#conservationbiology

[zombbait]

Fern Canyon . . . . . . #womenwhohike #biology #getoutside #conservationbiology #fern #ferns #humboldtcounty https://www.instagram.com/p/B1WpSeYF-fI/?igshid=1outhiwlzteso

[hawaiianmerman]

Happy 1 week my baby seaponies! My #savetheseahorses project is still going one day at a time but these babies of wild seahorses are now 7 days old. In fish rearing this is huge, these little ones can fit on a dime and are eating mostly wild plankton. #seahorse #marineconservation #conservationbiology #hawaiiwildlife #nativehawaiian #fishrearing #fishaquaculture #seahorseart #babyseahorse https://www.instagram.com/p/B4npvi8nAsV/?igshid=zlumzktvff7p

[edinzphoto]

Disturbance on the water is a big threat to seabirds in areas of high boat traffic - like the Hauraki Gulf. Unfortunately, we often see scenes like this: recreational boats ploughing at speed through rafts of seabird resting on the water. Some birds can't get out of the way in time, and they're hit, injured, or killed outright. ⠀⠀ There are speed recommendations in the Hauraki Gulf to prevent larger vessels striking whales (particularly Bryde's whales) - could we do the same for rafts of seabirds? Slower speeds give them time to take off and get out of the way, and it doesn't take much to avoid disturbing them. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ #seabirdscience #conservation #conservation_photography #seabird_story #seabird #shearwater #haurakigulf #seachange #threatenedspecies #wildlife #bird_photography #marine #newzealand #aotearoa #conservationphotographer #conservationbiology #wildlifescience #marineconservation #ocean #nikonnz @docgovtnz #wildlifeplanet #birdsofinstagram #wildlifeconservation https://www.instagram.com/p/ByVwW4RgXLi/?igshid=zp5vr47nm5bh

[usfwspacific]

The Crow: Conservation with Edgar Allan Poe

A released ʻAlalā (Hawaiian crow) looks up in the forest.  Photo credit: San Diego Zoo Global

Bloggers note: The endangered ʻAlalā (Hawaiian crow) and Åga (Mariana crow) are corvids native to Hawai’i and Guam that were extirpated from the wild. Thanks to dedicated partnership efforts and captive rearing programs, these birds are once more taking their place in the forests and ecosystems that need them. Learn more about these birds in this updated version of Edgar Allan Poe’s narrative poem, The Raven, by Elena Fischer, Kupu Americorps Intern with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while they waited, coiled and hungry, Over many a silent and dying volume of forgotten forest—            While scientists nodded, at the ready, suddenly there came a slither, As of some thing gently climbing, climbing up the deliberate trap door. “’Tis some brown tree snake,” one personnel muttered, “climbing up the trap door—                    Only this and so many more.”

Ah, so long ago it was in the bleak decades now forgotten; And each separate dying crow wrought the victory of its enemy over the Guamanian forest.            Eagerly we wished the days of old;--hurriedly we had sought to borrow            From the crows’ nests of nearby Rota—Rota as the last defense— For the rare and radiant corvid whom the Chamorro name Åga                    Nameless on Guam, not for evermore.

Two Åga (Mariana crow) perched on a single branch in the forest.  Photo Courtesy: Phil Hannon

And the silken, sleek, uncertain rustling of each blue-black body Is thrilling—filling the fantastic limestone forests with numbers never felt before;            So that now, to still the decreasing numbers of Åga , they fly against the test of time            “’If this crow can withstand the knock of extinction at their door— So can other crows withstand the knock of extinction at their door;--                    Here on Rota and forevermore.”

           Presently the forest soul grows stronger; the mind’s eye travels farther, “Perhaps,” hopeful ones say, “across the deep blue, we implore;            That the native corvids are a flapping, and a rapping,            And so sure is the possibility, possibly because no brown tree snakes have invaded, That there will be surcease of crowing”—here on the islands of Hawai’i they should have pervaded—                    But darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long one waits to hear, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams that this could never be;            But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,            And the only hope there spoken was the whispered word, “ʻAlalā?” This the only species, and an echo of a reminder that once there were six                  Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the dejection, all the crows no longer singing, Soon again there sounds a cawing a bit quiet in the distance.           “Surely,” one hopes, “surely that is something in the forest;”           Come see, then, what therat is, and this mystery explore-- Let the forest be filled again and this mystery explore;--                  ‘Tis the aviary upon the forest floor!

One ʻAlalā perches on a branch looking down.  Photo Credit: Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources

Open aviary doors on the forest floor, when, with many a flirt and flutter, Out there stepped a stately ʻAlalā of the saintly crows of yore;            Not the least bit timid flight made he; not an hour passed or stayed he;            But, out of the aviary he perched in the open forest of Hawai’i-- Perched upon a branch just waiting for his fellow cohort to follow--                  Perched, and sat, and cawing once more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling the onlookers, negating the critics, By the grave and stern occasion of its extinction in the wild, “Though thy presence is first in these trees, thou art sure no craven, Ghastly feral mammals and disease have ravaged the land you once wandered, But now with training, with skills to combat the hawk and starvation,                  Extinct the crow is nevermore.”

