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Alaska Day: Birds and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

10,000 Birds

Alaska Day commemorates Alaska’s formal transfer from Russia to the United States in 1867. It is therefore appropriate for birders to pause and recognize significance of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Among these lands are some of the most productive avian breeding grounds in the United States.

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A Birder’s Guide to U.S. Federal Public Lands

10,000 Birds

These lands support countless birds, either year-round, as migratory stopovers, or as breeding grounds. The federal government owns about 46% of the land in these states but only about 4% of the other states (excluding Alaska). There is one gigantic outlier: Alaska. In terms of federal land, Alaska truly stands apart.

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Greater White-fronted Geese at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge

10,000 Birds

These Greater White-fronted Geese ( Anser albifrons ) flew in with just enough light to begin taking photographs. As the sun rose higher in the sky I was able to get some shots of the geese flying in… and landing among the tules. At first light, about 7:30 AM, the winter bulrush gives a golden glow to the wetlands.

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Comebackers

10,000 Birds

Kirtland’s Warbler is a classic niche species; they breed in only very specific conditions, which occur in only a very specific area. this species breeds. Fortunately, there were still a handful of immature birds alive at sea, and a few years later they were back on Toroshima breeding again.

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The National Wildlife Refuge System: Birders Leading the Way

10,000 Birds

The vast majority of this area (about 85%) is in Alaska. Farallon NWR , a group of islands near San Francisco, hosts the largest colonies of breeding seabirds south of Alaska. These refuges support huge numbers of swans, geese, ducks, cranes, and shorebirds as they hopscotch their way to breeding grounds in the north.

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The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition: A Review of an Iconic Guide in a New Edition

10,000 Birds

In Sibley Two, the in-flight images literally fly across the page in slight diagonals, with the full-bodied images are presented below in a parallel order (meaning we see the same bird–fresh juvenile, worn juvenile, 1st year, Adult breeding, Adult nonbreeding–in the same part of the page for each species).

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ACTION ALERT! Tomorrow, MARCH 15, 2011, is the deadline for public.

10,000 Birds

Kills in Canada, Alaska and Mexico are not included in the count. They reach breeding maturity at four to seven years of age, produce only one chick per nesting season, and only one in three offspring survive to fledging age. Canada Geese and Crows can figure it out, so can Cranes. Isn’t that neat?

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