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The Urban Birds of Austin, Texas

10,000 Birds

Though I have been birding for a few years now, I had only birded west of the Mississippi once before my recent trip to Austin, Texas. Because of this, areas around the city that were once sleepy are now “urban,” with humans and wildlife struggling to keep up. I saw this first-hand during an afternoon studio walk.

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Spring Migration on South Padre Island, Texas

10,000 Birds

There are a few spectacles in the birding community that are high energy, happen quickly, and is worth any effort to experience it. One such experience is a bird grounding event, sometimes called a fallout. South Padre Island in south Texas is a popular destination to see some of these migrants.

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What to Do at High Island When the Winds are South

10,000 Birds

Sure, there were Summer and Scarlet Tanagers and a few “good” warblers, but most of the migrants were sailing on those south winds over our heads to other parts of Texas. They did flush eventually, but not because of humans. This was the High Island Experience, I was told. You just need to know where to look.

Houston 244
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“The Hawk’s Way” — a book review

10,000 Birds

It’s a slim volume, a republication, mostly, of a chapter from her fine 2010 book Birdology , with some added material including an introduction, in which she describes how she has, a decade after her first experience with falconry (as described in the main part of the book), “come back for more.” We serve them.”.

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Vultures, Human Evolution, Global Warming, and Windmills

10,000 Birds

The topic was the concept of humans as predators, or hunters, or really, eaters of meat, and I was discussing the many ways in which people misconceived this notion. ” And they got up and left, and I never did get that monograph back from Eric. So that was the first argument for a scavenging phase.

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Vagrancy in Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Today’s vagrant could be tomorrow’s resident, a change that is visibly happening with, for example, the Clay-colored Thrush in southern Texas. There are many more factors than I imagined: compass errors, wind drift, overshooting, extreme weather and irruptions, natural dispersal, and human-driven vagrancy.

Birds 264
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A Survey of U.S. Birders

10,000 Birds

In an effort to better understand the “human dimension” of its conservation efforts, several surveys were conducted, including the National Birdwatching Survey (NBS). Nationally, most birdwatching occurred in California (9%), followed by New York (6%), Texas (5%), Pennsylvania (5%), Florida (5%), and Ohio (4%).

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