Dear Kitty. Some blog

This video is called Socotra Yemen Heaven On Earth.

From BirdLife:

03-07-2008

The Yemen Council of Ministers has recently approved the Golden-winged Grosbeak as Yemen’s national bird. This colourful bird, with a huge beak for eating fruits and seeds, occurs in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen.

Yemen has also chosen the Arabian Leopard Panthera pardus nimr as the national mammal, the Dragon Blood Tree Dracaena cinnabari as the national tree, and the Aloe Aloe irafensis as the national plant.

From ABC in Australia:

Secretive birds to be coaxed out for study

Posted Wed Jul 2, 2008 8:49am AEST

Birdwatchers are planning to play recorded bird calls over loudspeakers to survey two rare species in north-west Queensland this month.

The study will estimate numbers of the Kalkadoon and Carpentarian grasswrens in the Mt Isa region and determine how fires affect their population.

Dr Graham Harrington from Birds Australia says it is believed to be the biggest survey of grasswrens undertaken in the country.

“They will walk for two kilometres playing the calls on an MP3 player every 200 metres and watching like a hawk for the birds to show themselves,” he said.

“We’ll stir them up hopefully and get them to show themselves.

“The Carpentarian grasswren is extremely difficult to see, it’s a very secretive bird.”

This video from the USA is called Worker Safety Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Alaska 1989.

By Ed Atkinson:

The Exxon Valdez ruling: the Supreme Court once again defends big business

2 July 2008

On June 25, the next-to-last day of the current term, the United States Supreme Court slashed the punitive damages judgment for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, which devastated Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The award was reduced from $2.5 billion to only $507.5 million—an amount equivalent to a few days’ profit for the giant oil company.

Exxon Mobil Corporation paid more than $1 billion to settle state and federal claims for environmental damages. The company went to trial in 1994, however, against a class action suit by over 32,000 individuals and small businesses devastated by the accident, predominantly commercial fishermen, native Alaskans and local landowners, who claimed that Exxon’s reckless conduct caused the accident.

Exxon conceded fault, and the compensatory damages for the class were set at $507.5 million. The trial then proceeded on the issue of punitive damages only.

The evidence showed that on March 23, 1989, the tanker left port carrying 53 million barrels of crude oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Its captain, Joseph Hazlewood, had recently completed an alcohol rehabilitation program. His superiors knew about Hazlewood’s problem, learned that he had relapsed recently, and even drank with him.

Witnesses testified that before leaving port Hazlewood consumed five double-vodka drinks, an amount that would have rendered any non-alcoholic unconscious. When tested by the Coast Guard 11 hours after the accident Hazlewood still had a blood-alcohol level of .061, meaning that during the wreck his level was about three times the legal limit for driving a car.

As the ship approached a well-known reef, Hazlewood set the autopilot, increased speed and turned the ship over to a subordinate unlicensed to perform the maneuver necessary to avoid running aground. The Exxon Valdez hit the reef, spilling crude oil into Prince William Sound. Hazlewood then tried to “rock” the ship free, a procedure that spewed more oil and risked killing the crew.

The result was the largest oil spill in US history: 11 million gallons covering 11,000 square miles, including 1,300 miles of pristine shoreline. The spill devastated the local economy as well as the environment. Estimated losses in the sport fishing industry alone were almost $600 million over the two years following the accident. Within days an estimated 250,000 seabirds perished, along with thousands of otters and seals. Despite billions of dollars in cleanup, the environmental effects of the spill still linger. Much of the oil seeped below the surface of affected beaches, decaying at a rate of about three to four percent per year. Animals that dig in the sand for their food continue to be contaminated.

After hearing this evidence, the jury awarded the 32,000 plaintiffs a total of $5 billion in punitive damages. In 2007 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reduced the amount to $2.5 billion. The Supreme Court decision reduces the award to $507.5 million, effectively fashioning a rule under federal maritime law that limits punitive damages to the amount of compensatory damages awarded, a so-called one-to-one ratio.

The punitive award must be viewed in light of Exxon Mobil’s enormous profits. The jury’s original $5 billion award amounts to less than the company’s profits for 1990 alone.

This video from Britain is called Damselflies gathering after mating.

Today, the three juveniles in the white stork nest. Their parents are standing below the nest, on the meadow. One of them takes off for a half circle flight around the nest, finally landing there.

A song thrush behind a house opposite the nature reserve.

From treetop nests, sounds of young grey herons.

At the small pond, a male black-tailed skimmer dragonfly.

At the castle pond, red-eyed damselflies, and blue tailed damselflies. A bit further, Norfolk hawker dragonfly.

In the meadow, an oystercatcher. A white stork flying overhead.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

This video (after, first, an advertisement) is about Egyptian animal mummies.

Today, to the museum of antiquities, where there is an animal mummies exhibition.

In ancient Egypt, various animals played a role in people’s lives, including in religion.

Just after leaving for the museum, I see a non mummified, still very much alive animal: a holly blue butterfly.

The museum has not only the animal mummy special exhibition, but also animals depicted in paint, sculpture, amulets, etc. in its permanent collection. I decide to look at these today and to come back for the mummy exhibition on some later day.

The first room in the permanent Egyptian exhibition is about prehistoric and early dynastic times.

One of the objects there is a Neolithic pot, with ostriches painted on it. That is special, according to the museum, as ostriches disappeared from Egypt about 5,000 years ago.

In the next room, about the Old Kingdom, many animals are depicted in the mastaba of Hetepherachet there.

