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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

This is the home of the Rusty-naped Pitta , admittedly one of the less glamorous of the family, particularly the subspecies found in Yunnan, but still a nice sight and still a pitta. The scientific species name of the Rusty-naped Pitta oatesi honors Eugene William Oates (1845-1911), an English civil servant in India and naturalist.

Burma 214
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Birds and People: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

It’s relatively easy to classify birds into family groups based on physical characteristics. We view them as our enemies when they eat our crops and as an extension of our family when we see them at our feeders. Remarkably, there are 59 bird families that have very little cultural significance; these are listed in Appendix III.

Birds 224
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Revenge Birding (Shanghai, early June 2022)

10,000 Birds

Barn Swallows are a bit unhappy with their image as restless aerial hunters and would like to gain a more stately and dignified profile. Of course, it is quite common for human parents to set fire to their family homes in order to keep the adult children from moving back home, but this is not an issue for drongos.

Singapore 147
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Africa’s Big Five and Little Five

10,000 Birds

Originally a hunting term, the Big Five were the most dangerous and prized targets of the great white hunters on safari. They are called Antlions due to ants being one of their main prey items and “lion” referring to hunter or destroyer. This hulking massive bovid has caught many a wanderer unawares, often with fatal consequences.

Buffalo 213
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KwaZulu-Natal

10,000 Birds

The bulk of the population (approximately 80%) belong to the Zulu tribe, but significant numbers of Xhosa and Afrikaans, as well as immigrants from India and Britain call this beautiful patch of land on Africa’s eastern seaboard their home. At 36,433 sq. Natal Francolin was discovered in what was then known as Natal Colony by Dr Andrew Smith.