Bird of prey

Aquatic bird (299)
Avian (81)
Bird (1871)
Bird of prey (407)
Birdcall (31)
Cuckoo (20)
Goatsucker (8)
Kingfisher (12)
Oilbird (2)
Parrot (95)
Passerine (433)
Piciform (55)
Pigeon (118)
Ratite (74)
Seabird (386)
Swifts (40)
Trogon (1)

Synopsis: 4.4. animals: Birds: Bird of prey:

as well as storks, raptors, egrets and herons. Take white storks. In one breeding season, biologists from Spain's Universidad de Cordoba found nest switching in 40%of broods across three distinct white-stork breeding colonies.

growing food in the urban environment on regular multistorey plots is likely to increase as hobby farmers,

to skyscraper-nesting peregrine falcons, animals have made cities their home in some cases, their natural habitats have disappeared.

the Harrier jump jet. Designed by Ralph Hooper and John Fozard of Hawker Aircraft, this highly sophisticated 50-year old aircraft has been modified

Plant-powered planes show promiseto the eye, there was nothing remarkable about the aging Falcon 20 jet as it took off from Ottawa International airport in Canada at the end of October in 2012.

For example, newly released figures collected by a plane trailing the Canadian Falcon 20 suggested that there was a 50%reduction in aerosol emissions compared to conventional fuel.

Even though the carcass had been visited by jackals, hyenas, vultures, and was under the control of lions by the fourth day,

British RAF pilots in the early 20th century were the first to spot the strange kite-like lines on the deserts of Israel, Jordan and Egypt from the air and wonder about their origins.

A new study of 16 of what are called desert kites in the eastern Sinai desert confirms

The walls form large funnels to direct gazelle and other large game animals into killing pits Whats more, the kites are between 2, 300 and 2,

The research shows that the construction of the kite was sophisticated actually more than it seemed before,

in Israel. oewe have no doubt at all that the kites were built for hunting, not for any other suggested function.

For a time, many researchers suspected the kites might be corrals for protecting domesticated animals, but that idea has fallen out of favor as more research has been done. oethe hunting theory is accepted the most,

and it appears that for most kites this was indeed the use, said Dani Nadel,

another kite researcher from the University of Haifa, Israel. oethere are similar structures, either from wood or from stone, on most continents.

Interestingly, the walls of the kites are not high enough to actually block the animals.

A careful examination of not just the kites but their locations in relation to pastures and migration routes makes it very clear that desert kites were specialized for specific types of animals.

Some kites cleverly exploited low spots in the landscape to lure animals into the unseen killing pit. oeindeed,

the pit would have appeared to the animals in the funnel as an opening in the boundary walls of the kite through

Another sort of kite was found on steep slopes or ridges below a plateau or shoulder of a hill so that animals driven over the ridge would suddenly be confronted by the installation before and below them,

As for why the kites fell out of use its still a bit of a mystery, says Nadel. oethey were abandoned, in several south-Negev cases,

An especially memorable recommended concoction for this instructs the man to catch a vulture by himself (very important)

Apparently, rubbing your body with dead vulture paste has the ability to bewitch the opposite sex,

That hobby made him the acquaintance of Alfred Winter, who ran gambling operations illegally in Portland,

Circus trained animals such as horses, elephants, and tigers have learned to respond to human voice commands.

One of the first people to uncover evidence for a once greener Antarctic was none other than the explorer, Robert Falcon Scott.

but two new coasters#the X Flight at Six Flags Great America and Dollywood s Wild Eagle#have you hanging off the side of the track, dangling in midair.

and Falcon 9 rocket to fly crew as well. Sierra nevada is developing a winged vehicle called the Dream Chaser that resembles a miniature space shuttle.

as a six-year old boy named Falcon had gotten somehow trapped inside a small weather balloon that was flying over the Midwest.

if California condors go extinct, it s unclear if they could ever be brought back fully, because young condors rely on their parents for training.

will revived a species learn to adapt to its new environment? Will they be able to reproduce in sufficient number to ever be fully viable?

