10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2022

Being sacred may not have been that great for the Ibis in Egypt though – apparently, mummies of the Ibis are by far the most common bird mummies found there. And it seems that most of these mummified birds came from the wild rather than being specifically domesticated, according to DNA studies. Possibly also for doing the dishes.

Birds 147

Birds Australia Sheep Zebras 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

This is the second part of a post showing some birds seen at Nonggang in December 2022, along with the usual (mostly irrelevant) comments. The poor bird’s Latin species name is macgrigoriae , apparently (HBW) named after Jane Grant McGrigor, the daughter of Maj. This included recording a total of 77,760 minutes of video.

China 254

China Birds Pythons Eagles 254

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2013

Years ago it was pointed out by somebody, probably Tinbergen or Lack or Wynn-Edwards or one of the other great bird-savvy ethologists of the day, that young Pelicans would blackmail their parents by biting their own wings, a very self defeating activity for a bird with a huge and powerful beak.

South Africa 192

South Africa Fowl Africa China 192

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 207

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Sometimes I feel a bit like this about winter birding on Shanghai’s Tianmashan hill. The call of this bulbul seems quite similar to that of the Collared Finchbill to me, though given that I grew up listening to alternative and independent music rather than to bird song, this is not a very meaningful observation.

Birds 147

Birds China Killing Reptiles 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2023

In June 2023, I again went to Balangshan, a mountain about 3 hour’s drive from Sichuan’s capital Chengdu – and again with Alpinebirding , fortunately no longer for them to partly deal with confusing covid restrictions but only to help me find birds that I am too incompetent a birder to find on my own. ” Full iteration!

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Birds China Science Research 130

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Well, they mainly feed on birds, which may explain their low popularity. For the White-throated Rock Thrush , Wikipedia gives the slightly puzzling statement “The bird’s population is unknown, but is not increasing or declining.” Even if they look as charming as this Northern Boobook. Unfortunately, it is true though.

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Birds China Eggs Owls 223

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

While Mike and Corey – fitting for being real celebrities in birding cycles – get invited to far-flung places such as Uganda, minor local birders sometimes at least get invited to places nearby. The birding life. But now back to birds … Little Ringed Plovers also seem to like to breed directly on the road.

Birds 245

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 245

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

A bit of background: Pink Pigeons are medium-sized, pink/gray/ brown birds found on the island of Mauritius, Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. Mauritius may sound familiar, it was also the home of one of our most famous extinct birds—the Dodo. Don’t these birds care about propagating their species?

Mauritius 104

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 104

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

For birders, the Wolongshan area is like a poorer cousin of Balangshan – due to the lower elevation, the bird species here are more common and thus less interesting. I can confirm that the Indian Blue Robin – as stated by the HBW – tends to sing from deep cover – not ideal behavior for a bird photographer.

Hamburgers 235

Hamburgers Birds Science China 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

February 2023 was a slow month for birding in Shanghai, at least for me – so slow that I almost put the Spotted Dove , possibly my least favorite bird here, on the cover. Not a cover species The Black Kite is not actually black, but of course, misleading bird names are not exactly rare. Maybe those should be protected too?

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Birds Iraq China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

If the birds were Germans, Siberian Rubythroats wintering in Xishuangbanna (where I saw them a few years ago) would certainly be described as “Warmduscher” by their fellow species members seen in Shanghai this month. It seems that like me, Oriental Storks are not that fond of humans. ”), etc. A video is here.

Birds 184

Birds China Humane Battery 184

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2024

I was thinking of inventing a background story about a Chinese poet mentioning starlings (and other bird species) in one of his poems, and a rich Chinese fan of these poems pursuing the ambition of introducing all bird species mentioned therein to China, explaining the occasional occurrence of the starling in Shanghai.

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Birds Research Science Europe 221

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2024

Welcome to Birding Tongbiguan, part 1. The authors of the paper sound a bit helpless, stating that “At the time of discovery, both birds [two bee-eaters] were still alive, but it was not possible to free them from the net because the bees began to attack the ringer.” Of course, the same applies to pizza services for humans.

Squirrels 146

Squirrels Birds China Bears 146

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

I did not find much about this bird online except for a paper with the exciting title “A new quill mite Torotrogla emberizae sp. A study found that for Plain Prinia , egg characteristics in a mainland China location with many cuckoos make it much easier to spot cuckoo eggs than in a Taiwan location with few cuckoos ( source ).

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Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 238