The two ornithologists had just visited a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) eyrie and were motoring their way to another one. As their inflatable boat rose and fell in heavy swells along the northern Queen Charlotte Islands off Canada’s western coast they saw a flock of whirling Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). By Rex Graham David H. [...]
By Rex Graham BirdsNews.com Nocturnal predators and full moons are deadly combinations for many mammals. No wonder rabbits, deer mice and even bats exhibit “lunar phobia,” becoming less active and more vigilant as moonlight intensity increases. They tend to spend moonlit nights in thickets and other safer areas even if there is less food to [...]
Humans and birds are united thousands of times a day worldwide in an ornithological ritual. Researchers catch birds in mist nets, place metal or plastic bands around their legs or wings, make a few measurements and let them go. Since mist-netting became the preferred method to capture wild birds for banding studies in the 1950s, [...]