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Human elements

10,000 Birds

There is an association of wildlife photographers down here, much maligned among my Mexican birder friends for a variety of reasons, which has proposed a rule that governs which photos they will accept: No wildlife photography should contain any human elements. Is a human element still disallowed if it is the road on which a Roadrunner runs?

Humane 196
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Arivaca Lake- The last stop before Mexico

10,000 Birds

For most avian migrants heading south towards Mexico, Central and South America, crossing thru the Arizona desert areas can provide very few water, food and resting areas. If they are passing thru Pima County, and the Tucson area, Arivaca Lake is the last stop for water before crossing the US/Mexico border.

Mexico 131
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Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in La Paz, Mexico

10,000 Birds

I am sure there are many reasons why these nasty pools of varying degrees of “black” water seem to be magnets for a large number of species. The lack of human visitors that frequent the area, is likely to be one as well. The amount of insects that are prevalent is, I am sure, a huge one.

Ducks 113
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A World Turned Upside Down

10,000 Birds

I understand there are still people out there who deny human-induced climate change. And now, in my long-term home of Michoacán, Mexico, we have experienced a one-year drought unlike anything I have seen in my 30 years here. There were plenty of other birds in the area, with 72 species around the reservoir for the day.

Ducks 130
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Clapper and King rails may represent four or five species

10,000 Birds

King Rails occur widely in eastern North America, in eastern and central Mexico, and in Cuba. miles) and appears to depend on the presence of brackish marsh; where saltmarsh and freshwater marsh were immediately adjacent due to human manipulations, he found that birds did not interbreed. These birds are all relatively brightly colored.

Species 215
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Ten Birds That Changed the World — a review

10,000 Birds

You might think that birds don’t change the world, birds are the world – but by his odd title, Ten Birds That Changed the World, author Stephen Moss means, he says, that birds have, in various ways, led to “paradigm shifts” in human history. They were barely mentioned in The Voyage of the Beagle and not at all in On the Origin of Species.

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Birds of Belize & Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide Review Doubleheader

10,000 Birds

It’s not clear how many of the plates have been touched up, redrawn or are new, and I hope we’ll learn more about the process, perhaps when the third book in the series by Howell and Dyer, a new guide to the birds of Mexico, is published.* Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Not every bird.