The page cannot be found

Did you know that 7.5 billion landbirds currently call North America home?  That’s an awful lot of birds, but here is a question – think about it.  When did you last see a dead bird?  The adult  mortality rate of songbirds is around 45% in their first year, so why is it we don’t see many (or any) dead birds?  So, what happens to birds when they die, when they fall off their metaphorical perch?

It seems that behavior changes when a bird senses that it is not long before it slips off its mortal coil.  They become lethargic and seek cover.  When a bird knows that its health is compromised it retreats to places where predators are unlikely to spot it.  It is an instinctive threat response – to hide because it even though it is on its way out, it still doesn't want to be killed by a predator.  So birds die in places that you can’t see into - dense foliage often covers them up after death.   Even if the bird dies in plain sight, the average time it is visible is about 30 minutes to 4 hours.  Scavengers get them. As well as insect action, cats and even other birds can come along and pick up the carcass.  Watch this fascinating video by Bird Whisper, which delves into more detail below.

The tropical zone of planet Earth contains many wonderful species which have adapted over time to their environment.  The Jaçana (the c is pronounced like the one in façade) consists of eight species; all are found within the tropical zone and all in possession of something quite special which equips them take best advantage of their habitat.  At home in shallow lakes with lots of vegetation, the Jaçana has evolved enormous feet and claws.  They are, literally, the big foot of the bird world.  Once seen, never forgotten.

The vegetation which floats upon many shallow lakes in the world’s tropical zone contains a veritable smorgasbord for any bird able to reach them.  Most are home to a huge variety of insects and other invertebrates.  Yet the vegetation which houses this feast is what disables access to it.  Now, if only a bird could walk on the vegetation without submerging it (and itself) with the weight, all this food would be theirs for the taking.  Enter the Jaçana.

The National Bird of two countries - Zimbabwe and Zambia – the African Fish Eagle is a bird that, with its gorgeous snow white head, once seen is never forgotten.

The Eagle is found in most parts of the continent – as long as you are south of the edge of the Sahara Desert.  Also known as the African Sea Eagle it is found anywhere near where there is water containing fish.  It has a distinctive call which immediately identifies it, but what really stands out is its magnificent plumage.

It is partnership between man and animal which has lasted over a millennia. A fisherman needs to catch enough fish to sell and feed himself and his family. Sometimes that means that he needs an assistant. Along the river ways of China that assistance has come from a member of the pelicaniformes order of birds – the bird we call the cormorant.

These are working animals in much the same way as dogs and horses on farms in the west with a specific role assigned to them. The major primary difference is that the cormorants are not born in to captivity. They are lured by bait and caught. The training process can then begin.

There are a number of things which separate the burrowing owl from other species. The first clue is in the name.  Another is that they are the smallest species of owl on the planet and more often or not they do not weight more than half a pound in weight and reach around ten inches in height. They also come out in the day time, unlike most other owls.

That is not a snake that the adult burrowing owl is feeding to its chick. It's a caterpillar - which goes to show just how small they are. They are also much more relaxed around humans than other species of owls.  They will happily colonize areas like airports and golf courses and have even been known to nest in larger gardens. As long as there are open areas and a good water supply they seem to be content to live near us.

Storks make their nests high. To us they look remarkably precarious structures, not exactly a desirable residence – the ‘des res’ of your dreams. The stork, however, thrives at height most of us would avoid like the plague. Take a look at some amazing nests of the stork.

Although many Europeans encourage storks to nest on the roof of their home – it is supposed to increase the fecundity of the householders – many would gasp at the inherent danger that lies in building one’s home on top of a deadly current of electricity. In Denmark, however, the stork is not a welcome guest and so this would be considered appropriate alternative housing. The Danish believe that if a stork builds a nest on top of your house then someone who lives there will die before the year ends. These parent storks, however, will not be on the nest for great periods of time. This stork in Hungary is flying back to the nest to feed its offspring. The visit will need to be fairly quick though – stork chicks can eat anything up to sixty percent of their body weight each day. That is quite a few fish and frogs.

