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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: Amazing images!!
7/29/2013 5:26:04 PM
Hi Hafiz and friends, I don't know if this is a good place to post the below article, but I hope you like at least the photos.

Top 5 National Wildlife Refuges For Bird Lovers

















Birding (aka bird watching) might seem right up there with coin collecting and cross-stitch in terms of exciting hobbies, but don’t dismiss it, especially if you love watching the sunrise, hiking to remote places or playing with binoculars.

Birds can be spotted just about anywhere, in your neighborhood, local forests or State Parks. But if you’re really serious about spotting some spectacular birds, you can’t beat national wildlife refuges.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “refuges’ concentration along the country’s four main flyways ­ — Atlantic, Mississippi, Central and Pacific – make them natural bird magnets. Some refuges have been designated Important Birding Areas – sites that provide essential habitat for one or more bird species – by the National Audubon Society.”

Want to give it a try? Here are the top five wildlife refuges for bird lovers.

Malheur National Wildlife RefugeSource: Friends of Malheur

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge – Southeast Oregon

Comprised of lands encompassed by Malheur, Mud and Harney Lakes, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.” The Refuge is the temporary home of more than 320 bird species, including American white pelicans, snow geese and tundra swans. Its location on the Pacific Flyway and its abundant water and food attract both resident and migratory birds.

Aransas National Wildlife RefugeSource: Wikimedia Commons

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge – Texas Coast

With mild winters and an abundance of food, it’s no surprise that Aransas National Wildlife Refuge boasts more than 400 bird species, including the rarest bird in North America: the Whooping Crane. In winter, many other birds feed on fish, blue crab and shellfish in the coastal marsh. The refuge’s oak hills provide important habitat for neotropical birds, such as orioles, grosbeaks and buntings, migrating between North and Central America.

Tamarac National Wildlife RefugeSource: USFWS

Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge – Minnesota

Did you ever read E.B. White’s Trumpet of the Swan as a kid? It was all about a very special Trumpet Swan, one of the most majestic birds known to man and unique because it mates for life. In the late 1880s, trumpeter swans disappeared from Minnesota. In 1987, the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge teamed up with the state to restore these magnificent birds. Today, more than 30 pairs nest on the refuge. April through October is the best time to see them.

Merritt Island National Wildlife RefugeSource: NASA

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge – Florida’s East Coast

Launching space shuttles isn’t the only thing that makes Cape Canaveral famous. Located nearby is Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is world-famous as a birding destination. From December to February, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds use the refuge as a rest stop or winter in refuge impoundments. During warmer months, resident wading birds, shore birds, songbirds and raptors forage in refuge marshes, open waters and forests. The Scrub Ridge and Pine Flatwoods trails offer your best bets for seeing the Florida scrub jay, a species found only in Florida.

Bombay Hook National Wildlife RefugeSource: MoreSatisfyingPhotos.com

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge – Delaware Bay

Birds returning from their winter vacation spots often choose Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge as a resting spot before continuing North. Every spring and fall, hungry birds interrupt their journey to visit this spot on the Delaware Bay. They can be spotted feeding by the thousands on the salt marsh mudflats and in freshwater impoundments. Common species include semi-palmated sandpipers, dunlin, dowitchers, yellowlegs, semi-palmated plovers and American avocets.

This is only a tiny sampling of all of the marvelous National Wildlife Refuges that play host and home to unique bird species. Know of another one that belongs on this list? Share it in a comment!

You can also check out the FWS’ list of “Great Refuges For Birding.”


Read more: , , , , , ,

Lead Image via Thinkstock



Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/top-5-national-wildlife-refuges-for-bird-lovers.html#ixzz2aQooP5hV

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Hafiz 2013

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RE: Amazing images!!
7/30/2013 4:15:00 PM
The Taiwan Blue Magpie, also called the Taiwan Magpie or Formosan Blue Magpie or the "long-tailed mountain lady", is a member of the Crow family. It is an endemic species living in the mountains of Taiwan at elevations of 300 to 1200m

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Hafiz 2013

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RE: Amazing images!!
7/30/2013 4:17:17 PM
Not Odd at all. thanks for sharing some nice photo. Plz don't hesitate to post here. :)

Quote:
Hi Hafiz and friends, I don't know if this is a good place to post the below article, but I hope you like at least the photos.

Top 5 National Wildlife Refuges For Bird Lovers

















Birding (aka bird watching) might seem right up there with coin collecting and cross-stitch in terms of exciting hobbies, but don’t dismiss it, especially if you love watching the sunrise, hiking to remote places or playing with binoculars.

