Wildlife - 5 Ways You Can Help Preserve Endangered Wildlife Animals

The list of Endangered Wildlife and Animals is getting large each year. One conservative estimate has placed almost forty percent of all the species in the verge of having the ecological extinction. Not only the traditional wetlands are being taken away to find new place to create plantations but also the cities are growing at phenomenal rate too. The effected plant and animal life in the midst of all this is quite large, you can find the animals like polar bears, pandas and even Indian tigers in this list that were proud heritage once. Here are some ideas being threshed out to save most if not all of our endangered wildlife and animals for future.

? Spreading the Awareness
? Wildlife protection and feeding initiative
? Joining the hands with worthy organizations
? Stop purchasing any endangered plants or animal related products
? Arrange fundraising and charity events

The first thing that you can do to preserve these animals and plants in need is to create awareness about them. The list of endangered spices is visible on the internet so one can read about it, talk to friend or even tell the kids about the fate of these animals that might not survive if a collective effort is not made.

The wildlife protection and activates can be started even in your area too. Read about the different animals and plants in your area that might be facing such fate. Arranging the feeding programs can be great way to be part of this. During this project you can start making the bird feeders, bird baths, clean the protected area of human waste especially the plastic that is practically indestructible.

The social action and collective efforts can be made for protection of these species you can start the campaign for signature and even change or start of a new piece of legislation too. Being part of the organizations like WWF and Greenpeace can be great idea too. Similarly you should not purchase any materials or product that might use these endangered animals or plants.

Four Birdwatching Tips - Observing Bird Characteristics

Are you thinking about becoming a birdwatcher? Here is some information I have used in birding on how to identify the bird by the way its head looks. There are other parts of the bird we will examine in other articles.

1. Use the head

You can sometimes figure out what bird you are looking at by studying his head. To begin with, check to see if its head is a solid color. Note the particular color and any other colors on his head. Does he have a crest, which means does he have a pointed head? The Cardinal, Blue Jay and Tufted Titmouse are birds with crests I am familiar with. I just always thought of the saying, "bless your pointed little head."

Some birds appear to be wearing a cap or a hood. A dark spot on top of a bird's head is called a cap. A hood is a distinctively colored set of feathers that cover part of the head and neck. Some woodpeckers I have seen, like the Golden-fronted, have caps and some, like the Red-headed Woodpeckers, wear hoods.

Does he have stripes on his head? A bird isn't necessarily going to have all kinds of stripes on him. He might just have an eye stripe.

2. The eyes have it

Some birds appear to have masks, eyebrows and eyelines extending from the outside corner. The Loggerhead Shrike has a very prominent mask. I'm not kidding. Many Thrushes have eyebrows. Robins, by the way, are Thrushes. Other birds have patches of solid color on the "cheek" or ears (ear coverts). He might have eye-rings, as if he put on white eyeliner all around his eyes, like the Ovenbird. Other birds have dark eye-rings.

I have even noticed that some birds have freaky colored eyes-yellow or orange. The first time I saw a Brewer's Blackbird male his yellow eyes freaked me out. Since most birds have dark eyes, one with different colored eyes gives you a big clue.

Finally, check to see if there is a patch on his throat. The Orchard Oriole has a good example of a patch.

3. The bill is on the male (and female)

Next on the head, you need to look at the bird's bill or beak. It seems that birders prefer the term "bill" unless they are talking about raptors like hawks. Then they use the term "beak."

Is the bill long, short or in between? Is it thin, medium or stout? Is it curved up or down? Is the bill flattened, hooked or unusual in some way?

A bird with a long bill is the Belted Kingfisher. The Eastern Phoebe has a short bill. Blue Grosbeaks have very stout bills.

Also check the color. Some bills are dark, others are light, some have color and some have more than one color. Northern Cardinals have red bills.

This information is major in helping you identify your bird. A bird with a bill curved down (decurved) could be a Curlew. One with a bill curved upward (recurved) could be an Avocet.

Some birds' bills are so special the bill is a part of the name. Some examples are Roseate Spoonbills, Red Crossbills and Blue Grosbeaks.

4. Write or draw first

Let's hope your bird is still around after you have given his head a thorough examination. No, you may not shoot him the way Audubon studied his birds. But surprisingly enough, many birds will sit still long enough for you to get much of the information we have covered. Remember to write it down or maybe you can draw it. Don't try to look it up in your field guide until after the bird is gone.

