Ever since the existence of the Internet, a lot of people have find more ways than one to share what they want, who they are, where they’ve been or where they’re going aside from buying and selling products and learning a thing or two. Many people are now going head over heels about sharing who they are and what they do through images that they took from their digital cameras and wherever you go, you could see that almost anybody have their own digital cameras, clicking here and there in any which way they can. Based on personal experience, a person can take his own pictures wherever he may go at an average of 30 to 40 pictures in a day. Now, that’s a lot of pictures, right? So, what does he do to share those pictures? Either he can go to some social networking sites and upload all of his pictures or he can avail of a digital photo printing service online.

Right now, there are hundreds of photo printing services that you will find all over the Net and they offer all kinds of services to provide each and everyone the best quality prints for their images. All they need to do is upload those images and then, have them printed and are ready to be delivered in a couple of days. Although for the many, they might prefer to print their own pictures on their own printer but the pictures that are printed by online photo services are far more superior and of the highest quality.

But there is one more added treat if you print those pictures through a photo printing online. What if you want to share those pictures to other people you know far away from you in fine print and hard copy? Simple, you still upload those pictures, have them printed and then tell the photo print provider to deliver those hard copies to your preferred recipient.

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Tags: digital photo printing, online photo printers, online photo printing, online photo printing services, photo printers, photo printing online

Sudan’s Breathtaking Migration

Scientists find vast herds of antelope and gazelle in what could be one of the greatest natural events on Earth.

Scientists believe they have discovered the biggest migration of wild animals on Earth, with an aerial survey revealing vast herds of gazelle and antelope on the move in southern Sudan in a region which had been assumed to have been denuded of its wildlife by years of civil war.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, together with the autonomous government of South Sudan, announced at a press conference in New York yesterday that a study of the area’s fauna had revealed an abundance of antelope, particularly of white-eared kob, in breathtaking numbers. Flying over an area of about 590,000 sq kilometers, scientists witnessed a column of animals in their seasonal migration through grasslands and swamps that was 50 miles (80 km) long and 30 miles across.

They estimated the population of the white-eared kob - a chestnut colored and medium-sized antelope - at about 800,000. Add to that other species including the topi and the Mongalla gazelle, and the total number of migratory animals is put at 1.3 million, approaching the scale of one of the world’s greatest natural events, the Serengeti migration of wildebeest and zebra across east Africa.

"This could represent the biggest migration of large mammals on Earth," said Michael Fay, a field scientist with the WCS, who conducted the survey. "I have never seen wildlife in such numbers, not even when flying over the mass migrations of the Serengeti."

The discovery of wildlife in such gigantic numbers astonished Dr Fay and his fellow conservationists, because the Serengeti migration, which occurs between July and October each year as a way of avoiding the impact of the dry season, was considered to be unrivaled. The findings also came as a happy surprise as the region’s long-running civil war had been assumed to have led to environmental devastation.

An aerial survey was last carried out in 1982, a year before fighting erupted between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army and government forces backed by Arab militias from the north. The fighting lasted for more than two decades and claimed 2 million lives.

In 2005 a tentative settlement was reached between the warring parties which has led to autonomous status for the government of South Sudan, and calm has returned to the area with its population of about 11 million. A referendum is to be held on independence in four years’ time.

In January, a team led by Dr Kay set out to find out what had happened to the wildlife they had not been able to study for 25 years. Despite the natural richness of the territory, sandwiched between the Sahara and a belt of tropical forests, they expected the worse: there is a long and sorry history of the devastation wrought by poachers and armies during Africa’s many wars.

But as soon as the plane was up over the grasslands, at the start of 150 hours of flying, their hearts lifted. Dr Fay said: "If you were a gold miner and hit a vein of gold, like we found in kob, you would have found El Dorado."

In addition to the gigantic herds of kob, they produced estimates of 250,000 Mongalla gazelles, a small tan and hite antelope with a black stripe on its flank; 160,000 topi, or tiang, a horned antelope; as well as reedbuck and ostriches.

The review of the wilderness’s state of health was not universally positive. In the south-west of the region up to 90% of species had been lost.

"We saw no buffalo where in 1981 there were estimated to have been 60,000 and only one group of elephants was sighted, where some 10,000 had been estimated to roam in the past," said Paul Elkan, head of the WCS’s program in southern Sudan.

The south-western zone is particularly prone to poaching, whereas the eastern area is protected to some degree by the natural barrier of the Nile and by its swampy terrain.

In other parts, zebra populations also appear to have been wiped out. The animal used to number up to 20,000 in the Boma National Park, in the south-east corner of the autonomous region, but were not visible to the survey planes.

The Wildlife Conservation Society, which has numerous global outreach projects but also runs the zoo in Manhattan’s Central Park, now wants to build on the survey findings to preserve the extraordinary wildlife that they found. It is calling for the creation of an international conservation mission to protect it.

Under the scheme, former fighters with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army would be retrained into wildlife activists, managing a network of parks and encouraging environmentally-friendly practices among local villagers.

The project would be called the Sudano-Sahel Initiative, and it has been modeled on work done in the Congo basin, another abundant ecosystem under enormous pressure from civil war and conflict over natural resources.

In the case of southern Sudan, the natural resource that most poses a threat to the wildlife is oil.

Since the end of hostilities, oil companies have begun to show increasing interest, and several permits have been handed out for exploration - right in the middle of the migratory path of the antelope.

