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Book Review: Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

10,000 Birds

Aficionados of natural history writing should recognise the author as that of the Song of the Dodo , the popular science book about biogeography and conservation that to me rates as one the finest popular science books ever written. The book is about zoonoses, diseases that jump from animals to people.

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“Peacocks and Picathartes: Reflections on Africa’s Birdlife”

10,000 Birds

When was the last time you chose a book by its covers? In case you didn’t know, yes, there is an indigenous peacock living in Africa, the Congo Peafowl. This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with.

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What is a Palm-thrush?

10,000 Birds

This time it is the Old World that has misnamed a group of birds, or in fact several groups. It all comes back to a split in one of the great bird families, the Turdidae, or thrushes. Once upon a time, when I started birding, this great family included a wide range of species collectively known as the robins and chats.

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Python Caves and the Very Dangerous Bats

10,000 Birds

I had planned to do another story today, but my laptop, sick of endless David Attenborough DVDs, Skyrim and searches of birding in South Africa made a break for it and took a swan dive off my bed. Birding Trips diseases Ebola fruit bats Uganda' The resulting damage to the screen means that I am exiled back to my very ancient desktop.

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The New “Birds of Thailand”

10,000 Birds

Perhaps you don’t know it yet, but with more than 1000 bird species, palm-fringed sandy beaches, developed tourism infrastructure, moderate prices and political stability, Thailand is a country you definitively want to visit. Now, which field guide to pack? of Rufous-fronted Babbler.

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Ghana – Rainforest Birding on the Brink by Adam Riley

10,000 Birds

I must admit that I was astonished as I had never considered Ghana a potential birding destination, nor knew of any birders who had ever been there. My clients insisted that they wanted to go to Ghana as they had heard that the birding was great. We also knew we had discovered Africa’s next hot birding destination.

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“Wild Rwanda – Where to watch birds, primates, and other wildlife”

10,000 Birds

Slightly larger than Wales and about the size of the US state of Maryland, this country’s lure is its 703 bird species and three dozen Albertine Rift endemics among them. Ken Behrens is a tour guide for Tropical Birding, originally from Idaho, but now lives in Madagascar. This man is driven, but he gets the birds…”.

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