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Owling in Trinidad & Tobago

10,000 Birds

Today, Barn Owls can be found across both islands, hunting open fields at twilight or comfortably resting in abandoned relics of the sugar cane industry. They are sometimes chased by superstitious resident humans, believing them to be harbingers of doom or even the souls of the departed. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Striped Owl.

Trinidad 278
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A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World’s Most Misunderstood Bird: A Book Review by a Pigeon Cynic

10,000 Birds

Mosco understands that there’s a wall of reasons why people hate Rock Pigeons and proceeds to dismantle them one by one using a powerful tool–information. Watcha looking at, human?” “Pigeons have lost their usefulness. ’ I am not a fan of adorable, so there must be something else there.

2018 235
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Vultures, Human Evolution, Global Warming, and Windmills

10,000 Birds

The topic was the concept of humans as predators, or hunters, or really, eaters of meat, and I was discussing the many ways in which people misconceived this notion. So that was the first argument for a scavenging phase. Any buffalo bones from prior to that transition were obviously scavenged.

Humane 165
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A Rehabber’s List of Worst Bird Myths

10,000 Birds

Bats just love to fly into human hair!” Two: Humans are diurnal, which means they are normally active during the day. Three: Why would anyone , no matter what their species, want to become tangled in human hair? million-year-old early human. Porcupines throw their quills! On to the avian world.

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The Incredulous New Caledonian Crows

10,000 Birds

We know that the human mind has capacities that are not common in other animals. For example, humans have “Theory of Mind” which is not a theory in the scientific sense, but rather, a capacity whereby we have an internal theory of what is going on in other people’s minds. But that’s another story. Just eat the food.

Abandon 246
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The Pleasures of Collective Nouns and Murder — a Review

10,000 Birds

To the police men and women that he supervises, he can often seem disengaged, following investigatory paths that the others have abandoned, or see no promise in. As his boss, the leader of the station, Colleen Shepherd, says, “He does so like his obtuse angles.”.

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Revenge Birding (Shanghai, early June 2022)

10,000 Birds

When writing posts like this one, I am always looking for bits and interesting information. An Ashy Drongo apparently spends approximately 71% of its time scanning (what non-scientists would probably call looking around), 9% eating (less than a typical Chinese human but much more than me), calling 7%, flying 7%, and 6% preening.

Singapore 147