10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

The EU-funded LIFE+ project, called Reason for Hope, is coordinated by the Austrian association Förderverein Waldrappteam, and is claimed to be the first science-based attempt to reintroduce a migratory species to its area of origin. Here they were easy to overlook.

Morocco 235

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 235

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

Of course, Tiaozini also has Cattle Egret … … and the usually somewhat depressed looking Black-crowned Night Heron. And of course, there are Chinese Blackbirds breeding – ignored by the local government as they are unlikely to attract birders. Much better than some fiddly spoon-billed sandpipers.

Birds 230

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2023

In the slightly frighteningly named journal “Science of The Total Environment”, there is a paper on organochlorine compounds in Purple Heron eggs nesting in sites located around a chloralkali plant (Ebro River). Summary result: relevant chemicals emitted by the plant can be found in the eggs.

Birds 130

Birds Eggs Breeders Breeding 130

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Of course, on Chongming, the Chinese Pond Heron is very common. Unfortunately, in the science of language, this does not sound particularly raunchy but rather like a rational decision: “A rare species such as the Chinese Pond Heron might choose heterospecific mates rather than abandoning all chances of reproduction.”

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

There is a fantastic paper just out in Science : “Sustained miniaturization and anatomoical innovation in the dinosaurian anceestors of birds” by Michael Lee, Andrea Cau, Darren Naishe and Gareth Dyke. The point is, of course, that whales are not cows. The paper that just came out in science has the following spectacular conclusion.

Camels 204

Camels Whales Whaling Apes 204

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

The Little Grebe is of course a very common bird that can still surprise by its beauty in its breeding plumage. But it is all for science, I hear them say. Somehow I did not think Cattle Egrets would eat dragonflies (shouldn’t they eat beef, at least judging from their name?) but they do. I can see their point.

Birds 147

Birds China Eggs Breeding 147

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 28, 2010

This last implies of course an improvement in ethics, as opposed to morality, as I have defined it, unless we already understand 'Do as you would be done by' as applicable to whales, cattle, chickens, and so on, as it is to human beings. But this is a digression and I must return to my main theme. (

Morals 40

Morals Whales Whaling Chickens 40