Studying Birds and Animals With a Nest Box Camera

The latest miniature camera technology allows us to place a camera inside a Bird Box or Animal Nest Box and study wildlife unobtrusively. We can now watch and listen, from the first time a parent bird visits, looking for a suitable site to build its nest, to laying it's eggs and rearing it's young. Then watch in awe as the chicks fledge and leave the nest for the first time.

With the popularity of programs such as Springwatch and Autumnwatch on television, in the UK, which have brought us closer to the natural lifecycle of birds and animals than ever before, nature watching has become a national pastime.

Nest box cameras are available in black and white or colour and with infrared technology for viewing 24 hours a day. They can also be supplied with wires or wireless for remote viewing and can be connected to a TV or a computer. Typically Colour models produce better pictures and are not a lot more expensive than black and white. There are pros and cons for using wireless or wired models: although wireless technology is improving all the time, the signal is generally better with a wired camera. Wired cameras can be simple to set up and are simply "plug and play" but the wires have to run somewhere and may limit the places you can place the nest box. Also there is the possibility of having to drill a hole through the wall of the house to run the wire to the television.

Most companies supplying cameras for nest boxes will fit them into any suitable nesting box, whether it's a small 25mm entrance hole version for a Blue Tit, an open fronted design for Robins and Wrens or even a Hedgehog House.

A nest box can be put up at any time of year but if you put it in place by February you stand a good chance of it being occupied by Spring (In the UK). If they are in place by winter, then some birds will use them to roost and as a shelter and will then use them for nesting in Spring.

A Bird nest box should be sited in a quiet area of the garden and at least 1.5m off the ground to deter predators. They can be placed on a tree, pole, fence or building, but the area should be sheltered from the worst of the weather and prevailing winds and in a place that is not sunny all day long.

Copyright nestboxesandfeeders.co.uk 2011

Brief Information About Deep Sea Animals

There are lots of interesting things living in the sea. Here is some information about Minuscule Sea Animals, Sea invertebrates, Sea Reptiles, Sea Mammals, Sea birds and other sea creatures.

Minuscule Sea Animals

Zooplanktons are the very small animals in the ocean biome - which mainly include of small crustaceans and fish larvae. Some examples of zooplanktons are protozoa, chaetognaths, mollusks, arthropods, annelids etc. There are 500 types of zooplankton animals recorded in the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean alone, whereas the total number of Zooplanktons in the entire world is expected to be more than a million.

Sea Invertebrates

Jellyfish, Octopus, Crab, these are sea animals which are usually distinguished by the absence of a vertebral column. These types of invertebrates are generally found in the surrounding area of coral reefs and these also referred to as coral reef animals. Examples of invertebrates in the marine biome include jelly fish, deep sea worms, shellfish, squid, octopus, star fish, crabs etc. As in the case of different land biomes, invertebrates make up an important portion of living organisms in water biomes.

Fish Species

There are more than 31,500 variety of fishes are there in various oceans of the world. These fish species range from microscopic fat infant fish to large whale sharks. Examples of well know fish species of the world include sardines, halibut, sharks etc.

Sea Reptiles

Sea Reptiles includes different types of sea snakes, sea turtles, and also some types which common between sea and ground such as the sea iguana and saltwater crocodiles. Most of the seas reptiles are found in the oceans are oviparous that is animals which put down eggs, with sea snakes being the only exception. Due to their tendency to come on land regularly, these reptile species are most frequently seen in low waters close to land. Although sea snakes rarely come on land, they do prefer shallow waters of estuaries particularly wherein they can get protection from their predators.

Sea Mammals

Dolphins and blue whales these are the two names that's comes to your mind when we talk about sea mammals. Apart from these animals, Sea mammals include seals, sea otters and other types of whales include gray whale and humpback whale. In marine mammals list, Polar bears strictly don't be eligible because due to the key role they take part in in marine ecosystem in polar areas.

Seabirds

Seabirds are also called as marine birds. Seabirds differ very much in lifestyle, behavior and physiology. Some of the well known seabirds include penguins, albatross, seagulls, etc. These seabirds are also popular for their traveling habits.

That was short information about sea animals which have an important share when it comes to the biodiversity of earth.