Birds can be spotted just about anywhere, in your neighborhood, local forests or State Parks. But if you’re really serious about spotting some spectacular birds, you can’t beat national wildlife refuges.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “refuges’ concentration along the country’s four main flyways ­ — Atlantic, Mississippi, Central and Pacific – make them natural bird magnets. Some refuges have been designated Important Birding Areas – sites that provide essential habitat for one or more bird species – by the National Audubon Society.”

Want to give it a try? Here are the top five wildlife refuges for bird lovers.

Malheur National Wildlife RefugeSource: Friends of Malheur

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge – Southeast Oregon

Comprised of lands encompassed by Malheur, Mud and Harney Lakes, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.” The Refuge is the temporary home of more than 320 bird species, including American white pelicans, snow geese and tundra swans. Its location on the Pacific Flyway and its abundant water and food attract both resident and migratory birds.

Aransas National Wildlife RefugeSource: Wikimedia Commons

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge – Texas Coast

With mild winters and an abundance of food, it’s no surprise that Aransas National Wildlife Refuge boasts more than 400 bird species, including the rarest bird in North America: the Whooping Crane. In winter, many other birds feed on fish, blue crab and shellfish in the coastal marsh. The refuge’s oak hills provide important habitat for neotropical birds, such as orioles, grosbeaks and buntings, migrating between North and Central America.

Tamarac National Wildlife RefugeSource: USFWS

Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge – Minnesota

Did you ever read E.B. White’s Trumpet of the Swan as a kid? It was all about a very special Trumpet Swan, one of the most majestic birds known to man and unique because it mates for life. In the late 1880s, trumpeter swans disappeared from Minnesota. In 1987, the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge teamed up with the state to restore these magnificent birds. Today, more than 30 pairs nest on the refuge. April through October is the best time to see them.

Merritt Island National Wildlife RefugeSource: NASA

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge – Florida’s East Coast

Launching space shuttles isn’t the only thing that makes Cape Canaveral famous. Located nearby is Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is world-famous as a birding destination. From December to February, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds use the refuge as a rest stop or winter in refuge impoundments. During warmer months, resident wading birds, shore birds, songbirds and raptors forage in refuge marshes, open waters and forests. The Scrub Ridge and Pine Flatwoods trails offer your best bets for seeing the Florida scrub jay, a species found only in Florida.

Bombay Hook National Wildlife RefugeSource: MoreSatisfyingPhotos.com

Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge – Delaware Bay

Birds returning from their winter vacation spots often choose Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge as a resting spot before continuing North. Every spring and fall, hungry birds interrupt their journey to visit this spot on the Delaware Bay. They can be spotted feeding by the thousands on the salt marsh mudflats and in freshwater impoundments. Common species include semi-palmated sandpipers, dunlin, dowitchers, yellowlegs, semi-palmated plovers and American avocets.

This is only a tiny sampling of all of the marvelous National Wildlife Refuges that play host and home to unique bird species. Know of another one that belongs on this list? Share it in a comment!

You can also check out the FWS’ list of “Great Refuges For Birding.”


Read more: , , , , , ,

Lead Image via Thinkstock



Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/top-5-national-wildlife-refuges-for-bird-lovers.html#ixzz2aQooP5hV

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Sam
Sam Sunday

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RE: Amazing images!!
7/30/2013 4:23:27 PM
Wow Hafiz,
you have a showcase of wonderful images here.
Really Really amazing!!
Just stopping by to admire your forum.

Thanks for sharing them with us.
Sam
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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: Amazing images!!
7/30/2013 4:51:34 PM
Thank you, Hafiz. Here is an article with amazing images that I mistakengly posted at your other thread, 'Interesting things around us'. Sorry about that.
10 Animals Born This Year Are More Rare Than a Royal Baby















Even if you weren’t really paying attention to the news this past week, it was hard to avoid coverage of the birth of the baby now known as Prince George Alexander Louis on July 22. The newborn, otherwise known as the “royal baby,” was hardly the only notable birth this year. Quite a few new babies who are endangered species — rarer even than a royal baby — have been born in 2013.


1. A Malayan Tapir


Earlier this month and for the first time in 20 years, the Minnesota Zoo welcomed the birth of a rare Malayan tapir, a tropical animal that is one of the most endangered in southeast Asia. The new calf was born after a 419-day gestation period (a pregnancy that was long even by tapir standards). For the first six months, the tapir calf will look like a “furry watermelon with legs,” albeit one weighing about 20 pounds — but it will weigh about 450 pounds in a year. With a face more resembling an anteater’s or pig’s, the tapir’s closest relatives are horses and rhinoceroses.

