Sunday 5 August 2012

Step away from the Olympics!

Well the Olympics is well underway and I have just been interrupted in starting this post by watching the fastest men in the world race 100 metres. Its all very exciting and makes me very proud to be British. Enough about that though as I'm sure you might have come here to get away from all the Olympic talk.

I must apologise if I post something below that I have posted in a previous edition, I have just sifted through my inbox and files and realised they are well over due a tidy up since my last post. Their is lots to pick through below from news in the field, new papers and a book to be released. Hopefully you will find something interesting or useful to read.

Firstly their have been some scientific papers that have dropped into my inbox from various sources, sadly I don't subscribe to the sites publishing the papers so only have access to the abstracts but you can find the links to these below.

The first one assesses the risk of extinction to the critically endangered Bonellis eagle in Italy - http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-summer-buzzards-common-buzzard-and-honey-buzzard?dm_i=IG4,VKOX,4BMHAI,2LTST,1

The next two are based on falcons, the first on vocalisations in Lanner Falcons and the second of the relationship between brood size and prey selection in Peregrine falcons in a specific region

http://www.springerlink.com/content/f5g4k6577819051h/

http://www.springerlink.com/content/npgp66w817304718/

When you open one of the above links if you look to the left hand side of the page you will also find other bird of prey related papers which might be of interest.

Next their is a couple of recent newsletters the first being from the Belize Raptor Research Institute showing the work they are doing and the Solitary Eagle nest and young they are monitoring. The second from the Neotropical Raptor Research Group which has a nice article from the Belize group but also further tropical raptor species news.

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/13983865/1359194174/name/Summer%202012%20Issue%204%20Belize%20Raptor%20Research%20Institute%20Nesl - Belize Raptor Research Institute

http://neotropicalraptors.org/Newsletter%20PDFs/NRN%20Newsletter13%20English.pdf

The Green Balkans.org site announced in May the first Griffon nest recorded in recent decades on the Balkan Mountains, if you haven't seen this news you can read more here http://greenbalkans.org/show.php?id=1475&language=en_EN&cat_id=35 but you can keep right upto date with more receent news at http://greenbalkans.org/category.php?language=en_EN&cat_id=35

You can find an interesting story from the Peregrine Fund on their continued work to save the stunning Orange Breasted Falcons, sadly some birds they came across had bot fly infestation and you can find out more in this link http://www.peregrinefund.org/news-release/242 make sure you also check out the rest of their news pages and why not sign up to their e-newsletter.

I have a few videos now for you to check out the first from Munir Virani working for the Peregrine Fund and trying to further highlight the plight of vultures in India and Africa http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Munir-Virani-Why-I-love-vulture;TEDNairobi

The next video is on the amazing Harpy Eagle, it isn't in English but that doesn't really matter as the footage is fantastic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXyUmaLQIJg&feature=em-share_video_user

The final video might help any budding raptor enthusiasts in identifying the Common Buzzard and Honey Buzzard, its been produced by the BTO and if you look to the left of the screen you will find many more videos designed to help with bird ID including several raptors http://www.bto.org/about-birds/bird-id/bto-bird-id-summer-buzzards-common-buzzard-and-honey-buzzard?dm_i=IG4,VKOX,4BMHAI,2LTST,1

But if you really want to scrub up on your raptor identification then you need to head to something like the Batumi Raptor Count, in its 5th year it is holding a bird festival at the end of September http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/projects/batumi-bird-festival

Finally a new book is due to be released in Sept/Nov based on the Boreal or Tengmalms owl, it always excites me when a specific in depth book is due to be released on any raptor species . You can find it here on Amazon to pre order http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boreal-Owl-Behaviour-Conservation-Forest-Dwelling/dp/0521113717/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344203293&sr=1-1

Hopefully something of interest in the above, I'm about to fall asleep faster than Usain Bolt can win the 100metres. Keep coming back as I'm currently compiling a piece on illegal vulture killings Muti in Africa.

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