Turkey is one of the most spectacular countries on earth, with an extraordinary rich cultural and natural heritage. The main reason underpinning this richness is Turkey’s location. It intersects three old world continents: Asia, Europe and Africa. Over thousands of years, many species of birds, plants and other biodiversity have found their home in this country.

Turkey is known to host three out of every hundred species of plants in the world; it is indeed one of the richest plant countries in the world. Scientists have identified 34 “global biodiversity hotspots” on earth, three of which are in Turkey.

Birds are probably the best species that exhibit Turkey’s natural wealth. The Central Anatolian Plateau and the plains of Eastern Turkey host tens of thousands of water birds including the globally threatened White-headed Duck and the Greater Sand Plover.

The fascinating diversity of the species is now severely threatened by the immense growth of the Turkish economy that depends on the use of natural resources. Doğa Derneği, BirdLife Partner in Turkey, is the leading conservation NGO in Turkey working to safeguard Turkey’s most beautiful natural landscapes.

Doğa Derneği has been closely collaborating with the local communities at the important bird spots and has trained hundreds of bird experts across the country who will be employed to run DoğaTours trips. Dr. Çağan H. Sekercioğlu and Soner Bekir were the first Turkish people to have successfully run a bird tour in Turkey in 2005 and they have played a major role in founding and operating Doğa Tours.

They now arrange a tour called The Eagles of Istanbul. Istanbul is known for its indisputable historical sites. As well as its historical attributes, it is known to be on one of the world’s most important bird migration routes. Thousands of birds of prey and storks soar over this fascinating city every spring and autumn. Apart from Istanbul’s amazing panorama, one also has the chance of having the unique experience by witnessing thousands of little spotted eagles, buzzards, storks and other soaring birds. Sarıyer, located on the edge of Istanbul’s last surviving forests, is an ideal location to watch the migration miracle.

PROFOUNDLY deaf Trevor Larke did not think a hearing dog would make much difference to a life he had almost given up on.

That was until the former Greene King brewery worker and his wife Jean were introduced to Megan – a specially trained terrier cross who has utterly transformed their existence and on one occasion even saved 61-year-old Mr Larke’s life.

Now, six-year-old Megan has been recognised for how she has changed her owner’s life as one of 25 dogs across the country nominated for the Heroic Hound competition run by Hearing Dogs for the Deaf charity to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

Mrs Larke, of Gloucester Road, Bury St Edmunds, said: “We have had to eat our words many times since we got Megan. We didn’t think it would make much difference, but she has transformed Trevor’s life and given him a reason to live.”

She said she and her husband were delighted with Megan’s latest accolade: “We were sent a letter just before Easter saying she had been nominated – we were so pleased and proud – Trevor was chuffed when he found out.

“I said it was an honour to be nominated and it would mean even more if we won but if we don’t Megan will still be our hero.

“Trevor had to retire early due to bad health and he gave up on life. He just wanted to sit down and give up – he was ready to die. But then when we got Megan he had to take her out, she gave him more confidence and made him more independent.”

After 18 months, Mr Larke, who was born profoundly deaf, decided to go out shopping on his own for the first time in five years and Megan showed just how special she was by saving him from a potentially serious accident.

Mrs Larke said: “He was on his mobility scooter with Megan, and an ambulance was heading to town where someone had collapsed.

“Trevor couldn’t see the lights as it was behind him. Megan touched his leg and got off the scooter alerting Trevor to danger – he then saw the ambulance and got out of the way. She saved his life.”

Megan also sat with Mr Larke while he had an epileptic fit when they were out – and now alerts Mrs Larke when he has a fit.

In 2004, Megan helped her home town win the Hearing Dog Friendly Town competition. People in the town were not aware of hearing dogs before Megan and now she and her owners are welcomed wherever they go.

Mrs Larke said: “The bond between Trevor and Megan is amazing, they go everywhere together. If Trevor goes out without her for even a minute she is jumping up and down. She is wonderful and has done so much for Trevor.”

The cardinal may be Ohio’s state bird, but the fowl spotted most in a recent count is considered by many to be its No. 1 pest.

The aggressive, messy Canada goose is so annoying that even the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium doesn’t want it around .

Because of its location along the O’Shaughnessy Reservoir, a major flyway for geese, the zoo is frequently visited by the unwanted birds, said Dan Hunt, assistant director of living collections.

