Snow bunting research news

Posted on March 22, 2013 by petrel41

There is not only news about research of bluw whales, the biggest animals in the world.

Also about much smaller snow buntings.

From the BTO Bird Ringing ‘Demog blog’ in Britain:

22 March 2013

Snow Buntings on the move

We recently heard of some fascinating results from a French project colour-ringing wintering Snow Buntings. ‘A5′ was ringed on 29th December in Calais and was then seen further north at Dunkerque on 28th January before returning to Calais from 5th-25th February. It was then that it headed off, seen at Shingle Street (Suffolk) on 10th March (and still present yesterday – 21st March), becoming the first French-ringed Snow Bunting ever to be reported in the UK (shown in red on the map below).

View Snow Buntings in a larger map

This was also the first sighting for the project outside of France, but the second wasn’t too far behind, when ‘E0′ was reported from South Shields (South Tyneside) on 16th March (shown in blue on the map). Interestingly though, when this bird was caught at Calais on 9th February (where it remained until 18th February), it was already wearing a Belgian ring! Presumably linked to greater ringing effort, there are seven previous records of Belgian-ringed Snow Buntings in the UK, with previous movements all to the north of this: the map below shows all Snow Buntings movements, from the BTO’s Online Ringing Report.

There are two races of Snow Bunting wintering in western Europe: nivalis (long-distance migrants breeding in northern Europe and Greenland) and insulae (short-distance migrants breeding in Iceland and Scotland). Nivalis from western Greenland winter in north America, whilst those from eastern Greenland winter from northern Scandinavian to western Russia and we don’t really know much about those from southern Greenland. It is likely that they winter in western Europe and most birds caught in winter in France are nivalis and are thought to mostly be from here. So the fact that these two colour-ringed birds both headed northwest from France in spring is perhaps the first evidence of this.

Thanks to Quentin Dupriez for the details here, John Richardson for the photos of the bird in Suffolk and Mike Marsh for originally letting us know about the Suffolk bird.

Posted by Mark Grantham at 09:04

Snow bunting decline, research (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Vol. 2, No. 4 – The Snowflake (leesbird.com)
Red breasted Mergansers in Portland Marina (skootysue.wordpress.com)
Cefnllys etc. (radnorshirebirds.wordpress.com)
Coloured Ringed Black Headed Gulls (cotswoldwaterpark.wordpress.com)

Paris Panthéon restoration

Posted on March 21, 2013 by petrel41

This video is called Panthéon, Paris.

From The Art Newspaper:

Facelift for Panthéon, Paris’s grande dame

Building that has become an expression of national pride to undergo a €100m restoration lasting ten years—but funding is still to be found

By Claudia Barbieri Childs

Published online: 21 March 2013

One of the largest restoration projects in Europe is due to begin this August in the French capital. The Centre des Monuments Nationaux, the French body responsible for caring for state monuments, is preparing for a ten-year, €100m programme to restore the Panthéon, an 18th-century building that has become an expression of national pride. During the first phase, the structure will be covered in scaffolding with awnings featuring work by a yet-to-be-selected contemporary artist.

Classical beauty

The building was conceived by the architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot as a church dedicated to Geneviève, a patron saint of Paris. But the 1789 revolution swept away the old order a year before the building was completed, and in 1791, the National Constituent Assembly ordained its rededication as the temple of the new republican nation. Despite being repurposed many times in the 19th century, the Panthéon has become the final resting place of some of the great and the good of French culture, science and national identity, including Rousseau, Zola, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Malraux, Marie Curie, the socialist hero Jean Jaurès and Jean Moulin, a symbol of the French Resistance.

The architectural style of the building, which boasts an 82m-high dome, may not be original, but its method of construction is. Soufflot was one of the first to use a skeleton of iron bars set into the masonry, which enabled him to create a building that was the tallest in Paris until it was outdone in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel’s all-metal tower.

