Sat.Aug 09, 2014 - Fri.Aug 15, 2014

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Glue Trapped

10,000 Birds

'Glue traps: For compassion’s sake, please do not set, place, or hang them. Here’s why. Sentient people recoil at the idea of leg-hold traps, those medieval–torture devices which cause so much pain and suffering before their victims eventually die, are killed, or (very occasionally) are rescued. However, many people who wouldn’t dream of setting a leg-hold trap use glue traps, which accomplish the same thing – just on a smaller scale.

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All about alcids: Extravagant divers of northern oceans

10,000 Birds

'Across the world’s northern oceans, 24 species of auklets, murres, puffins, guillemots, and related seabirds make a living catching food beneath the waves and breeding, often in large colonies, on coastlines and islands. Together, these birds compose the family Alcidae , and they share adaptations that we recognize as penguin-like: an upright stance on land, black-and-white plumage, and — most important — wings that propel them underwater in pursuit of prey ( see them in actio

Penguins 219
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Tips for Rainy Season Birding in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

'It rains a lot in Costa Rica. There are places in the country soaked with an average of four meters of a rain a year and some sites probably see more. Yes, we do have a dry season but that only holds sway in certain parts of Costa Rica, and then there are those places that seem to be perpetually wet. I can’t knock the rain, though, because it’s part of the local scene and one of the main factors behind a 900+ list with crazy, cool birds like Black-crowned Antpitta , sixteenspecies

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Tricolored Blackbird in Trouble in California

10,000 Birds

'More than 99% of the population of Tricolored Blackbirds ( Agelaius tricolor ) live within the state of California and form the largest colonies of any North American passerine bird 1. Click on photos for full sized images. The Results of the 2014 Tricolored Blackbird Statewide Survey confirm that this species is in rapid decline. This is an excerpt from that report: “Because much native nesting habitat has been converted to agriculture and stored grains provide an essentially limitless

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Webinar & PDF Test

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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This Week in Bird(ing) News: The Good, the Bad, and the Huh?

10,000 Birds

'First, let’s start with the good: Scientific testing of drones near birding hotspot Cape May, NJ has been postponed to avoid messing with Red Knots and Piping Plovers (like the cutie above that Corey photographed there a few years back). (On the flip side, drones disguised as raptors might be able to keep birds from colliding with planes and wind turbines.).

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Ho-Hum, Another Lark Sparrow at Robert Moses State Park

10,000 Birds

'A couple of days ago Ken Fuestel, a stalwart downstate New York birder, found a Lark Sparrow at Robert Moses State Park. This is not a terribly unexpected happening as Lark Sparrows are more than annual in fall migration in New York and they are usually found along the coast, which Robert Moses State Park, situated on a barrier island in Suffolk County, certainly is.

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Where Are You Birding This Third Weekend of August 2014?

10,000 Birds

'Keep your eyes to the skies for scrappy little birds harassing bigger birds … more common that you’d think! Sometimes the weather and the calendar don’t seem to be in sync. In my part of the world, cold air is sapping that summer feeling. Hopefully, you’re enjoying a more seasonal clime! This weekend, I’m entertaining guests with a concerted disinterest in nature.

2014 161
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Nature Blog Network: A Eulogy

10,000 Birds

'Can you remember the world before blogs? I’m tempted to say I’ve been blogging for all of my adult life, but if you’ve seen the gray in my hair, you recognize that statement as, at best, exaggeration. And yet the nature blog feels like something we’ve always had and enjoyed. Just like Facebook. And eBird. And cellphones that take decent landscape shots.

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Hornsby Blue Gum Walk

10,000 Birds

'On our trip to New South Wales in June we took the opportunity to return to one of the picturesque bush walks that is not too far from the city and easily reached by public transport. We had walked this trail in March 2012 and it was most enjoyable, so we found time the day before we left Sydney to hop on a train to Hornsby to once again walk the Blue Gum Walk.

Parrots 169
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Which Juvenile Shorebird is Better? Least Sandpiper or Short-billed Dowitcher?

10,000 Birds

'Every single summer when I am out experiencing the mud and heat and shorebirds on the the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge I find myself getting into the same silent argument with myself. Which of the two most beautiful juvenile shorebirds do I think is better. Typically, I end up deciding that it is the one that is standing in front of me, too naive to realize that staying close to people is probably not a good idea.

Jamaica 165
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PDF 9.21.23

this is a test

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Grey Butcherbirds ??? Australia???s Shrikes

10,000 Birds

'When J. Latham first described Grey Butcherbirds in 1801, like most people of the age he assumed Australia’s birds should be seen in the context of Old World birds and placed them with the birds he thought they most closely resembled, the shrikes of the genus Lanius.I’m not sure if he ever saw one in the wild, but if he had he might have been forgiven for noticing a resemblence closer than just appearance, as they share the shrike’s habit of hunting by waiting and watchi

Australia 167