10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

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.

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Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Kooyman (co-author with Jim Mastro) spent decades studying Emperor Penguins and can be considered the world’s foremost expert on the species. Empire Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are the largest living penguin species, almost four feet tall (taller when they stretch), and the least likely to be seen on birding or nature trips.

Penguins 169

Penguins Seals Leopards Research 169

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

China 247

China Birds Pythons Eagles 247

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

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 230

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 230

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

In total, there are eight species of hornbills in Borneo – the best place to see them seems to be the Kinabatagan River area (also known as Sukau). Another paper reviews information on Oriental Pied Hornbills raiding the nests of various bird species in Singapore and even pet bird cages.

Rhinoceros 134

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 134

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

With a hardiness that belies their delicate looks (but helps explain their phenomenal success), these pioneering pigeons are already sitting on eggs at at least one location in Montana. Especially of all the species that had been introduced to the US. So right now I’m feeling pretty good about Eurasian Collared-doves.

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Montana 2011 New York Bahamas 140

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2022

Once the egg has been laid, the female is chased away and the males hatch it.” Other research (cited on the rather straightforwardly named website www.genderinclusivebiology.com) found that 80% of gay swan couples successfully fledge their young, compared with only 30% for straight couples. Much cheaper than a brother or sister.

Birds 227

Birds China Pythons Breeding 227

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

For example, a researcher and presumed ornithologist set out with two hypotheses related to the Ashy Drongo (and another drongo species) and wrote a paper about it. For them, God probably was the one instructing the drongos to mob one species but not the other. Why show photos of species as boring as this Ashy-throated Warbler

China 198

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 198

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June. She will usually lay 12 to 17 eggs, averaging five per week 1 , before beginning incubation. Occasionally, larger clutches occur due to egg dumping by other females. References: 1 Baicich, Paul J.

California 235

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

videos (see Birding Hongbenghe part 1 to understand this obscure and not very good joke). Unfortunately, juvenile White-hooded Babblers do not look cool and hedonistic enough yet, so they are usually excluded from these videos. If you want to see how this species builds its nest, see here.)

Burma 211

Burma Birds Vietnam Laos 211

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2012

However, for a few species, things gets…weird. By bird standards it’s huge and some species go the extra mile like the Argentinian Lake Duck with its over 16 inch long member (when stretched out, is a little longer than the duck itself ). With birds, it’s generally not about quality, it’s about quantity.

Buffalo 279

Buffalo Birds Ducks Eggs 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

For birders, the Wolongshan area is like a poorer cousin of Balangshan – due to the lower elevation, the bird species here are more common and thus less interesting. Some Chinese Babax waste part of their lives feeding chicks of Large Hawk Cuckoos, which parasitize the babax species.

Hamburgers 228

Hamburgers Birds Science China 228

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

Take a look at this little Blue Tit and admit that you have never seen a more pathetic picture of a bird that combines the colours blue, yellow, green, white, and black in the most marvellous way you have ever seen: Recent research has shown that Leonardo da Vinci showed a Blue Tit to his model while he painted the smile on “Mona Lisa&#.

2011 170

2011 Birds Deer Europe 170

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2023

Anyway, in case you are still reading, the main attraction at this hide is Lady Amherst’s Pheasant, which perversely is not featured in this post (it is treated in a separate one, thus grudgingly acknowledging the almost disgusting flamboyance of that species). This species tends to use plenty of hair gel to get the perfect wet look.

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Birds Mammals St. Louis Monkeys 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2023

You can also see the owl not moving much in a short video. In Alaska, they were found to mimic 30 different species ( source ). Maybe they have decided to boycott species with Russian-sounding names as a way to protest against Putin’s policies. It did not seem to bother the owl much though. Oh, the excitement.

Monkeys 147

Monkeys Birds South Korea Owls 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2022

This is a rather photographer-friendly species, staying on the same branch for quite a while and even returning to it after catching some insects – you can see this on video here and here. Somehow I feel this is a bit degrading to the species, but it probably does not care. Ok, it could be a first-year male as well.

Finland 147

Finland Birds 2016 McDonalds 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

In southern Africa, there are two species. As I watched, it slowly moved into a patch of dried vegetation and I noticed that it was settling over a single egg. Two or three eggs may be laid and either bird may incubate. Feeling lazy, or I would do the research myself.) I too am fascinated by the name of this species.

2011 173

2011 Deer Africa Peru 173

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2023

The Ashy Tailorbird is a good example of the different perspectives of describing a bird – while the English name focuses on the body of the bird, the Latin species name ruficeps refers to the rufous head. The split makes the bird one of the six species endemic to Sabah, Borneo ( source ), four of which I saw during my week at Sepilok.

Woodpeckers 228

Woodpeckers Birds Eggs India 228

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2023

The Fairy Pitta is listed as Vulnerable, with the HBW that the species is “rare; global population probably no more than a few thousand individuals” While the sexes are alike, my guess is that the Fairy Pitta in the photo is a male given its early arrival date in Shanghai.

Birds 130

Birds China Research Tenant 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red. Better safe than sorry.

Birds 227

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 227