Although the use of iron reinforcement was a major step forward in architectural engineering, it is also one of the major reasons for the Panthéon’s current sorry state. A leaking roof has rusted the ironwork, causing it to swell and to split the stone cladding.

In the first phase of restoration work, which will take 18 months and cost an estimated €19m, the lantern, the cupola and the colonnade that supports the base of the dome will be rejointed, and replaced with new stone and ironwork where necessary. The dome’s lead roofing will also be replaced. Where possible, the original ironwork will be stabilised and treated to prevent further decay. The glasswork of the dome and the lantern will be replaced to improve the interior lighting.

Subsequent phases will restore the Grecian peristyle, the vaults, the interior and external walls and the stone platform on which the building rests.

Funding challenge

During the first stage, the dome and its colonnade will be enveloped in freestanding scaffolding that will be a piece of monumental engineering in its own right; piling 17m deep will support a 37m-high, 315-tonne base. However grand the Panthéon and its restoration, though, these are hard times. In a move that represents a major departure for France, funding for the project will come not only from the state and the usual institutional philanthropists but also, it is hoped, from an online crowd-funding appeal. So far, the appeal has raised only €57,000, but donations will be taken until 6 May.

Spiral by Francesco (500px.com)
Six feet under Paris (shelakesholay.wordpress.com)
France- Paris “The City of Lights” (cityhoppers123.wordpress.com)
Paris: City of Light, City of Love, City of the Dead (adventuresinyonderland.wordpress.com)

Another French soldier dies in Mali

Posted on March 17, 2013 by petrel41

This photo of a French Foreign Legion soldier, part of the invasion of Mali, shows the real face of that war.

That war is not “against Al Qaeda terrorism” (supported by the French government in Libya, and still in Syria). It is not for women’s rights, human rights or secularism.

It is in support of a military dictatorship.

It brings death, mainly to Malian civilians.

This war is a neo-colonial war.

From France 24 today:

A fifth French soldier was killed in the nine-week-old military campaign against Islamist rebels in Mali, the French government said on Sunday.

The corporal from the 1st Marine infantry regiment of Angouleme was killed in action, President Francois Hollande’s office said in a statement, without giving details. …

The military operation is in its “final, most delicate stage,” Hollande’s office said.

“Final stage”? This wishful thinking/propaganda reminds me of George W Bush in 2003, claiming “Mission accomplished” in Iraq. After that, thousands of United States soldiers and over a million Iraqis died in Iraq.

David Cameron, Prime Minister of Britain, said he expected decades of war in Mali and African countries around it. Cynically, I have to admit Cameron may be more realistic in this than Hollande’s office … IF governments will continue to see wars as solutions to international problems and as distractions from domestic problems, and if taxpayers won’t revolt against billions for wars far away, while they themselves are subjected to “austerity”.

The situation facing the Malian population is catastrophic. Towns and villages have been largely destroyed, forcing large numbers of people to flee the combat zone and find refuge in camps in neighbouring countries. Access to water and food is becoming scarcer every day, threatening a humanitarian disaster: here.

U.S. Air Force’s Bloody 100th: 100 Sorties In Support Of French War In Mali: here.

French war in Mali war crimes (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
War in Mali and German militarism (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
French invasion of Mali, its real deathly face (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
British soldiers to Mali war (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
French army suppresses reporting of Mali war (alhittin.com)
Mali, war and more war (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
French soldier dies in Mali fighting (bbc.co.uk)

French-ex President Sarkozy loses free speech case

Posted on March 14, 2013 by petrel41

This French video, from when Nicolas Sarkozy was still president of France, shows Sarkozy saying to a non-Sarkozy supporting farmer: “Casse-toi, alors, pauvre con” (Piss off, asshole).

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Court criticizes penalty for insulting Sarkozy

Updated: Thursday, 14 March 2013, 11:42

The European Court of Human Rights has admonished France about the conviction of a man who had insulted President Sarkozy. The man had put a sign next to the car of the president, saying “Piss off, asshole.”

