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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. 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. 220; Copyright © 2022 Tom Johnson photos p.

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The Beautiful and Colorful Mourning Dove

10,000 Birds

Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. To show how adaptive this species is, the following photograph was sent to me by one of my readers and I use it with her permission.

Hunters 174
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

I saw two Pitta species at Hongbenghe, both among the slightly less glamourous among the pitta family: The Blue-naped Pitta … … and the closely related Rusty-naped Pitta. It seems that this is another species for which the standard phrase of scientists anywhere, “more research needed”, applies.

Birds 147
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What’s in a Name: Snipe Hunt

10,000 Birds

Ali Hussein or Hussain, a bird conservationist from India about whom I can find very little information, has apparently documented a traditional bird-trapping technique in his home region that resembles the folkloric snipe hunt in many particulars. It has nothing to do with the childish hazing ritual. Or does it?

Hunting 107
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Hawk-Eagle Sweep in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

The tropical habitats of Costa Rica are home to a surprising number of raptor species. Although the country is around the same size as West Virginia, 39 species of diurnal raptors are on the list. As is often the case for tropical ecosystems, there may be hundreds of species of birds at a site, but many of them are naturally rare.

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Everglades Long-Legged Birds Feed Their Young To Alligators, Everything is Good.

10,000 Birds

For example, years ago, Eiton Tchenrov postulated that the wild progenitor of the domestic dog, some subspecies or another of wolf, could benefit from overlapping its breeding territory with human hunters. The humans tended to keep away a range of predators that might take the pups as a form of interference competition.

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Drones: The Next Thing Birders Will Be Arguing About

10,000 Birds

I was chatting with Gordon about this and we discussed how drones could be a safer way to get photos of birds or document birds for breeding surveys, but he was quick to point out, “You and I already have an idea of what a safe distance would be to test that out with an active bald eagle nest. Here’s a guy harassing Osprey.