Sigurgeir Stefánsson was born and raised on the Ytri-Neslönd farm, and spent his youth exploring his surroundings and collecting birds’ eggs. Soon he had specimens of all the indigenous Icelandic birds’ eggs, which he used to create a small natural history museum. At the age of 14 years, Stefánsson was given a bird that had been preserved by the process of taxidermy. This was the beginning of his bird collection, and any dead birds he, or his friends and neighbors found, were taken to the taxidermist for preservation.

Stefánsson’s collection grew until it had taken over his family’s house. It was later moved to a nearby shack and continued to grow, with other bird-lovers showing an interest in his work. While focusing on creating a complete collection of the birds of Iceland, Stefánsson also communicated and traded with ornithologists in other parts of the world, and his collection includes some exotic birds. He was often consulted by visiting researchers, as he had an intimate knowledge of the area and its feathered residents. He had expressed the desire to build a museum to properly display his collection for others to enjoy, but had no funds to make his dream a reality.

Tragically, in 1999 during a storm Stefánsson and his two companions drowned in Lake Mývatn as they attempted to repair an underwater cable – he was only 37 years old. To honor his memory and his accomplishments in the field of ornithology, the Aurora Charity Fund, together with members of his family, established the Sigurgeirs Bird Museum, which opened on 17 August 2008. In addition to viewing the extensive collection of birds on display in the museum, visitors can make use of the binoculars provided to spot local birds in the surroundings and on the lake, which is known for having the most species of duck to be found in one location.

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The feather degrading bacteria seems to target brightly colored birds more than those with dull plumage. To investigate this fact, a group of scientists chose a large colony of Eastern Bluebirds living in Virginia as test subjects, studying the population as a whole and noting the differences of the bacteria found in the male and female birds. Not only does this bacteria influence the coloring of the birds, but their general health as well.

It is now known that most wild birds carry feather degrading bacteria and some birds are even host to more than one bacteria species. The exact impact the bacteria has on their feathered hosts is still unclear, but they are not found to be in the majority. Almost all the birds in the study were found to have the bacteria, which hydrolyses the protein beta-keratin. It had been found that melanin pigmented feathers are resistant to feather degrading bacteria and that the oils used by birds to preen can also halt the growth of the bacteria. These traits confirm that defenses against these bacteria can be built and it is therefore suggested that the bacteria could have an influence on the evolution of birds. It was also found that the bacteria had a greater impact on the female birds than on their male counterparts. The bacteria seems to dull the coloring of the feathers, and scientists believe that the difference in bacteria between male and female birds could be influenced by the routines followed by each sex, and the areas they travel in. It is, however, mere speculation as scientists are still trying to confirm if the daily routine of males and females could play a role in the bacteria occurrences. Alex Gunderson, from Duke University in North Carolina commented, “If bacteria detrimentally influence feather coloration, they may place selective pressure on birds to evolve defenses against them.”

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Why should we study birds? Birds are relatively easy to study, and often open the way for further nature and scientific studies. Their behavior is interesting and they are of great importance to the ecosystem. Birds also offer an indication of the overall the health of the environment, often alerting environmentalists to potential problems.

The study of birds by the public in conjunction with scientists is referred to as citizen science. To find out more about bird research in your area, contact a local study group. The public assist in bird research projects by counting birds and recording data. This data is used by scientists to determine the state of bird populations, issues affecting birds and to work out conservation strategies.

There are many different bird studies being conducted, for example, research is being conducted into bio-acoustics, which involves the development of new techniques to record and analyze bird sounds. The study of bird eggs is referred to as oology, which involves not only the study of bird eggs, but also research into breeding habits and the study of nests. Research into bird aviation hazards has saved the lives of many birds. Studies into migratory birds has helped scientists to discover their routes and thus devise ways to conserve their stop-over points to ensure a safe migration.

A matter of concern to many people is bird flu research, especially with regard to its possible impact on humans. Bird flu or avian influenza is a dangerous viral disease affecting mostly poultry flocks. Bird flu research has revealed how it is spread and using this information scientists will be able to develop ways of keeping humans safe.

Many resources are available for people who wish to study birds for their own benefit. By watching birds in your garden you can learn much about their behavior. Carefully observe how they have adapted to living and functioning in an urban environment.

Want to get connected with other bird enthusiasts? Bird societies are great places to start. You’ll find organized groups of bird enthusiasts on every continent in the world. Some focus on seeking out rare birds. Others focus on bird conservation and scientific studies. Most will provide interesting field trips and learning opportunities.