We have developed trunks that feature ungulates, bears, owls, creepy-crawlies, water, and tracks. Each of the trunks includes between 15#20 books on the subject,(both fiction and non-fiction;

Owl Pellets#A presentation on owls where the kids and adults take apart owl#oepellets#to see what they have eaten and digested.

our kite-surfers head to the beach and then get online later. That s just what they do,

Now you can be the talk of your dinner table this holiday a perfect turkey tidbit to impress holiday dinner guests. 11) Bald eagle who?

In a letter to his daughter Franklin referred to the turkey saying I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country!

So in 2011 21 young birds were taken from nests and transferred into the captive population. They have done well.

Thriving populations of wolves deer lynx beaver eagles boar elk bears and other animals have been documented in the dense woodlands that now surround the silent plant.

#Condors Drive Cougars to Kill More Cougar biologist Mark Elbroch spent more than a year in South america's Patagonia region tracking down pumas and recording

which was published earlier this month in the journal PLOS One the cougars abandon their kills due to harassment from Andean condors a near-threatened scavenging bird Elbroch told Ouramazingplanet.

however since the condors are physically much smaller than these mountain lions and don't directly threaten the big cats he said.

 Mountain lions under the pressure of condors act like squirrels do under the pressure of owls acting more skittish Elbroch said.

Condors cannot land in the forest however since they travel awkwardly on land and can't negotiate wooded areas.

Although condors don't chase the cats away apparently their presence is irritating enough to drive away the cats.

Condors rarely land alone arriving with a coterie of sharp-beaked kin. Elbroch said the cats'skittishness may also owe something to the presence of humans primarily sheep herders in the Patagonian grasslands.

and vultures ate most of the bodies with maggots and blowflies helping to reduce the elk herd to an eerie scattered sea of skeletons in the desert.

So any dog that chased hares was a harrier any lapdog was a spaniel and any large intimidating dog was a mastiff.

But old forests also provide habitat for iconic animals such as the California spotted owl and the American marten.

while evading peregrine falcon and hawk attacks. After the chick hatches it pecks off its redwood-colored down and flying solo launches straight for the ocean.

Squirrels ravens and owls also swipe murrelet eggs but jays are the biggest thieves in California gobbling up 80 percent of each year's brood.

If taste-aversion training were to spread through the murrelet's range it would not be the first time a bird would require human babysitters to survive think of condors who need devoted monitoring and care..

and rings of fire in circuses and who are trained or broken to perform stupid and unnatural acts solely for people's entertainment.

but smaller individuals may fall prey to eagles owls and spotted tail quolls. The ornery critters release a nasty odor

and trained to pull carts for the circus. Zebras in a herd might all look alike

In January a different team of scientists found Google street view could also find potential nesting sites in northern Spain for the globally endangered Egyptian vulture.

Other birds including owls and parakeets also use the Magellanic's vacated holes as breeding grounds

Merlin Crossley works for the University of New south wales. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Birds of prey such as hawks and eagles are also common in the area n

#Land of Giants: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks Giants live in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks. Soaring mountains rocky foothills deep canyons more than 200 marble caverns and the world's largest trees call these side-by-side parks home.

Rare predator species such as spotted owls and fisher cats eat the poisoned mice and die. The marijuana cultivators make trail systems to go in

The UC Davis group is now testing barn owls which rely more heavily on rodents for food than fisher cats do.

Spotted owls have tested positive for rodenticides in Oregon and Gabriel said preliminary data indicates barn owls are snaring poison-laced mice.

Email Becky Oskin or follow her@beckyoskin. Follow us@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article on Livescience. com n

#San diego Zoo Welcomes Season's 1st Condor Chick The San diego Zoo welcomed its first California condor chick of the hatching season on Feb 24 the zoo announced yesterday (March 11) as part of their breeding program

to help save the endangered species. The two-week-old condor dubbed Wesa is doing well

Like other condors born at the zoo Wesa will eventually be released into the wild. Senior condor keeper Ron Webb has been caring for the baby bird with the help of a condor hand puppet.

The puppet is like a fancy glove Webb said in the statement. It covers our hands so the chick does not get any beneficial experiences from people.

Webb has also been monitoring the other condor eggs set to hatch this season to estimate how long before each chick pips

California condors are listed as critically endangered. When the zoo began its captive breeding program in the 1980s there were only 22 birds in the wild.

