Vietnam: watching black-faced spoonbills and other birds

This is a black-faced spoonbill video.

From Viet Nam News:

Birdwatching reaches new heights in VN

(19-07-2006)

In a country that supports nearly 900 species of birds, the members of the Ha Noi Birdwatching Club (HBC) should have no trouble keeping themselves busy.

The recently formed group has plans to organise a birding trip every three months, with the next birding trip planned for the Cuc Phuong National Park in August.

“We hope more and more members will join in our upcoming activities,” said Le Manh Hung, the club leader.

The HBC is the brainchild of several young scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources and the Ha Noi National University.

With some technical support from the BirdLife International Viet Nam Programme, the initial idea for the HBC emerged in 2000, but only this year has it become a reality.

The club enjoyed successful first birding trips to the Xuan Thuy National Park in Nam Dinh Province and to the Van Long Nature Reserve in Ninh Binh Province, and by the end of April, the HBC had attracted quite a few young enthusiasts.

Many bird species were recorded, but the most notable observations were 11 co thia, black-faced spoonbills (Platalea minor), a species considered globally endangered.

To encourage birding ecotourism in the country and promote nature conservation, BirdLife has revised its web page to provide helpful information about 15 birding sites in Viet Nam ….

The Xuan Thuy National Park in the Red River delta is one of only a handful of places in the world where the endangered re mo thia, spoon-billed sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) can be found.

The resort city of Da Lat in Central Highlands, with its pines, lakes and mountains, holds four endemic species, including the endangered khuou dau den ma xam, collared laughingthrush (Garrulax yersini), one of the most beautiful of all babblers.

In the centre of the country, spectacular limestone crags support a unique forest type that is the only home of two unusual birds: the near-threatened khuou mun, sooty babbler (Stachyris herberti) and a kind of bird, leaf-warbler that may be a new species.

The mountains of the north hold more wide-ranging species found in China and the Himalayas, but some of these, such as khuou mo det duoi ngan, short-tailed parrotbill (Paradoxornis davidianus), can be most easily observed in Viet Nam.

Birdwatching in the USA: here.

The 2011 International Black-faced Spoonbill Census has found a large decrease in the known wintering populations since last year’s census. Overall numbers fell from 2,347 birds in January 2010 to 1,848 in January 2011, a decline of 21%: here.

The Netherlands: first white-tailed eagle chick about to fly

From Dutch site nieuws.nl:

For the first time since many centuries ago, a young white-tailed eagle is about to fledge in The Netherlands.

It hatched in early May, in Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve.

Staatsbosbeheer says this Thursday that the chick by now has grown to the size of an adult white-tailed eagle.

The animals have a wingspan of about 2.5 meter and are sometimes called flying barn doors. …

“If they have nested somewhere once, there is a big chance that they will use the same nest again next year.”

Some nests are used for decades and become very big.

The nest in Oostvaardersplassen was built this year and is 2.5 meter wide.

See also video on this page.

Update: this afternoon, according to RTL TV news, and here, the eaglet has been flying for the first time.

Carlo Goldoni’s Mirandolina: eighteenth century comedy; twentieth century anti-fascism; twenty-first century feminism

This video is called Ester Pascual Busquets: La Mirandolina.

From British daily The Morning Star:

Her own woman

(Thursday 20 July 2006)

Mirandolina
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

PAUL FOLEY praises Raquel Cassidy’s Mirandolina, who exposes the absurdity of macho society with her sexy feminine guile.

Try to imagine a dramatic landscape cleft from Sheridan and Moliere, fused with Kurt Weill and you will get the picture of the Royal Exchange’s production of Carlo Goldoni‘s Mirandolina.

Although not quite hitting the sharpness of the former or the political astuteness of the latter, this is still a very creditable and enjoyable production.

For an 18th century Venetian lawyer, Goldoni’s canon was impressive. He churned out over 150 plays.

Given the period and his class, his work is extremely progressive, especially in the way in which he drew his women characters.

At a time when women were viewed as mere possessions of their husbands or fathers, Goldoni often gave them an independent role at the heart of his work.

Mirandolina, whose original title was Lacondiera, was almost revolutionary by pitching the main character as an independent businesswoman.

Inheriting a decrepit old inn from her father, Mirandolina struggles to keep the business afloat.

As a single women with property, she becomes a very attractive prospect for would-be suitors.

Some, like the wealthy Count Albafiorita, try to buy her affection, while the bankrupted Marquess of Forlipopoli woos her with the faded grandeur of his aristocratic title and position.

Mirandolina plays the two lovers off against each other with great skill, but she is incensed when a new guest to her establishment shows no interest in her.

Determined to break the heart of the confirmed misogynist, Mirandolina sets about ensnaring Ripafrata.

Ranjit Bolt updated the translation of the play in 1995 and wove a tapestry of song and dance into Goldoni’s fabric.

The result not only refreshed the play but gave it a classic cabaret feel akin to a Brecht or Weill production.

This, coupled with director Jonathan Munby’s decision to set the play in Mussolini’s Italy of the 1930s, adds a slightly sinister edge.

The Royal Exchange is one of the great theatrical spaces in British theatre and Mike Britton uses it to wonderful effect, creating a surprisingly beautiful, ramshackle inn.

The acting is enthusiastic and full of energy. In particular, Ian Bartholomew as Count Albafiorita makes a splendidly sleazy fascist whose only philosophy is that “money is the route to absolute power.”

On Bertolt Brecht: here.

On Brecht’s Mother Courage: here.

Brecht in Hollywood: here.

Brecht and Brazil: here.

Brecht‘s Galileo: here.

Brecht’s Fear and misery in the Third Reich: here.

German actor Geschonneck: here.

Actor Ekkehard Schall: here.

On Eugenio Barba: here.

Giorgio Strehler: here.