Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Whoopers Happening_57 One Last Time from Whooper Happenings

"We began things on an up note, reporting the flyover of the Class of 2005 the first time at Dunnellon, and we end things in anticipation and with great hope for the future of the Class of 2009. Knowing changes are pending that may also make propagation possible this year at Necedah is part of this optimism, and we honestly will look for the best year ever this summer with a few new wild chicks becoming part of the Eastern Introduced Flock." - by Mark Chenoweth

Wakkerstroom reprieved

"The WWF South Africa, the Botanical Society, Birdlife South Africa and local farmers believed Delta's environmental study was flawed. It had turned a blind eye to the pristine state of the area and to its biodiversity, including rare birds such as wattled cranes and other red data species, the groups said." - Yolandi Groenewald, Johannesburg, South Africa - Jan 29 2010 12:10

Conflict conservation

"As agriculture and industrialisation have moved ahead elsewhere, the thousand-square-kilometre DMZ, uninhabited and heavily mined, has been a refuge for two endangered birds: the white-naped and the red-crowned crane. It also contains Asiatic black bears, egrets and, according to some, an extremely rare subspecies of the Siberian tiger. The biggest threat to all this biodiversity is probably peace. There are already calls for the DMZ to be turned into a park in the event of reunification." - Feb 8th 2010 | From The Economist online

Uttarakhand Govt. spreads mass awareness on migratory birds

Haripura (Uttarakhand), Feb 4: The Uttarakhand Government has initiated a mass awareness programme about conservation of migratory birds that flock to Haripura wetland in the State among people, including children.

S. Korea's Suncheon Bay dreams of becoming world's ecological capital

SEOUL, Feb. 23, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- South Korean farmer Jeong Jong-tae, who lives in Suncheon Bay Area, is busy feeding hooded cranes at four o'clock every afternoon as it is now a season that the birds come from Siberia winter to the region's well-preserved wetlands.

Biologists spy on sandhill crane nest

With a hint of spring in the air, annual courtship rituals already are under way for many Florida birds, including the stately sandhill crane. - By Dinah Voyles Pulver , Environment writer

How national borders become natural borders.

JOSHUA E. KEATING -Field mice may not carry passports, and nobody ever asked a tree frog for a green card, but do animals care about imaginary lines on a map? In fact, national borders can become natural borders over time, with significant consequences for the nonhumans living on either side.

Zoo patients can be wild

A red-crowned crane is being gently wrangled out of a temporary holding cell and walked down a hallway toward the clinic at Granby Zoo by two zookeepers.

By ROBERT J. GALBRAITH, Freelance

Keoladeo National Park –Engulfed by Water Crisis


Kalpana Palkhiwala writes: The Keoladeo National park, a World Heritage Site which was previously the private duck shooting preserve of the Maharaja of Bharatpur, designated as bird sanctuary on 13 March 1956 and a National Park on 10th March 1982 was included in the World Heritage List in 1985. It was also notified as Ramsar Site in October 1981.

Le A short abstract on the Siberian Cranes and Keoladeo National Park

"A total of 400 species of birds, including Siberian Cranes, visited the Park in the early days. But since a few years, there's a decrease in number of migratory and wintering birds visiting Keoladeo National Park, due to the shortage of water."

India may have lost Siberian Cranes for ever

MUMBAI: For the tenth consecutive year, the majestic Siberian Cranes - among the most endangered birds in the world - have skipped India this

winter, say experts.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Whoopers Happening_52 'Fly Away Home'?

"Back on November 20th, the birds were released to fly and get some exercise, after being confined to their pen for days due to rain and poor weather. But only 4 birds returned, while the other 16 kept going, actually heading south on their own! This was a first in the 9 years Operation Migration has led Whooping crane chicks from Wisconsin to Florida." - Mark Chenoweth

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Six Foot Song

“This 50-hectare territory is actually small for such a large bird, which means that the quality of the habitat is super,” observes Gopi Sundar, a researcher with the International Crane Foundation, referring to the specific fields in western UP where the cranes thrive

Things every Texan should do before he dies: Check out whooping cranes

As soon as we clear the launch site, Chuck Naiser points the Hell's Bay skiff to the southeast on a bearing that will take us across the mouth of Saint Charles Bay, past the southernmost tip of Blackjack Peninsula and into the Intracoastal waterway west of St. Joseph Island. - Mike Leggett, Commentary

Dozens more endangered species spotted DMZ

Eight near-extinct mammals including the small-eared cat, elk, and 24 endangered birds such as the red-crowned crane were confirmed to be living in the mid-DMZ area, about 88 kilometers north of Seoul, according to joint research by Seoul's environment ministry and the National Institute of Environmental Research conducted last month.