Monday, December 19, 2011

Tropical Splendor - Beautiful Photos and Art Prints of Trogons

Blue-Crowned Trogon (Trogon Curucui) on Branch, Singing, Manu National Park, Peru






A Male Black-Throated Trogon Perched on a Branch in a Forest. Trogon Rufus







A Female Black-Throated Trogon Perched on a Branch (Trogon Rufus)







Close-Up of Trogons Perching on Branches







Surucua Trogon, Iguazu Falls, Argentina






Reinwardt's Trogon






Trogon Collaris






Masked Trogon (Trogon Personatus) Male, Andes Mountains, Ecuador






Elegant Trogon, South Arizona, Mexico







at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Hot New Book Releases in the Birds & Birdwatching Genre: December, 2011 - June, 2012

Here is a list of new books being released, categorized by the month of release, in the Birds & Birdwatching genre, for the time period December, 2011 - June, 2012. The list is not restricted to birds and birding in North America but is international in scope.

Any of these books can be pre-ordered, if you so desire...You can mouseover links or book cover images for more details...

December, 2011







By Jim Foster




By Joseph C. Neal











January, 2012



By Robert Burton and Stephen Kress

<



By Julian Fitter and Don Merton












By Cheryl Tipp



February, 2012



By Bart De Boer, Eric Newton and  Robin Restall




By Richard Grimmett,  Carol Inskipp and  Tim Inskipp




By Quentin Phillipps








By Guy M. Kirwan and Graeme Green



March, 2011







By Alan Davies and Ruth Miller




By Patrick Stirling-Aird



April, 2012



By Bill Thompson III



May, 2012



By Joy M. Kiser











June, 2012



By John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell

at No comments:

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Saving the Cerulean Warbler

Inspired by the book shown below, CERULEAN BLUES, and by the memory of what a thrill it was to see this beautiful songbird for the first time, I decided to put together an article on some of the efforts (by no means comprehensive - more like a "quick peek") to save "North America's fastest declining neotropical migrant songbird" - the Cerulean Warbler. As you will see, there are people at work in both North and South America saving this vanishing songbird.



Taking the reader from the mountains of Appalachia to a coffee plantation near Bogotá, Colombia, this investigation into the plight of the cerulean warbler—a tiny migratory songbird—describes its struggle to survive in ever-shrinking bands of suitable habitat. This elusive creature—a favorite among bird watchers and the fastest-declining warbler species in the United States—has lost three percent of its total population each year since 1966. This precipitous decline means that today there are 80 percent fewer ceruleans than 40 years ago, and their numbers continue to drop because of threats including deforestation, global warming, and mountaintop-removal coal mining. With scientific rigor and a sense of wonder, Fallon charts their path across more than 2000 miles and shows how the fate of a creature weighing less than an ounce is vitally linked to that of our own.




The Cerulean Warbler was formerly one of the most abundant breeding warblers in the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys, but is now one of the country’s most imperiled migrant songbirds. Overall, Cerulean Warbler numbers have plummeted by almost 70% since 1966. This elusive bird winters in the northern Andes CW Conservation Corridor breeds from the Great Lakes region to Georgia, and west from Wisconsin to Louisiana, with particular concentrations in the Appalachians and Central Hardwoods region. Both its breeding and wintering habitat are being lost. (Source: American Bird Conservancy (ABC) website)


Video: Cerulean Warbler




Efforts in the United States

Here is a video on a study being conducted in the region of the United States that has the highest population of breeding Cerulean Warblers in the world.





Efforts in South America

(March 1, 2011) American Bird Conservancy and Fundación ProAves, the leading bird conservation organizations in the U.S. and Colombia respectively, have secured thirteen new conservation easements in Colombia with private landowners that will protect important habitat for the Cerulean Warbler – North America's fastest declining neotropical migrant songbird.

“The local communities have been very receptive to the conservation needs of this bird. Implementing a conservation easement is not terribly difficult once we show the local landowners how they can practice conservation and still make a living from the land,” said Heidy Valle, who runs the easement program with ProAves.

Saving this bird is going to require a concerted and continuous effort in both North and South America,” said Benjamin Skolnik, who manages ABC’s Colombian projects.


The Cerulean Warbler Conservation Corridor comprises three private reserves – Pauxi Pauxi Reserve (Helmeted Curassow), Cerulean Warbler Reserve (Gorgeted Wood-Quail) and Chicamocha Reserve (Niceforo’s Wren), all owned and operated by ABC’s Colombian partner Fundación ProAves. The reserves were established to protect not only key wintering habitat for migrant songbirds, but also the last remaining forests for species recognized by the Alliance for Zero Extinction. ABC is creating a forested corridor between these reserves on privately owned farmland through a suite of conservation tools, including land acquisition, conservation easements, and shade coffee production. Another key component is to link conservation efforts here to the important work being done in the United States.

(Source : ABC website)









Male Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica Cerulea), North America





Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica Cerulea) Female Bathing, Rio Grande Valley, Texas



Cerulean Warbler





at 1 comment:
Labels: , ,

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Birds (Vintage Art)

Here are some beautiful vintage art prints that have birds in them...As always the great beauty of birds is on full display...


L'Amazone les Antilles







Hotel Oceano






Cognac Albert Robin






Menton






Grand Canyon National Park - Ravens and Angels Window








Sisca






Blue Heron - Visit the Zoo








Golden Crown Inn






California Wren






Isle del Sol






at No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Featured Post

Citizen Scientist - Reporting Leg Flags

My brother was recently in Florida and had occasion to photograph a shorebird in winter plumage that he could not immediately identify. Whil...