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The return of the Old Man

10,000 Birds

Sadly, they no longer breed in Algeria, while in Turkey no free-flying birds remain. (In Intriguingly, there are far more Bald Ibises in captivity than there are in the wild, for this is a bird that breeds readily in confinement. Bald Ibises are curious birds, for they are happy breeding in close proximity to man.

Morocco 224
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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 104
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Hawking for Nighthawks

10,000 Birds

Striated Heron in breeding plumage – extra plumes and blue lores. Scores of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks circled overhead, these vocal ducks are often hunted illegally here so it was refreshing to see so many. Especially as we were at the time about to experience a rapidly advancing tropical storm.

Livestock 213
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Critically Endangered: Sociable Lapwing

10,000 Birds

Sociable Lapwings breed in several areas along the Kazakhstani – Russian border and overwinter in Iraq, Sudan and northwest India. That can be traced back in time to 1875, when Alfred Brehm wrote that he had found Sociable Lapwings only alongside the domestic cattle. Locals being vegetarians, why are there no birds?

India 245
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Definitively the Egyptians!

10,000 Birds

In short, the accepted view used to be that a small breeding population of Egyptian Vultures inhabited Southern Africa, but has vanished facing the spread of towns, roads and farms. In the 1970s we had two to four breeding pairs, in the 1980s one to two, in the 1990s it was zero to two (irregular breeding).

Sudan 226
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What to Do at High Island When the Winds are South

10,000 Birds

I should have known that birding High Island meant I would be 20 minutes away from a place where hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and waterbirds rest, feed, breed, and generally have a good time. I love American Avocets and I rarely see them in such marvelous breeding plumage, so I was in heaven. Clapper Rail. Back to the Flats.

Houston 211
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Birding a flooded highway

10,000 Birds

Unfortunately we have only ever seen dead Barn Owls in the Broome area and one day it would be nice to see a bird hunting over the land. With the first rains we get mass frog breeding events and the flooded land is covered in tadpoles. In fact it is not just the cattle, but all of the creatures have moved into bushes and trees.

Barn Owls 162