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African Pygmy Geese – Diminutive Ducks

10,000 Birds

When I read somewhere that Pygmy Geese were not actually geese at all I started doing some research. I discovered that there are actually a fair number of ducks and other waterfowl that are wrongly called geese. So any birds that don’t belong to these genera can be considered either ducks or swans or something else.

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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. The Family Accounts are the fun part of the book. The Family Accounts are also a deeply informational, documented source of information for researchers.

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Birding the Eshowe area, South Africa

10,000 Birds

These two Hadada Ibis are reenacting the mirror scene from “Duck soup” (sort of). At vulture family gatherings, it is always a bit of a bother for the organizers to cater to the needs of the Palm Nut Vulture. But the text was last updated in 2015 while the DNA research was done in 2018. It must be frustrating.

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Rancho Naturalista Lodge, Costa Rica, or in the Land of Coffee and Chocolate

10,000 Birds

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks , Muscovy Ducks and Blue-winged Teals were around us, together with Green , Great and Little Blue Herons , Cattle and Great White Egrets , Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons , plus one locally rare Pinnated Bittern in the floating vegetation, as well as several dozen Neotropical Cormorants.

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

10,000 Birds

the development of field-based ornithological research in Europe and Great Britain; a quick step back through the history to look at bird protection, conservation, and our precarious future, with a focus on Birkhead’s long-term (50 years!) Common Guillemot research at Skomer Island, Wales.

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Wakkerstroom, South Africa: It’s a Lark

10,000 Birds

I have 10,000 Birds contributor Adam Riley to thank for telling me I had to add it to my list, and a quick bit of research showed that he was right on. Longclaws are African members of the pipit and wagtail family, and unlike the rest of the family they have gorgeously-coloured throats. A terrible shot of Barrow’s Korhaan.

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What’s in a Name: Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

10,000 Birds

Once you eliminate the risque jokes (I know, I know, but it’s a family blog) the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet might have the most comical name in American birding. The tyrant flycatchers, in turn, derive their name from the first member of the family to land a Latin name, the Eastern Kingbird. Next: Beardless.