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15 Australian Birds (Episode 2)

10,000 Birds

Honeyeaters are a large bird family (190 species) with a strong presence in Australia. According to the HBW entry for this species, it “has been claimed that loss of native mammals after European settlement created shortage of nesting material, explaining this species’ penchant for taking hair from humans.”

Australia 189
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Not enough Woodpeckers

10,000 Birds

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. So, writing a post about them is easy.

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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

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15 Australian Birds (Episode 6)

10,000 Birds

” Funny how the difficulty of breeding a species can be illustrated in simple monetary terms. But that may have helped me to see them – the species is quite nomadic and settles wherever there is rain. Ok, back to the (presumably non-sacred, certainly non-mummified) Australian species. In a paper published in 1938 (!),

Birds 147
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Falconry – Bloodsport or Alternative Form of Birding?

10,000 Birds

Dirt hawking is a form of falconry that involves hunting rabbits and other small game with Harris Hawks (other hawk species also qualify). One of the primary reasons that these hawks make such excellent falconry birds is because they are one of only two raptor species (the other is the Galapagos Hawk ) that hunt cooperatively.

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Birding the Danzhou Bay area (Hainan, China) by day

10,000 Birds

While not on the scale of bird migration, it is routinely and somewhat lazily described as the biggest annual migration of humans in the world. This species seems to enjoy being in mixed flocks with the White-shouldered Starling. The Spring Festival – or Chinese New Year – is a big period for traveling in China.

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Everglades Long-Legged Birds Feed Their Young To Alligators, Everything is Good.

10,000 Birds

You know the famous novel about rabbits , wherein among other things the traveling bunnies find themselves in a warren where everyone is well fed and happy, and that’s a problem. The humans tended to keep away a range of predators that might take the pups as a form of interference competition.