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Speckled Reed Warbler
The speckled reed warbler or streaked reed warbler (''Acrocephalus sorghophilus'') is an Old World warbler in the family Acrocephalidae. The species was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1863. It is found in China and the Philippines. Its natural habitats are swamps and arable land. It is threatened by habitat loss, particularly wetland loss in its wintering area of Candaba Swamp. Description EBird describes the bird as "A mysterious and secretive reed warbler; formerly fairly common but now increasingly rare and possibly near extinction. The only Asian reed warbler with a streaked crown and back. Adults bear a passing resemblance to the much more common Black-browed Reed Warbler but have prominent striping all along the back and crown, a less contrasting brow pattern, and are noticeably paler in color. Recorded in marshes and wet fields on passage and during the winter, but breeding grounds remain unknown. Gives a rattling, grating song akin to an Oriental Reed Warbler, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Swinhoe
Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Qing-era Taiwan (then known to Westerners as Formosa). He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him. Biography Swinhoe was born in colonial-era Kolkata (then known as Calcutta) where his father, who came from a Northumberland family, was a lawyer. There is no clear record of the date of his arrival in England, but it is known he attended the University of London, and in 1854, joined the China consular corps. He was stationed to the remote port of Amoy, some 300 miles to the northeast of Hong Kong, in 1855. While at this port, he not only mastered the Chinese language (both official Mandarin and the local Amoy dialect), but also initiated a detailed and authoritative understanding of the ornithology of eastern China. In March 1856, Swinhoe made an "adventurous" visit to the camphor districts of no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Candaba Swamp
Candaba Swamp is located in Pampanga and Bulacan provinces, 60 km northeast of Manila in the Philippines. It encompasses about 32,000 ha, made of freshwater ponds, swamps and marshes surrounded by seasonally flooded grasslands. The entire area becomes submerged underwater during the wet season. It dries out during the months of November to April, then the swamp is converted to farmland by the locals. Watermelon and rice are usually planted, comprising the vegetation of the floodplain, together with patches of Nipa palm and some mangrove species. The Candaba swamp also acts as a natural flood retention basin during the rainy season. It holds the overflow from five smaller rivers (Maasim, San Miguel, Garlang, Bulu and Peñaranda), then drains into the larger Pampanga River The Pampanga River is the second largest river on the island of Luzon in the Philippines (next to Cagayan River) and the country's fifth longest river. It is in the Central Luzon region and traverses th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Described In 1863
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds, have furth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acrocephalus (bird)
The ''Acrocephalus'' warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Acrocephalus''. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh and tree warbler family Acrocephalidae. They are sometimes called marsh warblers or reed warblers, but this invites confusion with marsh warbler and Eurasian reed warbler, reed warbler. These are rather drab brownish warblers usually associated with marshes or other wetlands. Some are streaked, others plain. Many species breeding in temperate regions are bird migration, migratory. This genus has heavily diversified into many species throughout islands across the tropical Pacific Ocean, Pacific. This in turn has led to many of the resulting insular Endemism, endemic species to become Endangered species, endangered. Several of these species (including all but one of the species endemic to the Mariana Islands, Marianas and two endemic to French Polynesia) have al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dalton Pass
Dalton Pass, also called Balete Pass, is a zigzag road and mountain pass that joins the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya, in central Luzon island of the Philippines. It is part of Cagayan Valley Road segment of Pan-Philippine Highway (Maharlika Highway). Geography The summit of the mountain pass is at around in elevation,Smith, R.R., 2005, Triumph in the Philippines, Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, located where the Caraballo Sur (mountain range) and the Sierra Madre (mountain range) meet. The headwaters of the Digdig River originate just south of the pass. Balete Ridge starts to the west-northwest of the pass, with a high point at Mt. Imugan (), and extends to the east-southeast, where it ends at Mt. Kabuto (). Dalton Pass is a gateway to the Cagayan Valley, and the Ifugao Rice Terraces. History Road creation The idea for establishing a road along the pass originated with Father Juan Villaverde, a Spanish Dominican missionary priest who worked i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramsar Site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) ** es on inorganic soils: *** Permanent (herb dominated) (Tp) *** Permanent / Seasonal / Intermittent (shrub dominated)(W) *** Permanent / Seasonal / Intermittent (tree dominated) (Xf) *** Seasonal/intermittent (herb dominated) (Ts) ** Marshes on soils: *** Permanent (non-forested)(U) *** Permanent (forested)(Xp) ** Marshes on inorganic or peat soils: *** Marshes on inorganic or peat soils / High altitude (alpine) (Va) *** Marshes on inorganic or peat soils / Tundra (Vt) * Saline, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Critically Endangered
