The Common Kingfisher has been crowned Germany's Bird of the Year 2009 by NABU, the German BirdLife organization. NABU has been nominating the 'Bird of the Year' since 1971 to focus people's attention to a particular species and its habitat. The first bird was the Peregrine Falcon, which, thanks to several conservation projects, is no longer on the list of threatened birds in Germany. The Common Kingfisher itself isn't endangered in Germany — there are between 5,600 and 8,000 breeding pairs in Germany — but conservationists are hoping the added attention may results in increased protection for its dwindling habitat, which is rivers. Kingfishers need clear water and natural river banks to nest.
Scientists at the Goethe University in Frankfurt have been studying European Magpies to prove that these smart birds are not bird-brained. It is widely accepted that self-awareness is a prerequisite for the development of consciousness. Besides humans, there had already been evidence that bottlenose dolphins, other apes and elephants have the capability to be self aware. Now magpies can be added to the list. The researchers used a series of tests to determine if their hand-raised birds could recognize themselves in a mirror.
They placed yellow and red stickers on the birds in places where they could only be seen in a mirror. The magpies became focused on removing the stickers after seeing them in the mirror and tried to scratch them off with their claws and beaks. After removing the sticker they would stop this behavior. The researchers also found that the birds would ignore the stickers if they were placed where they could not see them in the mirror or when the stickers were black in color. Here's a short video of the magpie and the mirror:
The Hoopoe, a striking and unique crested bird, was named the official national bird of Israel in May 2008. The bird won a national survey to become the honored bird. Stephen Colbert had some fun making the announcement on his show last week. We couldn't miss the opportunity to further honor the beautiful Hoopoe, already a member of the Birdorable family, with a special Birdorable of Israel edition.
The design is available on t-shirts and other gifts:
Rare photo of a Birdorable Ivory-billed Woodpecker
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is one of the largest woodpecker species in the world. The bird is shiny blue-black with extensive white markings on its neck and on both the upper and lower trailing edges of its wings. It has a pure white bill and displays a prominent top crest, red in the male and black in the female.
That is what most people agree on, but what they don't agree on is if it's either extremely rare or extinct! There is no solid proof of recent sightings of the birds, but some people do claim they have seen it in the woods of the Southeastern United States.
Heavy logging activity and hunting by collectors decimated the population of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the late 1800s. It was generally considered extinct in the 1920s, when a pair turned up in Florida, only to be shot for specimens. By 1938, an estimated 20 individuals remained in the wild, some 6-8 of which were located in the old-growth forest called the Singer Tract in Louisiana.
By 1944 the last known Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a female, was gone from the cut-over tract. Reports of at least one male bird in Arkansas in 2004 and 2005 were reported in April 2005 by a team led by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. But no real evidence exist of the sighting, making many believe that the bird is extinct. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is the miracle bird of the century - or is it?
