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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 Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World states that “disturbance by local people, tourists, and egg and zoo collectors has similarly reduced the colonies, and more protection is vital”. In 1890 an estimated 3,000 pairs nested in Birecik.)

Morocco 213
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Saving the Drowning Cormorant, or the Kerkini Lake, Greece

10,000 Birds

The Kerkini Lake National Park is my favourite birding area in the whole of the Balkans and while I’ve been here in April and again (migration), September (migration), October (coffee break), December and January (wintering), this was my first time in the breeding season, in May. But nowadays, they, too, breed here, about 20 pairs this year.

Greece 188
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What to Do at High Island When the Winds are South

10,000 Birds

Fortunately, as I found out over the next four days, High Island, the Bolivar Peninsula, the whole east Texan Gulf coast area is a place of diverse habitats, some protected, some accidental, all offering fantastic avian opportunities. Corps of Engineers to protect Galveston Bay at the end of the 19th-century. Clapper Rail.

Houston 200
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The best-kept birding secrets of Belgrade

10,000 Birds

In June 2021, the Mayor of Belgrade announced that Beljarica will finally become officially protected. For most species, the breeding season ends by the end of June and the majority of songbirds are silent and invisible now. It is a spacious floodplain between the River Danube and the levee, 2.1 mi, to the Vrbovski turnoff.

Farming 264
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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. What remains of their range is currently protected as the Pastures of Great Bustard Special Nature Reserve, but in the last several years there are only a dozen birds left, and only one adult male among them. What treats do they face?

Serbia 103
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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 217
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All my patches

10,000 Birds

, and at the same time not grumpy enough to make them draw their guns (yep – it’s a true story, but do not trust the first impression: they were rough on the outside and soft on the inside, e.g. being fiercely protective of stray dogs and cats – that particular guy kept about five dogs and 15 cats, and they all lived together peacefully).

Serbia 235