White-tailed Eagle in Germany

The White-tailed Eagle goes from strength to strength in Germany. In 2006 about 530 breeding pairs were recorded in Germany. This year is even better. The Naturschutzbund Deutschland (Birdlife Germany) just announced that in 2007 about 575 pairs were recorded. This is another increase and the highest population in Germany since many decades.
The White-tailed Eagle is my favorite bird. I hope that the German population reaches 1.000 pairs in the future. So far it looks very good.

Red Knots and Horseshoe Crabs: trouble again!

As the A DC Birding Blog reports, there may be trouble again for Red Knots visiting Delaware Bay on migration, as there is a new appeal to overturn the ban on Horseshoe Crap harvesting.
Delaware Bay is the largest spawning ground for Horseshoe Crabs. Red Knots feed on the eggs of the Crabs. As Horseshoe Crabs have been harvested too intensely, the number of available eggs have become less and less and so reducing the Red Knot population.

According to this
press release by Defenders of Wildlife, the North American subspecies of the Red Knot faces extinction.

Let’s hope that the ban will stay, or it might be too late for the Red Knots in North America.

EU takes Malta to Court over bird hunting

Spring hunting of birds has still been practiced legally for several species on Malta. European Turtle-doves and Common Quails have been hunted during the last years since Malta joined the European Union (EU) despite being protected by the EU Birds Directive . Both species are endangered in many parts of Europe with declining populations. According to Birdlife International, the EU now takes Malta to court over spring bird hunting. Let’s hope that the Maltese government will prohibit spring hunting for 2008 and beyond.