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Charadriiform, (order Charadriiformes), any member of the large group of birds that includes the sandpipers, plovers, gulls, auks, and their relatives. These birds form an important and familiar segment of the avifauna of the world's coasts and inland waterways, of the Arctic regions, and of the oceans and their islands. They are mostly strong-flying birds of open country or open water, nesting on the ground and feeding on animal matter in or near water. The order is worldwide in distribution, and some species perform the most extensive migrations of any birds.
General features
The order is a diverse assemblage of 17 families linked by similarities in anatomical features (especially skeleton and plumage) and developmental patterns. Better-known members of the order fall into three groups, easily recognized on the basis of general body plan. The first of these (the suborder Charadrii), collectively known as shorebirds or waders, includes sandpipers, plovers, lapwings, snipes, stilts, and some less-familiar forms. They are primarily birds of shorelines and other open areas, and they walk or wade while feeding. There are about 220 species, varying in size from the least sandpiper, a sparrow-sized bird of about 20 grams (0.7 ounce), to large curlews of about 640 grams (1.5 pounds, near the body size of a small chicken).
A second group, the suborder Lari, contains about 107 species of gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, and jaegers. They are long-winged, web-footed birds, the smallest of which is the least tern (Sterna albifrons), weighing about 43 grams (1.5 ounces), with a wingspread of about 50 cm (20 inches). The largest, the great black-backed gull (Larus marinus), weighs about 1,900 grams (a little over four pounds) and has a spread of about 165 cm (65 inches).
The third and smallest suborder, Alcae, contains 23 species of auks, murres, guillemots, and puffins, all in a single family, Alcidae. They are compact, streamlined marine birds with short, narrow wings and webbed feet. Alcids are adapted for swimming on the ocean surface and underwater.
Most charadriiforms have plumage patterns in white, grays, browns, and black, and many have bright red or yellow feet, bills, wattles, eyes, or mouth linings. A few species have both dark and light plumage phases.
Each of the larger families (Laridae, Charadriidae, Scolopacidae) is practically worldwide in distribution, although none of the Scolopacidae breeds in Australia. The skuas and jaegers (Stercorariidae) are found in high latitudes of both hemispheres and are wide-ranging through the world's oceans. Auks and their allies (Alcidae) are widespread in the oceans, islands, and seacoasts of the Northern Hemisphere. They are not related to their similar counterparts of the Southern Hemisphere, the diving petrels and the penguins. The oystercatchers (Haematopodidae) are found on coasts of all continents except Antarctica and occur inland in Europe and Asia. A group of families occurs in tropical (or tropical and temperate) regions of the Eastern and Western hemispheres: jacanas (Jacanidae), painted snipe (Rostratulidae), avocets and stilts (Recurvirostridae), thickknees (Burhinidae), and skimmers (Rynchopidae). The coursers and pratincoles (Glareolidae) occur throughout tropical and temperate regions of the Old World, and the crab plovers (Dromadidae) are limited to shores of the Indian Ocean. Seedsnipe (Thinocoridae) are found in southern South America and northward in the Andes; sheathbills (Chionididae) occur on islands of the southern Atlantic and western Indian oceans and on the southern coast of South America and adjacent Antarctica. Phalaropes (Phalaropodidae) breed in northern regions, and two species winter at sea.
Importance to humans
The eggs of murres, puffins, gulls, terns, and lapwings have long been harvested for food. These birds are particularly suitable for such use because many nest in enormous colonies and because they replace the clutch if the first is taken soon after laying. Several hundred thousand eggs, and sometimes over a million, may be taken from a locality in a single year. Certain colonies, especially those of gulls and terns, have been raided without regard to the future of the colonies, but carefully controlled egging has long been conducted in the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and other northern regions. Adult puffins and other alcids are also harvested with long-handled nets on the Faeroes and in Iceland.
Extravagant exploitation of the great auk for food on its North Atlantic nesting islands by sailors and, later, slaughter for the feather trade probably caused its extinction in the 1840s. Other charadriiform birds, especially terns and gulls, assumed a sudden economic value for decorating women's hats in the latter half of the 19th century, and raiding of breeding colonies in North America almost extirpated several species. Aroused public opinion, hastened by the activities of the newly formed Audubon societies, brought protection to gulls, terns, and other species.
Charadriiform birds have had considerable economic impact in various other ways. California gulls are credited with saving the pioneers' crops in Utah during a plague of crickets, and today gulls habitually follow the farmer's plow, consuming exposed grubs and mice. Flocks of noddy terns and other birds serve to guide Hawaiian fishermen to schools of tuna, and the numbers, kinds, and behaviour of the birds may also indicate the size of the fish and the size and depth of the school. Certain shorebirds were once extensively killed for food or sport (causing near extinction of the Eskimo curlew); today woodcock and snipe are hunted under regulation. Gulls and shorebirds are occasional hazards at airports, where airplanes have been damaged by midair collisions.
The order as a whole has been the subject of much scientific investigation, leading to important studies on speciation, ecology, ethology, migration, anatomy, and physiology.
Natural history
Locomotion and feeding behaviour
Most shorebirds inhabit open areas and are strong fliers, some performing extensive migrations that cover long distances over water. A ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) banded in the Pribilof Islands was recaptured in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 3,770 km (2,325 miles) away, four days later. Gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, and jaegers spend much of their time on the wing, both in migration and within the breeding or wintering grounds. Immature sooty terns (Sterna fuscata) spend several years flying at sea before first coming to land to breed, and Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea) fly each year to and from Antarctic waters after breeding in the Arctic. Gulls are given to soaring and gliding more than the others and are the only members of the suborder Lari that spend considerable time swimming or resting on water. Of the three major charadriiform groups, the alcids spend the least time on the wing, but they are strong, fast fliers for short distances. Outside the breeding season they are pelagic (that is, living on the open ocean).
The feeding habits of the charadriiforms are as varied as their external appearance. Jacanas inhabit pools and lakes thick with water lilies and other aquatic vegetation. They run agilely on lily pads with prancing steps, supported by their remarkably long toes and claws. While foraging, they turn over lily pads in search of snails, arthropods, and other small animals.
Plovers (Charadriidae) and the crab plover (Dromadidae) usually forage on open ground, relying on sight to locate the invertebrates on which they feed. The foraging bird runs a few steps, pauses with head cocked, then pecks at possible prey or runs again. Most plovers feed during the day, but the crab plover feeds mostly at twilight. Oystercatchers (Haematopodidae) feed largely on mussels, oysters, and marine worms. Depending on the type of mussel bed being exploited, the bird either tears loose a mussel and hammers a hole in the shell or, finding the mussel in water with its shell open, drives the knifelike beak into the open shell, cutting the adductor muscle and preventing the shellfish from closing.
Sandpipers and their relatives (Scolopacidae) use their slender bills as forceps to pick up surface invertebrates or (especially in the calidridine sandpipers) for probing in mud. Curlews use their long, downcurved bills for probing crustacean burrows on beaches and worm burrows on mudflats, and for picking up insects and berries on tundra or grassland. Woodcock (Philohela and Scolopax) also probe, but in woodland soils and leaf litter, feeding extensively on earthworms. Turnstones (Arenaria) habitually flip over vegetation, debris, soil, and stones with the straight upper edge of the bill, eating the animal life thus exposed.
Avocets and stilts (Recurvirostridae) feed in shallow water by sweeping the opened bill from side to side over the bottom (avocets) or near the surface (stilts). Stilts also feed by pecking and probing. The ibisbill (Ibidorhyncha), a recurvirostrid with a downcurved bill, inhabits Himalayan lakes and rivers and feeds by reaching under rocks in water for insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and worms, sometimes while wading belly-deep. Phalaropes (Phalaropodidae) habitually feed while swimming and sometimes stir up prey by spinning around.
Coursers and pratincoles (Glareolidae) are insectivorous birds of open country. Coursers feed most actively at night, taking by short dashes termites, black ants, and other terrestrial arthropods. Pratincoles hawk insects on the wing in the manner of swallows.
Sheathbills (Chionididae) inhabit Antarctic regions, where overdependence on one type of food may be disastrous. They subsist on algae; limpets and other mollusks; crustaceans; fish; the eggs and nestlings of penguins, cormorants and other birds; the afterbirth and droppings of seals; and human refuse.
The food habits of seedsnipe (Thinocoridae) are unique within the order. These chunky, terrestrial birds eat primarily vegetable matter, such as seeds, buds, shoots, and leaves, for which their short, stout bills are well suited.
The gulls and their relatives (suborder Lari) are more dependent on flight for obtaining their food than are the shorebirds. The strongest fliers are the skuas and jaegers (Stercorariidae), which are gull-like in general proportions but with hooked bills. Stercorariids harass terns, gulls, boobies, and other seabirds until the latter drop or regurgitate food, which is retrieved by the "pirates." On their Arctic or Antarctic breeding grounds these birds prey on insects, rodents, small birds, and the eggs and young of other seabirds.
The diet of gulls (Laridae) is highly varied, including fish, small birds, rodents, and a wide range of invertebrates, taken by active predation, as well as carrion of all sorts, garbage, and some vegetable material. Many of the larger gulls are not beyond piracy, stealing food from other birds (including members of their own species), and some prey heavily on the eggs and young of other seabirds. Sometimes they hawk insects or break open shellfish by dropping them from a height.
Most terns are smaller than gulls. All have straight, sharp bills and feed chiefly on the wing, by hovering over the water and plunging in for surface fish and crustaceans, by swooping low to pick fish from the water in flight, or by hawking insects over land.
Skimmers (Rynchopidae) feed by day or night. They fly over the surface of calm water at speeds up to 30 miles (48 km) per hour with the long, knifelike lower mandible cutting the water. When the mandible strikes a fish or shrimp, the head doubles under the body and the bill clamps shut. The bird flies upward and swallows the fish in the air or carries it to the nest.
Alcids (family Alcidae) are the only charadriiforms adapted for swimming underwater, which they do by propelling themselves with half-open wings. The larger alcids (puffins, murres, auks, and guillemots) feed on small fish and invertebrates, the smaller ones (murrelets and auklets) almost entirely on invertebrates, especially on tiny, free-swimming (planktonic) crustaceans, such as euphausids.
The modes of reproduction in the charadriiforms are only slightly less diverse than the food habits. Nearly all are ground nesters, laying few eggs (two to four in most families; up to six in jacanas) often with little or no nesting material. Usually the eggs are protectively coloured. Some species nest in crevices or burrows, a few in trees. Many are colonial, with aggregations running to over a million pairs. Sex reversal, in which the female is more brightly coloured than the male and takes a dominant role in courtship whereas the male incubates the eggs and rears the young, is found in most jacanas, painted snipe, and phalaropes.
Shorebirds (suborder Charadrii)
Female jacanas are larger and more aggressive than males; after laying, females of some species show no interest in the nest or young, leaving incubation and care of chicks to the male. The nest is a shallow, sodden pile of vegetation that floats among aquatic plants. Chicks are downy and run well when a day old. Both chicks and adults may dive to escape danger and remain submerged (probably clinging to vegetation) with only the bill exposed. Adults have been known to take chicks up to 12 days old under their wings and carry them to a safer location. Jacanas perform injury-feigning displays and other striking displays, sometimes with their broad wings stretched aloft, and they attack other species near the nest.
The female of the Old World painted snipe (Rostratula benghalensis) is larger and more brightly coloured than the male, whereas the South American species (Nycticryphes semicollaris) shows little sexual dimorphism, although females are slightly larger. As in some jacanas, the female of Rostratula is more aggressive in courtship, displaying with spread wing and tail, and she leaves incubation and care of the chicks to the male. The nest is a shallow platform of bent reeds in which the four eggs (two in Nycticryphes) are incubated for about 19 days. The downy young take to the water readily.
Phalaropes nest in open tundra, marsh, or sedges near water. Females take the lead role in courtship and aggression, and several may vie for a male and fight among themselves. Copulation occurs on the water. There is no pronounced territorial behaviour around the nest, but a female may drive other females away from her mate. The incubation and care of the brood is performed by the male, and females leave the nesting grounds with the onset of incubation. The chicks are aquatic, swimming within an hour of hatching, and they perform the spinning habit commonly used by adults when feeding in water.
Oystercatchers (Haematopodidae) are noisy, stocky birds of coasts and shores. They are highly gregarious and even perform sexual displays within the flock. One such display is the piping performance involving a number of birds that run toward a central point, holding the bill and neck down and the bill open and uttering a loud piping. Groups also pipe and posture (lowering the bill and neck) in flight. Before copulation the male circles the female in a crouching pose with tail and bill lowered, while the female indicates readiness by raising her tail. All behaviour patterns (except the precopulatory ones) are common to both sexes. Oystercatchers have no strong territorial behaviour at the nest, often tolerating strange birds nearby, but they may return to the same spot with the same mate in successive years. Although pairs separate from the flock to nest, they periodically rejoin communal displays during breeding. The two or three eggs are incubated by both parents. Downy young move to the water's edge, where they remain on a feeding territory for at least six weeks and are fed small worms by the parents, who forage within sight in shallow water.
Avocets and stilts (Recurvirostridae) resemble oyster-catchers in basic breeding behaviour, although the specific display patterns are different. Avocets nest in small colonies of up to a few hundred pairs, in grassy marshes that have substantial areas of shallow open water, fresh or salt. Both sexes incubate the four eggs and protect the young. Stilts are somewhat colonial in their nesting, sometimes sharing a marsh with avocets. Stilts perform group displays in the breeding season. The ibisbill lays its eggs among the rocks of glacial streams. When alarmed, it bobs its tail and pumps its head up and down.
Most plovers nest in open areas, relying on their coloration to protect them while incubating or brooding. The solid colour of the back in the true plovers (Charadrius) matches the ground, and one or more black bands on the breast and face break the outline of the bird.
Many plovers are somewhat colonial but also exhibit territorial and aggressive behaviour. Some perform song flights during the breeding season, and many have melodious, whistled calls and bob when alarmed. The nest is a scrape or hollow with scant lining, in which four eggs are laid. Incubation is usually shared by the pair and takes from 20 to 30 days, depending upon the species. The chicks feed themselves but are usually protected by both parents by means of alarm calls that elicit crouching in the chicks. Often, parents will feign injury to divert a predator from their young. Many species occur in large postbreeding flocks and migrate great distances.
Crab plovers (Dromas ardeola) breed colonially in burrows in sand banks and fashion a nest chamber at the end of the narrow, three-to-five-foot tunnel. Here the bird lays a single, relatively large, white egg. The downy young is fed in the burrow by both parents.
Most pratincoles and coursers nest like plovers. Pratincoles breed in scattered groups, laying two or three eggs in an unlined scrape. They have a distraction display at the nest. The Egyptian plover (Pluvianus aegyptius) buries its egg in sand by day and incubates at night. Most glareolids lay two eggs, but the double-banded courser (Rhinoptilus africanus) lays only one, often located near antelope droppings, for concealment on otherwise bare ground. In that species, incubation by both sexes lasts about 26 days, and eggshells are removed. The chick has sparse down and is fed for about six weeks, until nearly fledged. A second egg may be laid before the first chick is independent. Adults and young combat the desert heat by panting, and adults also raise dorsal feathers and expose their legs during incubation.
The thickknees frequent dry open ground but within reasonable distance of water. They are cryptically coloured and spend much of the day squatting on their heel joints ("knees") or resting flat on the ground with the legs drawn under the body. On hot days the legs may be extended behind the resting bird, perhaps for heat dissipation. They have large eyes and are active and noisy from dusk until dawn. Their displays include spread wing and tail postures. The one or two eggs are laid on bare ground and are incubated for 25–27 days by the female or by both birds. Both parents attend the downy chicks, which run from the nest a day after hatching and fly when six weeks old.
Sheathbills are the most gull-like of the Charadrii. Their feet are not webbed, but they swim well and fly strongly at sea hundreds of miles from land. Males bow, bob, strut, and coo during courtship. They build bulky nests in holes, burrows, or rock crevices. Their two or three eggs are laid more than a week apart, but incubation begins with the first. As a result, the chicks are of different sizes and rarely does more than the largest one survive. This seemingly wasteful system is an adaptation that allows the sheathbills to fledge the maximum number of young permitted by their fluctuating food supply.
Most members of the Scolopacidae (the largest family of the shorebirds) construct nests on the ground, but several species use the abandoned nests of other birds, in trees or on the ground. Most of the calidridine sandpipers have courtship songs given in flight and are monogamous, but the ruff (Philomachus pugnax) is notable for social courtship, performed on the ground, and for promiscuity. Males have a prominent collar of feathers of the head and neck (the "ruff") that are of different colours and patterns in different individuals. They assemble at communal display grounds (the arena or lek), where each bird occupies and defends a site during the day; occasionally, an "apprentice" male may be permitted to share an occupied site. Females visit the lek briefly and copulate with one or more birds. There is no pairing, and females assume all domestic responsibilities.
Woodcock and snipe (subfamily Scolopacinae) nest on the ground, woodcock in dry woods and snipe in marshes. The males of most species perform courtship flights in which some or all of the "song" is produced by specialized wing or tail feathers. Woodcock are largely solitary and nocturnal and are known to fly to safety with a chick carried between their legs.
The subfamily Tringinae is the most diverse of the subgroups of the Scolopacidae. The breeding behaviour of the greenshank (Tringa nebularia) includes many features common to a number of shorebirds and provides a useful model for comparison with the behaviour found in the Lari and Alcae.
From their winter quarters throughout much of the Old World temperate regions, greenshanks usually return north each year to the same breeding territory and often to the same mate. Males usually precede females to the breeding grounds, but sometimes they arrive together. Their nesting grounds are in northern Europe and Asia, in flat meadows or swamps near lakes or in bogs with clusters of trees. The nesting territories vary in size from 100 to 700 acres, and nests may be 3 to 8 km (2 to 5 miles) apart, or as close as 0.5 kilometre (0.3 mile). When the territories are relatively small, singing and fighting reaches a high pitch. In aggressive displays, opposing males lean forward with tails fanned, meeting bill to bill. They may then flutter over one another with legs dangling, in leapfrog fashion. Potentially dangerous intruders are met with violent scolding calls, flicks of the open wings, or shaking the half-raised wings. Anxiety is expressed by bobbing and curtseying or stretching the neck.
