10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2022

Harris’s are also, according to Cowan, smarter than other hawks; they hunt in packs and, for that reason, may welcome humans as hunting partners more so than other raptors. As Montgomery shows, falconry is different from any other human/animal interaction. We serve them.”.

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New Hampshire Chickens Hunting Falcons 211

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2021

Almost completely without human infrastructure, this reserve has the largest complexes of steppe habitats in the country, making it a uniquely preserved typical Pannonian landscape. noticed a Eurasian Stone-curlew , which I dipped and, as we were leaving, one male Red-footed Falcon waved us goodbye. Did I mention Great Bustards ?

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Serbia Birds Romania Eagles 238

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2015

Some people do think the Northern Goshawk is undignified, at least compared to the falcons, as I learned while reading the excellent memoir H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. As Macdonald herself amply proves, this is classic projection, another case of the human seeing in the nonhuman only what we want to see.

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Falcons Eagles Meat Geese 259

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2024

The festival headquarters is located on the southwest side of Mission Bay, overlooking a marina with nearby Black-crowned Night Herons and frequently plays host to several falcon species, and a short walk to the San Diego River. This makes it a prime spot for bicycle-birding, our niche at the festival.

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San Diego Sea Lions Lions Birds 201

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2021

Here’s a quote about bird lungs from Britannica: “Himalayan geese have been observed not only to fly over human climbers struggling to reach the top of Mount Everest, but to honk as they do so.” Both falconers and wildlife rehabilitators have to study, gain experience, and jump through various hoops in order to get their licenses.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Tethering Giraffes Alabama 262

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2019

Incidentally, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal are among the eighteen countries where falconry is inscribed as a living human heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESC0), attesting to the great heritage of this sport in many parts of the world.

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2016 Portugal Falcons Japan 128

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2020

A generalist raptor that can keep on living in a human dominated landscape. Granted, the more urban, the less likely that a raptor can make it (except for maybe pigeon connoisseur Peregrine Falcons or garbage disposal Black Kites and vultures) but allow enough green space to persist and some raptor will usually find its place.

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Costa Rica Mice Arizona Squirrels 294

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016

We watched the bird for awhile as it foraged and though the injury was painful to contemplate for we humans the bird seemed to be getting by alright. Several hours after we saw it and reported it to the listserv other birders saw the bird attacked by not one but two Peregrine Falcons. That is how it is and how it should be.

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Culling Falcons New Jersey Killing 157

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2011

But in the case of Harris Hawks , this mentality jumps the species barrier and they form a strong bond with their human partners, readily accepting their non-avian hunting companions as members of their pack. It is only due to the strong bond (and association with food) between falconer and raptor that the birds return after a hunt.

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League Against Cruel Sports Rabbits Falcons Hunting 270

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

I had never seen a Peregrine Falcon soaring with Black Vultures before – interestingly enough I would later see the very same occurrence two days later on another part of the island. These scarce residents are rarely seen – and even when visible, are usually quite wary of humans. Peregrine Falcon. Little Blue Heron.

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Trinidad Birds Parrots Falcons 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2023

In the human psyche, owls can be cuddly signs of good luck and benificence (as they are in Japan, and Harry Potter movies) and, at the same time, eerie and unsettling. Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

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Barn Owls Owls Serbia Finland 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2016

Further, the researchers add, just as cuckoos (like the Common Cuckoo above photographed by Redgannet) display a tendency toward skittishness around humans, so too do songbird predators such as raptors. Smaller birds are much more likely to tolerate a human presence.

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China Europe Research Falcons 101

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

A few spots manage to persist and welcome them in this human-dominated landscape. Keep birding and you might see a White-tailed Kite hovering as it hunts rodents and one of the few Bat Falcons in the Valley might dash into view. It’s exodus for survival or wilt and starve in the concrete.

Costa Rica 254

Costa Rica Sparrows Birds Rodents 254

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2021

In the final bits and pieces of green space that dot a typical human dominated landscape? This morning, the surprise was the call of Laughing Falcon. In birding circles, Costa Rica is better known for protected areas, quetzal tours, and glittering displays of hummingbirds than the things that fly in urban spots. That makes sense.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Falcons Farming Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2014

There are hawk cams , falcon cams , puffin cams , tern cams , heron cams , and even Osprey cams. Common Ravens tend to avoid nesting around lots of humans. You’ve probably heard of many different kinds of bird cams—web feeds that spy on the inner lives of birds. But clearly, this pair was looking for attention.

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Boston Puffins Science Massachusetts 185

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2014

Cliff-dwellers like the Rock Pigeon and Peregrine Falcon have obvious success adapting to skyscrapers, while creatures who prefer a bit of greenery are flocking to rooftop gardens and pocket parks. Still, it’s up to us humans, as architects and builders, to really put thought into how cities can best serve as biological communities.

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DC Birds Falcons Humane 166

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SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

In other words, the caracara’s behavior is totally different from that of, say, the peregrine, though they’re both falcons, and diverged from each other on their evolutionary paths pretty recently. (That’s the striated’s colloquial nickname – is there a cooler, more wonderful moniker for any bird than that?).

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Guyana South America Washington DC 241

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

At some point, some kind of raptor — most likely a falcon — is going to independently invent barbecue. While Richard Dawkins thunders across the intellectual landscape with that one, though, I’d like to turn my attention to matters more practical: birds are using fire to obtain food. This can mean only one thing.

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Science Falcons Australia Humane 116

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2022

We might have a few small farms nearby and the gift of a narrow riparian zone out back but in general, the main habitat is that of the modern human kind; housing and streets (lamposts included). Keep birding in green space and you might hear a Laughing Falcon , might see a White-tailed Kite doing its “Holy Spirit” hovering moves.

