The North American Bird Guide 2nd edition

Today I took delivery of "The North American Bird Guide 2nd Edition" written and illustrated by David Sibley. This bulky 600 page edition weighs in at 1.4kg. Not a pocket guide then. Far from it. This supreme book is the most comprehensive guide to the birds of North America. It covers the identification of 923 species and includes nearly 7,000 paintings digitally remastered from original art.

So, what is a bloke doing, who lives on the south coast of Britain, buying a guide to North American birds? You might well ask. Well, I own many guide-books to birds from various regions of the world, but particularly the United Kingdom and Europe. This is my first, and will be my only, guide for North America. We actually share many species and 'vagrant' American birds do turn up 'over here' at times of inclement weather across the Atlantic.

I will probably spend hours looking at the astonishing artwork of David Sibley and reminding myself of the wonder of birds that I saw recently in the delightful movie "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin, Jack Blake and Owen Wilson; three amateur bird watchers who compete to become the ultimate 'birder' by spotting the greatest number of species within a single calendar year. Highly entertaining.

And just maybe I can convince myself that the long haul flight would be worth it to participate in some birding in America.

I just need to convince my wife....

A Review on Martha

The Passenger Pigeon was once the most numerous bird on the planet, probably by a huge margin. The statistics that Mark Avery recounts on population size, breeding colonies, roosts and migrating flocks are simply mind-boggling, completely dwarfing anything we can see today. There were almost certainly somewhere between five and ten billion Passenger Pigeons in North America early in the nineteenth century.

Mark Avery provides a very useful digest of the vast literature on this species and comments on various aspects of Passenger Pigeon ecology, its dependence on native broadland forest and its mast production and statistics on population dynamics. He discusses habitat loss and the unbelievable slaughter of the birds (for food) in the 2nd half of the 19th century.

The story is a tragic one and well told, the story of a man-made extinction. Martha was the last surviving Passenger Pigeon and died 100 years ago in captivity, in Cincinatti zoo. Martha's message to us, so well reinforced by Avery, is that we should do our utmost to make sure that such an event cannot happen again.

Essential reading for anyone concerned with conservation, habitat change, loss of important food plants, modern farming methods and indiscriminate shooting. It is easy to say that the Turtle Dove will not become the new Passenger Pigeon - but can we be sure?

World Cat Day

Friday 8th August is World Cat Day. It was founded in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and other animal rights groups.

Cats have been associated with humans for at least 9,500 years, and are currently the most popular pet in the world. Owing to their close association with humans, cats are now found almost everywhere in the world. Cats are a common companion animal in Europe and North America, and their worldwide population exceeds 500 million. In 1998 there were around 43 million cats in Western Europe, 33 million in Eastern Europe, 7 million in Japan and 3 million in Australia. A 2007 report stated that about 37 million US households owned cats, with an average of 2.2 cats per household giving a total population of around 82 million. In contrast, there are about 72 million pet dogs in that country.

So, if like me you are owned by a cat or cats, give them a special hug today!