Through the
miracle of the internet, I am posting this blog from a cruise ship sailing off
the coast of West Africa between Senegal and the Cape Verde Islands, two ports
on our trip.
For ten years I have been lecturing on cruise ships about the environment,
ecology, flora and fauna, including, of course, birds, …

Namibia, with the second least
dense human population (after Mongolia), sits on the southwest side of Africa,
just above South Africa. I have been fortunate enough to visit this country
twice in the last 14 months and of course took some time to birdwatch. Nambia
is not particularly known for its bird life although …

Having been in Chico nearly 40 years, I have observed many changes
in the avifauna – the kinds and numbers of birds. There has been a lot of
development, increase in traffic, and all the other things an increased
population brings. What has this done to the birds? I have some ideas.
When native …

In
the news recently was a study by China’s Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology which
found the first clear evidence of dinosaur coloration from a
125-million-year-old fossil called Sinosauropteryx,
an orange bird-like dinosaur with white tail stripes. More and more fossils of
birds and bird-like ancestors are being found which demonstrate a clear
evolutionary link between dinosaurs …