Threatened owls and raptors can't navigate through increasingly dense thickets. And when the inevitable forest fires rage through over-forested lands they burn hotter and faster

Extreme weather events such as heavy rains and flooding as well as drastic changes in weather in a short period will also pose challenges for crop production said Walter Falcon deputy director of the Center on Food security and the Environment

Falcon pointed out that while U s. agriculture was affected by drought in 2012 the most extensive drought

or prevent them from planting altogether in certain areas that are flooded said Falcon who owns a farm in Iowa that was hit by the drought.

Using corn to produce ethanol has caused corn prices to increase Falcon said. In the midst of last year's drought corn prices rose 50 percent to $8 a bushel.

Corn is kind of a linchpin commodity Falcon said. Most experts don't think the United states will increase the amount of corn that goes to ethanol in the near future

but over the course of the century that could change Falcon said. Improving trade cooperation To continue to feed a growing population in light of the food shortages that are likely to occur with climate change global crop production in the future will have to be much more coordinated than it is said today Jason Clay an expert in natural resources management at the World

Infographic) Falcon agreed. Currently certain restrictions on trade exist that may prove problematic in the future such as

The idea that each country should be self-sufficient in food production is not the answer Falcon said.

In a world of lots of climate variation there is a lot of work to be done in getting trade flows straightened out Falcon said.

#World's Largest Owl Exposes Health of Russia's Forests The world's largest owl requires equally huge trees a finding that reveals that this salmon-devouring predator could be a key sign of the health of some of the last great forests of Russia

Blakiston's fish owl (Bubo blakistoni) is one of the rarest owls in the world an endangered bird restricted to Russia China Japan and possibly North korea.

This owl is also the largest On earth. These birds stand two -and-a-half feet tall 75 centimeters have 6-foot wingspans 2 meters

See Photos of Giant Salmon-Eating Owls The dead of winter Little was known about how this owl used its habitat

To learn more scientists analyzed how this owl foraged and nested in Primorye Russia over a forested mountainous range more than 7800 square miles (20200 square km).

One of the reasons it's so hard to find fish owl nest trees is that the birds are almost unbelievably shy.

because they're owls they probably do they will flush at distances of about 300 feet 100 m or more.

because you almost never see the owls at those locations. The rivers there often have warm springs that help maintain open water in winter which helps the owls to hunt their prey.

The one thing working in our favor to find where the owls fish in winter is snow Slaght said.

Fish owls will walk up and down the riverbank in their favorite fishing spots jumping in to catch fish here and there

and so even though we might not see the owls themselves they leave their tracks behind in the snow

so we know where they like to hunt. Unfortunately Slaght added the best time to survey for these owls is the dead of winter

when temperatures can dip to the minus mid-20s Fahrenheit (minus mid-30s Celsius). We are often walking along frozen rivers during the day inching up fairly close to the lip of open water patches to look for owl tracks.

Everyone on the field team has fallen through the ice at least once. The rivers are not usually very deep

At night the team settles into a concealed tent near a foraging spot to monitor the owls'hunting behaviors.

and watching a fish owl hunt not more than 100 feet 30 m away completely unaware of my presence.

Giant birds need giant trees The scientists discovered both the owls and their favorite prey salmon rely on giant old-growth trees for breeding and feeding.

Blakiston's fish owl is a clear indicator of the health of the forests rivers

and endangered this owl's habitat. The new findings suggest conserving and managing old-growth forests is essential for sustaining this species as well as eight salmon

and trout species that spawn in the rivers there some of the 12 other owl species found in Primorye and mammals such as the endangered Siberian tiger Asiatic black bear and wild boar.

which brings in the fish owls Slaght said. This is an important realization because some policymakers don't care about conservation

Bears deer foxes bald eagles raccoons and more may be seen amidst the wildflowers and lush grasses. The most popular meadows which have boardwalks

#7 Animals That Wore Backpacks for Science From falcons to cockroaches a myriad of different animals have donned backpacks in the name of science.

Falcons To get a glimpse of how falcons hunt their prey midair researchers at Haverford College in Haverford Pennsylvania outfitted the birds with miniature helmet-and backpack-mounted cameras.

The videos showed that falcons fly in such a way that their prey remains motionless in the raptors'sight

Our group was thrilled by the sight of a bald eagle flying over the river passing unnoticed by wading fishermen intent on catching trout.

