Egghead!

Lost to the world of 'other things' and unable to get out birding, I thought it a good idea to fill the gap with some exposure to the man from Scotland who isn't an academic 'egghead' at all, which makes my title to the post a little sarcastic....but n'er mind.

It's also an excellent opportunity to put up another three brilliant images....even more brilliant if you 'clik the pik'.

Slavonion Grebe.Tim Kuhn.

This guy pleaded guilty to several charges relating to the trading in eggs of protected or threatened species of birds including Slavonion Grebe, Black-throated Diver, and Peregrine Falcon. He also pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful possession of in excess of 300 eggs including those of the Osprey and many others. 

  

Peregrine Falcon Tim Kuhn.

The future populations of vulnerable or slow breeding species like the Peregrine Falcon and other birds of prey and divers are at risk of a devastating impact because of this illegal and out dated practice of egg collecting, and this fella was involved in one of the biggest ever egg trading investigations. 

Black-throated Diver Rick Derevan 

The outcome of this was a long time in the making and started back in 2009 when another man was convicted of a similar crime. Thousands of e-mails were examined in that case and a network and number of individuals were discovered and exposed  to be trading in eggs via the internet as far afield as the US and Scandinavia, it was because of this case that Mr 'Scotland' was amongst these individuals, and was unearthed by investigators and found to be in possession of 2,300 birds eggs....He gets sentenced in April, and its taken since 2009 to come to this....a bit of a drag!

Thanks to Tim Kuhn for the excellent images of the Slavonion Grebe and Peregrine Falcon, and to Rick Derevan for the equally excellent Black-throated Diver.

Birding tomorrow....hopefully.