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What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It’s also about human-owl interaction on an individual level and a wider sociocultural level, and ultimately how we can use all this for habitat and bird conservation. As the names and habitats imply, not all owl species are alike, in behavior, adaptation, relationship to humans, and in how humans perceive them.

Owls 207
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Casa Santos Lima: Valcatrina – Vinho Regional Alentejano (2015)

10,000 Birds

Not far from its capital Lisbon lies Cabo de Roca, the westernmost point in mainland Europe. But like Spain, its only neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal is cut off from the rest of Europe by the steep, natural border formed by the Pyrenees.

2015 155
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Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History from Cave Art to Conservation–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

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Vagrancy in Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The book is richly illustrated with contributions from a group of birders/photographers who were fortunate to see and document many of the vagrants covered. There are many more factors than I imagined: compass errors, wind drift, overshooting, extreme weather and irruptions, natural dispersal, and human-driven vagrancy. Princeton Univ.

Birds 258
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The Hidden Qualities of House Sparrows

10,000 Birds

The genus Passer has several well-recognized and recognizable species in Europe, and still holds several enigmas. Then there is the fact that indicus sparrows tend to avoid human habitations while domesticus doesn’t, leading to sympatric breeding with a disputed amount of hybridisation.

Sparrows 213
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

The Blue Whistling Thrush is presumably named for its loud human-like whistling, and possibly for being blue. One would think that for a species as common in Europe as the Grey-headed Woodpecker , the HBW would spend some effort to update the species entry. ” The Common Green Magpie fortunately does not look common at all.

Birds 147
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Of Whiskey Jacks and Water Ouzels

10,000 Birds

Gray Jay : This drab but charismatic species demonstrates that the more a bird interacts with humans, the more colloquial names it will tend to pick up. Once known as the Canada Jay, but more interestingly by such tags as Camp Robber and Venison Hawk for its habit of hanging around humans and viewing them as a food source.

Hunters 180