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27 January 2006 
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Eagle Implicated in Death of Early Human

13 January 2006 - Times Online reports that the investigation of a murder committed two to three million years ago has been solved. The African Crowned Eagle has been found guilty of the murder of one of the most important human ancestor discoveries.
  The mystery of how the Taung child, Africa’s first hominid discovery, met its end, aged 3˝, has puzzled scientists for decades and could throw important new light on the theory of human evolution.
  Conclusive evidence, based on damage to the skull and eye socket, indicate that the child was killed by a single blow of a 14 centimetre long talon into the brain, which could only have been accomplished by a predatory bird similar to the African Crowned Eagle. To learn more about this exciting discovery, click here.  

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Inaugural Issue of Avian Journal Now Available

25 January 2006 - Editors-in-Chief, Tom Nudds and Marc-André Villard, are pleased to announce the publication of the inaugural issue of Avian Conservation and Ecology - Écologie et conservation des oiseaux (ACE-ÉCO). ACE-ÉCO is an exciting, new fully electronic scientific journal, sponsored by Bird Studies Canada and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists. To view the contents of Volume 1, Issue 1, and access full text articles, click here.
  Information on how to contribute research papers to Avian Conservation and Ecology - Écologie et conservation des oiseaux can be found on the journal's web site by clicking here. And, if you haven't already done so, you can subscribe to the journal (there's no cost to subscribe!) and automatically receive announcements of future issues, by clicking here.
  Key support for the development of the journal of Avian Conservation and Ecology - Écologie et conservation des oiseaux was provided by George Weston Limited and the Canadian Wildlife Service.

 

Seabird Die-off Occurring along BC Coast

25 January 2006 - Reports have been coming in of a seabird mortality event off the west coast of Vancouver Island and the east coast of Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands. Bird Studies Canada's Beached Bird Survey volunteers, local beachcombers, and fishers found aggregations of floating and beached bird carcasses, including tens of Red Phalaropes washed up between Tofino and Carmanah Point (Vancouver Island) around Christmas and New Year’s Day, and in the past two weeks Cassin’s Auklets washing ashore (e.g., 3-7 birds regularly along a 3 km stretch of shoreline on Vancouver Island where carcass detectability is low, and “over a dozen birds along a very short stretch of beach” at Tlell along the east coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands). Other species reportedly affected include Marbled and Ancient murrelet, Fork-tailed Storm-petrel, Northern Fulmar, one or more species of grebes, and possibly diving ducks. It is not known what is causing the die-off, although at least some birds show no signs of oiling. Carcasses have been collected from both areas for analysis. Reporting and response to this event is being coordinated through Environment Canada, Bird Studies Canada, BC Ministry of Environment, and Parks Canada.

LPBO Protégé Picked for World Series of Birding

24 January 2006 - Past Doug Tarry Natural History Fund Young Ornithologist Workshop (YOW) (2002) and Internship (2003) graduate and Long Point Bird Observatory (LPBO) volunteer, Jesse Pakkala, was recently awarded the honour of being a member of the American Birding Association/Leica Tropicbirds. Top young birders from across North America are selected for two ABA/Leica Tropicbirds youth birding teams, which participate in two major spring birding competitions/fundraisers - The Great Texas Birding Classic and the New Jersey Audubon World Series of Birding. Jesse has been selected as Team Captain for the World Series of Birding team, which will venture to Cape May, New Jersey this spring to effectively bird their brains out to help raise funds to support ABA's education programs. Jesse is the fourth graduate of LPBO's YOW to become an ABA Tropicbird.
  For more information on the Doug Tarry Natural History Fund youth education programs, click here  and for more information on the ABA/Leica Tropicbirds, click here.
 

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