“The first thing we try and do is exclude them from nesting in the sites that we know traditionally they might use,” Hunt said.

That doesn’t always work, so each morning and evening, Bonnie the border collie makes her rounds at the zoo, chasing away the geese who linger near ponds, leaving behind liberal amounts of droppings.

The Canada goose has been the most populous bird in Ohio in three of the past five years of the Great Backyard Bird Count. It was the second-most spotted bird in the country in this year’s count, Feb. 16-19, behind the American robin.

The northern cardinal finished a distant No. 2 in both Ohio and Columbus. The other finishers in Columbus, in order, were the house sparrow, ring-billed gull and dark-eyed junco.

Sponsored by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, the count enlists 80,000 volunteers in North America to count the birds they saw. Ohio was seventh among U.S. states in the number of participants this year.

“We’ve created the perfect goose habitat throughout this area with a number of retention ponds and the reservoir,” said Tom Sheley, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited on Riverside Drive and a participant in this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count.

Ohio also is smack in the middle of several birds’ migration patterns, said Judy Kolo-Rose, a member of Columbus Audubon.

Birds heading south from Canada in the winter and north from Central and South America in the summer pass through the state.

“Ohio is a very birdy state,” Kolo-Rose said.

This year, a record 3,652 Ohioans participated in the count, 132 in Columbus and 117 in the city’s suburbs. Last year, 2,904 people participated across the state, 80 in Columbus.

As a result, more birds were spotted in Columbus, 8,602 this year vs. 5,293 last year.

The count is done in February because that is the middle of a nonmigratory period, Sheley said. It’s also easy to attract birds to feeders because natural food is still not in bountiful supply.

Pat Leonard, who coordinates the count for Cornell University, said the reports from volunteers help scientists evaluate trends in the bird community. That is increasingly important as the global climate changes, she said.

“We’re already seeing some changes in ranges from species that might not go quite as far south as they usually do,” Leonard said.

The Canada goose, for example, goes only as far south as necessary to find open water. Last year, only 445 were spotted in Columbus. With this year’s mild winter and relatively unfrozen O’Shaughnessy and Hoover reservoirs, the number of geese increased by nearly five times.

For Port Columbus, that is more than an inconvenience.

“Geese can create a hazard with flying aircraft, such as engine ingestion,” airport spokesman Dave Whitaker said. “That is not conducive to good flying.”

Among other things, the airport places inflatable alligators on the ponds at the Airport Golf Course to discourage the geese from landing.

If none of the techniques works, the airport has the authority to shoot the geese.

Whitaker said he doesn’t think it’s gone that far yet.

US coastguards had to use a helicopter to rescue a man who climbed a 60ft pine tree to retrieve his pet parrot.

William Hart, 35, from Montgomery County, near Houston, Texas, followed his £1 000 white cockatoo Geronimo after it escaped its cage.

After he got stuck, about 30 Sheriff’s deputies and firefighters converged on the tree but the ground was too wet to get a ladder near the tree.

Houston Police Department’s water rescue team then tried to reach Mr Hart with a rope, but it was not long enough.

As daylight began to fade, the decision was made to call in the coastguard from Galveston, reports the Houston Chronicle.

Before the helicopter finally retrieved him, Mr Hart could be seen standing on a branch holding the bird under his shirt and smoking a cigarette.

“In my 18 years as a firefighter, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Porter Fire Chief Jody Binnion said.

Apart from a few scratches and a bite on his finger where the frightened bird nipped him, Mr Hart was unscathed and relieved to be back on solid ground.

Cradling the shaking bird in his arms, he said he was surprised by all the fuss, but had no regrets: “He’s my baby. I’d do it again.”

His 14-year-old daughter had forgotten to put the latch back on Geronimo’s cage after feeding him and the bird had flown out the bedroom window

Ever have a pet that was lost? A lot of people know the feeling of what it is like to have their pet be lost, it is hurts emotionally to know that they might be hurt somewhere and you cannot help in any way, shape, or form at that moment in time.

Mickey, the Boston terrier that was lost for four years, finally arriving at home.

However, in Missouri there ws a happier ending to one of these lost pet stories. After 4 grueling years, Mickey, a Boston Terrier was reunited with his owners after they had lost him in Kansas City four years ago. The owner Cher Jarosz and her daughter Kari Mitchell probably thought that Mickey was in fact gone forever, and was never to be found again. But their luck had changed as soon as they got a call from an animal shelter almost 1,100 miles away in a city called Billings, Montana.