Flight songs are performed frequently during courtship and territorial adjustment, intermittently throughout incubation, and less regularly later. The tempo is quickest in unmated birds, which fly high (sometimes out of sight), singing, on downward glides and upward flight, while soaring and circling, sustained bursts of "too-too-too," with other calls interspersed. Unmated males chase other birds in the air. Upon landing the male gives an aggressive display toward other individuals. Males return the display but females fly off, with the male in wild pursuit, sometimes attaining a great height and ending in a spectacular dive. The female may glide on bowed wings while the male rises and dips over her, dangling one or both legs, or he may flutter over a standing female in leapfrog display. The female invites copulation by tilting forward and squatting, and the male approaches and mounts, sometimes while waving his wings. Copulation is attempted repeatedly by the male before the female becomes receptive.
The male escorts the female to various parts of the territory, but she chooses the nest site and makes a scrape by lowering the breast, turning, and scratching with her feet; she also brings nearby plant material in her bill. A former nest may be reused for three or more years. The site is usually close to a landmark such as a boulder, stump, or tree. On occasion a single male greenshank may command two females that nest 4 to 250 metres (13 to 820 feet) apart or that occasionally lay in the same nest, where they may incubate side by side.
A clutch of four speckled and cryptically coloured eggs is laid in late April or early May and is incubated for 23 or 24 days. The eggs are laid at any time of day, and the female is accompanied by the male to the nest during the laying of at least the first eggs. Both members develop incubation patches (featherless areas of skin abundantly provided with blood vessels) on the sides of the breast and across the abdomen, and both share in incubation, although occasionally the male defaults. Duty shifts are most frequent at early morning and evening hours, and males generally incubate at night. The free individual spends its time at feeding grounds—usually a lake or marsh up to 13 km (8 miles) away, where it feeds, preens, or rests, or it may engage in song flights over the territory. The incubating bird sits tightly, even in the presence of danger, but it may spring off the eggs and perform an injury-feigning display. An egg knocked out of the nest is drawn back in by rolling it with the underside of the bill.
When the eggs are pipped, the male spends much time perching near the nest. Chicks pipe inside the eggs, and the hen calls back; she may or may not enlarge the egg hole by pecking. Immediately after the hatching the adult carries the shells some 50 to 500 metres (about 165 to 1,650 feet) and drops them, or occasionally eats them. The chicks, covered with protectively coloured down, leave the nest during their first day, running rapidly on relatively large feet. They scatter and squat at the alarm call and rally to gutteral clucking by the parent. The female herds the chicks toward the lake, preceded by the male, who acts as sentry. Chicks may have to cross streams or rivers and survive cold rains, but they are brooded during storms and at night for about two weeks. They are sometimes taken by weasels, gulls, hooded crows, or other predators. Sometimes the family separates, each parent taking one or more chicks, or one parent may depart, leaving all responsibility to the other. The chicks are feathered and fly at about 26 days of age but stay near the parents until they are experienced fliers.
Gulls (suborder Lari)
The members of the suborder Lari are quite different in breeding behaviour from those of the Charadrii. The herring gull (Larus argentatus) is typical of many of the better-known gulls. It inhabits subarctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is not strongly migratory, but most birds shift southward after breeding, and some go as far as Panama, the Hawaiian Islands, the central African coast, northern India, Southeast Asia, and the Philippines.
In winter, herring gulls have a daily routine of flying from their social sleeping grounds to the feeding grounds, near which they may rest and preen, returning to the roosting area in the late afternoon. Storms may flood the broad beaches or sandbars that they require for roosting, forcing them to shift many miles in search of a new area.
As spring approaches, the birds drift north to their breeding grounds, over which they may wheel one day only to disappear and return on another day. Eventually the birds land on the dunes or rocky coast that has been their traditional colony. Some stand in pairs, while others are in small groups known as "clubs." Old birds have already paired in February, and they return to their former territories, which are about 30 to 50 metres (about 100 to 165 feet) in diameter. The gulls establish or defend their territories by a number of aggressive displays, which may occasionally lead to fierce fighting.
Threat display of one bird may be met by threat, by anxiety or appeasement postures, or by retreat. The individual is usually dominant on its established territory. One aggressive display is the "oblique with long call," in which the neck is stretched obliquely forward and upward, the wings held slightly out from the body, and a loud long-drawn call given with the bill wide open. In the silent "upright" threat posture the head is raised, the bill angled downward, the wings held stiffly apart from the body. A bird that approaches an intruder in this posture may increase its speed to a charge, half running and half flying. The intruder usually retreats to his own territory, where he, in turn, will perform the upright threat posture. Another aggressive action is "pecking the ground," in which the bird pecks and often tears out moss or grass, which it holds or tosses aside. Tugging at grass is strenuous and occasionally results in a backward tumble. A third threat posture, called "choking," often used by both members of a pair to intimidate another pair, consists of standing with legs bent, breast lowered, head pointed down, and the tongue lowered, while rhythmically jerking the head and uttering a deep call. These displays are effective in intimidating intruders, but occasionally fights break out in which birds peck or hold each other with their bills and pummel each other with their wings. Threat and fighting subside after territories have been established, and groups of neighbours recognize and tolerate each other.
Younger birds, not yet paired, settle in clubs. There they doze or preen, and sometimes they threaten or chase newcomers. Young males perform the "oblique with long call" display, causing other males to avoid them and females to land near them. Females approach males with the neck drawn in and the body and head horizontal, sometimes "head tossing" and uttering a liquid call. Instead of threatening, the male may be induced to walk off with such a female. Aggressive feelings are lessened by a display called "facing away," in which one or both birds, with neck stretched up, abruptly turn the head to the side away from the other bird. Together they make incomplete nest-building movements in a posture that resembles choking. The male may regurgitate half-digested food, which the female takes from his mouth and eats. This courtship feeding is repeated during pair formation but becomes less frequent as copulation becomes more frequent. Copulation is preceded by head tossing and begging calls by both members. The male stretches his neck and mounts the female's back while uttering a hoarse rhythmic call. The female continues to toss her head or may reach up to touch the male's breast while he waves his wings to maintain balance.
Copulations, choking, and courtship feeding may occur at the club, but eventually the pair walks off to establish a territory. They make several hollows (scrapes) with their feet, and begin to build a nest at one of them. Both collect bits of straw and moss, which they bring to the nest and which they may deposit while sitting in the nest with a sideways movement of the head. They scrape and turn in all directions to shape the nest.
The female lays three eggs at two-day intervals. With the first egg, one bird (or both) stays at the nest, sitting or standing guard. They incubate in turn, relieving each other after periods of about two to five hours and often bringing new nest material. The arriving bird may call or "choke" and may have to push its reluctant mate off the eggs. If an egg is knocked out of the nest the bird rolls it back in, precariously balancing it with the thin lower edge of its bill. An incubating bird recognizes its returning mate by call, even amid the clamour of the colony. Herring gulls apparently do not recognize their own eggs but return first to the nest site, even if the eggs are placed outside nearby. Incubation lasts about 30 days, including the three-day hatching period after the egg is first cracked. As part of the overall adaptations for concealment of eggs and chicks, gulls defecate at some distance from the nest and carry off the eggshells at hatching.
Defense of the brood lasts several weeks and consists of swoops at intruders, with one or both feet lowered. The alarm call of one bird in the colony alerts the others, but gulls learn not to react to alarm calls of individuals that tend to give false alarms. The chicks are brooded for about three days. They soon peck at the red spot on the adult's bill, which induces the parent to regurgitate food (usually worms) that is held for the chick to eat. Other activities of the chicks are preening, yawning, stretching, scratching, and crouching at the alarm call; later they run from the nest before crouching. Chicks that wander near other adult birds may be pecked to death.
After the chick's juvenile feathers have replaced the down and the bird approaches adult size and shape, its own parents may react aggressively toward it. The chick then adopts a submissive posture—with head withdrawn and body horizontal—similar to that of a female approaching a prospective mate. Full-grown young beg for food by head tossing and high-pitched calls, but they are ignored or rejected as they become independent.
Herring gulls have concealingly coloured eggs, and their nests are widely spaced. The mobbing reaction in which many birds may participate is usually effective in distracting or repulsing a predator before it can extensively damage the colony.
The elaborate display repertoire of the herring gull during the breeding season is duplicated in other species, with some variations, additions, or deletions. The "hooded" gulls, exemplified by the black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) and laughing gull (L. atricilla), have a striking "swoop-and-soar" aggressive flight display, and a ground display (called the "forward") wherein the neck is lowered, the head withdrawn and angled upward, and the wings held out from the body.
Several species of gull nest on narrow cliff ledges where they gain protection from predators but have limited space and face constant danger of the eggs or chicks falling off. In the kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla), adaptations against predation are reduced: alarm calls are rare, chicks are not camouflaged, defecation occurs on the nest rim, and eggshells are not carried away. Security against falling is achieved by a deep nest cup, smaller clutch (two eggs), and strong claws. The chicks crouch in the nest rather than running out.
The kittiwake is pelagic after breeding, and the swallow-tailed gull (Creagrus furcatus) of the Galapagos is semipelagic and nocturnal. The gray gull (Larus modestus) flies inland to waterless Chilean deserts to breed.
Terns are, in general, smaller than gulls. Most are coastal or pelagic during the nonbreeding season, returning to breed in large colonies on islands, offshore bars, isolated beaches, or on Arctic tundra. The common tern (Sterna hirundo) and royal tern (Thalasseus maximus) and their relatives nest on the ground, whereas noddies (Anous) nest in bushes or on cliff ledges, and the fairy tern (Gygis alba) deposits its single egg on the limb of a tree or bush. Nests of Sterna and Thalasseus may be so closely spaced that neighbouring birds spar with their bills as they incubate.
Displays of terns are more aerial than those of gulls and include "fish flights" in which one bird postures while carrying a fish. The ceremonial transfer of fish occurs during displays on the ground that are important in courtship and for the maintenance of the pair bond.
Unlike gulls, most terns do not regurgitate food for the chicks but bring a fish back to the colony; there it is fed to the chick, which energetically pecks at the adult's bill. Chicks of royal terns band together soon after leaving the nest and may take to the water when predators approach. Terns are fierce in their mobbing attacks on predators. Like gulls, they often peck and kill chicks that trespass on their territories. Sooty terns (Sterna fuscata) have attracted considerable attention from biologists because on Ascension Island, in the South Atlantic, they breed every 9.6 months and on Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean, every six months. Elsewhere they have an annual cycle.
The breeding pattern of skimmers is ternlike. They breed on sandbars in rivers and estuaries in tropical and subtropical regions, forming loose colonies of about 100 to several thousand pairs. The nests are mere hollows in the sand. The eggs usually number three or four and are incubated chiefly by the female. The chicks are fed by both parents, and their food is primarily small fish. In the presence of danger, the chicks lie flat or burrow into the sand and may even kick sand onto their backs. Their mandibles are of nearly equal length until after fledging, enabling them to pick up fish brought in and dropped by the parents.
Although not strongly colonial in their nesting habits, numbers of skuas (Catharacta skua) may nest on the fringes of penguin colonies; in Iceland they nest in clumps of vegetation on great outwash gravel plains. Jaegers (three species of Stercorarius) nest on the tundra, where both sexes share in incubating the two eggs. Some species have light and dark phases. They are pelagic and solitary after breeding.
Auks (suborder Alcae)
Alcids breed in island colonies along Arctic and north temperate seacoasts, with the exception of a few murrelets that breed inland on mountains. Even these must remain within flying distance of the sea. The breeding behaviour of the pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba) is fairly typical of the family. This species breeds on islands and coasts of the North Pacific, south to central California. It nests between rocks or in holes in cliffs, uses burrows of other birds, or digs its own tunnels with its bill and feet. Occasionally it nests on an open ledge or in tall grass. Unlike some other alcids, guillemots walk quite well on land.
Birds land at their breeding colonies in British Columbia in early April, at which time they stay only briefly in the early mornings. In general, birds return to the same mate and nest burrow for many years. Full attendance is achieved by the end of June, but even then many birds leave the colony in the afternoon to go to their feeding grounds—shoals that may be several miles distant. Only incubating and brooding birds spend the night at the colony. They drive other birds away from their burrows before egg-laying but are more tolerant later in the season when feeding young. The pair also defends a perch site away from the nest burrow, usually a rock close to the water. On this site, which is used in successive years by the same pair, copulation occurs and the nonincubating bird may rest and preen. About 30 percent of the birds at the colony consists of nonbreeding individuals—yearlings or two-year-olds that were hatched at the colony but are unpaired.
During the pre-egg stage, which lasts about 30 to 60 days, the mated pairs spend much time at the perch sites, but they occasionally visit the nest site or cliff top and join in communal water displays. Their display repertoire includes several alarm reactions—the flight intention call, bill dipping (in water), and a scream delivered with the neck straight up and the bill agape. Among the aggressive and sexual displays are a silent lunge on water or land with bill somewhat open, chases that may be in flight or underwater, and a "hunch-whistle" on shore or water, with tail cocked, the head drawn back, the bill agape, accompanied by piping. A display that may represent appeasement is the "twitter-waggle" in which the bird twitters with the tail raised, wings loose, and head and neck outstretched and wagging sideways. The communal water dances, which occur in the pre-egg stage, involve many birds. Pairs are not always together or both present. The birds move rapidly under water or at the surface propelled both by wings and feet. This behaviour is interspersed with "hunch-whistles" and "twitter-waggles."
Pair formation is indicated by mutual "billing," in which the birds waggle their heads but rarely touch bills, while uttering a twittering trilled song with the bill open, revealing the bright red mouth lining. Copulation is initiated by billing, followed by the male's waddling in a circle, first in one direction and then in the other. The female crouches and the male mounts, resting on his tarsi and fluttering his wings to keep balance; the female may gape, scream, or utter an alarm call. She then rises, throwing off the male, and the birds bill or preen.
The pair cleans debris out of the nest cavity and piles up pebbles without making a well-defined nest. A normal clutch is two eggs (rarely one), and the birds' brood patches will not accommodate more than two eggs. The second egg follows the first by three days. Incubation lasts for about 32 days, including a two-day interval between cracking and hatching. Steady incubation during the day begins one day after the clutch is complete, but incubation at night may not begin for one or two days more, at which time a single bird begins to sit all night until the early morning exchange. The incubating bird may leave the burrow briefly to defecate, preen, bathe, or drink, but it will not go to the feeding grounds until its mate arrives at the burrow. The downy chicks are fed, beginning the day after hatching, by both parents during their 35-day nestling and fledging period. Their food is mostly fish, including many blennies, sculpins, and sand lances, brought in the parent's bill throughout the daylight hours. The chicks may reject fish that are awkward to swallow or that have sharp spines. Fledged chicks eventually desert the burrow by night and may be coaxed out by a fish dangling in the parent's bill. The young are then independent, and they disappear offshore to feed without the parents, who may remain to loaf about the colony during morning hours for several weeks.
Behaviour patterns like those of the pigeon guillemot run through many species with various modifications. Many alcids are burrow nesters, and some (Uria) habitually nest on narrow ledges of vertical cliffs, where they rest on their tarsi facing the rock wall. Some murrelets (Brachyrhamphus) nest in rock crevices above the timberline on mountains, and in trees of the taiga zone. Both sexes incubate the one or two eggs and feed the young at the nest site until it is nearly or completely fledged. Other murrelets (Synthliborhamphus) are truly nidifugous (precocious), their downy chicks taking to the sea within two days of hatching. Many alcids nest in immense colonies of mixed species, which segregate in part according to their specialized needs for nesting and feeding. They migrate to pelagic winter feeding grounds by swimming.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
bird: Annotated classificationOrder Charadriiformes (gulls, sandpipers, auks, and allies) 370 species in 17 families including plovers, jacanas, stilts, avocets, thickknees…
Bird, (class Aves), any of the more than 10,400 living species unique in having feathers, the major characteristic that distinguishes them from all other animals. A more-elaborate definition would note that they are warm-blooded vertebrates more related to reptiles than to mammals and that they have a four-chambered heart (as…
Sandpiper, any of numerous shorebirds belonging to the family Scolopacidae (order Charadriiformes), which also includes the woodcocks and the snipes. The name sandpiper refers particularly to several species of small to middle-sized birds, about 15 to 30 cm (6 to 12 inches) long, that throng sea beaches and inland mud…
Plover, any of numerous species of plump-breasted birds of the shorebird family Charadriidae (order Charadriiformes). There are about three dozen species of plovers, 15 to 30 centimetres (6 to 12 inches) long, with long wings, moderately long legs, short necks, and straight bills that are shorter than their heads. Many…
Gull, any of more than 40 species of heavily built web-footed seabirds of the gull and tern family Laridae (order Charadriiformes). Several genera are usually recognized for certain specialized gulls, but many authorities place these in the broad genus Larus. Conspicuous and gregarious, gulls are most abundant as breeders in…
More About Charadriiform1 reference found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- characteristics


