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Post by Bonobo on Sept 24, 2008 21:12:31 GMT 1
I have always had an impression that you definately post your remarks on the forum too rarely, Jeanne ;D ;D ;D ;D Thanks, ;D ;D, but my lack of participation is a direct result of three factors: (1.) Dial-up computer connection, (2.) An ancient computer that fails when it is humid, and (3.) Lack of time!! He doesn`t mean general participation but craves for more irony from you, like in your comment on hedgehog`s nocturnal activity. |
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Post by jeanne on Sept 25, 2008 1:52:23 GMT 1
Thanks, ;D ;D, but my lack of participation is a direct result of three factors: (1.) Dial-up computer connection, (2.) An ancient computer that fails when it is humid, and (3.) Lack of time!! He doesn`t mean general participation but craves for more irony from you, like in your comment on hedgehog`s nocturnal activity. I know!  I was being ironic.... |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
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Post by gigi on Sept 25, 2008 14:39:54 GMT 1
 What a sight this must be!  Autumn bird migrations Poland is one of the main "junctions" where a number of bird migration routes meet. Our country is an important stopover area for all birds traveling via Europe, from Siberia, Africa and Asia. This is why the condition of Polish natural environment influences the population of birds both in Asia and Africa. And the other way round – all that happens to birds on other continents influences Polish nature.
Conservation of the habitats where migrants stop for rest and food is vital, as birds need a safe place to rest and renew their energy reserves. If these habitats are destroyed, it will sure exact a toll on bird populations. This is why international cooperation in this matter is essential – as both breeding and wintering ranges as well as bird migration routes must be protected.
Autumn migration is a phenomenon on a gigantic scale. Millions of birds leave their nesting areas and fly southward, westward and south-east of Europe. Birds may cover distances of hundreds, sometimes thousands kilometers and on their way they have to face a number of dangers: bad weather, predators, hunters, as well as their stopover habitats destroyed by people.
Bird migrations take place both on the northern and southern hemisphere. Bird leave the areas close to equator and fly southward, where they settle to hatch. On the northern hemisphere, when the hatching season is over, a number of young birds set off to find a place to winter for the first time in their lives. Some birds, like cranes and geese, migrate in groups, so that the young can learn from their parents. However, the majority of young birds use their inborn instinct and do not need any help from the elder. Young storks, for example, fly to Africa on their own, as their parents usually leave a few days later.
Birds of arctic tundra are first to leave their nesting habitat – in July, when the polar day is over, frosty and snowy winter quickly deprives them of all supplies of food. From then on autumn migrations last until December, when some species wintering close to Arctic Circle (among them divers, whooper swans, guillemots, snow buntings, waxwings) move closer to the Atlantic and the Baltic Sea and other regions, where the sun shines for at least a few hours a day. At the same time some birds wintering in the south of Africa or in tropical regions of Asia reach their destinations.
According to common beliefs, birds follow strictly set migration routes, while it is usually not so. When flying overland, as well as over smaller seas like the Baltic Sea, birds do not follow any specific route but move in a broad-front migration. Their directions can be adjusted to weather conditions, winds, clouds, rain, as well as temperatures in different strata of the atmosphere.
Birds may travel on different altitudes – close to the earth or just over the surface of water or 2-3 kilometers high in the sky, sometimes even higher. They chose the strata, with temperature and winds most suitable for energy saving flight. Only in some areas it may be observed that birds follow certain routes – along sea shores, over the islands and straits.
The species wintering in Poland include: snow buntings, lapland buntings, redpolls, waxwings, bramblings, redwings, great black-backed gulls, rough-legged buzzards, smews, velvet scoters, long-tailed ducks, eiders, brent geese, black-throated divers.
Birds migrating from Poland to:
* Africa - swallows, house martins, sand martins, swifts, pied flycatchers, spotted flycatchers, garden warblers, lesser whitethroats, whitethroats, wood warblers, willow warblers, reed warblers, aquatic warblers, rollers, black kites, lesser spotted eagles, hobbies, garganeys, white storks, little bitterns, whimbrels, corncrakes, quails.
* Asia - common rosefinches, red-breasted flycatchers, citrine wagtails, greenish warblers.
* Western and southern Europe - starlings, hawfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, corn buntings, song thrushes, firecrests, dunnocks, skylarks, pochards, teals, common gulls, moorhens.
About the White Stork
On their way to wintering sites White storks fly over Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Unlike other migrating birds, e.g. flycatchers and garden warblers, storks do not they take a shortcut and fly over the Mediterranean, straight to the Nile.
Why don't storks fly over the sea?
It is generally known that on their way to wintering sites storks fly over Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Why don’t they take a shortcut and fly over the Mediterranean, straight to the Nile? Even small birds, like flycatchers and garden warblers, do not fly round the sea, but cover great distances flying over water for several hours.
