I’m a killer! What about you…?

It is difficult to cope with things that happen the other ways around than you expect. Did it ever happen to you that you wanted to help somebody but you hurt instead? Do you like nature and want to keep it safe? Do you like birds and the last thing you want to do is to harm them? That is exactly what happens sometimes.

Human – a friend or enemy?

Webcam – new residents

The roof of our University building hosts new inhabitants! After recent hatching of Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) new residents settled on the roof – two pairs of Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) and one pair of Common Gull (Larus canus). The webcam is not pointed at the Common Gull nest – two hatchlings are already born so do not forget to check the stream!

http://tjeld.uib.no/videoframe.html

Language confusion

Webcam - first chick is born!

The first chick of the Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) pair that nests on the roof of our University building in Bergen hatched this monday 24.5.2010 in the evening. The chick is a little limb, following its parents and sometimes pecking into the lens of the camera installed next to the nest. :-) Do not forget to watch the stream video (including sound!) on the following link. In less than a month the longest day of the year will come and already now the nights are so light that you can easily watch the birds even at the midnight:

Webcam – Oystercatchers are back!

As well as last year, a pair of Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) started nesting on the building of our University building roof this April again. I wrote a little about the roof nesting Oystercatchers in the article Roof-breeding Oystercatcher – webcam where you can refresh some facts. If you want to watch the actual nesting, play the video (including sound!) at the following link:

Spring is back to Bergen!

Yes! The spring is back here in North again! It still recovers slowly from the loads of snow that unusually long and tough winter left behind, but it can be felt in the air, days are getting longer and temperatures stay above freezing point! It is almost exactly one year today since I wrote “The past week I also saw first Oystercatchers of this year in the harbour while walking to the work. So the spring is really here…” and the Oystercatchers, like as they could hear my wishes, they appeared at exactly the same place today again! For me they are messengers of spring here – the birds that together with Starlings arrive amongst the first species. I would not be surprised if the birds I saw today were exactly the same pair as one year back… Welcome spring!!!

Huntsmen poaching

This article in Czech version focuses on the problem of Poaching among the Huntsmen in Czech Republic – it describes the case from the end of 2009 when 2 Huntsmen were accused from hunting down many protected mammal and bird species for purposes of taxidermy and illegal sale. Among the shot and stuffed species there were many Woodpeckers, raptors, passerines and owls including one Barn Owl with the ring! It appears that this is great problem in Czech Republic, especially because the hunting has powerful lobby between Czech politics as well as Police...

Birds evolution on-line

The finches that helped Charles Darwin to define his Theory of Evolution almost 200 years ago play significant role again! The scientists studying these birds on small Galapagos islands during last 30 years observed the natural selectiuon within one bird species. Thanks to the harsh weather conditions in last decades the large-billed individuals of the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) increased in the population at the expense of the finer-billed individuals. Dutiny following years the large-billed birds prevailed in the population and scientists are now surprised how fast the evolution can run in the nature...

More informations in the links below:

The Continuing Saga of the Galápagos Finches

Darwin's Birds: Evolution and DNA in the Galápagos

New web section – list of bird pictures A-Z

Bird photography using car as a hide

When I met a Danish bird photographer with the nickname John Fugl (John Bird) at the Norwegian island Runde last year during my late winter visit, one of the interesting information I have learned was that one of the most efficient ways how to approach birds while not disturbing them was using the car as a hide. At that time I still thought that the best and only way how to get close to the birds was to lie down on the ground covered by masking net; soon after that I realised John was true…