BirdLife: The Magazine June 2017 | Page 2
EDITORIAL
Together we are BirdLife International
Partnership for nature and people
THE SEASON OF
LOVE
No matter how vast the skies you roam, how endless the
oceans you swim, how many air-miles and meetings and
working hours in your day, there comes a time in life when you
need specific conditions: abundant food, a limited amount of
predators… and some peace. It’s the season of love, the time
of mating, reproducing and raising your offspring.
Even the tireless wanderers of the skies and the seas, used to
a life on the move, will stop for their nest. It is the case with
albatrosses, which wander the oceans alone throughout the
year, only returning to land in
the breeding season, to reu-
nite with their life-long part-
ner. Safety of the chicks is the
reason why seabirds choose
to nest on breathtaking cliffs.
The Brown Pelicans on the
Louisiana flag (the first bird I
could relate to closely, thanks
to Audubon’s rescue pro-
gramme in the Gulf of Mexico
in 2011, during the Deepwater
Horizon disaster) stop in the
marshes to mate and raise their
chicks. Sheltered by thick vegetation, surrounded by an infinite
choice of fish pond restaurants, the pelican family can prosper
and take the break needed for the chicks to grow, flap their
brand new wings and, eventually, be recruited to their flock.
Even some pelagic fish, who spend their lives diving the infinity
of the oceans, will return to reproduce in overcrowded coral
reefs, where the cracks and crevices, the spikes and rocky
branches of the coral forest provide shelter to the little ones.
That very natural, and yet so special, season of life is as natu-
ral as is extraordinarily fragile. It often requires several factors
to coincide to reach the perfect circumstances for success-
ful child rearing. Unfortunately, we seem to do our best to
destroy those special conditions and their breeding grounds.
These places, these “love retreats”, are incredibly delicate. For
some, like the flamingos in Lake Natron (p. 36), it’s about pro-
tection from destructive economic activity. For others, like
the stork Klepetan (p. 28), the challenge is to not be killed
during the yearly migration. And for the petrels in Rapa Iti (p.
45) it is about surviving invasive alien species. For most birds,
“saving the nest” means sav-
© MARC GUYT/AGAMI
ing the life itself of an entire
species. It’s certainly the case
of our elusive friend Pato,
the Beck’s Petrel we’ve finally
tagged (p. 32).
To spice things up, in this
issue we’ve also embarked
upon a journey to explore the
courting rituals and mating
practices of some amazing
birds. We’ve done so to ren-
der justice, once again, to
the incredible variety of the avian universe. If you thought
that all the kinky (including the very darkest) variations on
the sex theme were a peculiarity of the human race, think
again. Monogamy, polygamy, polyandry, group sex, rape,
pathological liars, multiple paternity… all are features of
birds’ sex lives. Enjoy.
P.S. Sadly, this is the last issue of the magazine for me. I leave
this gorgeous baby of mine in the capable hands of my col-
leagues who, fear not, will keep surprising you with great sto-
ries from the BirdLife universe. It has been an honor.
www.birdlife.org
Luca Bonaccorsi
Chief Editor
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is the world’s largest nature conservation partnership.
Through our unique local-to-global approach, we deliver high impact
and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people
JUNE 2017 • BIRDLIFE
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