MigrationsMigrationsCells, birds, and musings from a biologist 
Articles
A Week of Birds
2008-10-04 10:02:00 Bee-Eaters trapped with lime sticks in Cyprus [Photo credit: Cyprus Week ly] Bases clampdown saves migratory birds but slaughter still continues - Cyprus Weekly Six hunters arrested after information from birdwatchers - Times of Malta CABS records the shooting of a black stork on video - The Malta Independent Stepping out in the line of fire - Times of Malta Malta: ... More About: Birds
Crackdown on Trapping
2008-09-26 21:37:00 In the English-print newspaper Cyprus Weekly, some good news: Bases clampdown saves migratory birds, but slaughter still continues: Recent raids in the east and west of the island highlight the determination of SBA authorities, the game fund and Cyprus police to eradicate the phenomenon. A Dhekelia SBA illegal poaching dragnet across the villages of Ormidia, Achna and ... More About: Crackdown
Excerpt: No Way Home, and migratory stopovers
2008-09-24 11:49:00 Few scientists would dispute the importance of protecting oases in the Sahara (for Old World birds heading to Africa), lush streamside vegetation in the deserts of the southwestern United States (important to many migrants in the western United States), or migration hot spots like Cape May, New Jersey. But for the vast majority of stopover ... More About: Europe , Books , Home , Malta
Teaching Evolution and Biology, and Confronting Misconceptions
2008-09-20 19:51:00 Last month, the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology published an article that a lot of high school biology teachers might want to take a look at, to refresh themselves in their work - Teaching evolution (and all of biology) more effectively: Strategies for engagement, critical reasoning, and confronting misconceptions. It’s subscription only, but contact me ... More About: Education , Evolution , Creationism
Letter to Our Conservative Brothers and Sisters
2008-09-17 19:48:00 A re-post of mine: I didn’t write it, but it seems rather timely, considering the upcoming Presidential elections. Dear Conservative s, I, and my fellow signatories, hereby make these promises to you: 1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you ?unpatriotic? simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage ... More About: Politics , Brothers , Humanism , Letter
Bird Hunting in Malta
2008-09-13 12:43:00 Besides bird hunting and trapping in Cyprus, this illegal obsession is hugely popular in Malta as well. And, since they joined the EU at about the same time, they too fell under the EU ban of this very destructive past-time. (for the image at right: Caged birds are used by hunters with guns to attract ... More About: Conservation , Bird , Hunting
Protecting Sea Turtles in Cyprus
2008-09-06 16:12:00 Last month, my wife and I had the chance to visit other parts of Cyprus that I hadn’t seen before, including the sea turtle hatchery at Lara Beach. While the beach was open during the day to swimming and sunbathing, sea turtles come ashore on appropriate nights to lay eggs, and a conservation effort has ... More About: Conservation , Turtles
Management of Mediterranean Bird Hunting
2008-08-18 14:39:00 As hunting season in Cyprus opened yesterday (sorry, I don’t currently have a good link for that), my timing for this post couldn’t be better. Hunting here is of birds, and migratory birds in particular. With that in mind, Bird Life International has an article out on sustainable hunting. In a practical sense, this is very akin ... More About: Management , Conservation , Mediterranean
Disappearing Animal Migrations in PLoS
2008-08-17 14:03:00 Here’s an essay for you: Going, Going, Gone: Is Animal Migration Disappearing. It’s by David Wilcove and Martin Wikelski and in PLoS Biology. An excerpt: The question thus arises: Given the panoply of environmental problems we now face, is the fading glory of migration really a significant issue? We would argue that it is. Protecting the ...
Darwin?s Genius
2008-08-10 14:56:00 Amidst life’s ever-changing trajectories, Charles Darwin always has the recognition as the most pivotal genius of biology. Science didn’t stop with Darwin, but many ideas that he pioneered have stood the test of time. His contributions relating to Natural Selection, population-based thinking, sexual selection, biogeography, etc., have changed how we view the world more than ... More About: Evolution , Genius
House Martin colony
2008-08-03 17:32:00 House Martin (Delichon urbicum) colony at the Palekhori-Kambi Dam in Cyprus. This species is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family which breeds in Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia; and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia. Images: my father (June 14, 2008) More About: House , Birding
Cyprus Pied Wheatear
2008-07-27 14:53:00 Cyprus Pied Wheatear, Oenanthe cypriaca, from home in Engomi, Cyprus. This species is an Old World flycatcher, and one of two bird species endemic to Cyprus. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of Pied Wheatear but given full species status, on the basis of differences in biometrics and especially song, and the lack of ... More About: Cyprus , Birding
Belief in Evolution, Minus Faith
2008-05-27 14:30:00 A couple weeks ago, NPR’s This I Believe podcast presented a five minute essay from paleoanthropologist Holly Dunsworth titled I am evolution. As Dunsworth says, believing evolution is different from belief in something - as though one needs to believe that fossils exist. This is the sort of clear-headed thinking that more people ... More About: Science , Evolution , Faith , Belief
Tricolored Heron
2008-05-25 11:20:00 Tricolored Heron, Egretta tricolor Picture: Larry (Dan’s father), April 24, in the Everglades More About: Birding
World Migratory Bird Day
