Oahu Calling - Dolphins Spinning

And I have time to see some dolphins - in fact Spinner Dolphins spinning... which is why they are called Spinner Dolphins (very educational this blog) - anyway let's take in the views from the west coast of Oahu!

Here they come!

They leap and they spin

Difficult to show in a photo but they rotate around their long axix

And then they come over to the boat to bow-ride

In the end there were about 100 around the boat

 Some local whale-watching boats

And here is a view of the spectacular west side of Oahu.

Oahu Calling

Figurehead on Hawaiian racing canoe

So we are going to leave the badgers and the cygnets for a few days and head across the planet to somewhere far away - in fact to pretty-much the opposite side of the planet.

I am in Hawaii for a meeting about marine debris but lucky person that I am, first I have time for a jet-lagged look at the Main City of Oahu - Honolulu and I know I am truly here because one of the local roads is closed to allow for filming of the hardy perennial TV series Hawaii Five Oh!

Here are a few views around the district to the West of Waikiki:

White terns or Manu-o-ku - seen in Magic Park on the seafront of Honolulu - a 'threatened' species

Common Myna (introduced from India to control pests in 1865

A man who loves little doves - he had attracted this large flock in Magic Park

Here's one of them - the diminutive zebra dove

View from Magic Park looking across at Diamond head (extinct volcano) 

And what do we do in Hawaii? We surf, dude!

Like this!

Badgers in the midnight garden (again)

Just a few more images of badgers caught on my photo-trap:

I have not said anything about the UK's highly controversial badger cull on this blog (too sad to contemplate) but if you want an update about this please have a look at HSI/UK's Mark Jones writing HERE for the Huffington Post.

International Court of Justice Ruling - Editorial

Back at the end of June, I pointed to the importance of the ruling made by the International Court of Justice on Japan's whaling activities in the Southern Ocean and some commentaries about this (see HERE).

As a follow-up on this matter I have now had published an editorial piece on this topic in the latest edition of the journal Antarctic Science.

The article is free access and can be read online HERE

Note that a linked PDF file of the article can also be downloaded from the site.

If you are interested in my other scientific publications - the great majority of these are now listed on the ResearchGate website HERE

Enjoy!.

Some summer fledglings (and some ducklings)

'Tis the season.... when lots of young 'adolescent' birds are finally abandoned by their parents and have to find their own way in the world. They can be recognized by their immature plumage (which is also typically thinner and less protective than that of adults) and generally somewhat gormless attitude. This is a testing time for the youngsters but the summer has so far been kind. It has been warm and there has been little rain.

Here are a few of examples:

Young blackbird

Young house sparrows

Young blackbird again

Juvenile European robin

and again

and again.

Another different juvenile robin - in this case starting to show adult plumage

And finally - a second brood of ducklings for this mallard - she has eight in tow (the other four are hidden behind her) -

Lawn Watch - summer 2014

Back to the English country garden in mid-summer.

Here my camera trap shows what happens across 24 hours:

21.28 First badger of the night arrives - it is not yet fully dark

21.51 A second enters the garden (and a third comes a few seconds later)

22.10. Badgers leave

23.13 A lone badger returns for a few minutes

02.22 A fast moving cat

03.55 Another badger - again he only stays for a few minutes

05.34 The next image captured is not until dawn when a fat wood pigeon triggers the camera sensor

06.34 Second cat visitor

 At 08.08 some bird food is scattered across the lawn.

08.18 A wood pigeon and starlings descend to feed

After the feeding frenzy, the lawn is quiet except for this young magpie at 10.41 ...

...and a collared dove at 17.31

Back with the cygnets on the canal

So back on the canal in midsummer.  We last looked at these cygnets three weeks ago June 16th) see here. 

The day is warm but wet and their fluffy feathers are a little bedraggled but the hen and cob (mum and dad) are still doing a good job and all six are thriving.  

Note the watchful parent here. 

Fluffy bottoms up

Just like dad!