text:
Throwback Sports Clip Of The Week: Michael Jordan When He Was 23-Year-Old On David Letterman! (Start Of His Huge Sneaker Endorsement Deal)
Late Night with David Letterman.
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Transfer News: Corinthians claim Tottenham are interested in Paulinho
Corinthians director Duilio Monteiro Alves claims Tottenham Hotspur hold an interest in midfielder Paulinho.
By Paulo Freitas
Last Updated: 17/06/13 10:45pm
The Brazil international has been linked with a move to White Hart Lane in recent weeks and has also been a long-standing target of Inter Milan.
He was also wanted by Shakhtar Donetsk and the Ukrainian club's chief executive was quoted in the Italian media as saying that Paulinho had already signed a pre-contract with Inter.
Monteiro Alves has denied receiving any bids for Paulinho, but is expecting the race to sign the 24-year-old to hot up in the next few days.
"In the last two years and the last four transfer windows there were offers, so imagine now?" Monteiro Alves told UOL.
"It won't be any different, especially considering his performances for Corinthians in the last year and now in the Confederations Cup.
"We know Tottenham have an interest, but nothing official yet. We are waiting for the next few days to talk about official and concrete facts.
"There were not offers, but we are waiting. Of course offers will come, especially as non-official offers have come from some clubs.
"We believe something will come within the next few days, but we will try to keep him."
Paulinho is reportedly valued at €20million (£17m), but he does not anticipate any movement regarding his future until after the Confederations Cup after he was also mooted as a target for Roma.
"Unfortunately, at this moment in time, nobody has offered Corinthians the fee set in my contract for my sale," Paulinho told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "Nobody.
"Roma are a prestigious club. A champion such as Paulo Roberto Falcao wore their shirt, a player I have always admired.
"Roma and Inter are clubs where any player would want to be a protagonist, but you'll see that nothing will happen until after the Confederations Cup."


