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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

This laughingthrush is a cooperative breeder – nestlings are fed by all members of a group, often 6-12 (not just 2 as in Wham!): “A female may share a nest with another, and 3 or more adults may take turns incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks.” ” ( source ).

Burma 195
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Birding Shanghai in October 2023

10,000 Birds

When there are cuckoos around – which parasitize Daurian Redstarts – the females have a higher rate of egg rejection. The Yellow-bellied Tit suffers a bit less from such jokes. Better safe than sorry, I guess. But fortunately, I also found the real thing this month – always worth seeing.

Birds 217
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Getting ready for spring.

10,000 Birds

A discarded pigeon’s egg reminded me that spring is just around the corner and that nest boxes should be readied in anticipation. We did have a tragedy last year when a pair of Great T**s nested in the post box and the eggs got lightly poached in the hot, metal box. What’s this? Where did winter go?

Eggs 180
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Birds Suffering from Oil Spill

Critter News

Pelican eggs were glazed with rust-colored gunk, and new hatchlings and nests were also coated with crude. Pelicans unable to fly due to being coated with oil. It's the Exxon Valdez all over again. Several pelicans were coated in oil on Barataria Bay off Louisiana, their usually brown and white feathers now jet black.

Suffering 100
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Big Whoop, Indeed: Whooping Cranes in Louisiana!

10,000 Birds

A pair from the released batch set up housekeeping last month and lo and behold, eggs gave way to chicks. For a bird that’s teetered on the brink of disaster for a century, and even still suffers tragedies, the birth of twins is wonderful news! To keep up with the latest, check out the Whoopers’ Facebook page.

Louisiana 107
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Calling All Birders: Come To Hog Island!

10,000 Birds

Skye wore a long-suffering expression, while Bau-Hien – whose parents had settled in Texas after leaving Vietnam – regarded me with a mixture of fascination and alarm. A half-hour boat cruise around Eastern Egg Rock gave me a glimpse of seabird paradise, then yanked it away. Soon the girls emerged. There’s one!”.

Puffins 274
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Altruism, Albatrosses, and Vicious Young Men

10,000 Birds

They emerged from their bloody rampage leaving fifteen adults dead, and fifteen destroyed nests with either smashed or missing eggs. There are eggs that are not viable, nestlings who fail to thrive, natural predators who snatch a chick for a meal, freak storms that blow through and destroy part of a population.

Albatross 214