Birdwatching

Lammergeyers to be reintroced to Picos....

A programme to reintroduce lammergeyers to their former range in Picos de Europa National Park will start in 2009.
It hopes <ithin 8 to 10 years to re astblish a breeding population in Asturias which has been ansent for more tahn half a century.
Eggs deemed to have a low chance of survival in wild lammergeyers nests in the Pyrenees will be harvested and hatched in captivity for use in the programme.
The system, which involves the use of puppet foster parents to avoid habituation to humanans, has been successfully tested in Ordesa y Monte Perdido National park....




Brown bear cub found in Somiedo recovering well.

A brown bear cub found last week in Somiedo Asturias is recovering in a clinic in Gijon.
The 5 month old cub was discoverd wandering along a roadside ditch in a confused state and taken to a local police station by tourists.
The Bear is said to be in good condition although it has problems in one eye which affect it's sense of balance.
In the meantime a team of experts from the Brown Bear Foundation has located the mother with another two cubs in the area and keeping track of them in the hopes of regrouping the fammily.µIf the cub recovers in time a reintroduction could still be possible as bears have a great maternal instinct....




Turles washed up in the UK released in Canary islands.

Two Loggerhead turles which were washed up on beaches in Devon and Cornwall in the UK have been released back into the sea in the Canary Islands.
They are the only survivors of the 23 loggerhrads which have been stranded on Britich and Irish coasts this year, an unprecedented numer.
The pair been nursed back to health at the blu reef Aquarium in Newquay, Cornwall, and have been returned to the sea off a beach in LLas Palmas, Gran Canaria.
The Canary Islands are the nearest land pint to the loggerheads, migration route around the Atlantic, loggerheads turtles breed on the beaches of the Mefiterranean, West Africa, Brazil, and along the south east coast of America...

Maine Audubon has completed the initial stage of its Important Bird Areas program, indentifying 22 areas in Maine as critical to state and global bird populations.

A diverse mix of habitats makes Maine an inmportant place for about 300 species of birds meny of them threatened or endangered, but threats like inappropriate development, chemical contamination and climate change put them at risk.
By identifying the most crucial areas, the IBA program helps focus conservation efforts where it can have the greatest impact.

The IBA program for the conservation of the world's birds.
When complete, this global network is likely to comprise around 15.000 IBA's covering some 10 million km2, 7% of the world's land surface.

Identified on the basis of about 40% of the world's bird species.
The effective conservation of these sites will contribute substantially to the protection of the world's biological diversity.

Local engagement is a cornerstone of the IBA program's success in the United States...

The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission in Muscat, Oman has struck a major step forward for seabird conservation by adopting a measure to reduce the bycatch of vulnerable albatrosse and petrel species.

All longline vessels fishing for tuna and swordfich in the southern Indian Ocean will be required to use a combination of at least two measures to reduce seabird bycatch.

Measure include requiring boats to set their hooks at night when birds are less active, using a bird streamer line to keep birds away from the hooks, adding weight to lines to make them sink more quickly out of reach of the albatrosses, and dyeing bait blue to make less visible.

The fisheries are given flexibility to choose which two measures from this list are most suitable to their fishery. The meeting agreed technical specifications for ude of these measures.

The seabird proposal was led by Australia and the EC, and got support from Japan and Korea.
This measure is a highly positive step for the conservation of these very vulnerable species...

BANDED LAPWING


Wading birds have disappeared in just quarter of a century throughout the mostly inland habitats of eastern Australia.
The paper published in Biological Conservation, reported that Agricultural extraction and inadequate water allocation may have caused the steep declines.

Scientists from the university of New South Wales undertook aerial surveys of wetlands in eastern Australia between 1983 and 2006. During the monitoring period all resident wading birds declined.

The steepest drop was observed in Banded Lapwing whose population plummeted by 98%. Further significan falls were detected in Red Necked Avocet 85% Black winged Stilt 80% and Masked Lapwing 69%.

Because resident birds don't leave the country unlike their migratory counter parts the researchers concluded that the declines were causes by changes within Australia.

Wetlands in arid Australia do not hold water every year. With many bird species relying upon wetland habitats for their food, the frequency of flooding is crucially important for their survival.
Deluges of flood water, the life blood for breeding shorebirds have been tamed by dams, levee banks and agricultural extraction.

The reseachers reported that wetland area declined at 40% of the most important sites Floods are becoming increasingly rare.
The conclusion that these wetlands and the birds they support are in jeopardy in unmistakable.....

Populations of one of the world's strangest birds have crashed over the last decade, and surveys of its breeding grounds in the remote Russian province of CHUKOTKA suggest that the situation is now critical.

The charismatic, and rather aptly named, Spoon billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) is now worryingly close to becoming extinct. With only 200-300 pairs left, conservationists are calling for urgent help to tackle the decline.

A 70% drop in the numbers of breeding pairs at some sites over the last couple of years. If this decline continues, these amazing bird won't be around for much longer, says Vice President of the Russian Bird Conservation Union.

The reasons for these losses are complex, involving changes to habitat during migration and loss of breeding areas. What is clear is that nest predation by foxes and disturnance by people and dogs could prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the few birds left.

Action to safeguard the remaining breeding pairs needs to be taken now for there to be any chance of savinf-g them. Planning to put wardens in place at these critical sites. Once they are protected and the birds are successfully fledging young, we can get on with the task of trying to save areas that they use whilst on migration.

Spoon billed Sandpipers, spoo shaped bill is still something of a mystery, the exact use for which is still unknown. They breed during june-july in a small strip of coastal Arctic tundra in Chukotka, NE Russia. They then migrate thousands of kilometrzq to winter along coasts in South and South East Asia. Spoon billed Sandpiper are one of several species to depend on the rich tidal coasts of the Yellow Sea in east Asia, where they stop to refuel on their way to and from their breeding grounds.

Coastal reclamation in South Korea is currently destroying over 40.000 ha of habitat, coastal habitats are being converted into saltpans and shrimp farms in Bangladesh and Chinese coasts have been rapidly developed in recent years. They are just running out of places to stop and feed on migration.

What seems certain is that if these changes continue ther will soon be no place left for Spoon billed Sandpipers. The recent decines have shocked those concerned about the species, but with investment and the didication of those involved we can still save the SPOON BILLED SANDPIPER....Lets Hope!