For example, the National Audubon Society has chapters in many countries, including the USA, Belize, Panama, and Venezuela. Your local chapter can teach you about bird conservation. It’s also a great way to meet other birdwatchers in your area. Audubon’s chapters can provide bird-watching trips for all ages and skill-levels.

Or join a Christmas Bird Count. In this 24-hour census, volunteers in teams count as many birds as possible in a single day. Scientists use the results to learn more about bird populations. Over 40,000 people participate in the Western Hemisphere, from South America to Canada. It’s the largest wildlife survey ever done- and anyone with binoculars can join.

Would you like your bird-watching to help bird conservation? Project Feeder-watch, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, uses observations from backyard birdwatchers for their scientific study. In this program, anyone in North America can join. Birdwatchers count the numbers of birds at their backyard feeder, at specific times between November and April. They then report these numbers to the Cornell Lab. Scientists at the Lab will use the information in their study of winter bird distributions in North America.

Research and study of birds is vital to learn more about them and develop ways to ensure they are here for the enjoyment of future generations.

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Neotropic Cormorants usually have a body length of 64 cm with a wingspan of 100 cm. They can weigh between 1 and 1.5 kg and those found in the south are usually bigger than those found in the north. Neotropic Cormorants are somewhat slender compared to other cormorants and they have a long tail, hooked bill and long, thin neck, which it frequently holds in an S-shape. The Gular region is pointed and dull yellow in colour and there is a thin pale border around this area. The adult bird has dark plumage covering its entire body, though the throat becomes whiter during breeding season with white tufts appearing on the sides of the head. Immature Neotropic Cormorants have dull brown upperparts and pale underparts.

The Neotropic Cormorant is somewhat different from other cormorants in that it often perches on wires. When it does perch, it is usually with wings spread wide open to dry. These birds feed mainly on small fish and also eat tadpoles, frogs and aquatic insects. They obtain their food by diving underwater and using their feet as a means of propulsion. The Neotropic Cormorant may also forage in groups, beating their wings in the water to drive the fish into the shallows. When it comes to mating, the birds are monogamous and they breed in colonies. They usually build their nest out of sticks in a depression. The centre is usually lined with twigs and grass and cater to as many as five eggs. Both parents sit on the eggs for a period of 25-30 days and then both work together to feed the young until the chicks reach independence at 12 weeks of age. Neotropic Cormorants raise only one brood a year.

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Sometimes the daily habits of a certain bird species may be so obscure that ornithologists are not even sure how many of them exist. That certainly seems to be the case with the Slender-billed Curlew as it seems there is some doubt as to whether or not this bird is still surviving or has become completely extinct.

The last time there was a confirmed sighting of one of these birds, it was in Morocco in 1999. That may not seem so bad, but when you consider that these birds were quite common in the 19th century, you start to understand why only one occasional sighting raises concerns. In fact, between 1980 and 1990 it was estimated that there were only about 100 of these birds left and experts now guess that that number may be less than half – or the birds may have died out completely. However, ornithologists at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and Birdlife International refuse to give up hope. They are asking bird-watchers to join in a massive operation to try and establish how many of these birds may still exist in the wild. Their hope is that if any of the birds are found still breeding, their natural habitat can be protected and the birds might stand a chance of recovering somewhat.

The speedy disappearance of the bird, however, might not be entirely due to diminishing habitat. It seems that the bird is also a target for predators and hunters, since it is plump and is not easily encouraged to flee from possible danger. Little wonder then with those characteristics – and its possible extinction – that it has been called the ‘European dodo’.

With possibly less than 50 birds remaining in the wild, one may be inclined to think that hopes of reviving wild bird populations, or the species as a whole, are hopeless. But according to Nicola Crockford at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, this is not necessarily the case. She said: “Although the situation for the slender-billed curlew does look gloomy, that other species have risen from the ‘dead’ recently does fuel our optimism.” Hopefully these efforts will prove successful and, not only will the birds be found to be still existing and breeding in the wild, but they will be successfully protected and slowly start to grow in numbers.

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For many bird lovers it seems like the sort of thing dreams are made of – giving up everything to enjoy a year spotting some of the most rare birds in some of the most exotic locations around the globe. Welsh ornithologists Alan Davies and Ruth Miller have done just that. They’ve sold their home and belongings, quit their jobs and set off to break the bird-spotting world record.

