You are browsing the archives of 2006 February.

Vega Gulls Larus vegae
Choshi Port, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. 30 January 2006
 
The Vega Gull Larus vegae is the common “Herring Gull” of North-east Asia, breeding on islands and cliffs in the High Arctic and wintering widely throughout eg South Korea and Japan.

Structurally Vega is typically ill-proportioned - often looking rather short-legged, front heavy and rather large-headed […]

Descriptions of birds having cryptic coloration can seem confusing or even macabre to those who only know the word “crypt” as a synonym for sepulcher.  The word “cryptic,” descended from the Greek kruptikos, means concealed, hidden, secret, or occult.  While the funeral industry may concern itself more with the latter definitions, zoology focuses on the […]

Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis mellori
Sydney Botanic Gardens. February 2006
 
The Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis mellori occurs in marshes or coastal wetlands throughout Australia (except the arid interior) and on many islands throughout the Pacific. It is generally thought of as a “wary” species, but it can become habituated to people and eg the species is very […]

African Snipe Gallinago nigripennis
Marievale Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa. 14 October 2005 and 11 January 2006
 
The only gallinago Snipe to breed in Africa, the African Snipe is essentially a sub-Saharan resident, though it may disperse from its breeding grounds.

Very similar to Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago, this species is generally darker coloured and has […]

It’s been a long time coming, but finally the EU, the FAO, Governments everywhere in fact are admitting that the flu caused by the H5N1 virus is an endemic disease of the poultry industry - just as (ahem) a growing number of us have been saying for many months. Despite some truly lousy reporting in […]

The field guide guiding us on our January 2006 trip to the Bahamas was A Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies by James Bond. This volume, written by one of the most well respected names in Caribbean aviafauna, edited by Roger Tory Peterson, and illustrated by Don R. Eckelberry, Earl L. […]

So how’s the media doing in it’s coverage of the “pandemic that will kill millions” aka Avian Flu?

Sadly, the reporting of the spread of the H5N1 virus continues to be inaccurate, parochial, and anthropocentric - and remarkably contrasting.

The UK press used to have some sort of reputation for accuracy and common-sense reporting, but cultural differences […]

Sharp-eyed readers might have noticed that I’ve not been talking very much about actual birding lately, and that the “year-list” counter to the right of this column has been resolutely stuck on 396 for almost a fortnight: this has been because a) I’ve had a stinking cold, and b) so has the weather here in […]

H5N1 - the virus causing Poultry Flu (or Bird Flu) - is continuing its spread around the globe, and now looks set to become entrenched in Europe. Despite what reports in the media constantly suggest, migratory birds are still not proven to be important vectors in the spread: at the root of most infections - […]

A couple of days ago (Feb 13th) I wrote on this blog that I’d just posted the news that the sea-wall set to block off the Saemangeum tidal-flats was due to be finished in April this year - and not in 2007 as we’d previously thought. It meant that we (as Birds Korea) had twelve […]