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Birding the Bear Mountain of Serbia

10,000 Birds

A narrow forest road takes us to the chain blocking the entrance, with a sign “Area closed – bear danger”. This feeding station is not here for the tourists: in order to lower the bee-hive raiding (even the Serbian word for a bear, medved, comes from the word honey – med), supplementary feeding was offered to local bears for several decades.

Serbia 264
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The Change in Seasons

10,000 Birds

Bearing witness to the cyclical fluctuations of the seasons is a boon to the psyche on a level that tends to go unnoticed and unannounced. The first step in preparing for the breeding season is getting ready for courtship. Even species that do not undergo visible changes (to us, at least) begin to behave differently.

Cattle 188
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How to find the Ural Owl in Serbia

10,000 Birds

Large and round-headed, smartly-striped, with a gentle gaze of mysterious black eyes, in the European south of its range this species chooses preserved mountain forests, preferably mixed deciduous and conifers. Population estimates from “Birds of Serbia: Breeding Population Estimates and Trends”, BirdLife Serbia, 2015.

Serbia 246
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Nanhui, Shanghai in August

10,000 Birds

This can mean some interesting birding, if you can bear the Shanghai heat … Of course, the egrets and herons described in my last post are still around. Not sure if they are breeding but certainly they are trying, though I am not fully convinced of their competence. Some cuckoo species. Brown Shrike.

Tigers 185
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Birding Yancheng, Jiangsu

10,000 Birds

While these birds are very much liked by Chinese birders, the species could unfortunately not be named the National Bird of China as the Latin species name of the bird is Grus Japonicus. It is not quite clear why they do this as it apparently does not affect breeding success. A nice example of gender equality of sorts.

Birds 208
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Birding Ruoergai, Sichuan, China

10,000 Birds

The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area. The raptors of Ruoergai deserve a separate post.

China 176
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What’s in a Name?

10,000 Birds

There are not, as far as I know, any plans to re-name the Montagu’s Harrier, a bird that’s now a real rarity in the UK that only occasionally breeds here. Eleonora’s Falcons still breed on Sardinia today. I suspect that Montagu will be lucky to hang on to his harrier, as his name is likely to become increasingly unacceptable.

Falcons 228