The pair of ornithologists met each other as officers with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Their journey together may have started simply enough, but no one would have guessed where it would end up taking them. As part of their goal to break the current record of 3,662, which was set in 1995, Alan and Ruth have set off on a year-long tour that has taken them to the far-flung corners of the globe. They started their journey by selling their house in Llandudno and they used the proceeds to fund their little odyssey. They then set off in hot pursuit of migrating birds, following them to countries such as Finland, Canada and Ethiopia. Their travels across Africa have taken them into some notoriously dangerous territory where common people openly carry AK47 rifles. They have seen a lot in their travels and it seems they don’t regret their decision one bit. The bird they are hoping will help them beat the old record was a sighting of the Blue Bonnet Parrot which they spotted in New South Wales, Australia. They have spotted as many as 3,666 different bird species to date.

One of the rarest birds they have spotted in their travels was the Sidamo Lark in Ethiopia. This small bird is found in only about one square kilometer of desert in that country. They have also seen other stunning birds, such as an Andean Condor, a Burrowing Owl and a Vermilion Flycatcher. While the trip has had its highs, it has also had its lows, and while in Vancouver, Canada, their car was broken into and their video camera complete with footage of the Blue Cotinga and other rare birds spotted in Panama was stolen. They also didn’t budget for the extreme credit crunch that hit this year and so ran out of funds about half way through the year. Nevertheless, they are making the most out of their time abroad and they still plan to travel to India, South Ecuador and Malaysia. They also hope to beat the 4,000 barrier along the way. Unfortunately, their efforts won’t make it into the Guinness Book of World Records because it would have been impossible to ensure that an independent adjudicator was present with each new sighting, but they have tried to film or photograph as many of the sightings as possible and will be submitting their record to the American Bird Association.

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Most people are aware of the fact that years of pollution is taking its toll on our planet and the creatures on it, but when it comes to birds it is sometimes difficult to get an accurate estimate of exactly how badly particular species have been affected. That is all about to change, thanks to a new voice-recording method that has been developed specifically to assist bird conservationists.

A group of computer scientists from the University of Bonn have been working with Humboldt University’s birdsong archives to develop the new recording system. The revolutionary new system will likely prove to be an incredibly useful tool when it comes to the conservation and monitoring of several bird species, since the voice detector can recognize the characteristic bird songs of various bird species. This means the equipment can be set up in a particular spot for a chosen period of time and set to record endless hours, days, weeks or even months of sounds. Once the equipment is then collected and taken back to the office, a simple flick of the switch will allow computer software to sift through the recordings, quickly and accurately providing ornithologists with vital information such as which species are present in a particular spot, and how many members of a particular species have been singing in the area.

The amazing new system will no doubt prove to be of major benefit to conservationists and ornithologists who, up until now, have had to rely largely on man-power to do the work. This not only meant finding voluntary ornithologists to give up large amounts of time and energy as they hide in the undergrowth attempting to spot certain birds, but also meant that the volunteers in question had to have specialist knowledge that would enable them to identify certain species from their call alone – since many birds are almost impossible to spot in the leaves and undergrowth. The bird-recording system will make it much easier to collect data and process it, cutting back on manpower and most likely providing more accurate counts. The computer technology has already been tested on the Savi warbler and the chaffinch. Unfortunately the detector can only focus on the song of one particular species for now but in the future this useful tool will hopefully identify multiple species in one particular area.

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A recent study conducted by researchers from the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University of Illinois has resulted in statistical data to prove that during their nocturnal migration birds fly together in loose flocks. This is the first conclusive data that confirms what many ornithologists and bird-watchers have suspected for some time.

Researchers have spent decades attempting to unlock the mysteries of the nocturnal migration of birds. Considering the size of a bird and the altitude at which it flies, together with the fact that it is nighttime, this has proven to be very difficult. Previous studies have indicated that, although migrating birds may have been flying tens of meters apart, they nonetheless stayed together by flying at the same speed and at approximately the same altitude. However, these studies have not provided convincing proof to support this assertion. Even if a study could establish that the birds were in fact traveling together, there was no way of knowing if this flight pattern was intentional.

The new research project, which has been conducted by professor of animal biology, Ronald Larkin together with Robert Szafoni, analyzed bird-flight data which had been collected by Larkin by means of a low-power-density tracking radar during the 70s and 80s. This radar works by pointing a narrow cone, referred to as a “pencil-beam”, at any target within range. The target, in this case a bird, appears as an echo on the radar screen. With a flip of a switch, the radar locks on the target and tracks it while recording data with regard to the target’s distance from the radar, as well as its altitude and direction of flight. Moreover, the radar provides data which can be used to calculate the frequency of the target bird’s wing beats.

