10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2023

During the breeding season, some Cattle Egrets look like teenage girls who have just discovered the existence of make-up, and consequently massively overdo it. A paper reports on how a female Common Cuckoo was mobbed and killed by Oriental Reed Warbler hosts. It is probably all downhill from here. What’s next?

Birds 130

Birds Raised Cattle Mammals 130

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

What the Owl Knows is organized into nine chapters: introduction, adaptation (including vision and flight), research and researchers, vocalization, courtship and breeding, roosting and migration, cognition, and two chapters on owls and humans–captive owls (not zoos, educational owls) and owls in our cultural history.

Owls 200

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 200

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

The species was seemingly killed off by feather hunters, but then, after years, reappeared at the site of one of the deserted breeding colonies, Torishima Island in Japan. She’s described conservation successes in detail–the Bald Eagle, the Short-tailed Albatross, now protected in Japan.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2023

It is kind of rare to see a Fairy Pitta during Shanghai’s spring migration as those passing through are all adults rather than inexperienced chicks, and they are in a rush getting to their breeding grounds – but I was lucky. This should not be a problem in Shanghai as the pitta has not been reported to breed here.

Birds 130

Birds China Research Tenant 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

(Acariformes: Syringophilidae) from the Chestnut-eared Bunting (Passeriformes: Emberizidae) in Japan (morphology and DNA barcode data)” Ah, to be a scientist. Hopefully, the winter time in Shanghai gives the Black-faced Buntings some time to relax from the challenges of the breeding season. Better safe than sorry.

Birds 197

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 197