An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of the 157,190 species currently on the IUCN Red List, 9,760 of those are listed as critically endangered, with 1,302 being possibly extinct and 67 possibly extinct in the wild. The IUCN Red List provides the public with information regarding the conservation status of animal, fungi, and plant species. It divides various species into seven different categories of conservation that are based on habitat range, population size, habitat, threats, etc. Each category represents a different level of global extinction risk. Species that are considered to be critically endangered are placed within the "Threatened" category. As the IUCN Red List does not consider a species extinct until extensive targeted surveys have been conducted, species that a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa, especially in India, Mali, Nigeria, and Niger, with 97% of production in Developing country, developing countries. The crop is favoured for its Agricultural productivity, productivity and short growing season under hot dry conditions. The millets are sometimes understood to include the widely cultivated sorghum; apart from that, pearl millet is the most commonly cultivated of the millets. Finger millet, proso millet, and foxtail millet are other important crop species. Millets may have been consumed by humans for about 7,000 years and potentially had "a pivotal role in the rise of multi-crop agriculture and settled farming societies". Etymology The word ''millet'' is derived via Old French ''millet, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EBird
eBird is an online database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Originally restricted to sightings from the Western Hemisphere, the project expanded to include New Zealand in 2008, and again expanded to cover the whole world in June 2010. eBird has been described as an ambitious example of enlisting amateurs to gather data on biodiversity for use in science. eBird is an example of crowdsourcing, and has been hailed as an example of democratizing science, treating citizens as scientists, allowing the public to access and use their own data and the collective data generated by others. History and purpose Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University and the National Audubon Society, eBird gathers basic data on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. It was mainly inspired by the , created by Jacques Larivée ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat Loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease in biodiversity and Abundance (ecology), species numbers. Habitat destruction is in fact the leading cause of biodiversity loss and species extinction worldwide. Humans contribute to habitat destruction through the Exploitation of natural resources, use of natural resources, agriculture, industrial production and urbanization (urban sprawl). Other activities include mining, logging and trawling. Environmental factors can contribute to habitat destruction more indirectly. Geological processes, climate change, introduced species, introduction of invasive species, ecosystem nutrient depletion, water pollution, water and noise pollution are some examples. Loss of habitat can be preceded by an initial habitat fragmentation. Fragmentation and lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old World Warbler
The Old World warblers are a large group of birds formerly grouped together in the bird family Sylviidae. They are not closely related to the New World warblers. The family held over 400 species in over 70 genera, and were the source of much taxonomic confusion. Two families were split out initially, the cisticolas into Cisticolidae and the kinglets into Regulidae. In the past 20–30 years they have been the subject of much research and many species are now placed into other families, including the Acrocephalidae, Cettiidae, Phylloscopidae, and Megaluridae. In addition some species have been moved into existing families or have not yet had their placement fully resolved. Only a small number of warblers, in just two genera, are now retained in the family Sylviidae. Characteristics Most Old World warblers are of generally undistinguished appearance, though some species are boldly marked. The sexes are often identical, but may be clearly distinct, notably in the genera '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arable Land
Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of agricultural statistics, the term often has a more precise definition: A more concise definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual rather than potential uses: "land worked (ploughed or tilled) regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation". In Britain, arable land has traditionally been contrasted with pasturable land such as heaths, which could be used for sheep-rearing but not as farmland. Arable land is vulnerable to land degradation and some types of un-arable land can be enriched to create useful land. Climate change and biodiversity loss are driving pressure on arable land. By country According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2013, the world's arable land amo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
