Tag: nature
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Pond Turtles Proposed for Federal Listing
Today, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the Northwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) and Southwestern Pond Turtle (Actinemys pallida) as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act. At the time the agency initiated this listing process the two taxa were considered the same species, Western Pond Turtle, which is reflected in the…
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North Pacific Right Whale Critical Habitat to be Revised
On September 26, 2023 the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced a 12-month determination on a petition to revise the critical habitat designation for the North Pacific Right Whale (Eubalaena japonica) under the Endangered Species Act. The NMFS intends to revise critical habitat after receipt of a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity and…
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Wildlife Society Bulletin: California Condor Poisoned by Lead, Not Copper, When Both are Ingested
The September 2023 issue of The Wildlife Society’s Wildlife Society Bulletin contains a paper by Finkelstein et al. documenting the case of a California Condor that had ingested a lead fragment and copper bullet simultaneously. From the paper’s abstract: Lead poisoning from feeding on carcasses shot with lead-based ammunition is a well-known threat to wildlife.…
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Fish and Wildlife Service Announces 90-Day Findings for Five Species
Today, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced 90-day findings on petitions to add five species to the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Service found that the petitions to list the following four species presented “substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that…
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Cuba – The End
Day 8 – Hasta la Victoria Siempre We assembled early on January 12 to board the bus for the long drive to Havana. As for prior driving days, we enjoyed getting to view a broad swath of the Cuban countryside. First, however, we had to get to the Cuban mainland and getting there required a…
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Cuba – Day 7 – Murciélagos de Discoteca
I woke up on January 11 feeling well-rested, which may have been because of the air conditioning and the plushest bed I’d slept in since home. That was a good thing because with this many consecutive days of non-stop birding I was getting a bit tired, yet feeling a bit rejuvenated by being close to…
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Anna’s Hummingbird on its Nest
On Monday, March 27 I was performing a general biological survey for a proposed project. Other than looking for raptor and corvid nests that may be reused in the future I was not actively performing a nesting bird survey as any project that might impact them was far into the future. Nevertheless, it was clear…
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Cuba – Day 6 – Por un Socialismo Próspero y Sostenible
Tuesday, January 10, was another driving day. Still, we looked for birds en route. Our first stop was at a nearby wetland. Driving a good distance east we had a restroom and fuel stop at Cienfuegos, stopping again at Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos in a failed search for Gundlach’s Hawk. We then continued up the…
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Cuba – Day 5 – Ciénaga de Zapata y Paella
I awoke on day 5 in Cuba expecting that day would be the highlight of the trip and I was not disappointed. Once again we departed under the cover of darkness, our bus weaving its way through difficult turns in narrow one-lane city streets. We eventually got out of town and realized as the sun…
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Cuba – Day 4 – Un Combate Decisivo Para la Victoria
We boarded the bus in the dark on day 4 excited about the list of target birds for the day. From Playa Larga we headed south along the coast of Bahía de los Cochinos to Playa Girón, then east to Refugio de Fauna de Bermeja. There we picked up two additional guides and headed into…