Stork’s wings are built in a way which allows them to take advantage of the streams of upward moving air. They are long and, compared to other birds, very wide – similar to these of vultures, condors, pelicans and the closest relatives of storks. Large wings of a stork “catch” the up going streams of air. Storks travel like gliders, taking advantage of the air movement. However, the resistance caused by such large wings makes it impossible to flap them (Try to flap a glide!) Gliding with wings spread wide means "flying for free", while every flap of a wing costs a lot of energy.
Before noon, especially on sunny days, the surface of the earth warms up. Warm earth causes the air to warm up and warm air moves upwards. If a stork finds such a stream of hot air, it can travel for hours without a single flap of wings.
It is easy to find warm air over the desert territories of Asia Minor and the Middle East. So, even if the journey is longer, it is energy saving. Meanwhile, there are mainly horizontal winds over the seas, so storks traveling over water would be forced to flap their wings a lot. They are not adjusted too such a way of flying. This is why storks fly over the land – it takes longer but is energy-saving and save.Polish Society for the Protection of Birds, Tomasz Cofta birds.poland.pl/autumn/article,Bird_migrations,id,75232.htm |
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Post by jeanne on Sept 26, 2008 1:40:56 GMT 1
I think I have read that the storks also migrate over Spain, then across the straits of Gilbraltar where the water is narrow. That route and the one described in the article are the two main migrating routes for storks to Africa.
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Post by valpomike on Sept 26, 2008 18:12:21 GMT 1
And I have been told, the same ones come back to the same nest each year, I don't know how they would know if it was the same ones or not, but I am sure they do.
Mike
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Post by jeanne on Sept 27, 2008 1:13:16 GMT 1
And I have been told, the same ones come back to the same nest each year, I don't know how they would know if it was the same ones or not, but I am sure they do. Mike They know this because some of them have been banded on the legs. |
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Post by valpomike on Sept 27, 2008 4:43:08 GMT 1
I understand only very few have bands, what of the others.
Mike
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Post by jeanne on Sept 27, 2008 12:43:54 GMT 1
I understand only very few have bands, what of the others. Mike Well, since storks live by instinct, and if the few that are banded are returning to the same nests year after year, it would probably be true that the rest of the stork population is doing the same. |
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Post by valpomike on Sept 27, 2008 19:10:54 GMT 1
Who put bands on the birds, and who keeps the records?
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Sept 27, 2008 21:30:47 GMT 1
Who put bands on the birds, and who keeps the records? Mike Bandits do this job. |
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Post by jeanne on Sept 28, 2008 1:11:05 GMT 1
Who put bands on the birds, and who keeps the records? Mike Bandits do this job. Very good, Bonobo!!! ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by Bonobo on Sept 28, 2008 8:40:07 GMT 1
Very good, Bonobo!!! ;D ;D ;D I was serious. This is a speckled band.  If someone puts it on the stork, he/she is a BANDIT!!! |
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Post by jeanne on Sept 28, 2008 12:28:51 GMT 1
Very good, Bonobo!!! ;D ;D ;D I was serious. This is a speckled band. If someone puts it on the stork, he/she is a BANDIT!!! Oh my goodness, is there no end to Bonobo's wit? ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by Bonobo on Sept 28, 2008 15:25:56 GMT 1
Oh my goodness, is there no end to Bonobo's wit? ;D ;D ;D No. You are doomed to be h(a)unted by it till the end...... |
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Post by jeanne on Sept 29, 2008 1:16:47 GMT 1
Oh my goodness, is there no end to Bonobo's wit? ;D ;D ;D No. You are doomed to be h(a)unted by it till the end...... Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!  |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Oct 10, 2008 20:20:01 GMT 1
 BEAVER - Many species of animal not found living in the wild elsewhere in Europe are still in Poland. In the 11th century Polish authorities passed the first edicts ensuring the protection of rare species: aurochs, bison, and also the beaver. The beaver was saved in Poland - only 20 years ago there were only about a thousand left, today there are 25 000.I have never seen a black beaver before. Very cute!  |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Oct 13, 2008 22:46:30 GMT 1
 Snail family - Huta Zabiowolska Awww..........aren't these Polish snails cute??? ;D |
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Post by valpomike on Oct 14, 2008 0:35:58 GMT 1
Are they good with garlic butter?
Mike
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Jan 9, 2009 14:51:17 GMT 1
 Roe deer  European bison  Common moorhen |
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Post by tufta on Jan 9, 2009 15:44:07 GMT 1
yesterday...  |
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Post by Bonobo on Jan 10, 2009 22:27:45 GMT 1
European bison
Poland's bison hunkering down for winter
thenews.pl
07.01.2009
Five hundred tonnes of hay and beets have been prepared for the
winter months by employees of the Bialowieski National Park (BPN) to
feed Poland's precious bison herd maintained there.
The director of the bison care facility at BPN, Jerzy Dackiewicz,
claims that the recent drastic fall in temperatures means that the
stocked food will be all the more necessary. The park has been
feeding the bison throughout the winter months at a special feeding
grounds for several years.
"If it is a light winter, we still prepare the food, but they prefer
to graze naturally out in the fields and forest on grass and young
trees," added Dackiewicz.
