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The Collared Finchbill

10,000 Birds

Fortunately for them (though less so for the cuckoo), in one experiment they ejected 100% of all cuckoo model eggs. Most Collared Finchbills are not very keen on bringing up the chicks of Himalayan Cuckoos.

Vegan 186
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Soda Lake Shorbs

10,000 Birds

They know how to find food for themselves only a few moments after emerging from their egg, and then likely produce a special protein which allows them to harness quantum entanglement for global navigation. Add to that their incredulous migration facilitated by physiological capabilities we can barely imagine. There is still so much to learn!

Buffalo 264
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What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. I’m wondering as I write if you are shaking your head, uneasy that all these FACTS will interfere with your love of observing owls, an experience that easily borders on the mystical for some of us. But what do we know beyond these commonly seen and heard behaviors?

Owls 220
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The Wryneck: Biology, Behaviour, Conservation and Symbolism of Jynx torquilla: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

They mimic snakes, a claim to fame that goes all the way back to Aristotle’s History of Animals. Gorman’s personal field experience informs much of the text and his total grasp of the field means he relates one research finding to another with narrative ease. Yet, The Wryneck does not read like a literature review.

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Teaching Ornithology in High Schools

10,000 Birds

Based on his own experiences teaching ornithology to high school students in California, he believes that high school student often just need the spark of an interesting elective class that fills a graduation requirement. .” But once a week, they were “out the door by 8:05 a.m. And many become birders.

2018 264
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Birding the Kruger Park (4): Letaba area

10,000 Birds

However, it is kind of sophisticated in that the females lay very individualized eggs in order to be able to detect the added eggs of parasite cuckoo finches. Among the findings: “Canary traders, mostly with primary education level (63.25%) and Muslim (97.5%), were on average 44 years old and an average experience of 27 years.

Zimbabwe 147
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Some Ingenuity Can Go a Long Way

10,000 Birds

The use of tool by animals is surprisingly rare. Among birds the Egyptian Vulture uses rocks to crack Ostrich eggs, the New Caledonian Crow and Woodpecker Finch (one of several Darwin Finches of the Galapagos Islands), uses sticks to extract grubs from inside a branch. Further support for inherent behavior comes from experiments.

Fish 163