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Cypriot Delights: Part I

10,000 Birds

Cyprus Wheatears are the easiest to find of the three endemic birds that occur on Cyprus Black Francolins once bred in Portugal, Spain and Italy, all countries from which this handsome little game bird has long been lost. One September I watched a pack of seven Eleonora’s hunting a juvenile Swift.

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Quinta do Casal Branco: Lobo e Falcão Reserva (2016)

10,000 Birds

While the hunting of game with trained birds of prey can be a controversial topic among birders , falconry was a valuable early source of information on birds, and its history, culture, and imagery continue to fascinate bird lovers, as we shall see. A falconry scene from the Severa Bible, a Sephardic bible from early 14th-century Spain.

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“The Wise Hours” — a review

10,000 Birds

When it is seen that A falcon, tow’ring in her pride of place / Was by a mousing owl hawk’d at and kill’d, that is taken as a sign that the natural order has been disturbed (there, by Macbeth’s act of regicide).

Barn Owls 113
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Andalucia’s City-Slicker Falcons

10,000 Birds

If you see a flock of kestrels in southern Europe, then the chances are that they will be Lessers, for the Common Kestrel never flocks, though occasionally in summer you will see a family hunting together. However, in Southern Spain a small number of birds are resident. Last month in Andalucia I saw only males.

Falcons 211
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Birding from a Hide

10,000 Birds

And that is why the hides are where they are, not to admire the scenery (or shoot at it – hunting is prohibited in the reserve and the ban is enforced). For example, the White-headed Duck is nowadays a rarity in Europe (okay, excluding Spain, I know… that Spain …), but until some 50 years ago, it used to breed in Serbia.

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Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History from Cave Art to Conservation–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Birds and Us starts with Birkhead’s visit to Cueva del Tajo de las Figuras, located in Andalusia, Spain and the Neolithic bird paintings on its walls. He continues with images found in illuminated manuscripts such as Catherine of Cleves’s Book of Hours and Frederick II of Germany’s On the Art of Hunting With Birds.