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Sperm Whales in Kaikoura

10,000 Birds

I have raved on and on about how Kaikoura is the best place in the world to see albatrosses , but the once sleepy seaside town is not actually famous for these magnificent birds. You almost certainly won’t see a Sperm Whale out with the albatross crew, but the trip is still utterly essential as well.

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Birding and Safari-ing South Africa with the ABA

10,000 Birds

to the ongoing conservation of breeding Lesser Flamingos at Kimberley’s Kamfers Dam to the Albatross Task Force, which works with fishermen to find solutions to seabird bycatch (birds caught in fishermen’s nets). The leopards place their kill in a tree, protecting it from poaching by other predators.

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At Sea With the Marine Birds of the Raincoast: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

At Sea With the Marine Birds of the Raincoast opens with the unexpected appearance of a Laysan Albatross. We are all suckers for an albatross, at least in the United States. The author, conservation biologist Caroline Fox, is observing the albatross’s shadow to the side of the boat. Do I need to say anything more?

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Best Bird of the Year 2013

10,000 Birds

but I really feel I should nominate an albatross, if only because I love taunting Corey about them. I’ll go for the Black-browed Albatross , in celebration of the fact that conservation efforts have resulted in this species being downgraded from endangered to near threatened this year. He wrote about it in more detail here.

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Here’s the new bird family tree. It’s amazing.

10,000 Birds

clockwise from top left) Common Loon ( Gavia immer ), Emperor Penguin ( Aptenodytes forsteri ), Black-footed Albatross ( Phoebastria nigripes ), Brown Pelican ( Pelecanus occidentalis ), White Ibis ( Eudocimus albus ), Marabou Stork ( Leptoptilos crumeniferus ), Pied Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax varius ). Jarvis et al.

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Altruism, Albatrosses, and Vicious Young Men

10,000 Birds

Ka’ena Point is also a breeding ground for the Federally protected Laysan albatross, where 45 nests were being carefully monitored by the non-profit Pacific Rim Conservation. The oldest Laysan albatross was last seen raising a chick on Midway Atoll in 2016, at age 66. They are docile and devoted parents who will not leave their nests.

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Survival of the Flexible

10,000 Birds

Although the islands are a cramped home to 18 species of seabird, the dominant and most charismatic of these are the two species of albatross, the Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses. There was one young Black-footed Albatross that was apparently not planning on going quietly into the dark night, however.

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