Once the radar has locked onto a bird and is tracking its flight, if another bird appeared in the radar’s beam, the radar operator could switch back and forth between the two birds and thereby track the flight details of both birds simultaneously. Upon analyzing dozens of sets of data, researchers came to the conclusion that a significant number of tracked birds were flying at the same speed, same altitude and in the same direction, even though some of the pairs were more than 200 meters apart.

Ongoing research continues to reveal that birds are fascinating creatures with astounding abilities – and no doubt bird-lovers everywhere agree.

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While many would argue that hen harriers can be found throughout the the northern hemisphere of the globe, conservationists in England are worried that this attractive bird may soon be a thing of the past in their country. According to research there are just twelve hen harrier nests in Bowland Fell and only two elsewhere in the country. Thus, Bowland Fell is considered to be something of a sanctuary for the bird in England.

As part of efforts to conserve and protect the bird, a number of hen harrier chicks in Bowland Fell have been fitted with satellite tracking devices. Conservationists consider the move to be somewhat crucial since the birds move fast over large distances and it is hard to adequately monitor them without radio and satellite devices. In fact hen harriers can cover approximately 60 miles in one day! This makes it especially difficult to protect the birds since they often leave protected areas and become subject to illegal persecution. Loss of habitat is also a big problem for the bird. These birds may be safe at Bowland Fells and the government announced efforts to boost the protection of this bird by including it on the country’s list of species and habitats for conservation, yet despite earnest efforts to ensure the longevity of these birds they are no longer as widespread as they once were. In the past they used to be widespread and could be found in abundance from the lowlands to the uplands. But now it seems numbers of this bird have dwindled so much – mainly due to habitat loss – that conservationists now fear that the harrier may be lost as a breeding bird in England.

The radio tag and solar-powered satellite tracking devices not only allow conservationists to trace the bird to within 150 meters of their location anywhere in the world, but also provide other vital information such as how active the bird is, what the birds temperature is, where it is roosting and when it dies. The tags were fitted to the chicks of a hen harrier named Olivia. Olivia was one of the first hen harriers to be fitted with this sort of device two years ago. Birds previously fitted with the devices have been coping fine and ornithologists do not expect them to bother the birds.

The program was introduced by Natural England and will hopefully help conservationists to understand why the birds have become so rare in England. Unfortunately the fact that they are more widespread in Scotland means that they are not yet on the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan list, but that does not mean that steps cannot be taken to try and prevent further losses.

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With the last verified sighting of a Beck’s Petrel being almost 80 years ago, conservationists were of the opinion that this particular bird species (Pseudobulweria becki) had become extinct. However, to the delight of ornithological conservationists, the British Ornithologists’ Club recently published photographic confirmation of Beck’s Petrel sightings.

The Beck’s Petrel was first described by ornithologist, museum collector and explorer, Rollo Beck. In 1928 Beck discovered a female petrel east of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, and in 1929 a male was found north-east of Rendova, Solomon Islands. The small tube-nosed Beck’s Petrel is dark brown with a white wing-bar, belly and breast. It flies over the ocean with straight wings with tips slightly bent back, and feeds on food items picked from the ocean surface. The Beck’s Petrel is quite similar to the Tahiti Petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata) and, based on this, previously reported sightings of the Beck’s Petrel have been dismissed due to lack of proper evidence.

The re-discovery of Beck’s Petrel is a result of the efforts of Israeli ornithologist, Hadoram Shirihai. In 2003, during a visit to the Bismarck Archipelago, a province of Papua New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean, Shirihai made some tentative sightings of the Beck’s Petrel, but could not confirm these sightings at the time. In July and August 2007 he returned to the area with the hope of confirming the existence of these elusive seabirds, and during the two-week expedition Shirihai observed and photographed an estimated 30 Beck’s Petrels. In addition to photographic evidence, a bird that had recently died was found out at sea, confirming without a doubt that Beck’s Petrels still exist.

Although breeding grounds have not yet been discovered, sightings included juvenile birds, suggesting that Beck’s Petrels are breeding in the area. There are numerous islands and atolls where they could breed and it is believed that the Beck’s Petrel may only visit their breeding grounds at night. These are factors which make the detection of breeding grounds even more difficult.

The ultimate goal of ornithological conservationists would be to assist the Beck’s Petrel to breed to the extent of being removed from the endangered list. They now face the task of investigating ways to protect these seabirds from predatory cats and rats, as well as the widespread logging activity in the islands. Re-discovery of the Beck’s Petrel is sure to add impetus to conservation efforts in the area.

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