See Newly Hatched Osprey Chicks on Live'Critter Cam'For all you bird lovers out there you can watch a set of newly hatched osprey chicks ruffle their tiny feathers on a live webcam.

See livestream of the newly-hatched osprey chicks The Hog Island ospreys typically spend their winter in South america.

When a pair of ospreys bonds they will attempt to mate more than 160 times over a period of weeks resulting in a clutch of two to four eggs.

While a female incubates her eggs her mate provides most of her meals (osprey eat a diet almost exclusively of fish.

These young birds were put in predator-resistant pens at Necedah near other free-ranging whooping cranes including pairs of adults without chicks of their own.

Owl Monkeys Are Caring Fathers, Too This Behind the Scenes article was provided to Live Science in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

If there were a competition for best father#in the animal kingdom owl monkeys might very well win.

Because father owl monkeys provide most of the care needed by their young; they carry their young almost all the time even when chased by predators.

By contrast caregiving from owl monkey mothers to their young is limited almost exclusively to nursing.

#and even cannibal dads#in the animal kingdom why of all creatures are father owl monkeys so attentive and protective of their young?

Wright s insights on owl monkeys are largely based on her many years of researching them in the rainforests of South america.

) Wild for Monogamy Wright said that are owl monkeys are devoted not only fathers but are also truly monogamous another rarity in the wild.

An owl monkey is faithful to its mate until its mate dies. The unflagging fidelity of owl monkeys has been verified by DNA fingerprinting similar to the type of DNA fingerprinting used in the courts to prove human paternity.

By contrast DNA fingerprinting has revealed that many animal species that were thought once to be truly monogamous are really social monogamous instead#eaning that a male and female form a long-term pair;

Amazingly owl monkeys are even more loyal to their mates than are those classic icons of love and fidelity#wans

and staunchly faithful mates owl monkeys have another extraordinary trait: They are nocturnal even though they were once daytime creatures as indicated by certain characteristics of their eyes said Wright.

Wright s field research suggests several potential reasons why owl monkeys may have joined the night life.

For one thing Wright observed families of owl monkeys snuggle and sleep together in protected tangles of vines

Wright speculates that owl monkeys which are relatively small monkeys hide and sleep during the day

in order to avoid huge day-hunting raptors such as harpy eagles and hawks which regularly swoop down from the skies

and snatch even large monkeys that dangle and jump through the tall forest canopy during the day.

So by time sharing#the canopy with larger monkeys in a day/night cycle owl monkeys increase their potential for collecting food while reducing their risk from predators.

The newfound dinosaur is a microraptorine a group of predatory feathered dinosaurs related to Velociraptor and other well-known raptor dinosaurs.

Microraptorines are thought to be very close cousins of birds sharing a common raptor ancestor Chiappe told Live Science.

The sounds of owls and night birds filled the air. Shivering from the cold I scanned the sky with binoculars until BAM!

and killing of threatened and endangered species such as wolverines lynx and grizzly bears as well as black bears deer elk moose mountain lions eagles and yes landowners'own dogs and livestock the very animals

In addition to being a tasty nutritional supplement the algae may serve as camouflage against predators from above such as the Harpy eagle.

A serendipitous encounter between Patricia Wright then a social worker and an owl monkey in a New york city pet store in 1968 ultimately inspired Wright to reinvent herself eventually becoming an award-winning Ph d. scientist

Owl Monkeys Are Caring Fathers Too Wright partners with Malagasy villagers to develop conservation strategies that are scientifically sound

Madagascar which is currently playing throughout the U s. Also Wright recently described her early research on owl monkeys

#Once Endangered, Bald eagle Populations Soar Bryan Watts is director of the Center for Conservation Biology a joint program of the College of William & Mary and Virginia Commonwealth University.

When Mitchell Byrd took over the annual bald-eagle survey for the state of Virginia disco was king the Dow jones Industrial Average was just over 800

But after all of these years Mitchell's commitment to bald eagles is staying Alive with the beginning of the 2014 flight season in early March Byrd began the 38th year of his involvement in the aerial survey.

Eagles were eliminated just about from the bay before the insecticide DDT was banned in 1972 and Byrd began logging the bird's comeback in the region in 1977.