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Emily Donahue
Emily Donahue founded KUT News in 2001 as the station's first news director. She's currently developing and launching KUT's daily news program, "Texas Standard". Under Donahue's leadership, KUT has grown from a staff of four into a nationally recognized newsroom with a radio and multi-media internship program cited far and wide; and has won more than 100 local, national and international awards for reporting, including five National Edward R. Murrow awards, two National Headliner Awards and a Clarion. Prior to joining KUT, Donahue was with the Peabody award-winning "Marketplace" team as producer of the Marketplace Morning Report. Emily has worked as a journalist for close to three decades in operations large and small. She says of all the places she's worked – including London, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and even tiny Lexington, Virginia -- Austin is the best. In fact, it's home.


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Rogier needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 17 designs submitted by 9 freelance designers.
Designers! we have the perfect challenge for you! Stripe a internet company in Holland needs a fresh and cool header! Are you up for it?
Stripe - Shares online succes!
Stripe is company that launches new concepts like an innovative date-planner or our concept rent a website (rogier-webdesign.nl). We also train people to manage websites with a CMS like Joomla. Stripe is the website that brings all our online activities together.
We are using a standard template for the site but want a unique header!
The site can be found here: http://www.rogier-webdesign.nl/dev/stripe
I made a zip file with the logo, the current images, and visualisation of the idea. http://www.rogier-webdesign.nl/dev/…esigns.zip
In the video you can view a more detailed description: http://screencast.com/t/etXJYp5re
Good luck!
- Where searching more the style of http://www.designchuchi.ch/ , http://www.indylist.org/ , http://www.projectvino.com.au/ (strong) , http://envato.com/ , http://www.10voltmedia.com/
- Simplicity is the key
- Use the original logo attached to the assignment
- Creative and professional look
- Refreshing and good looking with our logo, so our logo need to be in the header...
- Like the current header (from a template) just out of the box.. like the briefcase on the road...
- Our slogan needs to be in... Shares online succes!
- Would be cool to see some of our describing tags around it. (Out of the box, Simplicity, Innovators, Connectors, Internet Entrepreneurs, Organizers)
- A header that distracts the attention of the content
- No faces of people in the header


