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Fur and Fangs rather than Feathers and Beaks

10,000 Birds

Note the short legs, stout body and white rump and tail I see Muntjac on virtually every birding (or dog-walking) outing, as these small Asian deer are now very numerous around my home in the Suffolk Brecks. I’ve yet to see one in the UK, but I had a memorable encounter with one while birding from a small boat on a river in Lithuania.

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Fur and Fangs rather than Feathers and Beaks

10,000 Birds

Memorable encounters with Mammals: Part I Most birdwatchers enjoy seeing mammals, but the trouble with mammals is that they tend to be much more challenging to see than birds. I remember the guide on my first Kenyan birding safari remarking that “birding groups always see far more mammals than those who come just to see animals.

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How To (And Not To) Transport Wild Birds

10,000 Birds

I am so happy to be back on 10,000 birds – I have missed Mike and Corey and my fellow Beat Writers! Normally I rant about environmental dangers and describe heartwarming/mind-boggling/headscratching wild bird rescues. Bat finders often want to insure there’s enough room between them and the bat.

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Loner, Drifter: More on the Hoary Bat

10,000 Birds

I cannot get the Hoary Bat out of my head. Hoary Bats roost in trees, not caves. So the Hoary Bat is migratory. Migration makes them vulnerable to straying: Accidental Hoary Bats have been found as far afield as Bermuda and Iceland. P.S. Back to actual birds next week! Shoot, it’s not working!

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Poop From The Front End Of The Bird

10,000 Birds

Birds evacuate waste in many ways. It’s not fecal material, but parts that are not digestible like fur, bones and the exoskeletons of insects. Birds will barf them back up out of their mouths. He’s one of the managers of the specimen collection and loves a good dead bird mystery.

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Are Birds Really Dinosaurs?

10,000 Birds

Most of the time when we think of birds, we think of the things that make them birds, and not the things that make them dinosaurs. You’ll hear people tell you that birds are dinosaurs, and that is supposed to blow you away and make you go all gaga about birds and evolution. are convenient secondary uses.

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

10,000 Birds

Birds of California , the new volume in the ABA series, arrived the day I returned. Every bird book seems to be about the west coast this month!) With the boat speed what it was, and being the only birder on board, to stop watching meant I might miss an interesting bird.

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