MigrationsMigrationsCells, birds, and musings from a biologist Articles
Red-footed Falcon
2010-10-14 14:26:00 Red-footed Falcon ???????????? (Falco vespertinus) Credit: Wild Wonders of Europe / Varesvuo / naturepl.com The most numerous falcon species which passes through Cyprus each Autumn is the Red-Footed Falcon. On a bad day in early October, you might see 4 or 5 of these falcons even if you’re in the right area; on a good ... More About: Biophilia
Talking Naturally with Charlie Moores
2010-10-12 23:04:00 Talking Naturally is a brand-spankin’-new podcast, giving a voice to conservationists. It’s hosted by Charlie Moores of 10,000 Birds fame. And first up is the campaign against hunting of protected species in Malta. In the first episode, Charlie interviews Geoffrey Saliba, the campaign coordinator for BirdLife Malta. The quiet dignity of this superb conservationist is ... More About: Talking
Inadequate ?Efforts? against trapping
2010-10-05 12:00:00 Today the Game Fund claims that it is ‘doing everything it can‘ to reduce bird trapping. The Head of the Game Fund has said his team are working flat out to stamp out illegal poaching after coming under-fire by bird protection activists. ?Our staff are not able to be everywhere all at the same time, ...
Whiskered Tern
2010-10-03 08:54:00 Whiskered Tern ???????????? (Chlidonias hybrida) Credit: © Don Hadden / www.ardea.com One of the subgroup of Terns that prefer marshy habitats, the Whiskered Tern is commonly seen in Cyprus during Autumn migration. In fact, yesterday I saw four with just a brief drive around the Akrotiri peninsula. Tagged: Birds, birds of Cyprus More About: Birding
Petition Against Songbird Trapping in Cyprus
2010-09-29 15:21:00 CABS has a petition up, Protest against Poaching on Cyprus , directed towards the Ministers of Agriculture and the Environment (Dimitris Eliades), the Interior (Neoklis Sylikiotis) and (Justice) (Loukas Louka). If figure that most people who follow this blog will be interested reading the petition and signing it. The petition (in English further down): ????????? ?. ... More About: Songbird , Petition
Cyprus Hunters? Federation discusses environmental policy
2010-09-29 11:27:00 This is about the most encouraging thing I’ve ever seen about conservation in Cyprus . Essentially, this news article describes how representatives of the Cyprus Federation for Hunting and Wildlife Conservation are, for the first time to my knowledge, taking an interest in conservation. I’ve mentioned how hunters in Mediterranean countries were lacking in this attitude, ... More About: Environmental , Policy
Teaching the Bald Ibis to migrate
2010-09-28 10:16:00 Apparently taking a cue from Operation Migration’s efforts with Whooping Cranes, there now appears to be an effort to reintroduce the critically endangered Northern Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) to parts of Europe. These birds were driven extinct there in the 1700′s after collectors scaled cliffs to take chicks and eggs. It is now one of ... More About: Teaching
BirdLife Cyprus and Tourism
2010-09-25 13:13:00 BirdLife Cyprus met with authorities of the Cyprus Tourism Organization earlier this month, stressing concerns about bird trapping and tourism similar to the views that I had expressed a couple weeks ago. And indeed, people that are both knowledgeable about birds and aware of Cyprus’ history on wildlife conservation know that Cyprus is not a ... More About: Conservation
Trip Report ? 18 September 2010
2010-09-20 18:51:00 A popular reason for birders to come to Cyprus is its endemics. With two endemic breeding species, and 5 recognized endemic subspecies, this insular corner of the world has some birds you just can’t see anywhere else. I met with my two guests for the day at their hotel in Paphos at 7am, and I ... More About: Report , Birds , Trip , Birding
Open Letter to FKNK on messages of violence
2010-09-14 21:19:00 Malta: Hunters say it’s war, and 10,000 Birds has the scoop: How dangerous is it in Malta for staff and volunteers working to protect migrant birds from illegal hunting? Nicholas Barbara, Conservation & Policy Officer at BirdLife Malta, has just sent the following letter to Joseph Buttigieg, President of the hunting federation in Malta, asking ... More About: Open , Letter , Violence , Messages , Open Letter
Trip Report ? 11 September 2010
2010-09-12 09:51:00 September is a fantastic time to go birding in Cyprus. The temperatures have cooled off a bit from their Summer highs, and birds of prey are pouring through Cyprus en route to wintering grounds in Africa. My guests were staying in Peyia whereas I live in Nicosia, so to save time we met at the ... More About: Report , Trip
On the call for a Tourism from Biodiversity in Cyprus
2010-09-10 09:22:00 In the micro-blogging world of Twitter, I’ve been expressing some views that don’t appear to be completely understood by the people responding to me, from what I can see. So let me explain for a bit what I’ve been trying to express. First though, the background… The Call for a Tourism from Biodiversity: Biodiversity is ... More About: Cyprus
We must recognise the value of biodiversity
2010-09-10 07:58:00 BIRDLIFE — From government policy to personal choices, we must recognise the value of biodiversity As the world?s governments prepare to meet in Nagoya, Japan, to set new targets for halting biodiversity loss, authors from BirdLife International are among a group of leading conservation scientists and practitioners calling for a fundamental shift in the way ...
