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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.

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Birding Nanhui, Shanghai, in September 2021

10,000 Birds

Being a bit older myself now, I have to point out that young human males usually do not look that good, at least to me. Cattle Egrets have perfected that smudgy look. It certainly does not refer to the status of Nanhui. At least, I managed to get a The National reference into the blog eventually. A juvenile male.

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Shifting Baselines and Sneaky Jays

10,000 Birds

Unlike Barred Owls they were accompanied by no great controversy , and unlike Cattle Egrets or Eurasian Collared Doves they didn’t come as an abrupt continent-hopping surprise. 1978, for reference, was the year of my birth. There’s a certain suburbanization of the natural as well as the human world.

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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.

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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.

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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. During the very late 15th century and early 16th century, there are about five or so references to one Spanish explorer or another finding a “Turkey” and maybe or maybe not bringing it back to Europe.

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From Today's New York Times

Animal Ethics

Niman’s suggestion that the findings do not apply to smaller farms, the United Nations and the University of Chicago reports demonstrate the inefficiency of beef “production” because a cow must be fed to convert grass or grain calories into protein before a human can consume even “humane” or grass-fed beef. Indeed, in Ms. 31, 2009