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A Fierce Cartoon Bird: Steller’s Sea Eagle on Hokkaido

10,000 Birds

The species is listed as Vulnerable – the estimated number of individuals is 4600-5100 (HBW), of which about 2000 winter on Hokkaido. There is a book on the species, but it is out of print and seems impossible to find even in online secondhand bookstores.

Eagles 131
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Fur and Fangs rather than Feathers and Beaks

10,000 Birds

On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. In 2023 I attempted to keep a year list of mammal encounters: the list barely exceeded 20 species, while it became complicated by seeing bats and voles that I was unable to name specifically. in the evening.

Fur 194
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Feral Cats Are An Invasive Species in North America (and elsewhere)

10,000 Birds

This is approximated by the size of the animal, but really, this has to be adjusted for depending on modality of killing. In North America, you’ve got Bears at the large end, Cats in the middle, and at the smaller end, the Mustilids. We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.4–3.7 ” Many. Probably too many.

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We Should Kill More Lions

10,000 Birds

There are times when acting in the conservation interest of a species or ecosystem means that the welfare of specific animals is compromised, which is a fancy way of saying that conservationists sometimes have to kill animals for the greater good. There is no solidarity among the big cats.

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What’s in a Name?

10,000 Birds

It notes that there are around 1,000 people who have had birds named after them, but no fewer than three of them – Frank Linsly James, Eugenio Prince Ruspoli and Johan August Wahlberg – were killed by elephants, not a common form of death. Collecting birds was clearly a dangerous pastime.

Falcons 231
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Teal Lake Shiraz (2019)

10,000 Birds

Forget lions, tigers, and bears – if Internet listicles are to be believed, all of Oz is full of crocodiles, sharks, jellyfish, snakes, spiders – even magpies – that are dead set on killing, maiming, or injuring any humans they encounter. One of these killers even has the word “death” in its name, for crying out loud.

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A Tale of Three Magnificent Frigatebirds (Two I help, one tries to kill me)

10,000 Birds

The species name is long enough to be the middle line of a formal English haiku. You also learn that for birds that spend most of their lives drifting above the ocean and sleeping on the wing, the species isn’t exactly aquatic. Imagine, though, the chances of being killed in a helicopter by a frigatebird! I’m glad we lived.