Remove Animal Remove Breeding Remove Eggs Remove Science
article thumbnail

Birding Chongming Island in summer

10,000 Birds

Some differences in animal behavior are quite striking. According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch. It concludes that human activity influences the breeding activity of the lapwing. How efficient.

Birds 162
article thumbnail

Birding the Kruger Park (4): Letaba area

10,000 Birds

However, it is kind of sophisticated in that the females lay very individualized eggs in order to be able to detect the added eggs of parasite cuckoo finches. Let’s hope it can find some relatively unfragmented habitat for breeding – studies show that the failure rate of nests is much higher in fragmented habitats.

Zimbabwe 147
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

15 Australian Birds (Episode 6)

10,000 Birds

According to Tim Low (in “Where Song began”), “so easy were they to breed that by 1859 they cost less to buy in London than in Sydney.” ” Funny how the difficulty of breeding a species can be illustrated in simple monetary terms. Is it offensive to say that Australian Zebra Finches breed like rabbits?

Birds 147
article thumbnail

What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Jennifer Ackerman points out in the introduction to What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds , that we don’t know much, but that very soon we may know a lot more. What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds is a joyous, fascinating read.

Owls 209
article thumbnail

Why Do Penguins Wear Tuxedos?

10,000 Birds

Penguins are flightless, but some species locomote over long distances on antarctic ice to travel between breeding grounds and the sea. They have special adaptations to stay warm and to keep their eggs and chicks warm. Salas-Gismondi, R., Altamirano, A., Shawkey, M., D’Alba, L., Vinther, J., DeVries, T., & Baby, P.

Penguins 191
article thumbnail

A Strategic Arms Race Among Birds

10,000 Birds

The vast majority of the 10,000+ living species of birds are passerines, and the vast majority of those have a similar system of breeding: Mom and dad bird make a nest and share parental responsibilities roughly equally, if not identically. …because cooperative breeding facilitates defense against brood parasites.

Breeders 199
article thumbnail

An unusual auk baby

10,000 Birds

One strategy that varies among birds (and other animals) is the number of offspring. A few families have a small number of eggs in the clutches, like gulls or cormorants. A few families have a small number of eggs in the clutches, like gulls or cormorants. Seabirds are one group of birds that go for the latter strategy.

Eggs 164