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Swimming with dolphins

10,000 Birds

Even people with no other interest in wildlife, who couldn’t tell a sparrow from an ostrich (or even a dolphin from a fish) love dolphins. Dolphins are basically just smart sharks that breath air. Now don’t get me wrong, I like dolphins. And dolphins can do bad things.

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Critically Endangered Birds in Costa Rica- How to See Them, How to Help Them

10,000 Birds

Even so, in the short term, it can be hard to accept that hundreds of species are close to being extinguished from this irreplaceble tapestry of life, that hundreds more are headed for the same eventual abysmal stop. We would see how species that used to be common, even abundant, became remnants of their former, robust populations.

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Kaikoura in the Summer

10,000 Birds

Kaikoura, in New Zealand’s South Island, is arguably the best place in the world to see albatrosses and petrels. And the endemic Hutton’s Shearwater, which only breeds in Kaikoura, will keep you entertained for those few minutes till the albatrosses hit. More Albatrosses, this time a White-capped Albatross !

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Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

But, I did take many photos, and used the book, in spurts during the trip and more closely afterward, to identify three seabird species, two expected (Sooty and Black-vented Shearwaters) and one a surprise. It does not include near-shore, coastal species, like Brown Pelican, Elegant Tern, and Harbor Seal.

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Kaikoura in the Autumn

10,000 Birds

I will never tire of banging Kaikoura’s drum as the best place in the world to see albatrosses, and since albatrosses are the among the best birds in the world it amazes me that none of you have made it out here yet (actually, some of you have, per some of the comments, but Corey hasn’t). At first anyway.

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Ship-followers and Sunsets

10,000 Birds

One of my ambitions for this year is to do more birding around New Zealand, and in particular try and knock off a few of the possible species here I haven’t seen yet, perhaps with a mind to breaking 100 species here in a year. Without an albatross how could I torment Corey? A White-capped Albatross! Take that Corey!

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Seabirding off Cape Point

10,000 Birds

It was a Benguela Nino year, and pelagic seabirds were in super-abundance in the south eastern Atlantic, with the total of species by variety and number exceeding all expectations for the birders on the inaugural trip as we pitched and wallowed about in the rolling swells on our way out to the trawling grounds.

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