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Vagrancy in Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It also summarizes the vagrancy status of every bird family in the whole wide world, which makes it fun to read as well as superbly educational. per cent of individuals of a species at a given time” and a vagrant bird as a bird that shows up outside of this range (p. internal compasses tied to the earth’s magnetic fields?

Birds 260
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Cow Birds

10,000 Birds

The naming of the hornbill family is a bit farther fetched. Wikimedia Commons Bucerotidae is etymologically opaque to most birders, I’d venture, but when Rafinesque described the family almost two centuries ago, he had kine on his mind. Thanks for visiting!

Cows 142
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Thrashing XXX

10,000 Birds

In the right season, with a little luck, we often find it, and sometimes it perches high and long enough that we can admire its scimitar of a bill, its stern face pattern, and even the patch of rusty red on the undertail that gives the species its English and its scientific names. Thanks for visiting!

2011 140
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Spring is for Wheatears

10,000 Birds

This species is not only usually the earliest, but the most common. What’s remarkable about this species is what we don’t see here: the extremely long migration that this species makes, with some individuals traveling from Sub-Saharan Africa to Greenland and back every year.

Cyprus 145
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A Problem with Gulls

10,000 Birds

Among these white-headed/dark-winged gulls formerly lumped into the genus Larus , there were 18+ recognized species the last time I checked, sharing similarities that make telling them apart for the amateur birdwatcher very difficult. 1998), then the proper name for this species is L. fuscus – should be separated as species.

2011 157
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ACTION ALERT! Tomorrow, MARCH 15, 2011, is the deadline for public.

10,000 Birds

Hunting sandhill cranes in Kentucky is a bad idea from a public relations standpoint, considering the growing cadre of birders and nature enthusiasts for whom cranes are a touchstone species. Initiating a hunting season on a large, charismatic species like a crane is no way to resuscitate hunting.

2011 248