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Birding Shanghai in October 2023

10,000 Birds

Of course, I need to pretend not to brag about it, but the HBW page on the species still uses the photo of a China-based German photographer as its main illustration. When there are cuckoos around – which parasitize Daurian Redstarts – the females have a higher rate of egg rejection. How exciting.

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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

It seems this species is shy even by pitta standards – the HBW calls it a “very shy and secretive pitta, easily overlooked” and says that it is “very rare in China (S. Some like Charles Vaurie have considered it so unreliable that they even suggested the destruction of his egg collection.”

Burma 197
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

Like a bad boyfriend not changing into nicer clothes for an evening out, the Brown-cheeked Fulvetta gets chided on eBird for not making any efforts: “an unapologetically drab and unmarked fulvetta” The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater apparently digs nest-burrows in which to lay its eggs. “It is not deep enough yet!

Birds 147
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Birding Chongming Island in summer

10,000 Birds

According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch. According to Couzens, after laying the eggs, females sometimes immediately abandon their first mate and pair up with another male. But maybe that is actually a good thing.

Birds 162
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For Your Health, the Planet & the Animals: VBM

Animal Person

There has to be something I can do to reduce all of the suffering of the animals we use as food, I thought. And then I read THE CHINA STUDY and was shocked to learn how unhealthy the Standard American Diet is--even cow's milk, which I thought I should be having three servings of per day! I call it VBM: Vegan Between Meals.

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Birding Shanghai in October 2022

10,000 Birds

The Red-flanked Bluetail is also the subject of an otherwise relatively unremarkable paper , but it uses the interesting term “autumn obesity” Maybe this Marsh Sandpiper also suffers from autumn obesity? The Eurasian Hobby was another notable raptor of the month. And yes, sparrows in areas with polluted air are less healthy.

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Birding Tongbiguan, Yunnan (part 1)

10,000 Birds

As usual in China, there are some anonymous Leaf Warbler species – but who cares, apart from Bella of Alpinebirding ? While the HBW claims that the Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher is uncommon in China, this probably does not apply to this part of Yunnan.

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