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Birding Tengchong, Yunnan (again)

10,000 Birds

Sadly, the HBW states that the species is “almost extinct in some areas in China owing to hunting and trapping for the cagebird trade and taxidermy” The Maroon Oriole looks much more interesting, though my photos do not really do it full justice. … Traill did this enough times that Shirley began to hide the scale.’

Nepal 157
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The return of the Old Man

10,000 Birds

The EU-funded LIFE+ project, called Reason for Hope, is coordinated by the Austrian association Förderverein Waldrappteam, and is claimed to be the first science-based attempt to reintroduce a migratory species to its area of origin. Such an intimate encounter with one of the world’s rarest birds was a memorable experience.

Morocco 217
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Bird Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Avian Lives–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The selections appear to largely reflect Hauber’s personal experiences around the world and he does occasionally bring himself into the essay, reflecting on a European Robin he observes at dusk in northwestern Germany or searching for American Robin nests on a tree farm in the Midwestern United States.

Chicago 173
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Birding Sepilok, Borneo (Part 2)

10,000 Birds

The drongo perches above the flock, snatching insects that they disturb, and keeping an eye out for predators that might go unnoticed by its hunting flock-mates. The species is classified as Near Threatened for all the usual depressing reasons – pollution, drainage, hunting, and the collection of eggs and nestlings ( source ).

Sri Lanka 205
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What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. Jennifer Ackerman points out in the introduction to What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds , that we don’t know much, but that very soon we may know a lot more. They are also hunted. I don’t think so.

Owls 203
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Birding the Kruger Park (4): Letaba area

10,000 Birds

Swainson’s Spurfowl is a somewhat unlucky species for two reasons – one, it is considered a delicacy by outdoor and hunting enthusiasts in Zimbabwe ( source ), and the other, it is named after William Swainson, an English ornithologist with an ill-advised side activity in botany. They exercised this activity in part-time (96.5%).

Zimbabwe 147
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Book Review: Spillover – Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic

10,000 Birds

Aficionados of natural history writing should recognise the author as that of the Song of the Dodo , the popular science book about biogeography and conservation that to me rates as one the finest popular science books ever written. The book is about zoonoses, diseases that jump from animals to people. This lake is close to the cave.

Humane 161