Bird Photo: Northern Lapwing

Migratory Visitor to Okinawa

These birds are easy to identify, with their whacky colors and hairdos.

The pair, I spotted today, were the first, I've seen this winter and, they seemed sort of shy.

It seems, the population of these critters in on a serious decline, I just learned.

The IUCN Red List has them catagorized as Near Threatened (NT) this year.

People in Iran, eat the poor things. Do you think that's criminal ?

Well, I found out, in France, Greece, Italy and Spain, they hunt these birds, too.

What are those crazy people doing, trying to start World War III ?

It got me thinking. I should call up that Donald Trump and, have a chat with him.

You never know. Maybe, he'll make me one of his ambassadors.

See a Vanellus vanellus in brighter light HERE

It's time for me to go get into a better temperament at some of my favorite watering holes.

Endangered Species: Sword-tailed Newt (Photo)

This photo was taken up in the hills of Okinawa, Japan.

It was one of the few times I've ever seen one of these critters out of the water.

So, I squatted down low, with the Pentax K5 on a tripod and used the big Sigma to zoom-in.

Letting people know about endangered species is important.

The Sword-tailed Newt is on the IUCN Red List as Endangered, I learned on ARKive.

Folks should do something about these animals, before humans become endangered, too !

Related Post: Sunday's Silly Sign April 24, 2011

Wildlife: Whimbrel Watching at The Okukubi River in Okinawa

This series of photos was taken along the Okukubi River in Okinawa, Japan.

The Whimbrel goes by the scientific name, Numenius phaeopus.

The reason we're whimbrel watching today is the cherry blossoms aren't ready for flower watching, yet.  

So, I dug up some birds for you instead.

It's always fun doing wildlife research.  You'd be surprised at the things you can learn.

Like, these birds, also known as Curlews, breed in subarctic areas of North America, Europe, Asia and, even Scotland but, they winter in warmer places, like Okinawa.

That long nose, they have hanging off their face is used for probing.

They may be seen along the shores of rivers searching for invertebrates in the sand.

Little sand crabs are fair game whether they try to hide among rocks in the water. or along the shore.

Whenever I reasearch wildlife, I like to check to see if the critter I have photos of, is an endangered species.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the best place to go for this kind of information.  They know what species are endangered, all around the world.

Today, I took my whimbrel watching photos and did some up-to-date-research and I discovered that the Numenius phaeopus is on the

IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES

LISTED AS LEAST CONCERN (LC)

GUESS WHAT, PEOPLE ?
 

You ain 't gonna believe me so, I'll give you the link.

HUMANS ARE ON THAT LIST, TOO !