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The return of the Old Man

10,000 Birds

According to Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World , a handsome volume written by James Hancock, James Kushan and Philip Kohl and published by Academic Press in 1992, Geronticus eremita “once nested in the mountains of central Europe, across northern Africa and into the Middle East. But this range is now much reduced.

Morocco 246
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Birding Shanghai in June 2023

10,000 Birds

Cattle Egrets are thoroughly modern birds – they were among the first species to ditch mailed letters for faxes, then switched to email early, and now (at least in China) mostly communicate by WeChat. They are also early adopters with regard to their foraging – nowadays mostly following tractors rather than cattle.

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
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What to Do at High Island When the Winds are South

10,000 Birds

They did flush eventually, but not because of humans. Smith Oaks is a migratory bird sanctuary owned and maintained by Houston Audubon, and the Rookery is a year-round bonus, full of Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Neotropical Cormorants, Anhingas, Tricolored Herons and Black-crowned Night-Herons.

Houston 255
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The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

Thus, the cattle we raise for meat and dairy are sometimes called Bos taurus while the extinct wild form is always called Bos primigenius. Early research suggested that “Fragmented distributions and population bottlenecks due to human activities appear to have increased genetic differentiation among populations” (Leberg 1991).

Turkey 234
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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

Finishing the cattle on grass is a far “greener” method. This would result in improved human health, decreased environmental destruction and better animal welfare. Note from KBJ: The author of the New York Times story describes human beings as "carnivores." Human beings, like dogs, are omnivores. This is stupid.

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Licking Clay: the Macaws of Tambopata, Peru

10,000 Birds

The primary reasons for the decline of macaws and parrots are many but habitat loss due to logging; clear cutting for crops and cattle ranching; and capture for the pet trade rank among the most threatening. These threats are further exacerbated by the naturally low reproductive rates of these cavity-nesting birds.

Peru 255