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Birding the Ndumo area, South Africa

10,000 Birds

It is not particularly big but has a reported 430 bird species including migrants, though during my short stay it seems I missed most of the key attractions among them. Poor researchers Nicola Coumi and Rob Slotow failed to find anything particularly interesting about vigilance in Bronze Mannikin groups.

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The Beautiful and Colorful Mourning Dove

10,000 Birds

Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. To show how adaptive this species is, the following photograph was sent to me by one of my readers and I use it with her permission.

Hunters 173
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The Medicine Bird

10,000 Birds

However, ongoing research at Sia Essential Species Repository (see below) reveals this is not always the case, and that there are actually five phases between albino and leucistic. Leucism, however, is the result of reduced coloration of all types of skin pigments, which sometimes leads to mottled coloring and patches of white.

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Snowy Owl Ethics

10,000 Birds

He is currently a Fish and Wildlife Technician with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a Graduate Research Assistant at the Research Foundation for SUNY. Being charismatic species, Snowy Owls are the focus of the nature-loving community during the winter. Species have value.

Ethics 136
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German Birding Blitz

10,000 Birds

Europe… with such low herp diversity the locals split any sub-population of a species that occurs on either the Iberian Peninsula or Italy as a new species just to make them feel better out themselves, naturally is the continent that rose to the top of my trip list. Either that or having family friends in Germany. A quick sidetrack.

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Bird Banding the Dry Tortugas

10,000 Birds

For decades researchers have made annual trips out to the Tortugas to catch Sooty Terns, attach tiny silver bands to their legs with unique identification numbers, and then set them free again. When I say “cut,” I mean paper-cut sized wounds here. Now, I don’t want anyone in the blogging audience to be alarmed.

Birds 174
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Birding Tabin, Sabah, Borneo

10,000 Birds

Sometimes I just want to hug eBird, or more specifically, whoever writes the short species descriptions (even though I am not the typical hugging kind of person, trust me on this). There are about 50 different species of flowerpeckers globally. If these are taken off, the species looks just like Clark Kent. “Dull, me?