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Costa Rica Farming Sparrows Birds 265

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2016

Unfortunately, “ humans are still Golden Eagles’ greatest threat: it’s estimated that more than 70 percent of recorded Golden Eagle deaths are attributable to human impact, either intentional or inadvertent.” Crested Caracaras, though they often associate with vultures, are actually part of the falcon family.

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Albania Mexico Eagles Kazakhstan 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2018

A falcon-like bird coursing through the wave-troughs? It’s not falcon-like. It’s a falcon. As in a dead human being. Common Goldeneye , Black Scoter , Bufflehead , Ring-billed Gull , Long-tailed Duck , Lesser Black-backed Gull , Herring Gull , Brant …and, wait, what’s that? This is amazing!

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2018 Birds Bald Eagle Falcons 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2018

The others (in order of publication and story-line, A Siege of Bitterns , A Pitying of Doves , and A Cast of Falcons ) are all now available here in new editions, according to the publisher. The latest, A Shimmer of Hummingbirds , is the first to be widely distributed in the United States.

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Collecting Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 115

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

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Dissection Birds Research Europe 219

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Regardless of whether you think field guide sequences should or should not reflect current evolutionary sequence, it’s comforting and easy to find falcons next to hawks, vireos next to warblers. Fantasy is the key word here. Doing this work takes time! All plumage variations are clearly labelled.

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Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 213

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2012

This first case of trouble was due to the human penchant for constructing buildings. She supplied a ladder, and I climbed to the top; there I found the beautiful little falcon, who gazed at me silently and in horror. The building is an indoor riding ring, and the bird is an American Kestrel.

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Falcons Humane Birds Bird Rescue 227

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Second, reading about birds courting and parenting brings out the tendency to identify, which leads directly to anthropomorphism, the tendency to assign birds human emotions and thoughts. Think of birds too much as humans and you lose the specialness that makes them birds. Peregrine Falcon nests. Yellow Warbler fledgling.

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Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2015

Macdonald is, among her many accomplishments, a falconer. White, who wrote The Once and Future King and The Sword and the Stone , and who was also a falconer – but a very, very bad one. So what’s wrong with the book? Her autobiographical story alternates with her meditations on T.H.

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Falcons Michael Vick Whales Whaling 220

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2015

And, of course, the reputation of certain species of birds as troublemakers for humans is a problem in bird conservation, so this is worth watching. Ostriches are infected as well as, in one known case, Falcons. If that form causes serious illness (in a bird or in humans), and if it is spread easily, then we have a problem.

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Mississippi Fowl Turkey Minnesota 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2017

In keeping with high diversity in other aspects of the avian kingdom, including falcons and excluding owls, this small country has a raptor list that tops fifty species. In general, the best spots aren’t going to be wide open fields because those are recent, human-made habitats much more suited for cattle than forest birds.

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Costa Rica West Virginia Eagles Monkeys 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Human-created habitats like road edges, pastures, and railroad right-of-ways suit them to a tee, so it hardly seems fair to call them the locusts when we are the ones who have expanded explosively and stripped the land bare. They can carry parasites to humans. The Swainson’s Hawk is called Grasshopper Hawk for a reason.

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Montana Cooking Texas Cattle 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2014

We see a Puerto Rican Parrot flying over the heads of two humans (the authors, it turns out), their yellow and white shirts shining like beacons in a landscape of forest and olive and emerald greens and cobalt blues. Eggbert side notes that the most famous bird in New York City is not a falcon, it is a Red-tailed Hawk named Pale Male.

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Puerto Rico Parrots New York City 2013 233

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2015

I had a finder bring me a bird he’d correctly ID’d as a merlin – a not-too-common falcon – but when he brought him in, I could see he’d been trying to feed it BIRD SEED!” Human breast milk – no, don’t get me started. “Nestling songbirds fed hamburger and cat food,” wrote Sean O’Brien. wrote Louise Shimmel. “I

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Squirrels Hamburgers Chickens Wildlife Rehabilitation 250

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2012

The World Center for Birds of Prey ( The Peregrine Fund ) in Boise, Idaho, most famous for its Peregrine Falcons , also has a vital population of California condors. Condors, like all New World vultures, can disturb the human psyche. Of course, there are those things to consider.

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California Condor California Idaho North America 208

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

And, Essay #195, “Our Human Values: The Ugly,” describes the standoff between catfish loving Double-crested Cormorants and catfish farmers in the Missouri Valley. I’m not sure if “the Ugly” refers to the cormorant itself or human reaction (catfish farmers are officially allowed to shoot the birds).

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Birds North America Breeding America 115

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2013

Falcons are now known to be related to parrots; vultures to be cousins of storks. We have more California Condors , Bald Eagles , and Peregrine Falcons , but there seem to be less Spotted Owls , Burrowing Owls , Sooty Shearwaters. Whereas checklists used to start with loons, they now begin with waterfowl.

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San Diego California Condor California Bald Eagle 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2012

Also in attendance were a few Peregrine Falcons and the ubiquitous ospreys. Now that’s probably the equivalent of humans trying to eat bark to survive. A fresh westerly wind had grounded a significant biomass of birds and I felt overjoyed at the prospect of exhausted and dying birds. And we’re supposed to love birds.

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Florida Kentucky France North America 244

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2021

This is the hook that draws us into reading about and caring about migrant birds, that and the charisma of birds like Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Kirtland’s Warbler, Snowy Owl, and Amur Falcon. This is big, global-level stuff with amazing findings but worrisome data.

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Cyprus Slaughter Slaughtered Research 251