Category: preservation
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The Stunning Courtship Behavior of The Great Egret, an Unmissable Spectacle!
The great egret has a behavioral repertoire that includes over 16 different displays. And only some of them are more prominent during courtship with the aigrettes, the spectacular scapular plumes, playing a critical role in helping magnify the optical effects of the displays.
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The return of the wood stork to South Florida
The wood stork is an endangered species in Florida. Although it is nowhere near the historical population that foraged and nested in the Everglades and surrounding areas, it is making a slow comeback mirroring the efforts to restore the iconic River of Grass, as Marjory Stoneman Douglas used to call what is now Everglades National…
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Endangered Ecosystem
Wildebeest populations are in drastic decline. This not only threatens an entire ecosystem (the Mara-Serengeti) but also one of the most incredible natural phenomenons that still exist in our planet, the Great Migration.
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Are we doing enough to protect the magnificent hornbills?
Although the snake does not fly, it has caught the hornbill, whose home is in the sky Apparently not enough, especially in some African countries like Ghana and Cameroon where uncontrolled hunting and habitat degradation is decimating the hornbill population. If you don’t know what hornbills are, I encourage you to read my previous two…
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Can we stop the relentless spread of Bd, the infamous frog-killing-fungus?
It is odd that we have so little relationship with nature, with the insects and the leaping frog and the owl that hoots among the hills calling for its mate. We never seem to have a feeling for all living things on the earth. Jiddu Krishnamurti Early this month an article in National Geographic prompted…
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I’m not medicine: The race to save the five extant species of Rhinoceros
“Only when the last of the animals, horns, tusks, skin and bones are sold, will mankind realize that money can never buy back our wildlife.” -WILD AT HEART It was the passing of Sudan on March 20, 2018, the last male Northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), in the world, that prompted this post, it…
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Part II: Nuts About Hornbills: What’s So Special About Them?
“No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings.” -William Blake There are many fascinating things about these amazingly weird looking birds; a couple of them are pretty obvious their colorful and in some species huge casques and large bills. The other one, which is not so obvious, but very interesting, is…
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Nuts About Hornbills: A Fascinating Evolutionary Story
The extraordinary habit of the male, in plastering up the female with her egg, and feeding her during the whole time of incubation, and until the young one is fledged, is common to several of the large hornbills, and is one of those strange facts in natural history which are “stranger than fiction.” -Alfred Russel…
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Much Ado About Puffins
“Seabirds are ideal symbols for ocean conservation… Because they live in a variety of habitats-including oceans, islands, estuaries and beaches-they can show visitors how all coastal life is connected and spark new interest in coastal conservation. Long-term conservation success hinges on public understanding and community support.” – Stephen Kress They look like cartoon characters taken…
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The Mighty Elephant, the Real King of the Savanna
“The premature elimination of elephants over much of their range represents one of the most wasteful mammalian tragedies of the century” -Ian Douglas Hamilton, 1987 I’m closing these series of posts exactly one year after my unforgettable trip to the Masai Mara, and for the end I left the best, my absolute favorite animal, the…
Conservation and Photography 