?Birds of the Middle East? is out
2010-09-08 15:43:00 This is a completely revised second edition of the bestselling field guide to the birds of the Middle East . For the first time, the text and maps appear opposite the plates, and as a consequence there are fewer species per plate than before. The text and maps have been fully revised and many new artworks ... More About: Books , The Middle East , Birds
Wings Over Wetlands
2010-09-03 15:06:00 The UNEP-GEF African-Eurasian Flyways Project Tagged: biodiversity, migration More About: Wings
Lessons in Migratory Bird Conservation
2010-09-02 06:45:00 There’s an excellent article out now with a blog introduction from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center: Saving Migratory Birds — The Quest for Knowledge vs. the Ticking Clock: At the end of summer each year, birds from forests across North America leave their breeding grounds and travel thousands of miles, through all kinds of weather, ... More About: Conservation
Remembering Martha
2010-09-01 09:48:00 The Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) was probably once the most numerous bird on Earth. It lived in enormous migratory flocks ? sometimes containing more than two billion birds ? that could stretch one mile (1.6 km) wide and 300 miles (500 km) long across the sky, sometimes taking several hours to pass. Their flocks, a ...
Differences in Attitudes
2010-09-01 08:24:00 I’m not sure how many Europeans have heard of it, but Field & Stream is a very popular hunting and fishing magazine in the U.S. It is striking when compared to its European counterparts, because ever since its founding in 1895, Field & Stream has been just as much about conservation of the outdoors as ... More About: Cyprus , Differences , Attitudes , Malta
Ambelopoulia press at DiscoveryNews
2010-08-31 18:38:00 Millions of Songbirds Illegally Killed for Pickled, Poached Bird Recipe: Parts of Europe are now “death traps” for migrating songbirds, according to the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS), which reports that millions of birds are illegally poached each year- literally. The birds are often either pickled or poached for a Cypriot “delicacy” called ambelopoulia. Pickled ... More About: Press
France and Ortolan Trapping
2010-08-30 19:33:00 France accused of turning blind eye to orlotan trappers: France?s League for the Protection of Birds hopes to have French authorities pronounced guilty of flouting a European ban on hunting the endangered species. After long ignoring an EU directive protecting the skinny, sparrow-like birds, France three years ago promised to adopt a ?zero tolerance? approach ... More About: France , Conservation
What would YOU tell the wealthy nations to do to halt biodiversity loss?
2010-08-30 08:58:00 All their talk and rhetoric hasn’t really worked, say Guillaume Chapron and George Monbiot (an I agree completely): It’s on course to make the farcical climate talks in Copenhagen look like a roaring success. The big international meeting in October which is meant to protect the world’s biodiversity is destined to be an even greater ... More About: Conservation , Nations , Loss
New Books on Birds
2010-08-26 14:31:00 The Guardian brings word, or rather photos, of a new book on birds that fans of biodiversity might be keen to buy. Atlas of Rare Birds by Dominic Couzens, is from New Holland Publishers. New Holland Publishers summarize: A guide to some of the rarest birds in existence, brought together by the maps showing where ... More About: Books , Biophilia
Why Common Species Matter
2010-08-25 15:22:00 This essay was originally written for The Nature Conservancy of Canada. We often hear a lot about rare, endangered or disappearing species ? species that are in need of swift action to save them. There is no doubt that they are important to talk about. How else do we raise awareness about the last populations ... More About: Biophilia , Matter , Common
Migrations honored as a top biodiversity blog
2010-08-20 11:47:00 The Pimm Group, for those not in the know, is the brainchild of Duke University Conservation Ecologist Stuart Pimm that is dedicated to “a combination of first-rate science, in-country contacts and lean operations is doing some of the most innovative land preservation deals in the world.” And today I noticed that they’d posted a list ... More About: Blog
Bird Behavior: Fieldfares
2010-08-16 11:43:00 David Attenborough examined how fieldfares gang up and drive out a raven who has entered their territory looking for food. From the BBC. Tagged: behavior, Bird s More About: Behavior , Biophilia
Walking Dead ? Ravens in Cyprus
2010-08-09 11:12:00 There is succinct species description and status from the Summer 2010 edition of BirdLife Cyprus Magazine that I wish more people could see: The Raven is a common species in Europe and once very common in Cyprus but today its population numbers only around 4 pairs. This decline was caused mainly by the use of ... More About: Conservation , Walking , Birds , Dead
Spring 2010 Trapping Report
2010-08-06 08:39:00 As Summer reaches its peak, I received a copy of BirdLife Cyprus’ Spring 2010 Trapping Report from Martin Hellicar. The summary points: Survey data showed an increase (32,8%) of illegal bird trapping activity during spring of 2010 compared to spring 2009 but slightly lower trapping levels than for spring 2008. Field data shows an increase ...
Trappers? Tactics and Attitudes
2010-08-05 13:56:00 I finally got a copy of Jonathan Franzen’s recent article in The New Yorker, “Emptying the Skies” (subscription req’d), and there are some really good bits of detail that should get out more to the public: The worst area in Cyprus for poaching is the British military base on Cape Pyla. The British may be ... More About: Tactics , Attitudes
Coverage on EarthSky
2010-07-28 12:59:00 More discussion of Ambelopoulia, this time by Deborah Byrd at EarthSky, publicizing a clear voice for science. A snippet: The birds are trapped by fine nets, or by what are called ?lime sticks? ? perches fixed in forests and fields, smeared with a glue-like substance. The birds land on them to rest, and are stuck ...
Ambelopoulia in the New Yorker
More articles from this author:2010-07-28 07:44:00 It’s subscription only, so I haven’t gotten to read it. But Jonathan Franzen has an article in The New Yorker of relevance to illegal songbird hunting and trapping in Malta, Cyprus, and other Mediterranean countries that lie on migratory flyways. Emptying the Skies ABSTRACT: A REPORTER AT LARGE about the annual decimation of migratory birds ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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