What essentially led to the safe return of the Boston terrier named Mickey? Apparently there was a microchip planted on Mickey which helped the Billings Animal Shelter return Mickey safely to his family after all of these lost years.

The office manager at Billing’s Animal Shelter, Kristal Ward, had this to say to CNN about the incident that ended happily after all:

“Some lady from the public walked in the back door. She found the dog running up the street. She tossed him to me, and that’s how it started. [...] I called that vet clinic because they were the one that should have a record of that chip. I gave them the chip number, and the woman kind of started screaming. She goes, ‘Oh my God, is that a Boston terrier? Oh my God, it belongs to Kari Mitchell. She used to work here.”‘ (Kristal Ward to CNN).

Afterwards Kristal Ward called Kari Michtell to make confirmation that Micket was in fact her dog.

When the dog was happily returned to the family they said he looks somewhat different, probably due to aging over the four years, and he is unresponsive to his name now. Mickey’s teeth show signs of wearing, but none of that stopped the family from still loving Mickey, the now returned Boston terrier.

Kari Mitchell had this to say about the incident to KSHB-TV in Kansas city about the incident:

“We’re happy to have him home. I just hope whoever was taking care of him, I hope they were just glad he’s home.”

In the end, it was a happy ending for Mickey, and for all.

The man who solved one of New Zealand’s ornithological mysteries in Kaikoura more than 40 years ago was recognised with a prestigious award on Saturday.

Christchurch man Geoff Harrow, 80, has won an Old Blue award from the New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society for outstanding contribution to conservation for his efforts in protecting hutton’s shearwater.

The award commemorates the famous black robin who saved her species from extinction and is awarded each year to people who make an outstanding contribution to conservation.

Hutton’s shearwaters winter in Australia and return to the Kaikoura Ranges each August to breed at altitudes of 1000-600 metres above sea level.

It is the only New Zealand seabird which breeds in a sub-alpine environment.

Each day the adult birds fly about 20km to the sea to feed, reaching speeds on the downhill trip of more than 150kph ? which means they can make the journey in as little as seven minutes.

The return journey, climbing more than 1000 metres in altitude with a bellyful of fish to feed their chicks, takes them considerably longer ?about 38 minutes.

Mr Harrow was nominated for the award by the Kaikoura branch of Forest and Bird.

Branch secretary Barry Dunnett said Mr Harrow’s confirmation that this was the location of the world’s only breeding colonies of hutton’s shearwater, and his subsequent work studying and protecting the birds, had been a valuable contribution to conservation.

“He told the ornithological world about the shearwater, and it is to his credit that we know so much about them now.”

Mr Dunnett said local deer hunters, the Hislop brothers, had spotted burrows in the remote and rugged area in the early 1960s and mentioned it to Mr Harrow whose ears “lit up” as he realised the potential of their observations.

A keen tramper, mountaineer and naturalist, Mr Harrow set out on a difficult search to find the breeding site of the shearwaters, which nest at about 1300 metres above sea level at the steep, inaccessible location ? a location completely unknown to science till the 1960s.

“Over the past 40 years, at great physical risk to himself from the rock fall and avalanche danger of the sites, he studied and recorded the shear-waters’ unusual breeding habits, identified threats to the birds’ survival from introduced pests such as pigs and stoats, and has campaigned and gathered others to work for the protection of the species, the plight of which would have remained largely unknown without his dedication and support.”

Mr Harrow joined Forest and Bird in 1936 at age 10.

Even now at age 80 he remains actively involved in the shearwater recovery programme, in particular efforts to establish a new colony of hutton’s shearwaters on the Kaikoura Peninsula, and in educating community and school groups.

“He remains largely unrecognised by the general public, despite the huge respect for him from all who know him.

“He is a man who has made a great environmental difference to Kaikoura and is an inspirational figure, responsible for much of the environmental awareness that our local youth show today.”

Today the adult population of hutton’s shearwaters stands at about 460,000 but it is classified as nationally endangered because of its rapid rate of decline.

It is thought that hutton’s shearwaters once bred in at least eight sites in the Kaikoura Ranges, but now just two colonies remain. Wild pigs are thought to have been the main factor in the demise of shearwater colonies.