Nepal’s hydropower boom is killing birds via power lines
KATHMANDU — When Suman Hamal was growing up in his hometown of Putalibazar in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, he saw birds of different species and sizes fly around in his neighborhood.…
Bangladesh’s vultures still threatened by poison despite conservation actions
Authorities investigating the discovery of 14 dead vultures in a feeding zone that’s meant to be safe for the scavenging birds have found that they died from eating poisoned bait…
New map boosts Philippine eagle population estimate, but highlights threats
The Philippine eagle, the archipelagic nation's iconic, endemic apex predator, has been declared threatened with extinction for nearly three decades. Yet despite its status as the national bird, little is…
Proximity to humans both boon and bane for Egyptian vultures in Nepal’s Pokhara
KATHMANDU — When residents of Pokhara Valley in western Nepal spot Egyptian vultures nesting on cliffs and trees, they sometimes misidentify them as crows and shoo them away. Sometimes they…
Bird strike warnings resurface amid probe into deadly Nepal plane crash
KATHMANDU — On the morning of Jan. 16, the day after Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashed near Pokhara International Airport in Nepal, killing all 72 people on board, authorities at…
Indonesia foresters hope Garuda poachers turn gamekeepers
BANYUMAS, Indonesia — When community foresters ascended one of Java’s most sacred mountains to survey the symbolic Javan hawk-eagle, partnering up with poachers appeared to kill two birds with one…
Sighting of an American black vulture in Nepal causes a flutter
KATHMANDU — The “vulture restaurant” in southern Nepal received a new lone diner on July 12, leaving the people serving the food puzzled. An American black vulture (Coragyps atratus), a…
Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ 60 years on: Birds still fading from the skies
Despite some amazing rebounds, six decades after Rachel Carson’s call to curb pesticide use, the world’s birds are in deep trouble — assaulted by toxic chemicals, lost habitat, hunting, invasive species, and climate change.
Scientists uncover widespread declines of raptors in Kenya
A recent study confirms alarming declines in raptor populations in Kenya. Incidental poisoning is a major problem for vultures in particular, depriving ecosystems of the birds' vital role as scavengers.…
Conservation win for Bangladesh as efforts to halt vulture decline pay off
Vultures were a common sight across the Indian subcontinent until the late 1980s. But the excessive use of some veterinary drugs for cattle, which are toxic to the scavengers, and…
Stronghold for Africa’s rarest falcon discovered in reserve threatened by Mozambique insurgency
A team of biologists has discovered a nesting stronghold for Africa’s rarest falcon in the granite domes that tower over Mozambique's Niassa Special Reserve. The team surveyed more than 30…
How Andean Condors in Peru saved the California condor from extinction (commentary)
A few years ago, alone on the top of a mountain in Zion National Park, in Utah, USA, I had an almost mystical experience that immediately transported me to the…
What the Mauritius kestrel can teach us about wildlife reintroductions
They were once considered the most threatened bird in the world: with just four remaining individuals on the island in 1974, the Mauritius kestrel (Falco punctatus) seemed doomed to extinction.…
As Guinea-Bissau records mass vulture deaths, poisoning is main suspect
Around 1,000 vultures have been found dead in Guinea-Bissau in the last two weeks, believed to have been poisoned. The birds, almost all critically endangered hooded vultures (Necrosyrtes monachus) were…
Alarm over mass vulture poisoning in South Africa
DURBAN, South Africa — Another mass vulture poisoning incident has ended the year on a sour note for Wildlife ACT rangers in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. Soon after…
Lift-off for first African vulture safe zones
Howick, SOUTH AFRICA – The first of at least five new “vulture safe zones” in Southern Africa are about to take off as private landowners and other partners join the…
‘Urban Raptors’: Q&A with authors of book on ecology and conservation of city-dwelling birds of prey
On April 30, a pair of bald eagle mates in Washington, D.C. named Mr. President and The First Lady welcomed their newly hatched eaglet Victory to the world. Just a…
For Australia’s fire-starting falcons, pyromania serves up the prey