Park employees also intend to count the herd of endangered bison
this year. If such weather – cold and frost – remains, then the herd
will be fully counted in two weeks and results will be announced at
the end of January. Current bison-count is approximately 450
animals.
The Bialowieska National Park is an internationally recognised
protected area for this breed of bison. In the year 1929, the
facilities for maintaining a herd of the endangered species were
opened and the herd was started with only three bison. The park
extends across the Polish border into Belarus. |
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Feb 27, 2009 21:07:26 GMT 1
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Post by valpomike on Mar 5, 2009 20:15:11 GMT 1
Are those storks that stayed into the winter, and snow?
Mike
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 5, 2009 22:28:06 GMT 1
Are those storks that stayed into the winter, and snow? Mike They are looked after in the zoo or another nursing home. |
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Post by Bonobo on Mar 14, 2009 21:33:04 GMT 1
European bison
Europe's bison: prehistoric survivor with Achilles' heel
25 February 2009 - 11:24 p.m. EST
From Agence France-Presse
BIALOWIEZA, Poland (AFP) - As if straight out of prehistory, dozens of bison emerge timidly from the dark trunks of a primeval forest, their imposing bulk masking their vulnerability.
Step by step, the huge beasts with their thick hides enter a clearing where foresters have served up a tonne of hay and sugar beets to supplement their winter diet.
"In the winter we feed them so they won't destroy forest vegetation or go in search of food on farms," explains Miroslaw Androsiuk while spreading out the bails of hay.
About 800 bison live freely in the vast Bialowieza forest, the final remnant of a massive woodland that covered Europe after the last Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. The forest spans the Polish-Belarussian border, with some 450 bison living on the Polish side.
These cousins of the North American buffalo have miraculously survived repeated peril.
The 700 animals that lived in the Bialowieza forest prior to Word War I were wiped out by German soldiers and local poachers. The species was saved from extinction thanks to seven captive animals -- though there is an Achilles' heel.
"These bison are closely related and it could lead to the disappearance of the entire group," says chief Bialowieza forest ranger Jerzy Dackiewicz.
"This weak genetic diversity can pose problems in the future if, for example, they won't have the right genes to protect them from a certain type of illness," says Rafal Kowalczyk, a researcher at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) base in Bialowieza.
Up to now, the herd has shown no sign of deleterious traits due to inbreeding, he says.
The park keeps some 30 animals isolated in captivity for breeding stock to maintain the species, should the free-range bison herd succumb to disease. "Many researchers estimate that the bare minimum group required to insure long-term survival is 500 to 1,000. So even the Bialowieza population may not be enough," says Kowalczyk.
Politics have made things worse. Polish bison have not been able to mate with herds from Belarus since 1981 when the Eastern bloc masters in Moscow -- worried about the momentum building in Poland's anti-communist Solidarity movement -- installed a fence along the length of the border between what was then the Soviet republics of Belarus and Poland.
Under Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, this Soviet-era vestige along what is now the European Union's eastern frontier has been kept.
There are currently 28 bison herds roaming freely across Europe including ones in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and more recently in Slovakia. Most herds have fewer than 100 animals. One group from Bialowieza lives in semi-captivity in the deeply rural department of Lozere in southern France.
Unlike the now extinct aurochs, a primeval ox, and mammoth, bison have survived since prehistoric times, spreading across Europe from Spain to the Ural mountains before gradually disappearing as the development of agriculture pushed them into the remaining forests.
The Bialowieza forest was saved from the axe when hunting there became a royal privilege. In the 15th century, the woodland was declared a hunting ground for Polish kings, then taken over by Russia's Czar after the 1795 partition of Poland.
And hunting appears to carry on as an elite activity.
"Bison hunting is currently illegal," a Bialowieza forest ranger insists.
But asked about what Spanish King Juan Carlos may have been up to during his visit to Bialowieza in 2004, the ranger replies coyly the ban holds... "apart from some exceptions for VIPs." • |
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 1, 2009 19:37:13 GMT 1
Incredible discovery in Krakow`z zoo. They found out that one of gorillas isn`t a gorilla but a former zoo keeper who disappeared a few years ago. He put on the ape costume and has lived with gorillas since then. He said he had been tired of people and regular life.
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Apr 1, 2009 22:45:40 GMT 1
Incredible discovery in Krakow`z zoo. They found out that one of gorillas isn`t a gorilla but a former zoo keeper who disappeared a few years ago. He put on the ape costume and has lived with gorillas since then. He said he had been tired of people and regular life. He is currently working to readjust back to his regular life. He has a ways to go yet... ;D  |
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Post by valpomike on Apr 2, 2009 15:41:54 GMT 1
He looks like our Pres. could it be?
Mike
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gigi
Kindergarten kid
Posts: 1,470
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Post by gigi on Apr 2, 2009 17:37:20 GMT 1
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Post by Bonobo on Apr 2, 2009 20:47:30 GMT 1
He looks like our Pres. could it be? Mike You might be right....   |
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I was being ironic....
