You could say so many things are for the birds. The latest is having children in old age.

Jokes aside, scientists are happy to report that a a 74-year-old Laysan albatross with as many as 30 offspring is trying for another child.

The bird with the Latin name Phoebastria immutabilis, and called ‘Wisdom’, nests on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, alongside nearly 70% of all Laysan albatrosses in Hawaii. She was first ringed as an adult in 1956 by the legendary ornithologist Chandler Robbins and is now the world’s oldest known banded bird in the wild.

“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement. Millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young every year.

Wisdom and her partner, a bird called Akeakamai, have returned to the Pacific Ocean atoll since 2006. They mate for life, and lay one egg a year.  Akeakamai has not been seen for the past several years and Wisdom has started speaking with other males since her return.

Albatrosses are not expected to live more than 50 years, making Wisdom a legend among birds. She hatched her latest chick a few years ago in February 2021, making her at least 70 years old.

The post World’s oldest-known wild bird lays egg in Hawaii. She’s 74! appeared first on Green Prophet.

Finch trapping was banned in Malta in 2018, but conservation groups say it hasn’t stopped.

A new report coming out of Cyprus alleges that more than 400,000 songbirds were trapped illegally in the autumn of 2023, poached for an illegal dish. And animal rights activists there say the practice is on the rise.

“Illegal bird trapping has become a demand-driven wildlife crime, with the trading of trapped birds in lawbreaking restaurants being the key economic driver for organised trappers, who, as is generally acknowledged, make thousands of euros of illegal profit every year,” says BirdLife Cyprus.

Songbirds are trapped in nets and then cooked into what is known as ambelopoulia, a controversial dish of grilled, fried, pickled or boiled songbirds. It is a traditional dish enjoyed by native Cypriots and you can find it in some restaurants.

BirdLife Cyprus, who conducted the study found that “illegal bird trapping with mist nets showed an apparent increase during autumn 2023, based on the survey data. Despite this increase, the enforcement efforts of both the SBA police and the Game and Fauna Service are fully acknowledged.

“Autumn 2023 was a good case study of what would happen if resources are removed/ or diverted too soon. Pressure and sufficient enforcement resources committed to tackling bird trapping need to be maintained for many years, to ensure that trapping levels remain low. Any relaxation could undo the positive progress recorded over the last few seasons,” they recommend.

Mark Thomas, the head of the bird group RSPB investigations, said organised trappers are continuing to make huge profits for little risk. “We cannot allow the progress we have made to be undone and the shocking levels of songbird killings to return to the abhorrent levels we once saw,” he said.

The death death toll estimates do not take into consideration any illegal bird trapping taking place into the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus.

Trapping songbirds is currently illegal in Cyprus as it involves trapping wild birds such as blackcaps and European robins. As spring begins in the Middle East and Africa, and migratory birds head to Europe be cautious to not support this illegal dish. While some countries ban the consumption of wildlife to protect it, there is often a problem enforcing the law – as is the case with shark fin soup.

You can also find songbirds for sale in restaurants in Italy and Malta, and according to BirdLife Italy it is estimated that more than 5 million birds are hunted illegally in Italy every year. Some are killed for use in traditional dishes and others, particularly songbirds, are kept alive to be smuggled into Malta.

In northern Italy, “polenta uccelli” is a traditional autumn dish. The birds are grilled on a spit and served with a portion of polenta, as well as a local sausage.

In France a songbird Ortolan Bunting is eaten and is called the sin plate. To hide their shame, people eat it with their heads covered in napkins to hide their sin from God. It is banned in France, but the practice continues.

What’s a person to do? Keep an eye our for bird poaching nets when on hikes in Cyprus, Turkey-occupied Cyprus, Italy, and Malta. If you find the nets or this illegal dish for sale in a restaurant, contact BirdLife Cyprus or BirdLife International. The group also offers ideas for you to do your part, like how to protect songbird nests. last thing: never order a wild bird for dinner.

Get the report on songbirds in Cyprus here. Scroll down to see the report in English.

The post Songbird poaching reaches new highs in Cyprus, Malta and Italy appeared first on Green Prophet.

Egyptian bird hunters trap thousands of migratory birds in a variety of different ways.

Some set up a wall of nets along the Mediterranean Sea to capture the common quail, others set up “shade traps” on the ground, complete with an electronic bird call device that lures the birds in to their senseless death, while others set up nets in trees.

On their long and perilous journey south, migratory birds will seek out acacia trees for rest, but they’ll find hunters waiting for them instead, who will shoot at everything in site, according to The Guardian.

Bycatch, which refers to birds accidentally called up in the murderous fray, are rarely spared even though some pubescent, unenforced laws in Egypt require such caution. As such, scores of shrikes and warblers and other birds will also die unneccessarily.

The European Golden Oriole is particularly vulnerable as hunters seek them out as “natural viagra” for residents of Arab Gulf countries that need a little help in the bedroom.

At one tree at an oasis somewhere in Egypt, Jonathan Franzen, who visited the country last year to report on threats to migrants across the Mediterranean for National Geographic, watched as hunters massacred approximately 5,000 golden orioles.

These are then sold through middlemen to Gulf countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, although Baha el Din claims that .

All told, roughly 140 million birds will be killed in Egypt alone. Lebanon will exact a terrible toll on the migrating bird populations as well, as hunters often kill just for the blood and sport of it, and song birds will be captured in Cyprus and sold for a pickled dish that is considered a delicacy.

Franzen was so disturbed by the scale of unregulated killing in Egypt that he compared this bi-annual bird catch to fishing, a senseless sport that virtually nobody considers to be out of the ordinary.

This was the only way for him to come to terms with the mentality of the people who are responsible for this terrible tradition.

:: The Guardian

Image of migrating birds, Shutterstock

The post Egyptians Hunt Down Migratory Birds for Natural Viagra appeared first on Green Prophet.