This video is called Brünnich’s Guillemot, 27 June 2014, Spitsbergen.

Related articles

• Bird watchers flock to Portland, UK after a rare Arctic Brunnich’s Guillemot spotted
• Winter Temperature Affects the Prevalence of Ticks in an Arctic Seabird
• Portland Brunnich’s Guillemot
• Svalbard black guillemots
• Arctic auks and other birds
• Why there are no penguins in the Arctic.
• Little auks, Svalbard 4 June
• Svalbard phalaropes, snow buntings, and king eiders
• Of bears and cliffs – part I

Click to enlarge

Plants Hear and Respond

Caterpillars on a Grape Leaf

“Previous studies have suggested that plant growth can be influenced by sound and that plants respond to wind and touch. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, in a collaboration that brings together audio and chemical analysis, have determined that plants respond to the sounds that caterpillars make when eating plants and that the plants respond with more defenses.

“Previous research has investigated how plants respond to acoustic energy, including music,” said Heidi Appel, senior research scientist in the Division of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU. “However, our work is the first example of how plants respond to an ecologically relevant vibration. We found that feeding vibrations signal changes in the plant cells’ metabolism, creating more defensive chemicals that can repel attacks from caterpillars.”Appel collaborated with Rex…

Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. Many of us bought our beloved “pets” at pet shops, had guinea pigs, and kept beautiful birds in cages. We wore wool and silk, ate McDonald’s burgers, and fished. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights?

“In his book Animal Liberation, Peter Singer states that the basic principle of equality does not require equal or identical treatment; it requires equal consideration. This is an important distinction when talking about animal rights. People often ask if animals should have rights, and quite simply, the answer is “Yes!” Animals surely deserve to live their lives free from suffering and exploitation.

“Jeremy Bentham, the founder of the reforming utilitarian school of moral philosophy, stated that…

Photo credit: Sherif

The Common Grass Yellow Butterfly lives up to its name. Found throughout all of India, this lepidopteran flies low and close to the ground in fields, and its wings are a pretty yellow with some subtle patterning. Their larvae feed on several different plants, but generally in the families of the spurges and legumes. 

This bull, and those below, are not jallikattu bulls; they were rescued by Blue Cross of India from illegal transport.

In a milestone victory in the fight for animal protection, jallikattu is now permanently banned.

Jallikattu, or the “sport” of bull-baiting, took place mostly in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The events were cruel and subjected the bulls to being tormented by crowds of young men attempting to tackle them. Behind the scenes, bulls were tortured in order to get them to run, since bulls do not naturally run the way horses do. Many Indian animal groups worked hard against jallikattu, notably Blue Cross of India, which fought an uphill battle for more than five decades to have jallikattu banned.

On May 7, 2014, jallikattu, was banned by the Supreme Court of India.

A May 13, 2014, editorial in The Hindu states that the Supreme Court ban of jallikattu…

This is a video about a young great spotted woodpecker bathing. With for some seconds, a white wagtail in the foreground.

Mike Seuters from the Netherlands made the video.

Related articles

• Good Dutch woodpecker news
• Woodpecker visits new bird feeder
• Wounderful Woodpecker family
• French cranes, woodpeckers, and red kites
• Pecking Order
• Dead Woodpeckers, Tights :UPDATE
• The Woodpecker Family
• Warblers, Woodpeckers and Dragonflies

Still 28 March 2014 in San Gerardo de Dota in Costa Rica. After the earlier birds of that day, hummingbirds: like this green violetear.

Nectar feeders and flowers attract hummingbirds; and a slaty flowerpiercer as well.

The hummingbird species include volcano hummingbird.

Sometimes, a female volcano hummingbird rested on a branch.

Or on a leaf.

White-throated mountaingems were present as well.

And a relatively big species: magnificent hummingbird.

Another Central American cool mountain forest species: yellowish flycatcher.

At 10:20, a swallow-tailed kite flies overhead.

We have to leave, to the Central Valley of Costa Rica.

Related articles

• Hummingbirds, toucanet and squirrel in Costa Rica
• Hummingbirds, more hummingbirds in Costa Rica
• Ruddy-capped nightingale thrush and emerald toucanet in Costa Rica
• 21 surprising facts about Costa Rica
• The Cordillera Talamanca – Rancho Naturalista, Aravar, and the Vereh Valley
• Cloud forest birding in Costa Rica (Cerro…