Also from Old Kingdom times, a coiled snake, as a board for the mehen game.

After the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, the Asian Hyksos invaders ruled Egypt. From their epoch, fish-shaped and goose-shaped vases.

The Hyksos brought horses to Egypt for the first time. These were depicted in the tomb for General Horemheb. The Egyptian sculptors still were not really used to depicting these new animals then.

From the times of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, animal pictures from the tomb of Paatenemheb.

From a bit earlier New Kingdom times, the grave of the offiicial Merymery, also with many animal pictures.

This video is called Auks (Alcidae).

From Wildlife Extra:

Ecological wasteland to be cleared of rat infestation

Within the next 12 months, an island that has been an ecological wasteland for over 200 years will be put on the road to recovery. In 1780, a Japanese ship ran aground on what is today called Rat Island, and many rats jumped ship to find a rat paradise, thousands of ground nesting seabirds. In 1922, Arctic foxes were stocked on the island by fur ranchers, further adding to the devastation.

Prior to these two introduced predators, the island held thousands of nesting seabirds, including Fork-tailed Storm Petrels, Whiskered Auklets, and both Horned and Tufted Puffins. These birds were easy prey because their nests or nesting burrows remain unguarded while the parents forage at sea. The rats ate the eggs, killed the chicks, and harassed the parents until almost no seabirds returned to nest on the island.

1964 - Foxes eradicated

Island restoration began in 1964, when the foxes were eradicated, and now, a solution to the rat problem seems to be at hand. The Nature Conservancy is collaborating with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Island Conservation to remove all the rats from the island. Rodent eradications have proven incredibly successful at other sites, especially in New Zealand and Scotland.

The endangered Xantus’s Murrelet saw an astounding 80% increase in nesting success when introduced rats were removed from Anacapa Island. However, the process is not easy. It takes years of evaluation and planning to select a target island and plan the removal effort. Removing rats from the island using controlled poison applications is expensive; however in this case, funding will come from public sources and dozens of private donors.

Rat Island

Rat Island is one of the Aleutian Islands, which are collectively designated as a Globally Important Bird Area because of their importance to seabird populations. Three of the Aleutians support more than one million birds each. There are several other islands in the chain with infestations of rats, but the next target has yet to be selected. Each island presents its own potential rewards and challenges. The size, the value to nesting birds, the presence of other invasive creatures, the cost and the risk of reintroduction are just some of the factors to be considered.

This is a sedge warbler video.

Yesterday, again to Naardermeer nature reserve.

Before we arrived there, two great spotted woodpeckers on trees.

Grey lag geese. Egyptian geese; both in meadows.

A great egret. A male reed bunting, singing. A reed warbler, singing.

Many butterflies, including a red admiral. Most of them were meadow brown.

A sedge warbler, singing.

A mating flight of a hobby couple.

Three spoonbills.

Small tortoiseshell butterflies.

A black-tailed skimmer dragonfly sitting on the footpath.

This is a video of a chough in Wales.

From the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds:

24 June 2008

RSPB Northern Ireland is today celebrating, as four chough chicks took their first flight over Rathlin Island at the weekend. Until last year, no baby chough had hatched on the island since 1989.

In June 2007, three chicks successfully hatched.

Speaking today, Liam McFaul RSPB Warden at Rathlin said:

“This is absolutely fantastic news. I had the privilege of sitting on the cliff edge on Sunday afternoon and watched the whole family of six playing in the breeze and I am pleased to report that all young look healthy and strong.

“This is another important milestone for the chough on Rathlin, and for this species across Northern Ireland. However, we have still a considerable way to go before we can talk about the successful recovery of the chough in Northern Ireland.

This is a video of dragonfly and damselfly photographs by Mark Plonsky.

Today, to the white stork nest near the nature reserve. On the nest, one adult and one black-billed juvenile standing; two juveniles sitting. On the meadow below, a grey heron.

At the small pond in the reserve, I meet a dragonfly photographer. A female black-tailed skimmer and a Norfolk hawker fly past.

Also a butterfly: a dingy skipper. And a hoverfly species, looking like a bumblebee: Volucella bombylans.

We talk about green woodpeckers, said to have two nesting couples in this reserve this year. A bit further along the path, a robin; then, a song thrush.

In the castle pond, most damselflies may look like blue-tailed damselflies; however, not all of them are. The ones with red eyes which like to sit on water lily leaves, are red-eyed damselflies. The blue-eyed ones which prefer to sit on bank plants are blue-tailed damselflies.

Also, a large red damselfly.

A blackcap sings.

Norfolk hawkers fly around; sometimes quarreling about territory; offering many photo opportunities.

From a branch hanging over the water, a spotted flycatcher hunts for insects. I had not seen this species here for years.

Two adult coots with still very young chicks.

On pebbles near a bench, a male black-tailed skimmer sits down. In the meadow, a northern lapwing and a black-tailed godwit. Later, an Egyptian goose flying. Still later, a black-tailed godwit, standing on a pole.

This video from Kenya is about the Tana river delta.

From BirdLife:

23-06-2008

The government of Kenya, through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), has approved a proposal to turn 20,000 hectares of the pristine Tana Delta into irrigated sugarcane plantations. Conservationists and villagers living in the Delta, which provides refuge for 350 species of bird, lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles [see also here] including the Tana writhing skink, believe the decision is illegal and are determined to block the development. The groups are considering what action they might take.

Northern Carmine Bee-eater Merops nubicus photographed in the Tana River Delta, Kenya: here.