Annimal Ann's Eco News–Independent Thinker

” MORE LANDSCAPE. LESS LANDFILL”- Timberlake

From Wildlife Extra:

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/new-nestbox.html

”

Spring might seem a long way off but some birds will soon be prospecting for nest sites.

November 2009. The British Trust for Ornithology is urging people to put up a new nest box now and, by doing so, increase the chances of it being used come the spring. The Garden Ecology Team has produced a new leaflet, providing expert advice on how to build a nest box, where to erect it and how to look after it.

While spring may seem a long way off, a number of bird species will already be prospecting for potential nest sites. House Sparrows, for example, return to their breeding colonies in late autumn, with the female bird often roosting within the nest site throughout the winter months. Other birds, such as Wrens and Blue Tits, may also use boxes for roosting, so getting a box in place now could prove really valuable.”

” A report released Sunday recorded 17,650 species living below 656 feet, the point where sunlight ceases. The findings were the latest update on a 10-year census of marine life.

”Parts of the deep sea that we assumed were homogenous are actually quite complex,” said Robert S. Carney, an oceanographer at Louisiana State University and a lead researcher on the deep seas.

Thousands of marine species eke out an existence in the ocean’s pitch-black depths by feeding on the snowlike decaying matter that cascades down — even sunken whale bones. Oil and methane also are an energy source for the bottom-dwellers, the report said.

The researchers have found about 5,600 new species on top of the 230,000 known. They hope to add several thousand more by October 2010, when the census will be done.

The scientists say they could announce that a million or more species remain unknown. On land, biologists have catalogued about 1.5 million plants and animals.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/22/tech/main5741551.shtml

Posted this piece for an Australian Environmental and Politics blog.

http://images.google.se/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/P1010040.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/002961.html&usg=__JMmdppsSQJwIWYHg5y5zVNSDlZ0=&h=960&w=1280&sz=238&hl=sv&start=26&sig2=GvmLBccHyXEwtF7MrzcFeQ&um=1&tbnid=p3UnJIiIYi1r9M:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dann%2Bnovek%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Dsv%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1&ei=9XsPS5GNMsvs-QajntWbDg

Wildlife Accidents Part 2 – A Note From Ann Novek

1) In Sweden there’s an old pagan custom with big bonfires on April 30, called the Walpurgis Night.

Unfortunately, many hedgehogs have been hiding out in the stacks /piles of old trees and branches that will be lit during the night and many fatal accidents happen with hedgehogs.

Here’s a picture of a hedgehog that was badly burnt, but saved by a person from the fire. Wounds healed well, but new spikes didn’t grow up. The animal was released into a protected enclosure as it now didn’t have a complete defence from badgers and dogs.

2) Picture number 2, the balloon hedgehog. No reasons have been found for this condition but possibly damage to the respiratory system has allowed inspired air to escape and fill the subcutaneous cavity. Relief is provided by using a needle and syringe to release air and using antibiotics.

This is a quite common disease among hedgehogs. The animal in the picture was rehabilitated successfully and released.

From Wildlife Extra:

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/bird-counting.html

”Multiple microphones
Dawson said: ”We devised a way to estimate population density of birds or other animals that vocalise by combining sound information from several microphones. A sound spreading through a forest or other habitat leaves a ‘footprint’. The size of the footprint depends on how quickly the sound attenuates. Mathematically, there is a unique combination of population density and attenuation rate that best matches the number and ‘size’ of the recorded sounds. We used computer methods to find the best match, and thereby estimate density.”

” More accurate than netting
The new acoustic technique gives a more accurate estimate of bird numbers than using nets to capture birds, which can be stressful for the birds as well as time consuming for the researchers.

Ideal for marine mammals
As well as helping assess populations of cryptic bird species such as the ovenbird, the new technique might be applied to measuring hard-to-reach populations of marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins. Developing ways of estimating whale and dolphin numbers acoustically is seen as critical for understanding these species’ populations.

Recording the sounds has other benefits, too. ”Sound intensity and other characteristics can be measured from the spectrogram – the graph of the sounds – to improve density estimates. Archiving the sounds also makes it possible to re-examine them, or to extract additional information as analytical methods evolve,” says Dawson.”

A common garden bird that lately been affected by Trichomonas infection, mortality very high.

Adult birds and juvenile bird, born this spring.

Its Latin name means ” the nightingale of Lapland” . Quite rare.

Its Latin name means common in the forest.