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The Cattle Egret Expansion

10,000 Birds

I’d like to introduce you to a diminutive heron, the Cattle Egret Bubuclus ibis. The Cattle Egret is native to Africa, where it is a familiar sight among herds of large mammals. In the east, this species can be found along the east coast of Africa, the Nile Valley,and into parts of the middle east and India and southeast Asia.

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Birding Chongming Island in summer

10,000 Birds

I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers. This Cattle Egret has just read a paper stating that it would be 3.6

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I and the Bird: What is a Vulture?

10,000 Birds

In the 70s, with the survival of the species in jeopardy, the entire wild population was captured and brought into a captive breeding program in southern California. In parts of southern Asia the population has plummeted 90% or more, necessitating action from local governments, which thankfully came in the not to distant past.

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The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

Thus, the cattle we raise for meat and dairy are sometimes called Bos taurus while the extinct wild form is always called Bos primigenius. The chance that this was a real Turkey are not great, and the chance that Columbus actually brought breeding stock from Honduras to Spain is not great, so maybe, maybe not.

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Return of the Waders

10,000 Birds

Around this time of the year, the first few waders are back in Shanghai from their breeding grounds far further up north. Generally, being back here early is not a very good sign – it may indicate a failed breeding attempt, as suggested for Asian Dowitchers in a paper on their presence in Lianyungang somewhat further north of Shanghai.

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Birding Shanghai in July 2022

10,000 Birds

A paper titled “Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus may adapt well to life in urban areas across its range in Asia” already made the same observation in 2018. The Little Grebe is of course a very common bird that can still surprise by its beauty in its breeding plumage. Black-naped Orioles are breeding in Fengxian.

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