Imagine flying for five days straight, arriving at your destination emaciated and exhausted, only to find your habitat has disappeared. Such is the plight of the Latham’s Snipe.
Geese honk loudly and point their bills toward the sky when they’re ready to start the migration. Here’s how they know it’s time, how they navigate and how they conserve energy on the grueling trip.
The COVID-19 pandemic is interrupting scientific field work across North America, leaving blank spots in important data sets and making it harder to track ecological change.
Even in the breeding grounds, we found that European bee-eaters preferred the company of some birds over others. These tended to be the individuals they migrated with.
Much of the money for wildlife conservation in the United States comes from taxes and fees paid by sportsmen. But as fewer Americans take up hunting, wildlife managers need other funding sources.
The Trump administration is narrowing protection for migratory birds to cover only deliberate harm such as hunting, but not threats like development or pollution that kill millions of birds yearly.
If Europe is going to reap the benefits of conservation measures at home, its experts need an understanding of where “their” birds migrate to when they head off to Africa.
The European goldfinch, with its wonderful coloration and melodic singing, is a favoured pet for people living in the western Maghreb. But continued poaching is putting the species in danger.
We aren’t just jostling with each other for beach space. Scuttling, waddling, hopping or flying away from beachgoers all around Australia, wildlife struggles to survive the daily disturbances.
Migratory birds play key ecological roles. and connect us with nature. The 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty curbed overhunting, but birds face other threats today that require international solutions.
Senior Research Fellow, Federation University and Better Data for Better Decisions Constellation Leader, Food Agility CRC, Federation University Australia