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Three 2011 Hope College spring sports teams are being honored by national coaches association for academic excellence.
The men's and women's track and field teams are being honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCA) while the men's tennis squads is being recognized by th Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
These teams join five others who received national academic honors in 2010-11 -- men's and women's swimming/diving, men's and women's cross country and volleyball.
In addition, 12 athletes on these teams are being honored as Scholar Athletes.
The men's tennis team, coached by Steve Gorno, maintained a 3.673 cumulative grade point average, tops among all men's teams in any MIAA sport. The women's track and field team had a cumulative 3.484 GPA while the men's track and field team achieved a 3.151 GPA. The track and field teams are coached by Kevin Cole.
Eight men's tennis players received individual recognition as Scholar Athletes -- senior Bradley Boelkins of Ada (Forest Hills Central HS), freshman Parker Bussies of Zeeland (Zeeland West HS), sophomore Gabe Casher of Ann Arbor (Pioneer HS), senior Kevin Hagan of Okemos (Okemos HS), junior Alex Hughes of Hudson, Ohio (Hudson HS), senior Jonathon Lautz of Wheaton, Ill. (Wheaton North HS), freshman Grant Shooter of San Diego, Calif. (Westview HS), and sophomore David Vanderveen of Clarkston (Clarkston HS).
Track and field athletes honored as Scholar Athletes are senior John Donkersloot of Zeeland (Zeeland East HS), junior Kelly Lufkin of Houghton (Houghton HS), senior Kara Vande Gutche of Hamilton (Hamilton HS), and sophomore Sarah Venlet of Zeeland (Holland Christian HS). Participation in the NCAA championships was an added criteria to receive this honor.


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Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Dr. Russell Martin, Westminster College professor of history, is the author of A Bride for the Tsar: Bride-Shows and Marriage Politics in Early Modern Russia that was published recently by Northern Illinois University Press.
The book is a study of the 16th- and 17th-century custom of picking a bride for the tsar by means of a parade of eligible young women gathered from across Russia. Prior historians had thought of the custom as the quintessential expression of Russian autocratic, unlimited monarchy: the tsar was so powerful he could marry whomever he wanted, regardless of whether the bride was the daughter of a prince or a peasant.
"My study is based on a mountain of unpublished archival resources that were produced in the royal chancelleries and better reflect what the bride-show was really all about," Martin said. "I argue that, far from being a showcase of the tsar's boundless power, the bride-show actually shows the opposite: the tsar lived and ruled collaboratively with his leading nobles (boyars), who were the very people who controlled the bride-show and maneuvered the tsar to marry precisely their favored candidate, not his. This study is really about monarchical power and how it was actually quite limited in Russia, not unlimited, as the usual story goes."
Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies hosted a book launch May 11 for Martin, who gave a presentation on the book and answered questions from faculty at Harvard and other institutions.
Voice of Russia, a Russian news service in New York and Washington, D.C., interviewed Martin about the book. Click here to listen.
Martin visited St. Petersburg, Russia, April 20-27. He met with a small group of scholars at the Russian National Library to discuss the book and worked on manuscripts at the library for his next book project.
During the trip, Martin accompanied Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, and her son and heir, Grand Duke George of Russia, to several locations in and around St. Petersburg and served as a translator for non-Russian-speaking guests making public speeches at a number of lunches and banquets. He had an audience with the grand duchess to discuss Martin's work on the webpage of the Russian Imperial House.
Martin, who has been with Westminster since 1996, earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master's degree and Ph.D. from Harvard University.
Martin appeared on A&E Biography in a broadcast on Ivan the Terrible as an expert on the controversial ruler. He is the co-founder of the Muscovite Biographical Database, a Russian-American computerized register based in Moscow of early modern Russian notables. The Neville Island, Pa., native is not only fluent in Russian, but also reads Old Church Slavonic/Russian, French, German, Latin, and Polish.
Martin continues to translate from Russian to English the official Webpage of Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, the heiress to the vacant Russian throne. Translations are available here. Martin was awarded the Russian Imperial Order of St. Anna, second class, by the grand duchess for his work on behalf of the House of Romanov.
Contact Martin at (724) 946-6254 or email for additional information.


