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

10,000 Birds

Whittaker’s adventures in olfactory research take unexpected turns into genetics, chemistry, and the halls of academia. One of Whittaker’s first experiments was to place other birds’ preen oil on the nests and eggs of Dark-eyed Juncos. Whittaker’s research road is more serpentine than most academics.

Science 223
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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 ).

Birds 204
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Backyard Birdfeeder Bragging Rights, a Great Adventure for a Great Twitch, and More: This Week in Birding News

10,000 Birds

If you’re a cuckoo or cowbird hoping to pawn off your parenting duties on another species, new brood parasitism research shows you’ll have better luck if the eggs you deposit in their nest are blue-green instead of brown. And as a ferocious storm bears down on much of the northern U.S.,

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Review: Saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper

10,000 Birds

With populations plunging dramatically over the last decade, researchers from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Birds Russia, and a number of other conservation organizations made the always-controversial call to pluck eggs from the imperiled wild population and establish a captive breeding program as a final hedge against extinction.

Eggs 163
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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.

Birds 162
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

Like a bad boyfriend not changing into nicer clothes for an evening out, the Brown-cheeked Fulvetta gets chided on eBird for not making any efforts: “an unapologetically drab and unmarked fulvetta” The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater apparently digs nest-burrows in which to lay its eggs. “It is not deep enough yet!

Birds 147
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National Audubon Society Birds of North America: A Guide Review

10,000 Birds

The first guide bearing the National Audubon Society imprint was Audubon Bird Guide; Eastern Land Birds , written by Richard Hooper Pough, and illustrated by Don Eckelberry. I am particularly happy to see that the bird communication section includes recent research on singing female birds. These are all informative and current.