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But…It’s a Canada Goose?

10,000 Birds

For most American birders, the fun and pride behind a CBC (Christmas Bird Count) is without a doubt one of the highlights of the year, this is even more so if you get manage to be the lucky birder that finds that one rare bird that a report needs to be written for, but would you be as excited if that golden bird turned out to be a Canada Goose ?

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Listening to Falcons: The Peregrines of Tom Cade

10,000 Birds

That summer of 1938, when he was ten years old, Cade read of two brothers, Frank and John Craighead, who wrote of their experiences with falcons in National Geographic. He had stalked the nest for days, waiting for just the right time when she would be on the verge of fledging, then took her into his care. I knew no falconers.

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Horrible Hybrids

10,000 Birds

Looks like a scaup of some sort, but it’s not quite right My bird certainly had the peaked crown characteristic of a Lesser Scaup; the feathers on its head looked black at a distance, while closer inspection revealed a purple sheen. I regularly see wild hybrids of Canada Goose x Greylag Goose (a Branta with an Anser ).

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Peregrine Falcons at the National Wildlife Refuges

10,000 Birds

Peregrine Falcon ( Falco peregrinus ) at Delevan NWR (click on photos for full sized images). I’m sure most of you know that the Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species because of the use of organochlorine pesticides, especially DDT, during the 1950′s, 60′s, and 70′s. Love those talons!

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“The Hawk’s Way” — a book review

10,000 Birds

Maybe author Sy Montgomery is right when she says that “birdwatchers often look down on falconry,” and maybe not. In training, the falconer must never think of rewards and punishments, Nancy Cowan (pictured below, with her Harris’s hawk, Scoter), tells her: “They don’t serve us. We serve them.”. May 3, 2022. May 3, 2022.

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American Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of Ontario: A Field Guide Review

10,000 Birds

This is Canada, so it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), that common names are given in English and French. A two-page spread is devoted to the Gyrfalcon, which Earley proudly tells us is “one of the most sought-after birds in Ontario, if not all of Canada” (p. Photographs, most by co-author Brian E.

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The Falcon Thief: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It didn’t occur to me till I started reading The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird that there was also a possible threat to the eagle herself: poachers, who steal raptor eggs and chicks. McWilliam realizes he’s dealing someone special, a career falcon egg-thief.

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