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Baby Mute Swans – “immutabilis” morph

10,000 Birds

Its natural range in Europe was restricted the the surroundings of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and in Asia it ranged from Asia Minor to central China. Within its European range, it was heavily hunted until the late 19th century, and the Mute Swan was subsequently a very rare bird to encounter in the wild.

Feral 170
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White-backed Vultures are Proper Birds

10,000 Birds

Thanks to a relatively feral childhood I have been left immune to the power of poetry, so I shall dismiss the poetry (a form of art comparable at best to interpretive dance) with a simple dismissive wave of the hand. They are birds at their most composed, soaring effortlessly on thermals across the sky, and birds at their most feral.

Africa 175
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Invasive species in Australia

10,000 Birds

European Red Foxes were brought into Australia in the 1850′s for recreational hunting and soon spread rapidly. Feral cats have been able to adapt very well in Australia and have grown larger over the years and can survive in areas that you would not expect. Feral cat predation on Pied Oystercatcher eggs.

Australia 157
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Feral Cats Are An Invasive Species in North America (and elsewhere)

10,000 Birds

That was a wild cat, a wild Wildcat, the cat that lives in the wild because that is where it is from and where it belongs, at the southern end of its pan-African range that extended at one time well into Europe and Asia. I find it astonishing that people argue of whether feral cats are bad for birds in North America.

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The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

There are a lot of other large Galliforme birds around the world, and before the Spanish were busy conquering the New World, one of these, from Central Asia most likely, was already being imported as a food product and as live birds into Europe. They may have also had hunting dogs with them as well. This is where they got their name.

Turkey 209
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Centennial Park, Sydney

10,000 Birds

The grassy areas were also patrolled by Laughing Kookaburras , which engaged in the typical watch and wait hunting methods of the kingfisher family, and the engaging Willie Wagtail. Rounding off the waterbirds were Australian Pelicans, Eurasian Coots , the iconic Black Swans and feral geese.