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Vagrancy in Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It also summarizes the vagrancy status of every bird family in the whole wide world, which makes it fun to read as well as superbly educational. The book is richly illustrated with contributions from a group of birders/photographers who were fortunate to see and document many of the vagrants covered.

Birds 263
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The Jewel Hunter: A Book Review About One Birder’s Quest for Pittas and Beer

10,000 Birds

It’s my fantasy and it’s yours: Quit the job, say good-bye to the family, and bird. And, to give his dream year a little more oomph, he created a grand once-in-a-lifetime goal: to track down and see every pitta species in the world in one year. Each chapter of The Jewel Hunter reads like a mini-travel novel.

Hunters 202
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The Glitter in the Green: In Search of Hummingbirds–A Hummer Book Review

10,000 Birds

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds. So, when British natural history writer Jon Dunn (not to be confused with U.S.

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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

I saw two Pitta species at Hongbenghe, both among the slightly less glamourous among the pitta family: The Blue-naped Pitta … … and the closely related Rusty-naped Pitta. It seems that this is another species for which the standard phrase of scientists anywhere, “more research needed”, applies.

Birds 147
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Birds and People: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It’s relatively easy to classify birds into family groups based on physical characteristics. We view them as our enemies when they eat our crops and as an extension of our family when we see them at our feeders. Remarkably, there are 59 bird families that have very little cultural significance; these are listed in Appendix III.

Birds 224
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It’s the Holiday Season — Give Birding Books!

10,000 Birds

Another great birding adventure book is The Jewel Hunter by Chris Gooddie (Princeton Univ. Brit birder Goodie didn’t do an ordinary big year; he decided he would see every Pitta species in the world (32 at the time) in one year. I think of The Jewel Hunter often when I travel to foreign countries, wishing I could do it like Goodie did.

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Of Whiskey Jacks and Water Ouzels

10,000 Birds

Gray Jay : This drab but charismatic species demonstrates that the more a bird interacts with humans, the more colloquial names it will tend to pick up. Northern Flicker : And then there are the times when officialdom changes not only the name, but the whole species, away from the former conventional wisdom.

Hunters 186