If you have children you will no doubt have experienced the heart stopping moment when you realize the little one has wandered off and you cannot see them anywhere. You might imagine, then, how the average King Penguin parent might feel when they return to feed their chick. Yet it is all part of the King Penguin’s master plan for the survival of the next generation.

Are you in need of a few moments of relaxation? Then look no further. Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands covers about 56 square kilometers and, surprisingly, did not exist until the polder was created in 1968.  Amazingly it is now internationally important as a waterfowl habitat.  Benfilm visited this amazing place in May of 2018 and this beautiful, peaceful and relaxing video footage is the result.  Go and get a cup of something to sip while you reflect on the beauty we still have in this world…

Many species of birds possess crest feathers and this feature dates back to the age of the dinosaur: the fossil record indicates that a number of species had feathers on their heads.  You might think that they are for display purposes – and you would not be wrong although their function is sometimes more complex than that.  However, some birds take this avian attribute to the extreme. The results are striking and beautiful.  We present the Ark in Space’s Top Ten Crest Feathered Birds.

10 - The White-Crested Helmetshrike
Over to Africa where we find the White-crested helmetshrike – the name says it all really.  What makes this bird even more striking is the vivid yellow periophthalmic ring (the protective circle of bare skin) around its eye.  It is a very sociable bird and moves around in small social groups.  You can always tell when you are close to a party of WCHs – they chat to each other very noisily.

Sometimes it is simply play, at others it is in deadly earnest.  Yet when animals fight there is something that draws us to watch despite the potential fatal outcome.  Perhaps it appears to something visceral and basic in our instincts - or perhaps we just like to watch a good old fashioned tooth and claw fight.

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. Muhammad Ali 

The hoopoe is a beautiful, exotic looking bird which is found across three continents.  It is distinctive to say the very least – a pair of striking black and white wings, a long and elegant beak and a pink-brown body topped with a magnificent crest.  This lovely clip from The Life of Trees by Polish wildlife filmmaker Artur Homan catches this magnificent creature in slow motion flight – and it will take your breath away.

The Brown Wood Owl has a special place in Sri Lankan folklore, known as the devil bird. So when filmmaker Thivanka Perera came across a pair in the crevice of a tree trunk he decided to monitor their progress.  The resulting short film tells the story of survival against all the odds and while the ending is not a completely one, this reflects the way that nature operates. This film officially selected for the 2014 Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York.

In June 2012 Cain Scrimgeour visited RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) Troup Head in Scotland, to produce a short promotional film for the RSPB. A week was spent filming on the high sea cliffs of the reserve, where he was privileged to be in the presence of the beautiful and prehistoric Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus. The close proximity allowed him to delve into the Gannets lives, witnessing the complexity of their behavioural traits.

Cain takes up the story: During the week the weather was by majority hot and sunny with flat seas, this proved to be challenging in terms of exposure whilst filming these large white birds, but it also meant that the majority of the Gannets kept to the cliff edges, never venturing above the cliff tops. Only two days did I experience wind which provided some interesting photograph and filming opportunities. The waves picked up, and began crashing into the base of the rocky cliffs, whilst the winds updrafts allowed the Gannets to gain height, congregating at the uppermost parts of the cliff face, gliding effortlessly above the horizon.

Spring is such a magical time of year and it is wonderful to come across a piece of film which captures it in all its majesty. On the Way Home was shot over two days at FreezeOut Lakein North Central Montana in the US this spring.

The shots of the migrating birds, especially the geese are captured on HDV and the music is absolutely spot on here. So, go and grab a coffee (or whatever you drink while near your computer keyboard!) and take in this amazing spring spectacle for yourself.

The Sanderling is a small wader. It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia. It is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches.

Oh and it is also a very funny bird to watch. They often stand on one leg and hop along like Long John Silver. Plus although they congregate close to the sea they really don’t seem to want to get wet so every time a wave comes in, away they hop and run!

This marvelous piece of filmmaking was created by Javier Salinas Laguna. It’s a gorgeous piece of film and the music ("Playful by the dozen" by Daniel Pemberton) is particularly well chosen.

One day Jarbas Agnelli was reading his newspaper when he saw a picture of birds on electric wires which immediately fascinated him.. He noticed that the positions of the birds looked like a pice of musical notation.  He set about recreating the melody based on where the birds were perched.