Since that time biologists have learned a lot about eagles. At the Center for Conservation Biology new technology has helped us understand the lives

and movements of individual eagles at a level that was just about unimaginable 38 years ago. We've been able to deploy nest cameras to watch the birds'chick-raising habits and their family life.

Technology has advanced to the point that we can track movements of individual eagles. To do so we fit solar-powered transmitters on the birds'backs.

Since the bald eagle comeback has proven such a success In virginia's stretch of the Chesapeake we've been able to study these birds as a population not just as individuals.

Though individual eagles hold a great deal of interest they are even more fascinating when you consider the raptors as a community.

We've seen more than one instance of bald eagles nesting in the middle of a great blue heron rookery. Why?

We're not really sure. And we don't suggest the bald eagle as a role model for human behavior:

Our studies document instances of deadbeat dads and cheating wives among the populations of the United states'national bird.

Raccoons are pretty bad they can eat eagle eggs and chicks but they're nothing like great horned owls who will swoop into a nest decapitate the chicks

and leave often after whitewashing the nest with their feces. High-tech tools like satellite transmitters and nest videocams have given us a better understanding of eagle life

but the census flights remain a primary tool for keeping tabs on the population. The annual bald eagle assessment involves two rounds of flights.

The first the survey round begins in early March and involves systematically flying over all tributaries to check nests that we've recorded from previous years.

Now that we know exactly where the eagles are nesting we fly back to each nest counting the number of new chicks.

and pulling g's. Spotting eagles has gotten sportier. Those lazy flying days of the'70s when nests were rare

since the bald eagle population has recovered. Eagles mostly eat fish and they never nest far from water.

So we fly low along the shoreline. For long stretches we see a nest every few seconds.

Eagles tend to nest in the same places often reusing a nest so out of the three of us we know

Sometimes for reasons known only to the eagles a tree might go without a nest for a year or two.

After flying over all those nests we've gotten pretty good at quickly gauging the age of eagle chicks by evaluating size and plumage.

These flights involve more than just keeping track of the numbers of breeding eagles in our territory.

We're always discovering something new about bald eagles. For instance a small segment of our territory between the Virginia towns of Jamestown and Smithfield served as home to the earliest breeders on our beat.

In the 1980s a pair of early birds that we called the Christmas Eagles nested on Jamestown Island.

when most eagles around here haven't even begun courtship or nest-repair activities. We don't know why birds here breed so early

For the first two years of the survey researchers found no eagle pairs along the entire James river from deep in the interior of Virginia to the Chesapeake bay.

I'm happy to say that Byrd intends to keep going up every year to count the crop of young bald eagles.

Osprey Watchers as Citizen-Scientists. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

Research such as oft-referenced studies on Canada geese and nutrition for young birds suggest feeding waterfowl an unhealthy diet can accelerate growth causing the wing to develop too quickly for proper bone support.

and more than 850 in neck snares including mountain lions river otters pronghorn antelope deer badgers beavers turtles turkeys ravens ducks geese great blue herons and even a golden eagle.

Even though I was experienced an professional trapper my trap victims included non-target species such as bald eagles and golden eagles a variety of hawks and other birds rabbits sage grouse pet dogs deer

Old world vultures were once abundant highly social and mobile birds. But poisons intended to kill game

and veterinary medicines given to livestock subsequently consumed by the obligate scavengers have reduced dramatically vulture populations in Asia

Are vultures flamingos parrots and numerous other abundant highly social and mobile species destined to the same fate as the passenger pigeon?

including the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and the Northern Rocky mountain grey wolf (Canis lupus). Research Lunar splashdown: A NASA probe sent crashing into the Cabeus crater near the Moon's north pole on 9 october ploughed up a plume containing water, hydrocarbons and, unexpectedly, mercury,

Carrion crows (Corvus corone) form stable groups that share the responsibilities of breeding and caring for the young.

and budget hawks who see the roughly US$6-billion-a-year benefit as wasteful spending on a mature industry.

On 8 december, its reusable'Dragon'capsule was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape canaveral, Florida.

is scheduled to make its first attempt to launch a spacecraft into orbit on its Falcon 9 rocket and return the craft to Earth.

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