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Birding the Ndumo area, South Africa

10,000 Birds

Greater Flamingos are considered cooperative breeders as fledglings are raised in a creche, in which large numbers of young are watched by multiple non-breeding adult greater flamingos. On the other hand, their preferred food is blood, and they also feed on it directly, pecking at a mammal’s wounds to keep them open ( source ).

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Bird Banding the Dry Tortugas

10,000 Birds

Erika is a first year graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke. The park is home to not one, not two, but large three colonies of breeding seabirds: the Brown Noddy , Magnificent Frigatebird , and Sooty Tern. When I say “cut,” I mean paper-cut sized wounds here. Lots and lots of birds.

Birds 176
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Birding the Kruger Park (3): Malelane area

10,000 Birds

These hornbills have the well-tried breeding strategy of enclosing the female in a tree hole. Breeding success in White-fronted Bee-eaters depends strongly on helpers, mainly by reducing the number of chicks dying of starvation (which at 48% of all chicks is indeed frightfully high). His music is rather bad, after all.

Swaziland 147