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Horrible Hybrids

10,000 Birds

On BirdTrack, the British equivalent of e-Bird, the list of birds provided does allow for Tufted Duck x Ferruginous Duck to be recorded, but not Tufted Duck x Pochard. However, that’s exactly what I guessed the duck swimming in front of me had to be. My hunch was Tufted Duck x Pochard.

Geese 203
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When is a Vulture Not a Vulture?

10,000 Birds

Alas, although I was once a California boy, I have never seen a California Condor. Zone-tailed Hawks breed in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, but they winter from Mexico to Brazil. Here in Mexico, I can almost always count on Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures to pad each outing’s list by two species.

Turkey 214
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Hawking for Nighthawks

10,000 Birds

Striated Heron in breeding plumage – extra plumes and blue lores. Scores of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks circled overhead, these vocal ducks are often hunted illegally here so it was refreshing to see so many. Especially as we were at the time about to experience a rapidly advancing tropical storm.

Livestock 228
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Rancho Naturalista Lodge, Costa Rica, or in the Land of Coffee and Chocolate

10,000 Birds

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks , Muscovy Ducks and Blue-winged Teals were around us, together with Green , Great and Little Blue Herons , Cattle and Great White Egrets , Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons , plus one locally rare Pinnated Bittern in the floating vegetation, as well as several dozen Neotropical Cormorants.

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Where to watch birds in Belgrade

10,000 Birds

Highlight species: Ferruginous Duck , Goosander , Red-breasted Merganser , Red-crested Pochard , Greater Scaup , Velvet Scoter , Black-throated Diver. While regular in winter, Pygmy Cormorants do not breed in the vicinity and are absent in spring and summer. Ducks mostly migrate in November, reaching their peak by mid-December.

Serbia 243
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Where have they gone?

10,000 Birds

Counting the Birds I was in my teens when I undertook my first bird-survey: it was field work for the British Trust for Ornithology’s The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. The breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland. Published in 1976, The Atlas was, I believe, the very first work of its kind.

Ireland 231
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Could have done better? Confessions of a year-lister.

10,000 Birds

They’re not, alas particularly impressive. These birds (usually juveniles) are clearly linked to the growing breeding population in the region. Pallid Swifts were already back at their breeding sites, while the marshes provided a host of waders, including year-ticks such as Whimbrel, Curlew Sandpiper and Kentish Plover.

Estonia 236