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The TDEPS electronic pressure switch with relay output uses redundant half-bridge circuitry for high-shock/high-vibration environments. Features include ±0.25% BFSL total error band (includes nonlinearity, hysteresis, and nonrepeatability); 9- to 28-Vdc power supply; 250 Vac or dc relay output (5-A maximum); compensated and operating temperature range of –40 to 194°F; and redundant sensing elements, if one fails, the switch continues to operate on the remaining elements.
Transducers Direct, (513) 583-9491, www.transducersdirect.com
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I need to save money and do this someday. My computer's been on its "last legs" for over a year.But then, there's that Seiken Densetsu box set.... ayyyyyeeeee
Additionally, don't get the 'superclocked' GPU. You're paying a bit more money for overclocking that you can easily do yourself. As for a CPU cooler, go for the Cooler Master Hyper 212+: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&Tpk=cooler%20master%20hyper%20212 I've overclocked my i5 with this cooler and the temperatures don't go above the mid to high 50s on full 100% load after 19 straight hours. If you do decide to get that cooler, drop the thermal compound you're buying since the one that accompanies the CMH 212+ is good.
Seconding what Jet said about the PSU (if you want modular go for either Seasonic or Corsair HX/AX)l


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People at Savannah: Igrar Guseynoff Profile
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DENVER (Reuters) - A white supremacist parolee suspected of killing Colorado's prisons chief and a pizza delivery man last month skipped out on his parole days before the slayings, state Department of Corrections documents released on Tuesday show.
Ex-convict Evan Spencer Ebel last contacted parole officers on March 14, three days before Domino's pizza driver Nathan Leon was found slain in suburban Denver, according to parole records released by the Colorado Department of Corrections.
The state's prisons chief, Tom Clements, was shot to death on March 19 when he answered the front door of his home near Monument, Colorado, about 45 miles south of Denver.
Ebel, 28, had been ordered to check in with parole officials daily. He died in a roadside gun battle with police on March 21 following a high-speed chase through Decatur, Texas, and was later named a suspect in the murders of Clements and Leon.
Court officials said earlier this week that Ebel had been mistakenly released from prison in January, four years early, due to a clerical error.
Despite checking in by telephone with parole officers on March 14, an alert received that day showed tampering with Ebel's electronic monitoring bracelet, according to the parole records. Parole officials tried unsuccessfully to contact him over the next week before determining he had violated parole and obtaining a warrant for his arrest on March 20.
Colorado court records show Ebel had been arrested at least seven times between 2003 and 2010 for such offenses as burglary, unlawful weapons possession, assault, menacing, robbery and trespassing.
While incarcerated, he was a member of a white supremacist prison gang, the 211 Crew, and records show that at the time of his release from prison his tattoos included a swastika on his stomach, lightning bolts on his hands and wrist and the words "White Pride" on his arms.
Authorities have said they were looking for ties between the murder of Clements and the January 31 slaying in Texas of Mark Hasse, a prosecutor in the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office. Kaufman County is east of Dallas.
However, parole records indicate Ebel submitted to urine analysis in Colorado on January 31 - the same day as the Texas slaying - as a condition of his parole. The test came back negative. He was also under electronic monitoring at the time.
Public interest in the Hasse killing was heightened on Saturday when Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, were found shot to death at their home near the Texas town of Fourney. Fourney Mayor Darren Rozell has called the couple's slaying a "targeted attack."
A search of Ebel's car following the shootout with Texas police turned up a pizza deliverer's shirt, visor, pizza box and heat bag. Ballistics tests established that the same gun he fired at police during that gun battle matched the weapon used to kill Clements in Colorado.
Also found in the Cadillac were bomb-making materials and instructions for building bombs, according to Texas authorities.
(Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Matthew Lewis and Todd Eastham)


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Kevin Durant Tackles OKC Fan After Hitting A $20,000 Half Court Shot!
"Another Thunder fan hits the MidFirst Bank halfcourt shot and wins $20,000" - OKC
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Alert 2007-61
Subject: Counterfeit Official Checks
Date: November 19, 2007
Description: Integra Bank, N.A.
Counterfeit Official Checks of Integra Bank, N.A., Evansville, IN
To: Chief Executive Officers of All National Banks; All State Banking Authorities; Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; Director, Office of Thrift Supervision; Conference of State Bank Supervisors; Deputy Comptrollers (districts); Assistant Deputy Comptrollers; District Counsel; and All Examining Personnel
The above-named bank has reported that counterfeit official checks issued in the bank's name and using a correct routing number of 022000868 are being presented for payment nationwide in connection with a lottery scam.
The counterfeit checks are similar to the bank's authentic item; however, counterfeits may be identified by the following: the background is blue and pink in color, the bank's logo in the lower-left corner appears as three circles instead of interlocking rings, the following security statement is located in the top border: "THIS CHECK IS VOID WITHOUT A RED & BLUE BORDER AND BACKGROUND PLUS A KNIGHT & FINGERPRINT WATERMARK ON THE BANK. HOLD AT ANGLE TO VIEW," and the following security phrase follows the signature line in the bottom-right portion of the check: "SIGNATURE AREA CONTAINS A KNIGHT & FINGERPRINT CHECK WORDING."
Checks presented to date have been made payable in the amount of $4,825.00, are dated 10/05/2007, and use a remitter name of "Heidi Clark." Due to possible variations in appearance of the counterfeit items and scams, it is suggested that officials of Integra Bank, N.A. be contacted to verify authenticity of the bank's official checks, if received from an unknown or questionable source.
Correspondence accompanying the counterfeit instruments may contain the letterhead of "Excel Lottery Gaming Corporation (ELGC), PO Box 7652, St. John, Virgin Islands 00831." The letter alerts the recipient that he or she is the winner of an unclaimed prize associated with a lottery. The letter further states that the enclosed check is to be used to pay applicable taxes, which should be paid either by MoneyGram or Western Union. Recipients are instructed to contact claim agent Mr. Steve Adams at 1-778-863-7898 by a specific date or risk forfeiting the prize. Note that this telephone number originates in British Columbia. The letter may be signed by Larry Watts.
For additional information and guidance or to verify the authenticity of Integra Bank, N.A.'s official checks, please contact Gary Fein, Fraud Investigator, 21 SE Third Street, PO Box 868, Evansville, IN 47705-0868, by telephone at (812) 464-9672, or via e-mail at [firstname.lastname@example.com].
Consumers who receive a counterfeit item and associated material should file complaints with the following agencies, as appropriate:
Additional information concerning this matter that you believe should be brought to the attention of the OCC may be forwarded to:
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
For additional information on this and other types of financial fraud, please visit OCC's anti-fraud resource at: https://www.occ.gov/topics/consumer-protection/fraud-resources/index-fraud-resources.html.


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Recent Center for International Law and Policy projects and placements
CEDAW Project
- Researched international legal issues and help draft submissions related to the Convention on the Elimination of All Form of Discrimination against Women.
The ECCC Training Project
- Developed training materials for the staff of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Hate Speech Project
Advised the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the UN Human Rights Council on freedom of expression in regard to hate speech prosecutions and legislation.
Interstate Complicity Project/CIA Renditions in Europe
- Researched European state complicity and applicable legal frameworks in alleged unlawful arrest, detention, and rendition by U.S. agents within Council of Europe member states.
Peacekeeper Accountability Project
- Researched accountability mechanisms for sexual misconduct by civilian and military personnel working on behalf of intergovernmental organizations, including the UN.
Political Violence Documentation and Analysis
- Analyzed violence under various international legal frameworks and provided training to staff of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission.
UN Human Rights Council Project
- Worked on briefs related to the work of the U.S. delegation to the UN Human Rights Council.
U.S. Attitudes Toward Human Rights Treaty Bodies
- Documented and analyzed the U.S. interpretation of its human rights obligations and the legal authority of the bodies that monitor international human rights treaties.
Universal Jurisdiction Project
- Assisted a coalition of nongovernmental human rights organizations seeking advice on legal remedies for gross human rights violations.
War Crimes Project
- Participated in an arrangement with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, under which New England Law | Boston students provided legal research and analysis to the war crimes prosecutor on issues pending before the Tribunal.


