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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. Even though this referred to a period after the supposed “scavenging” phase, it lent support to the idea of a stepwise evolution of the ability to hunt.

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Just in Time: Kenn Kaufman’s “A Season on the Wind” — a review

10,000 Birds

But the other subject of A Season on the Wind is Kaufman’s adopted state – or, more precisely, one corner of it, the one that includes the Black Swamp Bird Observatory (“BSBO”) and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area , just west of Toledo. (Kaufman’s wife, Kimberly Kaufman, is the BSBO’s Executive Director.). “The

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Africa’s Big Five and Little Five

10,000 Birds

Originally a hunting term, the Big Five were the most dangerous and prized targets of the great white hunters on safari. However it is now one of the world’s rarest animals after decades of relentless hunting and poaching. They are harmless to humans and their horns are used for wrestling other males for mating rights.

Buffalo 201
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Birds and People: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It’s very hard to organize the many ways in which human beings relate to avian beings into comprehensible text. We sing about them, we paint them, we use them as mythic and poetic symbols for our spiritual and emotional feelings, we wear them in myriad and often colorful ways, we adopt them as household pets.

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To Tick or Not to Tick – Exotic Birding in Miami

10,000 Birds

The USA’s only truly indigenous parrot was wiped out by a combination of factors, although direct persecution through hunting seems to have been the major contributor. But its not just parrots that are doing well in their adopted city. The population is not directly dependent on human support.

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The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

Long before that time Mexican domesticated Turkeys had been adopted by Native Americans in the American Southwest as well. The believability of this is underscored by the fact that the Pilgrims and their guides listed among their possession numerous “fowling pieces” … for hunting wild birds.

Turkey 201
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Tom Regan on the Animal-Rights Movement

Animal Ethics

Its currency is ideas, and though it is those who act—those who write letters, circulate petitions, demonstrate, lobby, disrupt a fox hunt, refuse to dissect an animal or to use one in "practice surgery," or are active in other ways—though these are the persons who make a mark on a day-to-day basis, history shows that ideas do make a difference.