Sun.Mar 17, 2019

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Best Bird of the Weekend (Third of March 2019)

10,000 Birds

While you enjoyed the wearing of the green for St. Patrick’s Day, did you stop to wonder why so few birds wear green plumage? Based on how naturally parrots and leafbirds (the real ones in Asia, not the figments that plague birders in every country) blend into foliage, I’d imagine that most arboreal avian species would want the same advantages.

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First Phoebe of 2019

10,000 Birds

I saw my first migratory Eastern Phoebe of 2019 this morning at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Actually, I saw my first five phoebes there, perhaps the most I ever saw in one location for my first of the season. For me, it is now officially spring! Over the last ten years my average first phoebe has been the 22nd of March, meaning that this year’s bird was five days earlier than average and nearly two weeks earlier than last year’s.

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Eastern Curlew in Australia

10,000 Birds

Over recent decades there has been a sharp decline in the population of Eastern Curlew visiting Australia during their non-breeding months each year. The Eastern Curlew is the largest of the migratory shorebirds to visit Australia and really can’t be mistaken for any other species. Not only is the Eastern Curlew a very large shorebird, but it also has a very long bill.

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