Bits and bobs about birds

Here's a few newsy items that haven't made our print edition this week, but are nonetheless interesting -- and birdy:

• While the south-east of Australia endures the worst drought in living memory, there appears to be a bird boom in the Australian desert -- helped in part by recent wet season rains. If you want to know what a birdwatching trip to the outback is like, check out this website -- the photographs are stunning.

• Valentine's Day might be over (you did remember, didn't you?), but you can still take advantage of the World Owl Trust's special offer: "adopt" two owls for the price of one. There's a range of owls available, including barn owls and Ural owls. What a hoot!

• A sea eagle has been spotted in England for the first time in 200 years. The nine-month old female bird is one of 15 birds that were released in Fife, Scotland, last year as part of a major reintroduction programme.

• National Geographic has published an interesting article entitled Where Are All the Migratory Birds Going? which suggests that fewer birds are returning to their breeding grounds every year because of poisoning by pesticides, habitat loss resulting from destructive agriculture and other human pressures. The article has quite an American bias, but it's still alarming to find out that in the Americas alone "more than half of all migrating bird species have dwindled in number in the past 40 years".

What do you keep in your pants?

Actually, don't answer that. But take a look at this...a chap who shoved pigeons down his tights and tried to smuggle them into Australia from Dubai. He was also trying to smuggle two eggs in a vitamin container. With Australia being very strict on the importation of wildlife, the 23-year-old now faces up to ten years in jail.