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Crested and Proud

10,000 Birds

In fact, crests occur in at least 20 of the 30 orders of extant birds, and in all major groups of passerines. Their main use is to display – either to communicate with other members of the species or to scare other species, as a raised crest makes the bird appear larger. Crests are made of feathers.

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Birding Yibin, Sichuan

10,000 Birds

Yibin is a typical smallish Chinese city (which in China means slightly above 850,000 people in the metro area, which would make it the fifth-biggest city in Germany but does not get it into the top 100 in China). In one group, they added a blue egg to their nests. What a weird world. Better watch them in the wild.

Italy 186
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The Collins Bird Guide, 3rd edition

10,000 Birds

The 1st edition from 1999 was a complete revolution in just about everything, but predominantly the quality and realism of illustrations, showing what a field guide could be and seriously raising the threshold for other publishers. That made everyone happy (with the possible exception of other publishers).

Europe 253
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PETA Wants Knut Castrated!

Critter News

He was raised by a trainer. PETA Germany's position is that he should be castrated so he doesn't mate with his cousin Giovanna. She's here temporarily for companionship, but the group is concerned. Tags: zoos knut Germany polar bear PETA. Check out a couple of the pictures in this story. How suggestive!

PETA 100
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Terror from the Trees

10,000 Birds

Some ill-informed American wannabe birder pretended to “ clear things up &# recently – causing concerns and chaos in the process - but thankfully rational and science-based heads in Germany prevailed and delivered the hard facts in the case. Of course, and as usual, the UK birders are late to the party and just won’t get it.

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Best Bird of the Year 2011

10,000 Birds

juvenile Parasitic Jaeger by Larry Jordan Jochen enjoyed a plover : My Best Bird of the Year is a White-tailed Lapwing I “twitched” in Germany in June. On Seymour Island, my group witnessed a very human-like interaction amongst three boobies , one female and two males.

2011 181
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The Secrets Inside Your Dog’s Mind

4 The Love Of Animals

Juliane Kaminski of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, began exploring the verbal gifts of dogs when she saw a television show about a border collie named Rico–an animal that to all appearances could fetch dozens of different objects in response to their names.

Wolves 100