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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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Birding Shanghai in May 2023 – Part 2

10,000 Birds

One study in Korea found that 37% of injuries and deaths were caused by predation by natural enemies, another 37% (a worryingly high number) by window strikes, 10% by traffic accidents, 7% each by flooding and dehydration, and 3% by human disturbance. I wonder what Barn Swallows did before humans started building houses.

Birds 130
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Birding Longcanggou, Sichuan again (but maybe for the last time)

10,000 Birds

If being hunted by evil humans was not enough, Ashy-throated Parrotbills are also hosts of the parasitic Common Cuckoo. Apparently , they use the presence of their own eggs as a cue for recognizing parasitic eggs – so without the presence of their own eggs as a template they fail to recognize a parasitic egg.

Eggs 163
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Birding Tongbiguan, Yunnan (part 1)

10,000 Birds

.” Blue-bearded Bee-eaters seem to have a pretty clever hunting strategy. Of course, the same applies to pizza services for humans. They provoke honeybee colonies, which then fly out and attack the bird. The bees pursue the bird until it settles down somewhere, try to sting it, and get eaten ( source ). Reluctantly back to birds.

Squirrels 136
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Birding Tengchong, Yunnan, China in 2017

10,000 Birds

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 175
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Come@Me: If Birds are Dinosaurs I’m a Monkey’s Uncle

10,000 Birds

Humans have always classified organisms in a variety of ways, depending on need. In other words, you can’t say something like, “humans, gorillas, chimps, and bonobos are all in the same family and equally related to each other.” Some sort of ancient fish-with-feet is the ancestors of humans. Think about it. But here’s the thing.

Monkeys 132
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Birding Shanghai in September 2022

10,000 Birds

Similar to the situation among humans, among Grey-capped Greenfinches , “high-quality individuals prefer to mate with each other” ( source ). In Common Snipes , apparently, the wing shape is correlated with the migration strategy of individual birds. Eurasian Bitterns similarly try to stay out of sight.

China 168