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Sentient: a book review

10,000 Birds

The subtitle of Jackie Higgins’ book Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses , aptly sets forth her thesis – though the “wonder” it refers to could equally well be used to describe animal (not just human) senses, as she shows in fascinating detail.

Humane 227
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Shifting Baselines and Sneaky Jays

10,000 Birds

Flashy of look, brash of attitude, and strident of voice, they bomb around announcing every discovery – ripe acorns, sleeping owls, snakes in need of scolding – to the world. There’s a certain suburbanization of the natural as well as the human world.

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Salon des Refusés (part 1)

10,000 Birds

There are much better metaphors for mind-body dualism than owls with fake eyes on the backside of their head. That is an easy trick – capture a bird in a seemingly human pose, just to attract sympathy for the bird. Cattle Egret (Nanhui, China). Bela Lugosi is dead and no longer relevant. Green Bee-eater (Delhi, India).

China 204
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What Flies Over Costa Rica in the Night?

10,000 Birds

Listening for birds on Poas Volcano and other high mountain areas would require cool weather clothing but it would be much more quiet and peaceful and could also come with the side benefits of Dusky Nightjars, Bare-shanked Screech-Owls , and maybe even Unspotted Saw-whet Owl. Us humans need that habitat too.

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India’s Raptor Rescuers

10,000 Birds

With almost 1200 species of birds in the Capital Region, the house and roof steadily filled with Egyptian Vultures, Barn Owls, Hornbills, Black Ibis, Cattle Egrets, Steppe Eagles , a multitude of songbirds and pigeons , as well as the occasional cobra or palm squirrel.

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Birding Shanghai in May 2023 – Part 1

10,000 Birds

The bird on the photo is one of the estimated 3500-15,000 individuals still alive according to the HBW – a frightening thought given the (too) large number of humans, of which there are about 1 million times more (and of course, each of which weighs 5000 times more than the flycatcher). It is probably all downhill from here.

Birds 130
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Revenge Birding (Shanghai, early June 2022)

10,000 Birds

An Ashy Drongo apparently spends approximately 71% of its time scanning (what non-scientists would probably call looking around), 9% eating (less than a typical Chinese human but much more than me), calling 7%, flying 7%, and 6% preening. When Cattle Egrets go to the local discotheque, they tend to overdo their makeup a bit.

Singapore 147