He contacted the photographer who had taken the original picture who was also intrigued by the music.  He informed his Editor and the whole idea was turned in to a story in the newspaper.  Agnelli, spurred on, then created this animation with the photo, the music and the score.

There is absolutely no Photoshop involved here - the melody is created from the exact positions of the birds on the wires.  It's a lovely little tune, too!

Each Spring the woodlands of America resound to the birdsong of returning visitors.  Warblers – fifty three species of them all in all – arrive and right now is the best time to see them as they migrate.  Their arrival heralds a dazzling dash of colour as the greenness of American forests is peppered as if with the ravishing hues of thousands of tiny precious stones.  Here are some of the returnees announcing the spring in their unique way.  It must be said that they usually seem to be a little happier than the disgruntled looking Yellow-rumped Warbler above.

The male Chestnut-sided warbler (above) cannot be mistaken.  They have dark-streaked grey backs with white faces and black eyestripes.  This is topped off with an olive crown.  They breed in the eastern North America and the south of Canada.

Like all New World Warblers, the Hooded Warbler (above) winters in Central America, only to return to the United States to nest every spring.  They feed on insects which they find in low vegetation or, rather more spectacularly, they will catch their meals by hawking.  This is when they watch for their prey from a perch and then fly after it and snatch it from the air in their beak.  The Hooded Warbler is often the victim of brood parisitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird.

Townsend’s Warbler is named after the US ornithologist John Kirk Townsend who discovered the bird in 1833 on an expedition that went across the Rocky Mountains and on to the Pacific Ocean. They make shallow cups for nests and usually lay four or five eggs. Where ranges overlap they breed with the very similar Hermit Warbler.

The Yellow Warbler breeds all over North America and in the summer the males of this group are the yellowest of all warblers (although with some washed out streaks on their breast), as you can see from the picture above.    This bird is also parasitized by the cowbird but they will often smother the egg with new nesting material or abandon the nest altogether.  Occasionally though, they will raise the cowbird with its own brood as, notably, the cowbird nestling will not attempt to kill the young of its host.

With the black stripe over his eyes the Magnolia variety looks like the Dick Turpin of the New World Warblers. It breeds in coniferous woodland and, like most warblers, lays its egg in a rather flimsy cup of a nest.  They will also feed on spiders and other insects and will even take berries in inclement weather when their natural prey stay hidden.

This beauty is the Prothonotary Warbler, so called because of the resemblance between it and officials of the Roman Catholic Church who bore the name originally and who wore golden vestments.   Unfortunately these birds are declining in numbers due to loss of habitat and also competition from the House Wren.

Many of the warblers here have a consistent problem with nest parisitism and you may not think that is too much of a problem. However, when you look at the difference in size between this Wilson's Warbler and the cowbird nestling that it has unwittingly raised as its own the issue becomes rather more transparent.  The picture below gives you an even better idea about just how small the Wilson's really is.

The Blue-winged Warbler (above) is fairly common and breads in eastern North America where its range is extending northwards.  A bird was once found in Ireland but it usually stays put in the Americas.  It nests in a very low bush or even on the ground and can lay up to seven eggs in a single clutch.

This cheeky looking chap is the Cape May Warbler which breeds in virtually all of Canada and in to New England and the Great Lakes.  It winters in the West Indies but when in its breeding habitat at the edge of coniferous forest it likes to nest in the thick foliage at the base of its preferred tree, the Black Spruce.  It can lay up to a magnificent nine eggs.

The Yellow-throated Warbler loves to live in coniferous forests but can also be found in swamps.  Although they eat insects and can catch them using a hovering technique they will also eat a large amount of berries and will consume nectar outside of their breeding time.  They will hide their nest with either conifer needles or Spanish Moss  and will usually lay four eggs.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler get its name for obvious reasons.

Our final warbler is the Northern Parula, the male of which develops rufous and bluish breast bands in the summer as well as very prominent white eye crescents. I would like to thank Michael McCarthy of the Independent newspaper, whose recent article on these birds (where he bemoans their lack of fame in the animal world) was the inspiration for this attempt to bring these warblers to a wider audience.

