Birds 2012 Calendar

Are you looking for a nice Christmas gift for your friends or beloved ones? Here comes the beautiful calendar for 2012 with Bird pictures - it exists in 3 languages (English, German and Spanish) and you can order it online at the following link...

Stop cutting down old forests

Bohemian forest (Šumava) is one of the oldest and best preserved national parks in Czech Republic and refuge for a number of endangered bird species (Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Hazel Grouse, White-backed Woodpecker, Three.toed Woodpecker, Ural Owl etc...). The new, politically chosen management of the Park decided to cut down trees in the most protected zones of the park that have previously been set as untouchable (with no human intervention) and that should be left to the natural processes without exception. If you woudl like to support the effort of nonprofit nature conservation organization which demands to stop cutting down the trees in Bohemian forest, you can attach your signature to the petition in the link below. I hope you can help us even if you are not from our country, the nature does not have borders...

BBC series Life of Birds

The documentary series produced by BBC are unique and probably well known to all of you. If you happened to miss the series called „Life of Birds“ go and buy it, it is worth watching! This series from 1998 contains 10 episodes, each about 1 hour of footage. Do you want to see Owls hunting prey hidden under the snow? Do you want to see a bird who can imitate sounds of chainsaw and falling trees? Do you know what is the function of the „tube“ for  Tubenosed? Have you ever seen the „storage room“ of certain american Woodpecker, hunting strategy of Black Heron or the mating dances of arctic Buff-breasted Sandpiper? These and much more you can watch on 3 DVDs from the collection of the charismatic narrator David Attenborough. Currently there is great deal on BBC shop where you can get the whole „Life Collection“ of David Attenborough (including Life of Birds) for only 57 Pounds – the whole collection contains altogether 8 series on 24 DVDs with the total of about 60 hours of the best-ever footage from nature.

Here is the link to the official BBC shop with the collection

Ps: If you only want the Life of Birds series, it will cost you incredible 9 Pounds!

Birds of Norway - Portfolio

Another from the best chosen pictures are Birds of Norway. Altogether I took pictures of 61 species of birds from Norway up-to-date. The best you can see in Portfolio - find the direct link HERE. The complete list of best pictures according to the themes are found in the portfolio under the menu item “PORTFOLIO”. ..

Wildlife photography – the beauty of the moment

I was thinking about the title of this article and ended up with this rather vague and neutral term “beauty of the moment”. Already for some time I wonder what some photographers mean by saying “this is the nature how I see it” or “I want to photograph that scene differently then others”. These statements seems a bit selfish to me, especially when it comes to the bird photography, but maybe I am still too much a beginner to construct such a strong opinions…

Birds of Florida - Portfolio

With the increasing number of pictures on this website I feel that visitors can find themselves a bit lost between all the photos. To make browsing the images easier I have followed the other photographers and created Portfolio with the aim to present only the best pictures from each category. The first item in portfolio is Birds of Florida...

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