10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2024

Research by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust has shown that predation by Foxes (of both eggs and chicks) is one of the most serious factors limiting the success of nesting Curlews. The following May she was found on a nest with four eggs at RAF Honnington (four miles from my home) by Harry Ewing, an ecologist with Natural England.

Fox 189

Fox Badgers Finland Eggs 189

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia). Two years ago I screamed “UralOwlUralOwlUralOwl!!!”,

Serbia 244

Serbia Owls Slovakia Bosnia 244

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Fortunately for the buntings, they seem to detect most cuckoo eggs smuggled in (75% in one study). A study found that for Plain Prinia , egg characteristics in a mainland China location with many cuckoos make it much easier to spot cuckoo eggs than in a Taiwan location with few cuckoos ( source ). Better safe than sorry.

Birds 200

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 200