Much to be marveled by, to hear discourse so plainly, Though it warrants little answering--most calls being alarming;            For we cannot help agreeing that few living human beings            Ever yet has been blessed with seeing such fowl above before-- Bird or beast to come upon the released crow, the latter been prepared before,                  Within the cohort they have rapport.

An ʻAlalā carries a twig in its beak.  Photo Courtesy: SDZG

But the ‘Io, sitting lonely on the rising canopy, swooped only For one taste, as if her soul in that one plunge she did outpour.            Nothing farther then she tried--not a feather then she fluttered--            For that crow more than muttered distress, for other defenses had he flown-- On the morrow the alarm may sound again, but for now, Hope has flown.                  The drill to cease nevermore.

Startled at the stillness broken by predator so aptly graceful, “Doubtless,” one ponders, “such a scene is stock and store to only here            Caught from some fragmenting forests whom unmerciful Disaster            Followed fast and followed faster till its songs of some fateful years-- Till the dirges of its flying Hopes that melancholy bore those years                  Of crows nevermore.”

A captive raised Åga chick is fed by researchers on Rota. Image by San Diego Zoo Global.

But the ʻAlalā and Åga still beguiling the world into smiling, Straight into the depths of forests known we release the bird, from brood and for broods;            Then, upon the black specks disappearing, science betakes to linking            Native unto native, thinking what these ominous birds of yore-- What these grim, beady, knowing, original, and ominous species of yore                  Need to exist forevermore.

This is engaged in guessing, in researching, but no syllable expressing To the dangers whose invasive species had burned the crows from forest core;            This and more threatens the native life, with great strife it is to restore            Homes now altered and unbalanced, that the invaders gloated o’er, But whose destruction on islands-about may dwindle with the crow gloating o’er,                  Native seeds shall disperse, ah, once more!

Two ʻAlalā are flying close together in a tree.  Photo Credit: Hawai’i DLNR

A closeup of the head of an Åga .  Photo Courtesy: Phil Hannon

To read more about the Åga and ʻAlalā, click these links below:

Species Spotlight: Åga

The ‘Alalā Project

Self-Defense: It’s For the Birds 

[inconvenientplastic]

[naturalworldacademy-blog]

Surf's up at Simon's Town near Cape Town, South Africa! A trio of African penguins (also known as "jackass penguins" due to their loud, braying call!) come to shore to catch a break from fishing and swimming, largely indifferent to the locals and tourists that are there for the show. Although penguins are often thought of as largely polar birds, close relatives of the African penguin can be found in the Galápagos, right on the Equator! African penguins compete with fisheries for ever-dwindling fish stocks, and their population is in decline. #penguin #africanpenguin #spheniscus #southafrica #capetown #simonstown #simonstad #semesteratsea #sas #galapagospenguin #jackasspenguin #biology #ecology #conservation #conservationbiology #bird #birdsofinstagram #birdsofafrica #birdsofsouthafrica #competition #fish #fisheries #naturalworldacademy #naturalsciences #studyabroad (at Cape Town Simon's Town)

[edinzphoto]

Did you know that our supposedly 'common' native Red-billed gull, tarāpunga, is actually in serious decline? Even these feisty birds can't compete with introduced predators, and climate shifts may be reducing their food resources at sea. When adaptable, opportunistic species like this are in decline, it's obvious that there are big problems in our native ecosystems that need addressing.⠀ ⠀ #seabirdscience #conservation #conservationphotography #seabirdstory #seabird #conservation #nzwildlife #nzbirds #yearofthebird #raw_birds #your_best_birds #birds_brilliance #birds_adored #nikonnz #conservationbiology #wildlifeconservation #wildlife_photographer #birdstagram #aotearoa #newzealand #gull #birds #birdsofinstagram #extinctionisforever #ecosystem #discover_nature #nikond500 #feathered_perfection https://www.instagram.com/p/BuCGc1ogjZd/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1r1aqac6nnwy5

[edinzphoto]

A few days ago the Department of Conservation released photos of two men shooting Black-billed gulls at their colony in Rotorua - a colony that hasn't managed to fledge chicks for some years now. These birds are critically endangered. They're unique to New Zealand. They have the unenviable title of the world's most endangered gull species. If they had been kākāpo, there would have been uproar. But no one seems to care much about our endemic seabirds. Why? They're just as endangered, and just as precious. ⠀ ⠀ #conservationphotography #seabirdstory #seabird #endangeredspecies #conservation #nzwildlife #nzbirds #yearofthebird #raw_birds #your_best_birds #birds_brilliance #birds_adored #extinction #wildlifecrime #nikonnz #conservationbiology #wildlifeconservation #seabirdscience #wildlife_photographer #birdstagram #aotearoa #newzealand #gull #birds #birdstagram #extinctionisforever https://www.instagram.com/p/Bttx3j2BNbM/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1by4tu3avzkmj