Gostats statistics on this blog

Apart from Statcounter statistics, from today on there are also GoStats statistics on this blog.

I’ll see what are the strong points of both visitor counters.

Fungi and wren

This video is about chaffinches.

Today, again to Corversbos and Gooilust.

In Corversbos, a Piptoporus betulinus fungus on a fallen birch tree.

In this wintery weather, with white tree branches, not many other fungi. Decayed Meripilus giganteus, and Trametes versicolor.

Male and female chaffinches. A robin and a wren. Nuthatch sounds. A buzzard flying. Great tits and blue tits. Blackbirds. Wood pigeons. Jays.

Birds in winter

Today, again great cormorants in the river Rhine.

Near Hoofddorp, a male pheasant along the railroad.

In the Naardermeer, much of the lake was frozen. However, many birds gathered in some open water.

Two New Species of Poison Dart Frogs Discovered in Colombia

From Wildlife Extra:

Two New Species of Poison Dart Frogs Discovered in Colombia

December 2007. Two new species of frog have been discovered in the Central Cordillera of Colombia by Alonso Quevedo from ProAves and Oscar Gallego from Tolima University. The frogs were discovered in July, 2006, when the research team was looking for endangered bird species in the Central Mountain Range. The new frogs have been named Ranitomeya tolimense and Ranitomeya doriswansoni in recent months.

Ranitomeya tolimense is mostly yellow, and Ranitomeya doriswansoni is black and red, and has a short fifth toe.

Alonso Quevedo, President of ProAves, said ‘There is a great concern about the conservation of these frogs and of many other species of flora and fauna in this region, since there are not any protected areas here, and there is a high pressure on the ecosystems due to the expansion of coffee crops.’

The description of Ranitomeya tolimense was jointly carried out with experts Manuel Hernando Bernal and Víctor Fabio Luna-Mora, who, together with Óscar Gallego, are members of the Research Group on Zoology at the Herpetology and Eco-physiology Laboratory in Tolima University. The article was published on November 14, 2007 by Zootaxa Magazine.

The description of Ranitomeya doriswansoni was jointly carried out in 2006 with José Vicente Rueda-Almonacid, Marco Rada, Santiago J. Sánchez-Pacheco and Álvaro Andrés Velásquez-Álvarez, from Conservation International. It was also published by Zootaxa Magazine.

See also here.

More Northern Rock scandal in Britain

This is a video from Britain; BBC footage of customers queing to get money at Northern Rock.

By Ann Talbot:

Britain: Northern Rock crisis deepens

21 December 2007

What began as a crisis of liquidity for one bank has become a major political crisis for the British government. The failure of the attempt to bail out Northern Rock has led to serious political recriminations and conflicts among the political and financial elite as the Labour government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown finds itself pouring money into a bottomless pit.

Northern Rock is the UK’s eighth largest bank. It has specialised in mortgage lending based on the availability of cheap credit. The credit crunch that followed the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market meant that Northern Rock was unable to raise loans. The Bank of England stepped in to provide loans when depositors scrambled to withdraw their money in the first run on a British bank since Overend and Gurney in 1866. Even Wall Street shuddered at the spectacle. The threat of contagion was felt internationally, and the Bank of England was forced to act.

That was in September. Now, three months later, the Bank’s action has not only not failed to resolve the crisis, but it has deepened it as it transformed bank deposits into public debt.

See also here.

US Federal Reserve’s subprime regulations shield Wall Street banks: here.

A House of Cards by Gerry Gold and Paul Feldman: here.

Watchdog warns that corporations’ financial viability is at risk, here.

New tree species discovered in Vietnam

From Blumea – Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Plant Geography:

Ailanthus vietnamensis from Cuc Phuong National Park is described as a new species from Vietnam.

See also here.