According to this report by Birdlife International , the situation for Indian Vultures is dramatic and three species could face extinction in the wild within ten years. The population of the White-rumped Vultures Gyps bengalensis has dropped 99.9 percent since 1992. Indian Vulture Gyps indicus and Slender-billed Vultures Gyps tenuirostris have lost about 97 percent of their population. The reason is the veterinary drug diclofenac which is used to treat livestock, but kills the vultures once they feed on dead animals which where treated with the drug.
The drug is now officially banned in India, but still widely available. Sadly, the drug now also seems to be available in Africa.
The Spanish Imperial Eagle is one of the most endangered birds in Europa. In the 1960s the population was below 50 pairs. Due to a lot conservation work in Spain, the population has reached 234 reproductive pairs in 2007 (2 in Portugal, the rest in Spain) according to this report (in Spanish).
The population increase was 17 pairs in 2007 compared to the year before. In 2006 there were 11 new pairs, in 2005 10 and in 2004 9 new pairs.
The highest number of pairs (73) are in Castilla La Mancha. In Extremadura there 49. Other regions with a significant number of pairs are Andalusia and Castilla y Leon.
One of the reasons for the increase in Castilla La Mancha is a reduced mortality through electrocution. During the 1990s the power lines and pylons where modified to reduce raptor mortality. But there are still some cases of eagles getting killed through electrocution every year. Illegal poisoning is also still a threat.
The number of young eagles fledged in 2007 were 242 compared to 294 in 2006 and 221 in 2005.
Despite the increase, the Spanish Imperial Eagle is still a very threatened species that will need a lot of conservation work in the future.
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):
The Eurasian Bittern is one of the most endangered species in most parts of Europe. A member of the heron family, it needs wetlands with large reedbeds.
The Bittern has a very strange sound. Visit the RSPB Site about the Bittern to listen to its call.
On my trip to Neusiedler See Nationalpark (Eastern Austria) last week I was finally able to see one of those amazing birds. For 3 days we were only able to hear them (even from the hotel during the night). But on the fourth day we finally were lucky. We saw four of them. That one on the photograph came pretty close to our car after we waited silently. It was perfect to get a shot with the my 500mm telephoto lens (and 1.4x converter).
I hope you enjoy the picture. More pictures from that trip will follow once I have worked myself through the more than 2.000 pictures I took during that trip.
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.
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.
Which digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera is best for bird photography? This is a question many birders who want to get serious about bird photography, are asking themselves.
Today, there are many companies who offer DSLRs, including Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, Olympus and more. The price of the models goes from below 1.000 Euros (or Dollars) up to more than 5.000 Euros for the professional cameras.
Which brand?
That’s an easy question. Canon or Nikon. Period. Although the cameras of other manufacturers are not bad, Canon and Nikon offer the best camers and are the only ones who currently offer professional bodies (Nikon with the D3 and D300, Canon with the 1D Mark III and 1Ds Mark III). In addition Nikon and Canon have the greatest selection of lenses and other useful utilities like extenders.
Canon and Nikon are currently the only companies that offer a 4/500 with image stabilization. Sigma has a 4.5/500, but without stabilization and a much slower AF than the Canon and Nikon lenses. And the Sigma is also available for Nikon and Canon, if you want to use them. The 4/500 is one of the best choices for the serious bird photographer. For more information about lenses, read my post Choosing the best lens for bird photography.
If you are serious about bird photography and want the best equipment currently available, choose either Nikon or Canon.
How many megapixels?
10 megapixels (MP) is the current standard of most consumer cameras and some professional models. Some new models like Nikon’s D300 offer about 12MP and Canon’s 1Ds Mark III even offers about 21 MP.
I think for most cases 10 or 12 MP are enough. If you are also doing a lot of landscape photography, you might want to get a camera with more than 12MP. At the time of this writing, there is only the Canon 1Ds Mark. But more cameras with a higher resolution from both Canon and Nikon are expected to follow soon.
Crop factor or full frame?
Let’s use an example to demonstrate the point why I like a camera with a crop factor. Nikon’s D300 and D3 both have about 12 MP of resolution. The 1.5 crop factor of the D300 will give you the bird with the same size in the image as if the picture were taken with the D3 and a 750 mm (500 x 1.5) lens. That means, when you photograph a bird with a 4/500 with both the D300 and the D3 from the same distance, you will get much more pixels per bird with the D300 than with the D3. That will allow you to make bigger prints.
But keep in mind, that the full frame sensor of the D3 has better image quality. You probably won’t notice this at all up to ISO 400 but above ISO 800, the D3 is the clear winner. That said, the D300 performs very well at high ISO values.
What else is important?
The camera should have a fast and accurate autofocus (AF). Canon and Nikon currently have both very good AF systems. The more expensive the camera, the better the AF. That’s because those cameras have more processing power and a more sophisticated AF system. A Nikon D3 will perform much better than a Nikon D60.
The camera should be able to shoot at least 5 frames per second (fps). That’s important when you are shooting action scenes like fighting birds or birds in flight. A camera with 8 fps will give you a much higher chance to get a good shot than a camera that can only shoot 3 fps.
The camera should have weather sealing, if you will be using it in difficult weather situations like heavy rain, or dusty areas like a dessert or at the ocean shore.
The camera should also deliver good image quality up to ISO 800, which is the case with most current Nikon and Canon cameras.
What do you recommend?
I currently use a Canon EOS 40D and am very happy with that camera. If you want an affordable but great camera for bird photography, the EOS 40D is a great choice. A serious alternative is the Nikon D300. This is a more expensive camera, but also overall a better one. It has a higher resolution than the EOS 40D (12 vs. 10 MP), can shoot 8 instead of 6.5 frames per second, has full weather sealing and a faster and better AF.
If you want to spend even more money, you can get either Nikon’s D3 (12 MP, full frame) or Canon’s 1D Mark III (10 MP and 1.3 Crop factor) or Canon’s 1Ds Mark III (21 MP and full frame).
The lens is more important than the camera
Keep in mind that the lens is more important than the camera. It’s better to bay a Canon EOS 40D with a 4/500 lens than a EOS 1D Mark III with just a 4/300 lens. For more about the right lens, read Choosing the best lens for bird photography
The Global Raptor Information Network is a wonderful website by the Peregrine Fund about the raptors of the world. It has detailed species accounts for all raptor species covering distribution, taxonony, movements, feeding, conservation and more. Below the species accounts are important references and a list of researchers working with the species.
The species can be grouped and searched by different criteria like continents where they live, conservation status or population trend.
If you want to learn more about a certain raptor species or all the raptors on the continent you live, then a visit to the Global Raptor Information Network will give you a lot of information. A must read website for both professionals working for the conservationi of the various species and for every birder serious about raptors.
The African Crowned Eagle ( Stephanoaetus coronatus ) is one of the most powerful raptors in Africa. Like most woodland raptors it has relatively short and broad wings, similar to a Goshawk. But the eagle is much bigger and more powerful than the Goshawk. Some consider it the African equivalent to the Harpy Eagle ( Harpia harpyja ) of Central and South America. But those two species are not closely related.
Here is an amazing video from National Geographic showing the (unsuccessful) attempt of an African Crowned Eagle to catch a Water Chevrotain ( Hyemoschus aquaticus ).
The White-tailed Eagle has a wingspan up to 245cm (the females) and is even a little bigger than the Golden Eagle. Once close to extinction in many European countries, the White-tailed Ealge has made a phenomenal comeback and populations have increased in many countries including Norway, Germany or Poland.
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