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A Few Jordanian Birds

10,000 Birds

My wife and I had the privilege of visiting Mexican friends in Jordan in early October. Even upon our departure from Jordan, I was informed that my ever-so-dangerous binoculars could not go in my carry-on bag. However, Bethany-on-the-Jordan, the site of Jesus’ baptism, was my first shot at some real habitat.

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A Bit of Birding on Lake Chapala

10,000 Birds

First, we had our five-week trip to Spain, Turkey and Jordan in September and October. Then we threw together a semi-planned family-related trip to the States in early December. There were Yellow Warblers , a species I always seem to see among willows in lakeside parks. I assured him then, and assure you now, that I am fine.

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How Many Hummers?

10,000 Birds

In the end, it gave me 44 lifers: 10 from Turkey and 8 from Jordan, which I had not visited before, and 26 from Spain, which I had visited previously, but in which we spent much more time. Among these, one must certainly include the New World-only hummingbird family. Most reach peak bloom as the rains end, in September or October.

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I and the Bird: What is a Swallow?

10,000 Birds

Many species build nests of sticks or mud or spit on human-made structures , or in houses we’ve constructed specifically for their use. Taxonomically, swallows are one of the few families of birds that has seen little change in its ranks. The family is global in its distribution, with 83 species of around 19 genera.

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A Most Unexpected Encounter

10,000 Birds

Some of this tourism occurred because we were supposed to visit Jordan, but recent geopolitical events have made Americans rather unwelcome in that corner of the world. Fortunately, two species of Mergansers sometimes stray to Cuba, and so my friend suggested, correctly, that ours was a female Hooded Merganser. But which one?

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I and the Bird: What is a Grebe?

10,000 Birds

And now we enter into a family of birds more or less unknown to non-birders. And truth told, over the years they’ve been something of a square peg for ornithologists too, not fitting precisely into any of the known families of birds. I would never have believed it, but if the science says so who am I to argue otherwise?

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I and the Bird: What is a Wren?

10,000 Birds

That family name Troglodytidae has now come to mean a barbarian, but way back when it just meant “cave-dweller” This is another reference to their more or less reclusive nature and tendency for the birds to forage in dark places and crevices. But for those of us in the Americas, the cup runs over with species of Troglodytes.

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