As the oil begins to wash ashore on Louisiana’s beaches the cost to the human population will be enormous. On the local wildlife the disaster may have an incalculable effect. Here are just some of the species in danger from the oil that continues to flow from the Deepwater Horizon.

These large herbivorous marine mammals – about as friendly as marine animals come (towards humans that is) can grow up to four meters in length. Every year several hundred manatees travel towards the waters off the coast of Louisiana after spending their winter in Florida. Once they get to these waters they graze on the vast beds of sea grass in the area. Already critically endangered the oil from the rig may be what finally ends this unique community.


 This is a critical time of year for many species of songbirds and shorebirds who are going through their primary migratory period. This area is called the Mississipi Flyway and runs right through the area affected by the slick. For other species of birds this is when they nest and lay their eggs. The very first animal casualty to have been rescued was a Northern Gannet. Recovered offshore on April 30, it was alive and has been taken to a local emergency rehabilitation center. As Northern Gannets dive into the sea to catch fish it is expected that many thousands of this species may die.


The Gulf of Mexico is home to five out of seven of the world’s sea turtles, where they live, breed and migrate. By far the most endangered is the Kemp’s Ridley. One of its two main routes of Migration is south of Mississippi. And guess when they start arriving back in the Gulf to take advantage of its warm waters? Yes, you guess it – May.



The Brown Pelican is the avian symbol of Louisiana. Although it is the smallest of the pelican species (eight in total) it is still an impressively sized bird. It has a wingspan of up to eight feet and can weigh up to twelve pounds. It is nesting season for the Brown Pelican and thousands of pairs of birds are in the process of mating and nesting at the moment. Unfortunately their nesting site is the Breton National Wildlife Refuge which is directly threatened by the slick. If the oil gets ashore then it is the end of this year’s nesting season, with the chick populations likely to be wiped out.


The Northern Atlantic right whale has only a population of around four hundred on planet earth – period. They were depleted by commercial whaling and the coastal waters off Florida and Georgia are the only calving areas known for this species. It is feared that these wonderful animals may dive deep for food and then hit the slick as they come up. Although no sightings have been made of the right whale around the slick, this is not the case for the sperm whale. It is not only the oil that threatens these enormous mammals, but the toxins that it is already releasing in to the air.



The whale shark is the largest fish in the world and can reach over eleven meters in length. They are mostly solitary creatures and spend the larger proportion of the year on their own. However at this time of year onwards through summer around a hundred of them get together in the Gulf of Mexico. Right next to the Louisiana/Mississippi state line. This beautifully marked fish has been around for sixty million years – and it was thought for a long time that they fed exclusively on plankton. However, they have been seen feeding on small fish too.



Previously a victim of the plume trade this gorgeous member of the heron family’s luck has just taken a turn for the worse. It is a coastal bird and it has no alternative feeding grounds in the Louisiana area, let alone anywhere else to nest. Out of the two thousand nesting pairs in the US, most are in Texas and are already classified as threatened. What the encroaching oil slick might do to their numbers is an unsettling thought.



The blue crab is a staple of the local seafood industry and lives in the coastal marshes. Although it is not classified as endangered in any way it is vital to the local ecosystems in the coastal marshes of Louisiana. It eats plans and animals – and is also something of a cannibal. Apart from us its natural predators makes for quite a list, from sting rays to trout, eels and sharks.



The season for inshore shrimp begins in the middle of May while the brown shrimp pictured are in their post larval and juvenile stage at the current moment in time. The State of Louisiana has allowed a special shrimp season so that the local fishermen and women can bring in as great a quantity of the maturing shrimp as possible before the almost inevitable major environmental disaster.


This foraging fish spawns all year round and is fertile to say the very least. The eggs are hatched in the ocean and the larvae drift in to sheltered estuaries thanks to the natural currents of the ocean. Here they spend a year before they head out to the ocean again – but that may not be the case this year. While a mature female can produce almost four hundred thousand eggs these numerous fish have a number of uses – from animal feed to cosmetics. Although they spawn all year – this is their major period for reproduction. (Below is a picture of the species killed through severe hypoxia-near anoxia in 2003 but we may be seeing a lot of this on the news very soon.