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Birding Shanghai in November 2022

10,000 Birds

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.

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The Falcon Thief: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It didn’t occur to me till I started reading The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird that there was also a possible threat to the eagle herself: poachers, who steal raptor eggs and chicks. McWilliam realizes he’s dealing someone special, a career falcon egg-thief.

Falcons 224
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Birding Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Borneo

10,000 Birds

While it is laudable to publish a paper about the threat to laughingthrushes (including this) by the bird trade, I still feel that lame-joke titles such as “Nothing to laugh about – the ongoing illegal trade in laughingthrushes ( Garrulax species) in the bird markets of Java, Indonesia” should be avoided.

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The Wryneck: Biology, Behaviour, Conservation and Symbolism of Jynx torquilla: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The Wryneck is full of stunning photos of Wrynecks–anting, flying, nesting, writhing, being ringed, their habitat areas, nests, eggs, and closeups of museum specimens. I somehow knew right away that the bird I saw was a Wryneck. copyright © 2022 Gerard Gorman.

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15 Australian Birds (Episode 1)

10,000 Birds

In my imagination, the job of a male Australian Brush Turkey is pretty similar – removing or adding bits and pieces to his pile of rotting vegetation in order to get the right temperature to incubate the eggs buried underneath to hatch. It breeds in tree holes, presumably explaining the more commonly used name for it.

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Birding Napo, Guangxi, China – part 1

10,000 Birds

The Bar-backed Partridge was also one of four focal species in an investigation into illegal bird hunting in Southwestern China. Another, somewhat more interesting study suggests that nest sanitation (ornithologists speak for cleaning up your room) helps Common Tailorbirds to recognize and eject parasitic eggs.

China 147
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15 Australian Birds (Episode 3)

10,000 Birds

While females hatch from larger eggs and are initially heavier than their brothers, after ten days, the male chicks weigh almost 50% more than their sisters, as they receive a higher quantity and quality of prey from their parents ( source ). ” It might be better to adopt a random male teenager right away. ” ( source ).

Birds 147