Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/118445
Sarasota News Leader March 29, 2013 write that it is a reverse of the ugly duckling into swan story, but I find baby ducklings simply adorable and almost as cute as owlets, so that is not an appropriate analogy. Page 84 The Twig-Nosed (or Stick-Nosed) Fisherking (Rhinencephalus alcyon rasus nasus regalus), is a species of insect larvae-devouring, dry-river bed birds that makes its home in Africa's Sahel, a transitional coastline area delimiting the sands of the Saharan deserts. This arid belt stretches from Chad to Goa. The birds' diet consists solely of mosquito and sand flea larvae, making them a valuable natural pest controller. a result of climate change — i.e., global warming, civil wars and man's predation — this bird is on the verge of being extirpated. According to the last National Autobahn Easter Bird Count (AEBC), held in China in 1897, only 4,113 Twig-Nosed Fisherking eggs were documented. The Chinese consider them a rare culinary delicacy, which might explain why China closed its doors to the AEBC. Or, on a less sinister note, closed-door policy could have nothing to do with cuisine but relate to the protection of ancient Buddhist manuscripts and relics that fill the caves along Turpan's historical Silk Road. Many of these caves' treasures have been looted. The few ornithologists who have been able to study it or preserved specimens of it have declared Twig-Nosed Fisherking the closest living relative to the extinct Velociraptor. As Note also the photo of a Buddhist thangka depicting the months of the year with a celebration animal, which I have included this week. I have marked the months from On a Manichean thangka, the Fisherking represents April. File photo