The man appealed against the 30 euros fine. The judges in Strasbourg have found that the action by the man is freedom of expression and that the punishment is disproportionate.

The text on the anti-Sarkozy sign was the literal repetition of the insult by Sarkozy of someone who had refused to shake his hand.

French cranes, finches, farewell, photos

Posted on March 14, 2013 by petrel41

After yesterday, today, Sunday 3 March 2013, was our last morning with the cranes of Lac du Der, France.

This French video is the first one of a series about crane migration at the lake “Lac du Der” in autumn 2010.

And this French video is the second one of that series about crane migration at Lac du Der in autumn 2010.

We rose very early today, to see and hear the cranes around sunrise.

It is much sunnier this morning than on earlier cloudy days here; though a bit misty.

It is freezing; minus two degrees centigrade.

Slowly, the beautiful sound of the cranes around the lake gets stronger, as they wake up and start flying away.

Also: mallards, coots and grey lag geese.

A blackbird sings in the village.

Our bus departs. First, to the Ferme aux grues again.

Many cranes.

In the trees, near the hide: house sparrows.

Male and female bullfinch.

A goldfinch.

Greenfinches.

Great tits and blue tits.

Chaffinches.

And a beautiful male great spotted woodpecker.

The bus continues to the north. Near Vitry-le-François, a female hen harrier flies. Fieldfares on a field.

11:15. Still 70 kilometer till Reims. A red kite flying.

Five minutes later. A flock of rooks on a fence.

Later, another red kite flying. A buzzard on a fence.

When the bus stops: long-tailed tits in a tree.

French cranes and bullfinches, photos (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
French cranes, woodpeckers, and red kites (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Cranes and hares in France (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Greenfinch and cranes in France (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Cranes, cranes and red kites in France, photos (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
French cranes and sea eagle, first morning (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
To the cranes in France (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Crane migration in France (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
Rare ducks and cranes in France, photos (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
French short-eared owl, ghosts and cranes (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)

French cranes, woodpeckers, and red kites

Posted on March 13, 2013 by petrel41

After yesterday, Saturday 2 March 2013 was our third full day at Lac du Der in France.

After the early morning, we traveled further than before.

Today, we hoped to see not only cranes and water birds, but forest birds as well.

We went to Lac d’Orient. Around this lake is the Parc Naturel Régional Forêt d’Orient.

The middle spotted woodpecker lives here.

And the black woodpecker.

This video is about a black woodpecker nest in the Netherlands.

This is another black woodpecker video, from Bulgaria.

The three lakes in the Parc Naturel Régional Forêt d’Orient area are artificial lakes. Like the Lac du Der, they were made to prevent flooding in Paris. While the Lac du Der gets its water from the Marne river, these three smaller lakes get their water from the Seine.

On our way, we passed yesterday’s big crane group, on the field near the trees. They were still there.

In a village, moss on a tombstone in a cemetery.

Then, we arrived at the Lac Amance lake. A chaffinch in a tree.

On a bank of the canal leading to the lake, a water pipit. Maybe the only European bird species which in autumn migrates to the north, not the south. These birds live high in the Alps, which get inhospitable in winter, so they migrate to lowlands.

Then, to the hide. Mute swans and a Bewick’s swan.

A peregrine falcon on the bank. Great cormorants behind it.

Over fifty dunlin flying.

A pintail duck swimming.

On to the second lake, Lac du Temple. A male wigeon swimming.

Near the hide, a lesser spotted woodpecker.

From the hide, a male goosander swimming.

Then, a forest walk. Holes in the ground. Used by badgers as “toilets”.

We hope to see the black woodpecker, but we only hear it.

We do see a nuthatch. And a European crested tit.

As we go on, a buzzard along the road, feeding on a roe deer killed by traffic.