The Serengeti journey

The discovery of the gigantic migration in southern Sudan pits it against one of the wonders of the natural world, the twice-yearly Serengeti migration:

Every June, nearly 2 million herbivores begin marching northwards from the Tanzanian part of the Serengeti plain towards the northern hills in Kenya, following the rains to avoid the dry season.

Every October, once the higher pastures have been fully grazed, they make the reverse journey back to the now green pastures of the southern Serengeti. The journey is about 700 miles in each direction and the enormous herds include 1.4 million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra and gazelle.

The experience of migration begins when wildebeest are just a few months old. Many animals fall from exhaustion or are picked off by predators during the journey. The most perilous part is the crossing of the Mara river where many are taken by crocodiles, or lions waiting for them on the other side.

It had been assumed that the Serengeti migration was unparalleled. But the revelation that there are herds of white-eared kob in southern Sudan in numbers that scientists believe may even exceed the wildebeest herds has challenged that.

© Guardian News & Media 2008 Published: 6/12/2007

Technorati Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter

Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter

Get Plugged Into Nature: Be Part Of An Animal Migration

I often wonder how much the circle of life is moving me. When thousands of years of human evolution and time on this planet are controlling me via instinct, and when I’m acting entirely of my own accord. Several years ago I was lucky enough to watch the first few moments in the lives of a family of baby turtles. Buried in the sand they hatched from their eggs and without eating or drinking or being shown what to do they dug their way out into the air above and skittered, as fast as their tiny, newly hatched flippers would carry them, towards the ocean. Even if they feel the air or hear the ocean from inside their eggs, they’ve never experienced those things before, so it’s baby turtle instinct which must dictate to them what to do. In that moonlit moment I thought baby turtle instinct must be one of the most powerful forces in nature, but that’s really just the tip of the animal iceberg. It was like being plugged in to nature.

Instinct is clearly not to be reckoned with. Birds manage to embark on epic journeys twice a year and reach the same destinations, salmon fight their way upstream to spawn in the creeks they hatched in, and herds of wildebeest rumble in great packs across the Serengeti. We can’t always understand why these creatures face these challenges, but we can appreciate that it’s something pretty powerful, and witnessing one of these epic animal migrations will give you a sense of being part of something vast and painstakingly slow and ancient, yet also of the potential for renewal. Better for your soul than refreshing at a spa!

So which are the epic migrations worth planning your own cycle around? The Serengeti wildebeest migration is the best known - thousands of wildebeest tracking miles of dust into the air, predators awaiting them at every ridge - and can be seen from a safari truck or helicopter. Whales are amazing creatures, but along the route of their breeding migration they’re at their most playful and social as they mate, calve and greet their new calves - go out amongst it in boat. Greys and Humpbacks especially so.

Quieter migrations are no less magical, and in the case of the Monarch butterfly migration, only more incredible, as a whole landscape is covered in softly beating wings. The great sardine migration, turns the waters off South Africa’s east coast into a bed of churning silver as their slivery bodies press together so tightly to seem like some kind of sea monster rather than a billion strong shoal and the huge, red land crabs of Christmas Island are like a brightly sparing carpet at the height of the breeding season. Bird migrations take place all over the globe, but there is a particularly popular breeding ground on the Isle of Lesbos.

By: Worldreviewer

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

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Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter

Feeding Wild Birds… Bird Seed

Always consider native plants when providing food for the wild birds visiting your garden. Even when this isn’t possible, providing bird feeders will still attract birds into your back yard.

Interestingly, even from an ecological perspective, wild birds can use feeders safely.

Studies have shown that their first choice is a natural food source. They visit feeders to supplement their natural diet.

Studies have also shown that birds do not prefer feeders over natural food supplies. Another myth is that bird migrations are delayed because of feeders.

The goal is to provide bird feeders that closely match the ways bird feed in the wild… You will discover that regardless of the species you want to attract to your bird garden, the feeders needed will be among these…

Tube Feeders. This is by far the most popular bird feeder. It’s readily available and fairly inexpensive. Made of plastic (usually clear), the tube has many openings encouraging several birds to feed at once. Because these tubes hold different types of seeds, they easily accommodate a variety of bird diets.

Platform Feeders. Birds that naturally feed on the ground prefer these feeders over hanging feeders. In fact, many of them will not even visit a hanging feeder because it doesn’t allow them to feed as they do in the wild.

Hopper Feeders. These feeders hold a large volume of seeds and have sides, a roof, and a small ledge on all sides that the seeds spill onto. The main difference between hopper feeders and tube or platform feeders is their huge storage capacity. Birds that visit both tube and platform feeders will also visit hopper feeders.

Sock Feeders. Fine mesh socks hold the tiniest of seeds, while larger mesh socks hold peanuts.

Non-Seed Feeders. You can also find feeders for those bird species that will not normally eat seeds. These feeders are usually platforms or nail spikes that hold these birds’ preferred pieces of fruit and mealworms, grubs, or other insects.

The bottom line is that if you decide to add feeders to your bird garden, always consider the bird species you wish to attract, and then just match their natural feeding requirements as closely as possible.

By: Susan Nelson Hopkins -

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Susan Nelson Hopkins is an online gardening expert from Carlsbad, NM. She specializes in creating gardens that will attract birds. For more bird gardening information, please visit Susan’s Bird Gardens

Technorati Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter

Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter