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The Garrulous Jay

10,000 Birds

David Bannerman, writing 70 years ago in the first volume of The Birds of the British Isles, noted that the Jay “is a frequent pilferer of gardens and orchards” and “an unscrupulous arch-egg-robber. Not only eggs but nestling birds of many species fall prey to the Jay.” There are no fewer than 27 recognized subspecies in six groups.

Norway 188
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Birding Chongming Island in summer

10,000 Birds

According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch. According to Couzens, after laying the eggs, females sometimes immediately abandon their first mate and pair up with another male. But maybe that is actually a good thing.

Birds 162
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How to find the Ural Owl in Serbia

10,000 Birds

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). And where to look for the Ural Owl in Serbia?

Serbia 243
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Birding Nanhui, Shanghai, in September 2021

10,000 Birds

Breeding in Northern Japan and wintering in the Phillippines, some seem to take a migratory rest stop (and slight deviation) at the Shanghai coast. Hints of potential warming in the HBW species description: “Date of first egg-laying on Honshu now 7 days earlier than it was 25 years ago” There are also quite a few Cuckoos.

Birds 217
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The Bird Way: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

An accomplished popular science writer, Ackerman started out as a writer and researcher for National Geographic ‘s book division and has since written articles and books on such diverse scientific subjects as heredity, the common cold, dragonflies, and wildlife in Japan.

Research 211
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Birding Shanghai in May 2023 – Part 1

10,000 Birds

According to the HBW, food brought by Siberian Blue Robins to nestlings in Japan was 36% adult insects, 28% insect larvae, 18% spiders, and 18% unidentified (I suspect the last mostly being unhealthy fast food with the discriminating labels ripped off). Here at 10,000 Birds, we never forget that you, the reader, have a choice.

Birds 130
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What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

From Hiro, we learn how Northern Pygmy Owls are “rule breakers,” not incubating eggs till all are hatched and then raising owlets that mature at the same rate even though the eggs were laid asynchronously (as most owl eggs are).

Owls 199