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The Changing Fortunes of Europe’s Vultures – Part 1

10,000 Birds

The chicks need six months to develop so the adults lay their eggs in January. All this changed with protection. These are African, sub-Saharan, vultures that were unknown in Europe until recent times. Griffon Vultures have a long breeding season. So why are these Griffons arriving now? Isn’t it a bit late to breed?

Africa 245
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The return of the Old Man

10,000 Birds

According to Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World , a handsome volume written by James Hancock, James Kushan and Philip Kohl and published by Academic Press in 1992, Geronticus eremita “once nested in the mountains of central Europe, across northern Africa and into the Middle East. But this range is now much reduced.

Morocco 235
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Don’t Ignore the Barnacles – they’re Real Birds

10,000 Birds

The Atlas attributes “the rapid increase of Barnacle Geese to several factors”, of which the most important seems to be improved protection of the Svalbard and Russian populations. A pair did lay infertile eggs in Iceland in 2018, but that’s about the only record I can find).

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Birding the Kruger Park (2): Bateleur area

10,000 Birds

Wikipedia also has an interesting paragraph hinting at observation bias in ornithologists: “At the continental scale, saddle-billed storks preferred protected areas that have a higher extent of open water compared to areas without the storks. Studies on improving ostrich egg hatchability. Ostriches originated in Asia.

Ostriches 147
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Power Companies and Springtime Tree Removal

10,000 Birds

But there are ways to prevent this situation, and to prevent the constant springtime problem of wildlife being orphaned… like these Barred Owls , above left, and Red-Shouldered Hawks , all of whom were delivered as eggs to Christine’s Critters in Weston, CT, thanks to two different private homeowners’ felling of trees. Ah, Europe!

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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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The Great Bustard Search is On (2)

10,000 Birds

This species has suffered rapid population reductions across most of its range owing to the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat and land-use changes in eastern Europe, says IUCN’s Red List. In the last year, a broken bustard eggshell was found, but since no displaying was observed, those could have been unfertilized eggs.

Hungary 157