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The return of the Old Man

10,000 Birds

Despite the fact that efforts are made to ensure they are not imprinted on humans, they are naturally confiding, even friendly. Shooting remains a major threat to this population, for the Italians are still passionately keen on hunting. Such an intimate encounter with one of the world’s rarest birds was a memorable experience.

Morocco 217
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“The Wise Hours” — a review

10,000 Birds

In the human psyche, owls can be cuddly signs of good luck and benificence (as they are in Japan, and Harry Potter movies) and, at the same time, eerie and unsettling. Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Barn Owls 113
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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.

2016 126
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White Storks Everywhere

10,000 Birds

So, yes, it was Spain. Specifically, rural northwestern Spain, at various points along the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route to the supposed burial place of Saint James the apostle and, before that, to the westernmost point in continental Europe, the supposed End of the Earth, the Finis Terra.

Spain 169
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Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History from Cave Art to Conservation–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

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The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving

10,000 Birds

According to some sources, when the so-called Pilgrims settled in for the First Thanksgiving Dinner with the local Native Americans, in 1620, they dined on Turkey, and this Turkey came from the Old World, from stock that was originally brought to Spain by Columbus. They may have also had hunting dogs with them as well.

Turkey 199
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Africa’s endangered species

10,000 Birds

This species prefers wetlands and its numbers have been decimated due to a combination of habitat destruction caused by human population growth and illegal removal of birds and eggs from the wild for the pet and zoo trade. Habitat destruction, hunting and disturbance are further factors affecting the population.