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Birding Yancheng, Jiangsu

10,000 Birds

In Daurian Redstarts , personality traits (specifically, whether a bird is shy or bold) partly determine how good an individual is in rejecting cuckoo eggs in its nest. Apparently, birds that are fast in exploring new things – bold birds – are better at rejecting parasitic eggs ( source ).

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Birding Chongming Island in summer

10,000 Birds

.” And after separating all the parts of the boluses and presumably weighing them, your conclusion would have been that “the most regularly occurring food items recorded are fish (63%) and insects (33%)” (the other 4% are the few remaining bits of chocolate and gummy bears brought to the chicks by their grandparents.

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The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Going back to that assumption that birds don’t have a sense of smell, it can be traced to John James Audubon (of course), who performed several experiments with Turkey Vultures and concluded that the vultures used sight, not scent, to find food. There’s also roller derby stuff. 241) that contribute to a bird’s odor.

Science 213
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

A Barred Cuckoo-Dove showed somewhat atypical behavior or had not read its eBird entry about it being “seldom seen out in the open … quick to flee when approached” Of course, Hongbenghe, Yunnan is quite far away from Chicago. “It is not deep enough yet!

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Inaccessible Island Rail Atlantisia rogersi

10,000 Birds

Occasionally the Tristan Thrush Nesocichla eremita will prey upon chicks from the two-egg nest of the Inaccessible Island Rail but this not enough in any way to threaten the species. Its eggs are not known, it does not migrate, and it feeds, I understand, on insects and worms. Immature is overall brownish in colour with dark eye.

Science 198
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Birds of the Northern Forest – An homage

10,000 Birds

It depicted a Common Loon ( Gavia immer ) sitting on eggs on a seemingly crude nest. Livingston, and on the dust jacket was a drawing of three Pine Grosbeaks ( Pinicola enucleator ) standing on a cone-bearing tree. Common Loon ( Gavia immer) This was a different artist. It caught my full attention and entranced me.

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Flycatchers in the Cocoa

10,000 Birds

There are of course, many other birds which feed on flying insects, such as jacamars and trogons. Having successfully claimed ownership of the nest, the Piratic Flycatchers move in, lay and incubate their eggs, and ultimately raise their young in the pirated nest. It bears an uncanny resemblance to the extremely common Great Kiskadee

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