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Just like in people, yawning is contagious in birds

10,000 Birds

Science is fairly well established that yawning can spread like wildfire among groups of humans, as well as a few other mammals. New research suggests that the phenomenon of contagious yawning can also be seen in birds. Don’t say you weren’t warned! Click here to go directly to the study.).

New York 157
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Bird Day: A Story of 24 Hours and 24 Avian Lives–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

He is also a sculptor and a naturalist and has combined his observations with his art in past titles, notably House of Owls (2015), In the Company of Crows and Raven s (2005), and Marine Birds and Mammals of Puget Sound (1982). Mark Hauber is currently (just appointed!)

Chicago 212
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Licking Clay: the Macaws of Tambopata, Peru

10,000 Birds

Geophagy, the intentional consumption of soil by vertebrates, has long been documented in a number of bird and mammal species – including wide-spread use by humans – which consume soil to increase absorption of certain minerals not naturally occurring in the local diet. That’s right – birds eating clay. Wicked, right? Hat-tip to Stella.

Peru 255
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The Passenger Pigeon & A Message From Martha: One Pigeon, Two Book Reviews

10,000 Birds

And, Fuller should know; he has spent his career producing books about extinct birds and mammals, including the recent Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record, from his home in England. This bit of science is a nice final counterpoint to an account that has emphasized art, history, and literature.

2014 163
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A Question of Migration

10,000 Birds

To a birder, migration means that you can live in Minnesota, New York, Paris or Moscow and see exotic tropical birds such as Piranga olivacea and Icterus galbula on a regular basis without buying a plane ticket. Did birds repeatedly evolve migration because they ‘need’ to migrate more than, say, mammals?

Research 214
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Some Chinese Pheasants

10,000 Birds

While this already stretches credulity, the saying continues to state that seeing one mammal is better than seeing ten pheasants (Bella from Alpinebirding indeed confirmed that this saying exists and has not just come to me in a dream. New Jersey. Examples: California. Connecticut. North Dakota. Rhode Island. South Dakota. Washington.

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The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World – and Us: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

Prum, or at the very least heard about it The book was published last spring (the paperback version is due out in spring 2018), and articles based on book chapters were been published in The New York Times , National Geographic, and Natural History. If you haven’t read The Evolution of Beauty , I suggest you dip into it.

Ducks 101