Some birds in Australia use smoldering sticks to spread wildfires and flush out smaller birds, insects, frogs and other prey, according to a recent study published in the Journal of…
Court cancels 30-year federal permits letting wind companies kill eagles
How do wind energy companies kill protected bald eagles and golden eagles via turbine strikes every year without facing legal repercussions? They have renewable permits issued by the U.S. Fish…
Commercial bushmeat hunters put previously undetected pressure on Central Africa’s large birds
While conducting a bird survey in the Ebo Forest Reserve of Cameroon, Scottish ornithologist Robin Whytock noted two uncommon forest raptors in a camp regularly used by commercial bushmeat hunters.…
Perched on the precipice: India’s vultures threatened by E.U. sale of killer drug
Poisoned by cattle carcasses treated with Diclofenac, India’s vultures died by the millions in the 1990s. A captive breeding program is helping to save the once-ubiquitous birds, but the very…
Shot Egyptian vulture leads conservationists to bizarre black-market for bird parts
Captive Egyptian vulture adult. Photo by: Carlos Delgado/Creative Commons 3.0. The hunt Around 11 AM on Thursday, 27 February 2014, Angoulou Enika was lying hidden in the tall grass on…
Europe approves vet drug that killed off almost all of Asia’s vultures
Critically Endangered Indian vultures (Gyps indicus) hanging out in their nest at Orchha, Madhya Pradesh. Photo by: Yann/Creative Commons 3.0. When Europeans first arrived in North America, they exterminated three…
The Egyptian Vulture on the Balkans – a hopeful but perilous conservation story
“They look like humans: have bare skin, wrinkles, hairdos… Maybe that’s why many people don’t like them,” says Dr. Stoyan Nikolov from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds…
Rare birds abound in Brazil’s Acre state
The Brazilian state of Acre has had little attention by bird-lovers and bird scientists, though it lies deep in the Amazonian rainforest. Now a new survey in mongabay.com's open access…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms
- Indigenous communities in Argentina’s Chaco fear another heavy fire season in 2023
- As tourism booms in India’s Western Ghats, habitat loss pushes endangered frogs to the edge
- In a Bolivian protected area torn up for gold, focus is on limiting damage
Oceans
- Conservationists aim to save critically endangered European eels on Italy’s Po River
- Expedition to Pacific ecosystems hopes to learn from their resilience
- Illegal trawling ravages Tunisian seagrass meadows crucial for fish
- Melting Arctic sea ice is changing bowhead whale migrations, study finds
Amazon Conservation
- World Bank: Brazil faces $317 billion in annual losses to Amazon deforestation
- A Twitter bot tracks meat production in the Brazilian Amazon
- Second chance for Lula as controversial Amazon dam goes up for renewal
- Logging permit threatens Quilombola bioeconomic ‘paradise’ in the Amazon
Land rights and extractives
- Dams and plantations upend livelihoods in Ethiopia’s Lower Omo River Valley
- Fish deaths near Rio Tinto mine in Madagascar dredge up community grievances
- Award-winning, Indigenous peace park dragged into fierce conflict in Myanmar
- Logging permit threatens Quilombola bioeconomic ‘paradise’ in the Amazon
Endangered Environmentalists
- Indigenous chief shot in head in Brazil’s ‘palm oil war’ region; crisis group launched
- ‘You don’t kill people to protect forests’: New Thai parks chief raises alarm
- Vietnam’s environmental NGOs face uncertain status, shrinking civic space
- ‘We lost the biggest ally’: Nelly Marubo on her friend Bruno Pereira’s legacy
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
- After 20 years and thousands of trees planted, Kalimantan’s veteran forester persists
- Aziil Anwar, Indonesian coral-based mangrove grower, dies at 64
- A utopia of clean air and wet peat amid Sumatra’s forest fire ‘hell’
Conservation Effectiveness
- Study shows Kenyan elephant shrew may be adapting to human disturbance, drought
- Saving forests to protect coastal ecosystems: Japan sets historic example
- From scarcity to abundance: The secret of the ‘peace farmers’ of Colombia
- For key Bangladesh wetland, bid for Ramsar status is no guarantee of protection
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
- To build its ‘green’ capital city, Indonesia runs a road through a biodiverse forest
- Robust river governance key to restoring Mekong River vitality in face of dams
