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Do birds avoid predators because of culture?

10,000 Birds

Plastic behaviors are not automatically unrelated to natural selection, but the way those behaviors vary across individuals or across groups may not be best explained by underlying genetic differences. In particular, birds that hang around with humans who don’t happen to hunt or eat them can become very tame.

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The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Storks are typically viewed as wetland species and whilst some storks are restricted to aquatic habitats, others are not. This is another wetland species that nests in sometimes huge colonies atop trees bordering rivers and lakes.

Africa 239
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Birding the Kruger Park (5): Pafuri area part 1

10,000 Birds

One study found that birds living in Botswana had elevated levels of lead in their bloodstreams during hunting season, presumably coming from lead bullets used on animals killed by hunters. ” (HBW). Other – sadly rather common – reasons are habitat loss due to agricultural expansion and the use of some veterinary drugs.

Elephants 147
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The Bee-eaters of Africa

10,000 Birds

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.

Africa 264
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Dreaming of Congo rainforest: Gabon, Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic

10,000 Birds

The Congo is one of the deepest rivers in the world with depths sometimes exceeding 220 meters (720 feet). The Congo Basin is 300,000 square miles (777,000 square kilometres) in size and its forests store 25 per cent of tropical forest carbon. million hectares of forest cover each year.

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Ghana – Rainforest Birding on the Brink by Adam Riley

10,000 Birds

I was in contact with a group of birders for whom I arranged and guided an annual tour to Africa. Blue-moustached Bee-eater is rainforest species occurring in just a few scattered sites in Ghana, it was previously considered a subspecies of Blue-headed Bee-eater. During each trip we would discuss a destination for the following year.

Ghana 191
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Africa’s Barbets

10,000 Birds

Barbets are a group of medium sized, chunky, generally colorful, frugivorous, hole-nesting near-passerines, that are popular targets for anyone birding in the tropics. In Asia, their 30 barbet species are placed into their own family Megalaimidae , and finally in Africa, we have 42 species in the family Lybiidae , the topic of this blogpost.

Ethiopia 229