Olivier Dupont

Epipactis muelleri

Gymnadenia odoratissima

Aren't Epipactis the best looking orchids? With all their shades of... green 🤩 An excursion with the #Naturalistesbelges in southern Belgium under the guidance of Pierre Devillers delivered its two targets: Epipactis muelleri and Gymnadenia odoratissima, only known from a handful of sites

First breeding of greater black-backed gull for Belgium in the Zeebrugge front harbor gull colony 👇

Lesser Kestrel and Kestrel enjoying the Belgian sun

The 4th Lesser Kestrel for Belgium—an adult male (!)—is currently feasting on crickets on an airfield managed by the administration and @natuurpunt.bsky.social, kindly opened to birders for the occasion. The 1st twitchable, a few days after our 1st twitchable Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. #BirdingBelgium

And the 2cy Red-footed Falcon a hundred meters from there was a nice addition!

The 2nd Blue-cheeked Bee-eater for Belgium put on a show last Sunday, but left early in the afternoon. It was the 1st twitchable for the country, as the previous one was a flyover. Symens & Ducastel discuss the 2017 record, its ssp. id and wider European context: www.natuurpunt.be/sites/defaul...

YouTube video by BTOvideo BTO – Becoming More Inclusive

We are delighted to be sharing our new video with you today, which captures the work we are doing collectively at BTO to become more inclusive. 😀🐦 Find out more about this work at www.bto.org/inclusivity

https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54130896 (via Zoonomen https://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/frame.html) (Latin) A. Melanorhynchos. Tergi plumis, habitu, et fere magnitudine nec non totius ptiloseos pictura Egrettae, diversa ab ea : rostro, pedibus unguibusque nigris, unicoloribus, exceptis maxillae basi a naribus usque ad frontem ac regione ante oculos nuda flavis; occipitis crista vix ulla. Habitat in Senegambia. (English) A. Melanorhynchos. The back feathers, the habit, and almost the whole size are similar to those of the Egret, differing from it: the beak, feet, and claws are black, all one-colored, except for the base of the jaw from the nostrils to the forehead and the region before the eyes, which is bare yellow; there is scarcely any occipital crest. Habitat in Senegambia.

In the OD, Wagler mentions a nearly entirely black bill as a main feature (see alt)—hence the name melanorhynchos. Looks like seasonal variation in bare parts colouration has long been a source of confusion in Great Egret subspecific identification. Looking at you red-legged birds in Western Europe…

Ardea alba melanorhynchos—with black legs, a dagger-shaped bill, a light loral area, a long gape, and a wide 'moustache' reaching the tomium. I can finally put a name on this Great Egret seen on Santiago (Cape Verde) in 02/2022. Great paper in DB and superb illustrations by Sébastien Reeber! Thanks!

« La cellule Déméter menace les militants animalistes et environnementalistes, ainsi que les libertés associatives » Créée en 2019 au sein de la gendarmerie, cette cellule est notamment chargée de collecter des informations sur les « actions de nature idéologique » remettant en cause le modèle agricole. Dans une tribune au « Monde », un collectif de quelque 120 signataires s’inquiète des méthodes de cette cellule et demande sa dissolution.

« La cellule Déméter menace les militants animalistes et environnementalistes, ainsi que les libertés associatives »

« Le cancer est, au moins partiellement, une maladie politique » CHRONIQUE. Ne mettre en avant que les comportements individuels (tabac, alcool…), la génétique et le dépistage face à des cas de cancers plus nombreux occulte les causes structurelles de la maladie, o...

«Lorsque la maladie frappe, le premier réflexe est de s’interroger rétrospectivement sur ses habitudes de vie, son alimentation, les lieux qu’on a fréquentés : à la vérité, il faudrait aussi se demander pour qui on a voté.» Stéphane Foucart @sfoucart.bsky.social
www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...

Great banded grayling, Brintesia circe, is a widespread Satyrid in southern Europe. In Belgium there were only two sightings. In 1994 a dead one was found in Limburg along a busy road, chances are high it arrived in Belgium on the bumper of a car... www.phegea.org/Phegea/1995/... (1/)

Quick thread on some new papers on the science of impacts of bird feeding since the publication of our papers here www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... and here britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... #Ornithoogy #UKBirding🧵 1/

Possible migrations routes and survival estimates for eastern and western populations of Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Yellow-breasted Bunting with coloured leg rings and tracking device (geolocator) on its back

Finally published: migration routes and adult survival of the critically endangered Yellow-breasted Bunting

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

-moderate survival in E but no returning birds in W
-long autumn (moult) stopovers in China

Many thanks to all collaborators in 🇷🇺🇩🇪🇲🇳🇹🇭🇲🇲

#animalmigration #ornithology

Worrying news from the heartland of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in Britain. Meanwhile, in #Wales the number of sites at which LSW is recorded has more than halved in the last 15 years (chart from forthcoming @birdsinwales.bsky.social 2023 Bird Report). Sad times. #BirdingWales (1/2)

In Wallonia (BE), only 1,3% of the territory is under strict nature protection regime. The new regional government is committed to reaching 5% by 2030, but at the same time is cutting in half the budgets for acquisition of land to set up nature reserves. Find the error. #Conservation #biodiversity

At the end of the year we can look back at the butterfly year 2024 in NL. What went up, what went down, and what species things did we notice? A threat in English. /1

VIOLENCES CONTRE LES DÉFENSEURS DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT : LE COMITE FRANÇAIS DE L’UICN APPELLE LE GOUVERNEMENT À AGIR - UICN France Au cours des mois de novembre et de décembre 2024, ce sont plusieurs locaux d’associations membres de France Nature Environnement (FNE) et de la Ligue pour la protection des oiseaux (LPO) qui ont ét...

L'UICN rappelle que la cible 22 du « cadre mondial de la biodiversité de Kunming à Montréal » adopté en décembre 2022 et engageant la France, impose au Gouvernement d’« assurer la pleine protection des défenseurs des droits de l’Homme en matière d’environnement ».

uicn.fr/violences-co...

Exceptional work by @migueldefelipe.bsky.social revealing how the state of wetlands around Doñana National Park has flyway-scale impacts for waterbirds. #ornithology

Crucially: rice fields don't host huge nrs of certain species bc birds prefer them, but bc of lack of suitable natural wetlands.

À prendre avec des pincettes parce que c'est largement en dehors de mon champ de compétences, mais tu trouveras probablement ce que tu cherches ici : cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/rea... Dans la nuit du 13 au 14/05/2024 à c. 1500m d'altitude (850 hPa), le vent soufflait du SSW à 35km/h environ.