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Thirteen years of weekly posts

10,000 Birds

This rocky area high up beyond the beach sand offers great camouflage and protection. The photo below shows the actual nest with the eggs in, but that may not be initially clear to you, so I have underlined them in a copy of the photo below. They will do it for other threats as a distraction to protect their eggs or chicks.

Eggs 130
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The return of the Old Man

10,000 Birds

Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World states that “disturbance by local people, tourists, and egg and zoo collectors has similarly reduced the colonies, and more protection is vital”. They are early nesters, but I was unable to tell whether any pairs already had eggs, though I suspected that some might have done.

Morocco 213
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Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests: A Field Guide Review

10,000 Birds

This may have been partly a leftover from the Victorian fascination with egg collecting (the infamous passion known as oology), but probably more from people’s burgeoning interest in the nests and eggs found in their gardens and fields, gateway artifacts to a newer hobby called birdwatching. The Harrison guides are out of print.

Eggs 218
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Birding the Kruger Park (2): Bateleur area

10,000 Birds

Wikipedia also has an interesting paragraph hinting at observation bias in ornithologists: “At the continental scale, saddle-billed storks preferred protected areas that have a higher extent of open water compared to areas without the storks. The Marabu Stork definitely has a face that only a mother could love.

Ostriches 147
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Pied Oystercatcher chicks two weeks on….

10,000 Birds

In fact we often don’t have any chicks within two weeks of the eggs hatching and other pairs along the coast have not been successful yet this season. More eggs have been laid and hopefully other pairs of Pied Oystercatchers will soon have young to care for. Female on the left and two chicks next to the male Pied Oystercatcher.

Eggs 121
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Birding Sepilok, Borneo (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

If the male’s color fades after the first egg, the female reacts by laying a smaller second egg – seemingly deciding that it is better to cut her losses as the male apparently is the avian equivalent of a deadbeat father. But if you already drive a Porsche, this should not really bother you.

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Do Not Feed Baby Birds Milk or Bread

10,000 Birds

Birds hatch out of eggs, like some species of snakes, who also have no boobs, although with a snake the fact is more readily apparent. While snakes protect their eggs, and may protect their young for a short period of time after they hatch, baby snakes are very soon on their own. Call a wildlife rehabilitator!