Dove builds nest in Southend traffic lights

A dove has built its nest in front of the red traffic light at a roundabout in Essex. 

The bird moved into its new home at Cuckoo Corner in Southend, despite the lights having anti-bird spikes fitted. 

The RSPB said the collared dove was facing traffic coming from Priory Crescent and the light would provide heat. 

Frank Varga, RSPB officer, said: "It's happy and using the deterrent to support its nest, so well done." 

The roundabout is also fed by Manor's Way, Victoria Road and Prince Avenue and has 21 traffic lights. 

The RSPB said the collared dove is used to nesting on cliffs 

"This is a perfect area with plenty of grassland including Priory Park nearby as a resource for food," Mr Varga said. 

"From its origins in Turkey the collared dove has colonised the whole of Europe since the 1930s and my guess is she saw this spot and managed to move the spikes slightly to build the nest. 

"In the wild, these birds live on cliffs so it's replacing the noise of all the other birds with the noise of traffic." 

It is thought the dove moved in a fortnight ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-22569231

Mum and Dad Dinosaurs Shared the Work

May 15, 2013 — A study into the brooding behaviour of birds has revealed their dinosaur ancestors shared the load when it came to incubation of eggs. 

Research into the incubation behaviour of birds suggests the type of parental care carried out by their long extinct ancestors. 

The study aimed to test the hypothesis that data from extant birds could be used to predict the incubation behaviour of Theropods, the group of carnivorous dinosaurs from which birds descended. 

The paper, out today in Biology Letters, was co-authored by Dr Charles Deeming and Dr Marcello Ruta from the University of Lincoln's School of Life Sciences and Dr Geoff Birchard from George Mason University, Virginia. 

By taking into account factors known to affect egg and clutch size in living bird species, the authors -- who started their investigation last summer at the University of Lincoln's Riseholme campus -- found that shared incubation was the ancestral incubation behaviour. Previously it had been claimed that only male Theropod dinosaurs incubated the eggs. 

Dr Deeming said: "In 2009 a study in the journal Science suggested that it was males of the small carnivorous dinosaurs Troodon and Oviraptor that incubated their eggs. Irrespective of whether you accept the idea of Theropod dinosaurs sitting on eggs like birds or not, the analysis raised some concerns that we wanted to address. We decided to repeat the study with a larger data set and a better understanding of bird biology because other palaeontologists were starting to use the original results in Science in order to predict the incubation behaviour of other dinosaur species. Our analysis of the relationship between female body mass and clutch mass was interesting in its own right but also showed that it was not possible to conclude anything about incubation in extinct distant relatives of the birds."

Continued

Bird pest 'disaster' warning

AN incursion of Indian myna birds into Tasmania would be an "environmental disaster", says BirdLife Tasmania. 

Sightings of the bird – a serious pest on mainland Australia – have been reported in Devonport and Hobart near the Domain and slipyards. 

"The introduction and establishment of the myna is an ecological disaster," Birdlife Tasmania convenor Eric Woehler said. 

"This is a high priority, red-alert species and alarm bells would be ringing in State Government agencies. 

"They're an aggressive bird. They literally displace native birds. They gather in big flocks, they're very noisy and aggressive. 

"Where you have Indian mynas you don't have native birds. 

"They will chase other birds out, kill the chicks of other birds and eat their eggs." 

Over the past decade sightings had been made in the north, especially Devonport and its port area, and in those cases government officers have killed the birds and destroyed eggs. 

Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Invasive Species Branch manager Craig Elliott said staff were continuing surveillance in the Hobart Regatta grounds area after a report last month of three birds. 

"The sighting has not been confirmed and the ISB is keen to hear from anyone who may have seen what they believe to be an Indian myna," Mr Elliott said.

Continued

Hunter warned of bird massacre

The slaughter embarrassed even the most hard-headed of hunters. More than 800 abandoned duck carcasses that shooters did not bother to pick up. At least 150 endangered ducks killed, many among Australia's rarest. And other dead birds - hawk-like whistling kites and black swans - that look nothing like ducks. 

''It's terrible. It's absolutely disgraceful,'' said one of the state's leading duck-hunting advocates, Rod Drew, about the March shootings at the Box Flat private wetland near Boort, in the state's north-west. 

The public, including everyone in Game Victoria, is disgusted by what happened and we don't condone it in any way. Any suggestion that we, myself included, failed to do our job, I totally refute that. 

