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Rails: The Once and Future Kings of the Pacific

10,000 Birds

They often become slower breeders, and most importantly, they lose their ability to disperse, meaning they get stranded on the island they live on. In a few places mammals and humans may endure, but even there, rails will become island species, albeit ones that retain some anti-predator strategies.

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Our Best Birds of 2020

10,000 Birds

Common Cuckoo is a fascinating bird, an obligate parasitic breeder that employs numerous strategies, including fraud and murder, to survive. , deep-pandemic birds (all local), and still-pandemic birds (a little travel), it is the Rhode Island Common Cuckoo that will define this year for me. I saw the Cuckoo the second day of its visit.

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