10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2012

In addition to their homing tendency, breeding swallows are attracted to old nests. It is illegal for any person to take, possess, transport, sell, or purchase them or their parts, such as feathers, nests, or eggs, without a permit. Completed nests during this breeding season cannot be touched without a permit from the U.S.

San Diego 165

San Diego illegal California South America 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

Also from BirdLife International: In general it prefers areas where vegetation, boulders or other landscape features at ground level provide tunnels in which to shelter and to breed. Its eggs are not known, it does not migrate, and it feeds, I understand, on insects and worms.

Science 227

Science Transported Shelters South Africa 227

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Basically, hornbills get paid by evolution to eat fruit, digest the fleshy parts, and regurgitate or defecate the rest – a means of seed transportation that is apparently quite attractive to many plants despite the yuck factor involved. One paper describes them breeding in a human settlement in abandoned clay jars.

Rhinoceros 138

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 138

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2023

One interesting paper argues that contrary to what might seem logical, cuckoos do not aim to lay eggs specifically into the nests of those parrotbills whose egg color and pattern match their own. The rationale includes the speed of the laying (too fast to check for color matches) and the low number of egg-laying attempts (i.e.,

Pandas 234

Pandas Birds Eggs China 234