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Birds of the West: An Artist’s Guide–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The lengthy Introduction gives both a personal history and a global history of birds and art, including brief profiles of John James Audubon and the far lesser known Genevieve Estelle Jones, who conceived of a book eventually called Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio in the late 19th century.

Birds 143
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The Great Hummingbird Nest Heist

10,000 Birds

Tom Brown grew up in the high desert area of Central Oregon. La Paz, the capital city of Baja California Sur, the southern half of the Mexican Baja, has been a real joy, with both the desired weather, and a much expanded variety of bird species. Once the nest was done, she began sitting on it, preparing to lay her eggs.

San Diego 164
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Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America: A Review by a Sparrow Fan

10,000 Birds

I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.

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Try, Try Again

10,000 Birds

This area offers Mexico’s greatest concentration of endemics, as well as very few species an American birder might have already seen up north. And for the first time, I saw a Bronzed Cowbird (which lays its eggs in other birds’ nests) checking out one of these nests. The same could be said about so many other species.

Mexico 144
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Around the World For Penguins: A Penguin Fan’s Book Review

10,000 Birds

I’ve been fortunate to see two Penguin species in the wild (African and Galapagos) and have dreamed of seeing more–maybe even all!–especially The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.”

Penguins 277
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California Quail, The California State Bird: Now Forming Coveys

10,000 Birds

The California Quail ( Callipepla californica ) is the California state bird, inhabiting scrub, broken chaparral and woodland edges primarily in California, Oregon, Washington and Baja California. In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June.

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Bluebirds Fly

10,000 Birds

The pair may have to compete for nesting cavities with several other species including native Tree Swallows and Violet-green Swallows, as well as non-native House Sparrows and European Starlings. The female alone incubates the usual 4 to 6 eggs for about two weeks beginning the day the last egg is laid.