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California fresh peach, plum and nectarine growers are at the supply peak of a marketing season that is expected to send more than 56 million packages to markets worldwide by season's end.
It has been a roller coaster start for the season, with many producers, especially from the Modesto area north, suffering frost damage. Some orchards were a 100 percent loss due to frost. However, the frost damage cut significantly into the early fruit supply, which has been marketed to pleased consumers who are paying respectable prices for plentiful, good-eating quality fruit.
"I think most growers have been encouraged by the start of the season," said Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League in Fresno, Calif. Prices have held up relatively well.
"The industry is coming off a very difficult year in 2007. There was quite a bit of concern going into 2008 since the 56-million box estimate was on the upper end of the crop forecast of the last few years," he noted.
Veteran University of California Cooperative Extension stone fruit farm advisor in Tulare County, Kevin Day, said last year should have been a good year with a lower supply of fruit available from growing areas outside of California.
"It wasn't a good year. Prices were not good. However, prices have been better early this season, and there is a bit more optimism among growers," Day said.
Bedwell called it a "decent start," but with more pressure on the market from increased mid-summer supplies that could change.
Growers are concerned about fruit flooding the market and prices plummeting.
"Typically, growers see late June and early July prices collapse with larger volumes. It happens more often than not, but a lot of that depends on harvesting timing, varieties and the weather," Bedwell said.
"If Mother Nature cooperates and we can get an orderly flow into the market, we could be okay."
He does not believe frost losses are necessarily a factor in a surprisingly good early California fresh fruit season.
"The industry fully realizes now that the key to success is not just a great looking fruit, but a great eating product as well. I think consumers are getting that now.
"The industry with leaders like Blair Richardson's FreshSense and the Family Tree Farm emphasizing and guaranteeing quality is making a difference," said Bedwell.
"Hopefully, this focus on good eating fruit will bring back repeat consumers, which is something the industry desperately needs."
Day has the scientific proof that quality is improving, especially in the early fruit. It is what consumers buy first and if they are happy with the first buy of the season, hopefully they will return. They have not been over the past few years and as supplies increased into the summer, prices plummeted.
"Ten years ago at meetings to display new varieties, what you saw was big and red and we saturated the market with fruit that was big and looked good," Day said. Unfortunately, it did not always eat as well as it looked.
The "uniqueness" of California fresh fruit is in the eating experience, and the quality is now there, according to Day.
A decade ago refractometer readings of just 10 percent in early fruit were common. "It is not uncommon now get to 14 to 16 sugar readings in early fruit … that is a 50 percent to 60 percent improvement in quality.
"I think a lot of the strength of the season so far has been in the quality. Quality really gives legs to fruit marketing," Day said.
For 2008 the industry expects the 56.6 million package crop to be broken down with 23.8 million packages of peaches, 11.6 million plum packages and 21.2 million nectarines.
The California Tree Fruit Agreement projects the state's growers will produce fresh peach and nectarine crops similar to last season. The plum crop is expected to be 10 percent larger due to a better set and better sizing potential, even with the frost damage that occurred in Tulare County in April.
Bedwell acknowledged frost damage was heavy in some orchards and vineyards. However, it was spotty and he does not expect frost losses to have a major impact on the overall supply.
"There were heavy losses in one orchard or vineyard, and just down the road no damage," he said.
According to the California USDA/NASS field office, it was the unusually cold temperatures April 19-20 that caused the significant frost damage.
The largest impact was in the Northern California growing areas. There were also a large number of growers with losses in the Modesto area. Orchards and vineyards in Tulare County also were hit.
Growers are waiting as long as possible before they start to thin to get a better idea of which fruit will drop from frost damage and which will remain on the tree, according to USDA. Some blocks will not need thinning because their set is so light.
Mendocino County, one of California's top pear growing regions, experienced the worst freeze growers have seen in nearly a half century. Damaged pears were showing many black centers or frozen cores. The Sacramento River pear-growing district was not impacted as much by the freeze and is expected to produce a normal crop.
Spring weather has again damaged the California prune crop like last season. Despite the damage, crop prospects were showing an improvement over the small 2007 crop. A cold snap during April caused several Sutter County growers to lose more than 25 percent of their orchards and some growers lost their entire crop. Prune growers will assess the crop again after the June drop.
Frost does not benefit anyone, but cool weather can help size a crop. At least that is the conventional wisdom, but that wisdom did not apply this season, even with the unseasonably cool spring, according to Day. A searing five-day hot spell in May with temperatures well above 100 degrees negated any sizing benefit from cooler spring weather.
It was not just heat, frost and cool temperatures that made the start of the 2008 season unusual.
"I have never seen anything like the wind we have seen this year and I have lived here all my life. The wind seemingly blew on and on. It did scar fruit.
"It has not been the scarring like you would see from hail, but scarring nonetheless," said Day.
Overall, however, the outlook for the 2008 crop is positive. With adequate chilling hours this winter, consumers can expect better flavor in the fruit, said Sheri Mierau, president of the California Tree Fruit Agreement. "Along with better sizing, the industry is looking forward to a successful season having plenty of fruit to supply promotions all season long."


text:
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Need some serious organization but don't know where to start? Our Pantry Organizers consolidate your food in a patented can-rotation system you won't find anywhere else. Designed for the food you love and the pantry that holds it all together, your whole family can have easy access to healthy food anytime they want! The Family Can System helps you declutter, organize and manage your food so nothing goes to waste! By compacting 112 family-size (#10) cans into one rotating system you can keep every can in one convenient place for quick finds and easy cooking!


text:
35395, Children's Songbook, The Savior, Stars Were Gleaming, 37
1. Stars were gleaming, shepherds dreaming;
And the night was dark and chill.
Angels' story rang with glory;
Shepherds heard it on the hill.
Ah, that singing! Hear it ringing,
Earthward winging, Christmas bringing!
Hearken! We can hear it still!
2. See the clearness and the nearness
Of the blessed Christmas star,
Leading, guiding; wise men riding
Through the desert dark and far.
Lovely showing, shining, growing,
Onward going, gleaming, glowing,
Leading still, our Christmas star!
Words: Nancy Byrd Turner, 1880-1971
Music: Polish carol; arr. by Darwin Wolford, b. 1936
Words © 1930 by the Westminster Press; renewed 1958; from HYMNS FOR PRIMARY WORSHIP. Adapted and used by permission of Westminster/John Knox Press. Arr. © 1989 IRI. MAKING COPIES OF THIS MATERIAL IS PROHIBITED.
Luke 2:8-14
Matthew 2:1-2


text:
Lewis Hamilton has branded the tyre issues that disrupted the British Grand Prix as 'unacceptable'.
A host of drivers suffered punctures to their Pirelli tyres early on in the race, with Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Jean-Eric Vergne all suffering rear-left blowouts at the same point on the Silverstone track, prompting the safety car to be deployed.
Later on both Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez would also suffer punctures, with the McLaren man forced to retire from the race.
A range of theories are currently being explored, with some suggesting the kerb on the exit towards the Wellington straight was to blame, while others suggest it is a problem with the Pirelli tyres.
Hamilton, who was leading his home race at the time but was forced into the pits on lap seven and re-emerged in last place only to fight his way up to fourth, says the problem with punctures has become a real safety issue.
"Safety is the biggest issue," he said. "It's unacceptable really."
He added: It's only when someone gets hurt that someone will be doing something about it.
"I think it's a waste of time talking to the FIA, and if they don't do anything that says a lot about them."
Pirelli say they are currently investigating the punctures, but have already ruled out a new bonding process used on the tyres as the cause.
Mercedes received a reprimand and were banned from the young drivers test for taking part in an illegal in-season testing session with Pirelli after the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
"We had that tyre test to develop and improve the tyre," Hamilton continued. "after that they didn't do anything about it."
The 2008 world champions' Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg took the chequered flag on Sunday, taking advantage of the misfortune of Hamilton and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who retired for the first time this season because a gearbox problem.
There was a chance he could have penalised for failing to slow for a yellow flag during the race - however stewards opted against giving him a time penalty and doled out a reprimand instead, meaning the German kept his second race win of the season.


text:
This week over at Momversation, Rebecca brought up the topic of picky eaters, and I laughed; oh, how I laughed. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you may remember my periodic rants about Henry's eccentric eating habits. I wish I could report that my son's diet has evolved even a little since that time, but alas, I cannot. We are dealing with it, in our usual clumsy manner, with the help of a nutritionist. It is not easy. Our son is more than a little strong-willed. It is a characteristic I'm sure I will someday come to admire.
As you may have noticed from the title, up there, I am not seeking advice, thank you anyway. But feel free to share your own picky-eater stories.


text:
Jack Freeman needed a new banner ad design and created a contest on 99designs.
7 winners were selected from 132 designs submitted by 22 freelance designers.
Rare Earth elements are used for a lot of manufacturing of electronics, magnets, etcetera. China supplies over 90% of these and is now imposing new restrictions, causing short supplies. Our company is mining and supplying rare earth elements from China;s neighbor Mongolia, to make money of new supplies of rare earths.
An eye catching banner ad that shows our company is going to make a lot of money supplying rare earth elements in a high demand worldwide marketplace.
Go to http://www.rareearthexporters.com to see our website
Will need the following sizes, under 40K, in jpg or gif:
120x600 Skyscraper
160x600 Wide Skyscraper
200x200 Small Square
250x250 Square
300x50 Medium Rectangle
300x250 Medium Rectangle
336x280 Large Rectangle
468x60 Standard
728x90 Leaderboard
425x600 Yahoo Special
Ad will need to have the text "OTC:GTSO", a "Research Stock" button and the company logo somewhere on the ad, similar to the samples provided.