2008-05-10 11:54:00 The Press Release: The Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (UNEP/AEWA) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP/CMS) are glad to announce the countdown for World Migratory Bird Day 2008. This two-day awareness raising campaign will take place globally for the third consecutive year from 10? 11 of May 2008. The theme ... More About: Conservation
The Cypriot Government?s Spring Hunting Endorsement
2008-05-01 12:53:00 Via BirdLife International: BirdLife International and its national Partner BirdLife Cyprus (BirdLife in Cyprus) strongly opposed today?s decision by the Cypriot government to allow spring shooting of Carrion Crow Corvus corone and Black-billed Magpie Pica pica. This is viewed as a backdoor allowing hunters to shoot European Turtle-doves Streptopelia turtur. The EU Birds Directive prohibits the ... More About: Government , Conservation , Spring , Endorsement , Hunting
The Evolution of Forgiveness
2008-04-28 15:45:00 The “Nature” versus “Nurture” debate is a perennial topic. In Beyond Revenge, McCullough suggests that both revenge and forgiveness are hard-wired into us as social primates. In doing so, he manages to distinguish his claims that such human behaviors are natural from fatalistic conclusions, because “natural” does not connotate a justification for vengeful actions, nor ... More About: Books , Evolution , Forgiveness , Anthropology
Recommended Reading for April
2008-04-24 17:01:00 With writing grants, time is at a premium. I still find time to scan the other blogs when I need a break, and here are a number that stand out. Also, check out tomorrow where I’ll cover the molecular bio blogs at Bitesize Bio. Contrary Imaginations - Here’s an article that you should read, given ... More About: Reading , April
Birding with David Attenborough
2008-04-20 11:27:00 Greg Laden likes YouTube clips, and some originating with David Attenborough really stand out. Take this first one listening to the Magnificent Lyre Bird, a second with raising Whooping Crane chicks, and a third displaying the Superb Bird Of Paradise. Attenborough has produced over 150 hours of video of the highest caliber, covering ... More About: Biophilia , Birding
Ambelopoulia - Illegal delicacy in Cyprus
2008-04-17 11:55:00 Here’s an article from the Environmental News Service (ENS) on September 20, 2005: Cyprus Tries Education to Halt Illegal Songbird Slaughter. NICOSIA, Cyprus, September 20, 2005 (ENS) - In an attempt to stop the illegal trapping and sale of migratory songbirds for food, the Cyprus government and BirdLife Cyprus announced Monday the launch of an ... More About: Conservation
Expelled, or Flunked
2008-04-09 08:29:00 Expelled Exposed “Flunked, not expelled: What Ben Stein isn’t telling you about Intelligent Design,” via the National Center for Science Education More About: Creationism , Expelled
Knowledge or Certainty
2008-04-08 08:36:00 One of the foundations of my high school education was watching and discussing Jacob Bronowski’s 13-part series titled The Ascent of Man. It crystallized my thinking about Western thought, science, and the trends that humanity perpetrates. It inspired Carl Sagan to produce his series Cosmos, and resonated with many young minds of my ... More About: Books , Humanism , Knowledge
Monarchs Under Threat
2008-04-05 08:43:00 Habitat Destruction May Wipe Out Monarch Butterfly Migration: Intense deforestation in Mexico could ruin one of North America?s most celebrated natural wonders ? the mysterious 3,000-mile migration of the monarch butterfly. According to a University of Kansas researcher, the astonishing migration may collapse rapidly without urgent action to end devastation of the butterfly?s vital sources of ... More About: Biophilia , Threat , Monarchs
Slap on the Wrists for Falcon Slaughterers in Cyprus
2008-04-04 10:21:00 I’m a bit late in posting this, but do you remember a few months ago, when two men here in Cyprus were tracked down after slaughtering 52 Red-footed Falcon s (Falco vespertinus), for target practice? The incident occurred on British Sovereign Base Area (SBA) land, and the case went to the SBA courts. Last month, the ... More About: Biophilia
The Opposite of Educating
2008-04-03 16:54:00 I know, I just had a quote posting, but here’s another hot off the presses. In response to ‘framing’ as laid out by Nisbet/Mooney, PZ has the money quote on why Mooney’s grand scheme for duping the public into greater acceptance of science is bullshit: [Framing implies] a demeaning opinion of the public, and it ... More About: Education , Quotations , Opposite
The Honesty of Atheism
2008-04-02 21:24:00 ?My practice as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel, or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest ... More About: Atheism , Quotations , Honesty
Penguins Take Flight
2008-04-01 13:49:00 Breaking news on a BBC documentary - click on image for video. (hattip: Loranablog) More About: Humor , Flight
Migrating into the Sunset
2008-03-30 21:48:00 Migrating Sandhill Cranes over the Platte River, Nebraska. (Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU.) I would be seriously remiss not to pass this one along. Hat tip: Hedwig the Owl More About: Sunset , Biophilia
Origins of Religion
2008-03-30 13:17:00 I’ve commented on various aspects of the origin of religion or religion as a natural phenomenon, including its psychological, cultural, and anthropological basis. But I’ve never put it all together in one place. Today, Razib of Gene Expression has such an article, that’s a very detailed and comprehensive summary of the subject (emphasis ... More About: Religion
Restoring Our Ecology
More articles from this author:2008-03-29 15:10:00 ?For each of us, as for the robin in Michigan or the Salmon in the Miramichi, this is a problem of ecology, of interrelationships, of interdependence. We poison the caddis flies in a stream and the salmon runs dwindle and die. We poison the gnats in a lake and the poison travels from link to ... More About: Ecology , Biophilia , Quotations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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