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Shifting Baselines and Sneaky Jays

10,000 Birds

Unlike Barred Owls they were accompanied by no great controversy , and unlike Cattle Egrets or Eurasian Collared Doves they didn’t come as an abrupt continent-hopping surprise. But shifting baseline syndrome doesn’t just apply to things that have become diminished.

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The Great Bustard Search is On (1)

10,000 Birds

Habitat destruction combined with hunting has pushed them away from their former breeding grounds. In breeding season grazing cattle may walk through the nest, breaking the eggs, while wild and domestic pigs may eat both eggs and chicks. Bustards are being counted in February because their breeding season starts in March.

Serbia 103
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The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

Thus, the cattle we raise for meat and dairy are sometimes called Bos taurus while the extinct wild form is always called Bos primigenius. The chance that this was a real Turkey are not great, and the chance that Columbus actually brought breeding stock from Honduras to Spain is not great, so maybe, maybe not.

Turkey 198
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The best-kept birding secrets of Belgrade

10,000 Birds

mi at its widest point, consisting of seasonally inundated riparian forests, industrial poplar plantations, river arms and ponds with 60 mammal ( Eurasian Otter , Roe Deer , Wildcat , Golden Jackal , etc.) For most species, the breeding season ends by the end of June and the majority of songbirds are silent and invisible now.

Farming 264
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Great Miami Winter Bird Count 2015

10,000 Birds

Although they breed on the west coast of Florida, Snowy Plover is a rare stray to this part of the state. A La Sagra’s Flycatcher, a Caribbean stray, continued at Charles Deering Estate. Cattle Egret: 133. American White Pelican: 19. Brown Pelican: 53. American Bittern: 2. Great Blue Heron: 62. Great Egret: 75. Snowy Egret: 49.

Miami 165
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A New Year Begins! But First–A Celebration of My 2018 Top Ten Birds

10,000 Birds

So, I was excited to read reports in late 2017 of a pair of Whooping Cranes being seen on a cattle farm. I easily spotted the Whooping Cranes in the cattle field. They were large and rather gawky, with a lot of ‘jewelry’ on their legs, oblivious to the cattle and to me. It took me two trips to see this beauty!

2018 149