2. Twin Giant Panda Cubs

Baby asleepPhoto via Jay Alvin Dimla/Flickr

A giant panda, Lun Lun, gave birth to twin panda cubs on July 15. The cubs (both boys) are the first pandas to be born this year in the U.S. and the first twins to be born since 1987; they join three older brothers born to Lun Lun and Yang Yang at the Atlanta Zoo. As pandas can only care for one cub at a time, keepers are placing one in an incubator while his brother remains with Lun Lun. Now with a brood of five, she is certainly an experienced mother.

3. A Clouded Leopard

Reshmi, a clouded leopard, gave birth to a baby on June 8 at the Sipahijala Wildlife Sanctuary in Tripura, one of 42 breeding centers in India. Fewer than 10,000 clouded leopards remain in their habitat in the Himalayan Mountains between India and China; six clouded leopards, who are listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN and endangered in the U.S.. live at the Sipahijala Wildlife Sanctuary. They are thought to be the evolutionary link between small cats and big cats and tohave a primitive form of saber-toothedness like that of saber-toothed cats 10,000 years ago; due to their rarity, scientists have not been able to study them much.

4. A Spectacle Monkey

The Sipahijala Wildlife Sanctuary welcomed the birth of another rare animal, the spectacle monkey or Phayre’s leaf monkey, on May 28. Living exclusively in trees, the adults have distinct white rings around their eyes. The spectacle monkey is now listed as endangered as a result of habitat degradation, hunting and human settlement; their numbers have declined more than 80 percent in the last 20 years in Bangladesh alone.

5. Three Chacoan Peccaries


Video via SDZoo/YouTube

Three endangered Chacoan peccary babies were born on June 19 at the San Diego zoo. Peccaries are medium-sized piglike mammals that are thought to be the closest living relative toPlatygonus, an extinct genus that lived thousands of years ago. Only about 5,000 peccaries remain in the wild in Paraguay, with several thousand more estimated to live in Argentina and Bolivia. Habitat destruction and disease have taken a huge toll on the numbers of peccaries in the wild.

6. A Steller Sea Lion

Sea Lions near Ventura Harbor (4)Photo of sea lions including a pup in southern California via Ken Lund/Flickr

A Steller sea lion pup was born on June 20 to 13-year-old Eden and 20-year-old Woodie at theAlaska SeaLife Center. The new female pup is the first to be born at the Center and the first born in North America since the 1980s. Researchersestimate that about 15 percent of Steller sea pups born in the wild do not survive more than a week; another of the Center’s sea lions, Tasu, had delivered a stillborn pup just weeks before. The new pup’s birth is definitely something to celebrate: the overall population of sea lions has declined by 80 percent over the past 30 years. About 40,000 are estimated to live throughout the Northern Pacific Rim from Japan to central California.

7. A Southern Pudu

Southern puduPhoto via Marie Hale/Flickr

Native to Chile and Argentina, the Southern Pudu is the world’s smallest deer. One was born on May 3 at the Queens Zoo far from her native rainforest habitat, which has been vastly altered due to logging, agriculture and cattle ranching. Southern Pudus have been over-hunted and captured illegally as pets; they also are very susceptible to diseases from parasites. The new Pudu in Queens was born to parents Josephine and Hamilton and will weigh about 20 pounds when full grown.

8. An Indian Rhinoceros

Video via Cincinnati Zoo Tube/YouTube

Born on June 5 at the Montgomery Zoo in Alabama, Ethan already weighs a couple hundred pounds. He is reportedly thriving and is the first rhino born in the U.S. to be conceived via artificial insemination; Jeta, Ethan’s mother, was injected with frozen sperm from a Cincinnati Zoo male rhino collected in 2004. She had previously given birth to two rhinos naturally; her caretakers attempted artificial insemination after there was “behavioral incompatibility” between her and a male rhino. Ethan is one of about 60 Indian rhinos in captivity in the U.S.; only about 2,500 survive in the wild.

9. Amur Tiger Twins


Two amur tigers were born on July 6 at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas. The two new cubs were naturally conceived; earlier this year, their mother, Talal, had given birth to one conceived via artificial insemination but the cub died after 36 hours. The largest of the species of tigers, only about 40 amur tigers remained in the wild by the 1940s. Thanks to strict anti-poaching policies,about 450 are estimated to live in their native habitat in the Russian Far East and northern China.

10. A Przewalski’s Horse Foal

Przewalski's wild horse 3dayold foalPhoto via Buckeye Beth/Flickr

Also known as the Mongolian wild horse or the Asiatic wild horse and the last remaining breed of wild horse, a Przelwalski’s horse foal was born in June at the Denver Zoo. The Przewalski’s horse lived on the German and Russian steppes to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and northern China until the late 18th century. Afterwards, its numbers declined precipitously; a wild one was last seen in 1969; starting in the 1990s, they have been reintroduced to Mongolia.


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Photos via Thinkstock (unless otherwise noted)




"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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