But a Fairfax Media investigation can reveal that the shooting spree - the likes of which Victorian authorities have not seen since the early 1990s - could have been prevented. Days before the incident, government officials were tipped off by a concerned hunter with a warning. 

This hunter, acting as an informant, told a Department of Sustainability and Environment official that Box Flat should be watched on the duck season opening weekend. Only a year before, in an incident never reported, trigger-happy shooters had gone to the remote wetland and shot birds indiscriminately. 

The shooters had ''shot the shit out of the joint, shot everything that moved'', the informant told the department. There was talk, the hunter added, that it would happen again.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/animals/hunter-warned-of-bird-massacre-20130512-2jg5r.html#ixzz2TTuykFE8

Peregrine falcons may be removed from endangered species list

Urban roosts, DDT ban help boost numbers 

Just five decades ago, habitat loss and a deadly pesticide had all but killed off one of the Midwest’s most impressive aerial predators. 

Now, Indiana’s wildlife regulators are poised to remove the peregrine falcon from the state’s endangered species list this summer. 

John Castrale, a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, said the recovery of the species has been “phenomenally successful,” thanks to reintroduction efforts, a ban on the pesticide that was killing the birds and the falcons’ remarkable ability to adapt to urban environments. 

Indianapolis is no stranger to the falcons. Just last week, a nesting pair, dubbed KathyQ and Will, hatched their fourth chick of the year on the 31st-story ledge of Market Tower on Monument Circle in Downtown Indianapolis. Another male, named Kinney, had nested with KathyQ for years, but died last summer. 

An Indianapolis Star blog featuring live cameras received 7.1 million views last year. The pair have Facebook fan pages, too, each with more than 1,000 “likes.” 

There’s another nest at Indianapolis Power & Light Co.’s Harding Street plant on the Southwestside; that nest also is on camera. 

Castrale said the birds have traded their traditional nesting sites — in cliffs and bluffs along riverbanks — for skyscrapers. 

“They’ve adapted to use these artificial sites, artificial cliffs,” he said of the birds’ penchant for skyscrapers. “That’s really made a difference. They’re really taking advantage of it.” 

Falcons, known for their dazzling diving aerial attacks on prey such as pigeons, can plummet at close to 200 mph to strike, stun and kill an unsuspecting bird.

Continued

Greater flamingos return to Gabon for the first time in decades

Gabon flamingos

May 2013. The Greater flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus, a migratory species that had not been reported in Gabon for many decades, has been observed in Gabon's Akanda National Park. 

The flamingos were spotted on the Gabonese coast during the tour organized as part of the commemoration of the World Migratory Bird Day.

The birds were seen on the mudflats of Moka Island; A total of 77 individuals, adults and immature birds, were observed. Apart from the flamingos, dozens of other species were spotted, including pelicans, black skimmers, Curlew sandpiper, yellow-billed stork, herons, storks, various terns, and more.

Unlike lesser flamingo, which is occasionally observed in Gabon, the Greater flamingo had completely disappeared from Gabon. Their return to the mudflats of Moka, in March 2013, is a testament to the remarkable richness of the environment, as well as the tranquillity found in the park, now that the Nigerian fishermen who had taken up residence have departed.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/gabon-flamingos.html

Arizona water pumping decision threatens millions of birds in Globally Important Bird Area

San Pedro area is extremely important to many bird species including the South-western Willow Flycatcher. 

May 2013. American Bird Conservancy (ABC), one of the nation's leading bird conservation groups, has called on Arizona Governor Janice Brewer to overturn the decision by the Arizona Department of Water Resources that approved a groundwater pumping plan that runs the risk of drying a southern Arizona river, the San Pedro, part of which was formally designated in 1995 as the nation's first Globally Important Bird Area and remains today a critical stopover point for millions of migrating birds.

The letter from ABC Vice President for Conservation Advocacy Darin Schroeder asked Gov. Brewer to "...exercise your gubernatorial authority and reverse this ill-considered approval by your administration's Department of Water Resources to effectively drain the San Pedro River in order to support the unsustainable growth of Sierra Vista."

Substantial threat to millions of migratory birds

The letter conveyed that ABC had thoroughly reviewed the Pueblo Del Sol Water Company's groundwater pumping plan and "concluded it poses a serious and substantial threat to millions of migratory birds, many of which are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. We are particularly concerned that the groundwater pumping would negatively impact the designated Critical Habitat for the South-western Willow Flycatcher, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act."

Continued