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Castellare di Castellina: Chianti Classico (2019)

10,000 Birds

In fact, the family name Lanius derives from a Latin word for “butcher”, though the “butcherbird” was a butcher long before humans even developed the language to describe these activities. Who knows – perhaps early humans got the idea of cutting and hanging meat by watching these shrikes at work in their arboreal abbatoirs?

2019 215
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Birding the Kruger Park (2): Bateleur area

10,000 Birds

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. Another member of the stork family, the African Openbill , looks like it is could benefit from a good orthodontist. And sadly, it is listed as Endangered.

Ostriches 147
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Birding the Eshowe area, South Africa

10,000 Birds

At vulture family gatherings, it is always a bit of a bother for the organizers to cater to the needs of the Palm Nut Vulture. While it also eats dead meat and carcasses like its relatives, its favorite food is palm nuts. The name is dutch-german for hammerhead. If you are a hammerhead, does everything look like a nail to you?

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The Limpkin and the Snail

10,000 Birds

And while finding snails is not difficult for a long legged bird that is not afraid to wade into alligator-infested marshes it is difficult to extract the yummy snail meat from its protective shell. The snail was not very large but I was impressed with the size of the chunk of snail meat hiding in the recesses of the shell.

Meat 162
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What’s in a Name: Northern Goshawk

10,000 Birds

Since we’ve covered some generalities already, once a month I’ll be exploring how a species, genus, or family of birds got its name, and how those names fit in with our larger understanding of, and relationship with, birds. At the request of blog management, I’m embarking on a series of posts on the names of birds.

Falcons 259
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15 Australian Birds (Episode 1)

10,000 Birds

One of my most vivid memories of watching The Sopranos – still the best TV series ever, in my opinion – is Tony outside barbecuing, occasionally turning the different pieces of meat. The Australasian Figbird is a member of the Oriole family despite not being yellow. Female below.

Australia 183
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Nyala, Southern Africa’s Stunning Antelope

10,000 Birds

By this I mean applying the term antelope to cover all of the family Bovidae, which would include the sheep, goats and ox. One of the spiral-horned antelope (the antelopes are a huge family and much sub-divided) it resembles an intermediate between a Lesser Kudu and a Bushbuck , albeit with much longer and more attractive hair on the males.

Africa 164