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What is the State Bird of Alaska?

10,000 Birds

In 1955 – before Alaska was a state – the Territory’s leaders in charge of drafting a constitution allowed schoolchildren to choose what would eventually become the state bird. The Willow Ptarmigan was officially designated in 1960, when Alaska entered the union.

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Signs of Spring Migration in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

All the way to Alaska maybe? The other day, several were at the salt pans of Punta Morales and most had a bit of russet or chestnut on their head, dressed to fly back to the shores of the Gulf and raise a brood or two. That would be migrant raptors such as Broad-winged and Swainson’s Hawks. Where will they go?

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My Championship Hummingbird Season

10,000 Birds

Those of us who were raised in the four-season north (here in Michoacán one could define, at the most, three seasons) tend to think of avian migration in terms of seasonal temperatures. I may have come all the way from Alaska for these Salvias. I suspect that for hummingbirds, temperature is not the only factor. It was worth it.

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The Secrets of my Success

10,000 Birds

And I found this one because he was singing his heart out quite persistently, which certainly suggests a bird that wants to settle down and raise a family. They breed along the Arctic Circle in Canada and Alaska, and winter in southern South America, often in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. But they kind of are, down here.

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Birding Shanghai in August 2023

10,000 Birds

For Pacific Golden Plovers , the situation is similar – in one study , males showed strong breeding ground fidelity, with 100% (8 of 8 birds) returning to a site in Western Alaska while only one of 4 females (25%) returned. Maybe the males were not that impressive. Maybe the males in your local pub are not that impressive either.

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Thrilling Turkey Facts

10,000 Birds

They can be found in every state except Alaska (but see the comments below!). Commercially raised turkeys cannot fly. Today, there are probably more than 7 million wild turkeys. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 miles per hour. They can run as fast as 20 miles per hour.

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Listening to Falcons: The Peregrines of Tom Cade

10,000 Birds

Raised in and around the West Texas steppe country where temperatures reached 100 degrees with regularity, he began life as the Dust Bowl and Great Depression converged. “I’d witnessed Peregrines and Gyrfalcons in the fall of 1949 while I was doing undergraduate work at the University of Alaska. He came for the hawks.

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