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The Ross Sea – the Last Intact Marine Ecosystem on Earth – and I

10,000 Birds

The Ross Sea is the most productive stretch of water in the Southern Ocean, teeming with large predatory fish, whales, seals, penguins and other animals that form the last intact marine ecosystem on Earth. There are 11 species of birds that breed in the Ross Sea region. Enough History – Back to the Future. And the Mammals.

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Isla Isabel – Mexico’s Galapagos

10,000 Birds

It was made a National Park in the 1980s and is a major breeding and nesting area for over 30,000 seabirds. These mangroves function as a sanctuary for fish and other animals that then make their way as adults across the channel to the coral reefs that surround the island. Swimming with a whale shark on the boat-trip to Isla Isabel.

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The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. Ethiopia’s Rift Valley lakes such as Lake Ziway and Awassa are famous for the gangs of Marabous that hang around the fish markets and allow close approach in the hope of a smelly handout.

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Birding by bicycle along the beach

10,000 Birds

Only the resident shorebirds remain during these winter months, but there are also Brown Boobys diving for fish close to shore at the moment and we rarely see them during the rest of the year. I often cover 45 kilometres in a day whilst I monitor the Pied Oystercatchers breeding, but I do need to plan carefully around large tides.

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Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast is designed to be a quick, handy resource for use on whale watching and one-day pelagic trips. An additional, five-page chapter touches on Other Sea Life–Fish, Sea Turtles, Jellyfish and Krill, Kelp, and Landbirds (the possibility of an exhausted migrating bird landing on the boat.).

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Kaikoura in the Summer

10,000 Birds

And the endemic Hutton’s Shearwater, which only breeds in Kaikoura, will keep you entertained for those few minutes till the albatrosses hit. The canyon also brings Dusky Dolphins and Sperm Whales close in, and has turned Kaikoura from a sleepy fishing village on the Picton to Christchurch road into a premier ecotourism site.

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Seabirding off Cape Point

10,000 Birds

I remember way back in that same year commissioning the services of an active sport fishing boat to head out into the ‘deep’, 30 miles beyond the lighthouse at Cape Point itself, in search of a working trawler, in the hope of adding a suite of pelagic sightings to my expanding ‘life list’ of Southern African birds.

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