text:
Smoking is an art, the smoking fetish is a way of lifel
Smoke lovyer around the world are looking for nice and stylish girls that love to smoke!!
Snaps inhale, French inhale, Smoke in your face, Massive exhales, Sexy smoking
Web Masters Program
Want a custom clip or video? Email me: firstname.lastname@example.com
With your ideas And I will send you a quote!!
www.smokingclipshd.com © 2015


text: Hello all, I've been on the list for a number of years and I find this recent discussion of extreme interest. I have a background in Computer Engineering and working on a solution that would provide more use out of standard PC's box. Cost per node will be much less. I do have a question that would help in my endeavors. What CPU's are desired (currently offered on market) for Single and Double CPU systems and associated chipset? It would be also be helpful to know what CPU is desired to be used in an upgrade under a budgetary constraint? In other words what CPU would be purchased with minimum amount of money to spend? In the next 6 months is there a desire to expand in node count, and if so how many (Please mention what CPU would be replaced or expanded from)? Thanks. On Sat, 17 Aug 2002 13:24:38 -0400 (EDT) Mark Hahn <hahn at physics.mcmaster.ca> writes: > > One advantage that comes to mind, although it may not be worth > $6000, is > > when you have 20 PC's stacked, according to Murphy, the bottom one > will fail > > first. The rack mounted version will be much easier to service a > failed unit > > than the stack version. > > wire shelving units cost very little and often have an option for > wheels. > > I think the choice really boils down to the number of nodes you > want. > chances are good that your floorspace is limited, therefore density > is an issue. we want O(150) CPUs and can only afford ~2 more racks > of floorspace in our machineroom, so we need roughly .5U per CPU. > further, with more than, say, 64 CPUs, you have to think seriously > about hardware failures. that, in turn, biases you towards > higher-end > hardware, since a generic ATX power supply is definitely not in the > same MTBF range as a good rackmount one. > > still, Dell/Compaq all make small uniprocesor desktops; for > instance: > > http://www.dell.com/us/en/biz/products/model_optix_optix_gx260.htm > > 3.6*12.5*13.9=625.5 cuin, versus 19*21*1.75=698.25 cuin for 1U. > wow, you can actually get 2.26GHz P4, 533MHz FSB, 512M ddr, 1000bT > all for under $1k. 3-year warrantee. > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf


text:
Pom, rom, pa, ba, dom, ba, dom, ba, ba, dom
Babba, dom, ba, dabba, dom, ba, dom, ba, ba, dom
Pom, rom, pa, ba, dom, ba, dom, ba, ba, dom
Babba, dom, ba, dabba, dom, ba, dom, ba, ba, dom
[ verse 1 : Stephen Marley]
This is Ragamuffin from the ghetto youths camp
Anywhere me go me say me must leave my stamp
Marijuana whey me smoke them say it too ignorant
Just some other day, some po po hold me for one
Then my brother Juju and my I-thren name Dan
Bounce and listen to Gong we mashin' up the traffic jam
Police pull me over talking 'bout him smell corn
From me look inna him face me know this boy have a plan
Juju touch me 'pon my shoulder, say the boy ah demon
First thing him want to know is where that smell is coming from
Are you smokin' marijuana? and I said, yes I am
True him see say some mentions, say, it cost a couple grand
Him say make me see the license and registration
And where are you headed? What's your occupation?
Done know, say, ragamuffin nah go answer question
As is says on the paper, read the information
From me nah go take no street side interrogation
So book me, if you ah book me, carry down ah station
Make me show them how we did it inna style and pattern
[Verse 2 : Stephen Marley]
I'm the judge, the lawyer Jury, and my own bails man
And if you check it out that would be my station
Settle Juju royal from you run England
And when your plane land you nah go through no customs
This is ragamuffin in a different pattern
Me nah go inna no session unless it conk and ram
And from you see we face no bother ask no question
And anywhere we go we haffi ra pa pom, pom
[Verse 3 : Damian Marley]
Well, if ah ganja dem ah look for, them know where to find us
Well, we ah no criminal, say Rasta ever righteous
Some boy a scope out the ride how we ah drive and puff
And him jealous how we so shine and buff
And him jealous how we so shine and buff
Well, from him look inna the car and how the interior plush
And look upon the rims, how them full out and flush
And ah scope out we jewels him ah wonder how much
And him jealous cause them here price can't touch
And him jealous cause them here price can't touch
Then me say royal have a new tune fi rise and bust
And there extra large size muffin them ah light up
A boy dig down the car until him find some stuff
And him jealous cause we so rank and 'nuff
And him jealous cause we so rank and 'nuff
Him make Sarg cause a few stripes there 'pon him shoulder
Cause him too par with we, we there when demus show love
Give them couple CD, some promo photos
Now him jealous cause everybody knows us
Now him jealous cause everybody shows love
Yo some feel the way you pass and dem ah smile and blush
And true them see some man ah star
Them goodly have a light crush
Now him jealous now even twice as much
Now the boy jealous now even twice as much
It's just a minor set back, ah who them want cold up?
Every month then the super gets a thing fold up
Say natty dreadlocks no wear handcuff
Say any kind of cuff ah haffi diamond cuff
Go tell them every month then the super get a thing fold up
Say easy papa muffin you're rougher than rough
Ah settle Juju Royal, you're tougher than tough
And tell them say natty dreadlocks no wear handcuffs
Always stick together even when time tough
Boy you bright, you think ah shine and buff? settle!


text:
The Resource Train
The Importance of Dental Care
November/December 2004
Reasons why oral health is important to individuals living with HIV:
Common Oral ManifestationsThere are several oral manifestations associated with HIV. An important part of proper dental health care for individuals living with HIV is to be able to differentiate one manifestation from another, as well as practicing proper dental hygiene as a preventative measure to promote a healthy mouth.
Oral CandidiasisThis condition occurs frequently and is most often called "thrush." The affected area can be all over the mouth and possibly in the throat. The problem appears as white patches that can be wiped away, leaving a red surface. Some of the symptoms related with oral candidiasis are pain, loss of taste, distortion of taste, burning and discomfort.
Kaposi's SarcomaKaposi's Sarcoma is the most common tumor associated with HIV and may initially appear as an intraoral tumor. The affected area is commonly on the roof of the mouth, but may also appear throughout the entire oral cavity. The symptoms of Kaposi's Sarcoma are red or purple patches or swellings, which may appear as raised or flat and may become painful.
Hairy LeukoplakiaThis is a common condition which appears usually without any symptoms. This is a white lesion that most often presents on the sides of the tongue; however, it may appear in other parts of the mouth. If symptoms present, the oral manifestation is described as white, streaky, "hairy" patches that cannot be scraped off.
Gingivitis and PeriodontitisThis is a commonly occurring problem, often described as the most painful of oral manifestations. Gingivitis and periodontitis affect the gums and teeth. Symptoms include inflammation of the gums, swelling, bleeding, bad breath and breaks in the seal between the gums and teeth.
XerostomiaThis problem is also called dry mouth. This is one of the most common complaints among individuals living with HIV. This problem should be addressed immediately to ensure the prevention of dental decay and periodontal problems. The affected areas can be the entire mouth and throat. The symptoms of dry mouth include the observation of reduced saliva production, leading to ongoing dryness of the mouth and throat area.
The above oral manifestations and descriptions are not a comprehensive listing of all potential problems. There are several other oral manifestations which may occur; however, the above have been listed as the most common. If you would like more information on specific oral manifestations, www.HIVdent.org and www.projectinform.org are two resources that can help in your research.
Promoting Good Oral HealthAfter understanding potential oral manifestations it is essential to learn the general guidelines promoted by the American Dental Association as a preventative measure associated with good oral health.
Finding a Dentist That is Right for YouDental care is an important aspect of general health care. However, one must not overlook the issues of finding a dentist that is right for you. Finding a dentist can often be a difficult process, and it is important to find someone you feel comfortable with, one to whom you are willing to disclose your HIV status. This is important because there are conditions and problems such as those discussed in this article that the dentist will need to pay attention to during your regular checkups. Hopefully after reading this article, you will have a better understanding of the importance of dental care to your overall health.
If you don't already have a dentist, take this opportunity to do some research. There are several outlets for research to find a dentist that fits your needs. First, if you feel comfortable doing so, you may want to ask your doctor for a referral to a dentist or for a listing of area dentists with experience working with individuals living with HIV. Also, there are several listings in the resource database at AIDS Survival Project. Just give a peer counselor a call at (404) 874-7926 ext. 11 and ask for help locating a dentist in your area. Lastly, if you still need help locating a dentist, visit www.HIVdent.org, which provides information on HIV dental care as well as referrals to HIV dental programs in your community.
This article was provided by AIDS Survival Project. It is a part of the publication Survival News.