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Pied Oystercatcher breeding season is here again!

10,000 Birds

Well, not quite like clockwork, because this year one pair of Pied Oystercatchers on Cable Beach laid their first clutch of eggs a bit earlier than normal. This year the first clutch was laid at the end of May and this is the first time we have had eggs laid in May along Cable Beach since 2000. However, the news was very sad.

Breeding 241
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Nesting Red-capped Plovers

10,000 Birds

We have also observed pairs of Pied Oystercatchers choosing sand over rocks and each pair appears to use the same strategy year after year. Red-capped Plover nest We have mostly observed Red-capped Plover nests with two eggs, so she may well have laid another egg by now.

Eggs 165
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Broome’s Pied Oystercatchers are breeding again

10,000 Birds

Since I found the first Pied Oystercatcher nest on Cable Beach in July 2000 I have learnt that the eggs rarely hatch due to predation and if they do hatch then a fully fledged chick is a rare and wonderful outcome. This year has been like other years with the first eggs being laid late June and the first chicks hatching recently.

Breeding 147
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Pied Oystercatchers and Sand Goannas

10,000 Birds

We have often suspected that the Sand Goannas would steal eggs as a food source from the Pied Oystercatcher nests if they found them. The two pairs should have been close to hatching their eggs from their first clutch. The pair of Pied Oystercatchers to the north have now laid a second clutch of two more eggs.

Eggs 252
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Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests: A Field Guide Review

10,000 Birds

This may have been partly a leftover from the Victorian fascination with egg collecting (the infamous passion known as oology), but probably more from people’s burgeoning interest in the nests and eggs found in their gardens and fields, gateway artifacts to a newer hobby called birdwatching. The Harrison guides are out of print.

Eggs 218
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The Collared Finchbill

10,000 Birds

It is a bit of an outsider in the bulbul family, being only one of two bulbuls in the genus Spizixos (“chirping bulbul” – a bit strange as many other bulbuls including the omnipresent Light-vented Bulbul also chirp a lot). The Collared Finchbill is a bulbul, even though the name does not state this directly.

Vegan 168
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Birding the Kruger Park (2): Bateleur area

10,000 Birds

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. Another member of the stork family, the African Openbill , looks like it is could benefit from a good orthodontist. And sadly, it is listed as Endangered.

Ostriches 147