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Swarovski Skills Camp, or men and their toys

10,000 Birds

The indoor workshop started with a Covid self-testing (where everyone was negative), followed by lectures on the Swarovski company, its ethos and products. The next day we had an outdoor workshop and a chance to test the toys. At the end of the workshop we all went birding, to further test the glasses of our choice.

Austria 297
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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 227
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The Whistle Blowers

10,000 Birds

The combined effects of hunting, habitat loss and predation by introduced animals like rats and mongoose have extirpated the species from some islands and reduced numbers significantly on others. A recent focus has been on habitat preservation since wetlands in the Caribbean are a very scarce resource.