This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
The Cuckoo Cuculus canorus has a bad reputation because of its habit of laying its eggs on the nests of other birds, who then raise their young. But in south-west Europe there is a bird that kicks out the sitting tenants and takes over the nest altogether. Curiously, they also breed in Iberia today. White-rumped Swift in flight.
Perhaps the most curious thing about the Great Spotted Cuckoo is its distribution, for it is both a non-breeding Palearctic migrant to Africa, and a trans-Africa migrant. According to The Birds of Africa Volume III , “In much of the tropics present throughout the year, with breeding and non-breeding birds usually indistinguishable”.
Here in the British Isles we are lucky enough to have some of the largest and most important seabird colonies in Europe. Preparing for the perfect landing Brakes on, landing gear down The Gannets are present at Bempton from the end of February through to October, for their breeding season is an exceptionally long one.
Lake Kerkini National Park in the north of Greece is the very best birding area in the Balkan Peninsula and definitely among the top ten hotspots of Europe. However, during a storm the chains that kept it anchored broke off and the raft is now stranded on the shore, accessible to stray dogs and not used for breeding.
Image by Adam Riley Of the 115 African species now listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered, nearly half occur on the islands surrounding Africa or are non-breeding migrants to Africa. This strange but beautifully plumaged bird was widely known throughout Europe as the Waldrapp (meaning “Forest Crow”).
Either that, or I see them in spring with hordes of other shorebirds feeding on the eggs of Horseshoe Crabs. In Europe the Ruddy Turnstone is known simply as Turnstone because it is the only turnstone they have, while in the United States you can occasionally find old-timers who call them Calico Birds for obvious reasons.
July, as all northern hemisphere birders appreciate, is the month when the egg timer flips and everything starts pouring back out again in a steady stream south. One of Britain’s recent colonisers the Mediterranean Gull begins to arrive in bigger numbers every year as post-breeding dispersal takes hold.
The length of each bird species account varies, depending on whether the bird is native or a “visitor” (the book’s term for migrant) or vagrant, breeding or non breeding. They breed in dense colonies, incubate their single egg on the feet, and take more than a year to fledge a chick.
Around this time of the year, the first few waders are back in Shanghai from their breeding grounds far further up north. Generally, being back here early is not a very good sign – it may indicate a failed breeding attempt, as suggested for Asian Dowitchers in a paper on their presence in Lianyungang somewhat further north of Shanghai.
Habitat destruction combined with hunting has pushed them away from their former breeding grounds. In breeding season grazing cattle may walk through the nest, breaking the eggs, while wild and domestic pigs may eat both eggs and chicks. Bustards are being counted in February because their breeding season starts in March.
She has lived in the Middle East and the United States and traveled extensively in Europe. She also monitors Pied Oystercatchers breeding along a 23km stretch of beach by bicycle and on foot. These do lay eggs on land and are (reasonably) mobile once they hit the beach. It seems like there is great diversity in this continent.
8) that could not possibly happen in Europe. I understand why he writes this; the speed at which billions of Passenger Pigeons disappeared is scary, far slower than the whittling down of bird numbers in Europe over centuries. How many eggs did a pigeon lay? Or the destruction of the forests, food source and breeding grounds.
All of these are reasonably common breeding species, yet, while Great Crested Grebes and Mallards do nest at the dam, only Grey Herons are known to nest some 15 miles from here. The biggest surprise are two Whiskered Terns, common lowland breeding birds that require ponds to lay their eggs on floating leaves of waterlilies.
Horned Larks breed widely over North America, including up here in the High Arctic. Here they are a common breeding bird, one of our two species that migrate from here to Europe and then south. At the same time (and sometime the same location) we have Semipalmated Plovers breeding, which makes identification a challenge.
Griffon Vultures have a long breeding season. The chicks need six months to develop so the adults lay their eggs in January. Isn’t it a bit late to breed? Why bother with such a risky journey if you aren’t going to breed? These are African, sub-Saharan, vultures that were unknown in Europe until recent times.
However, it’s not until the end of the first week of May that the majority of the breeding birds return to our village. The first eggs are usually laid at the end of May or sometimes in the first week of June, but this can vary depending on the weather. Both sexes incubate, with the eggs taking an average of 19 or 20 days to hatch.
There are sections, ranging in length from a paragraph to two pages, on taxonomy, bird names, habitat, ranges, migration, courtship and breeding, flight, bird intelligence, bird communication; identification; finding birds, life lists; optics and photography; ethics; bird feeding; and conservation. These are all informative and current.
The European Breeding Bird Atlas 2 makes interesting reading. Originally confined to the Arctic, breeding [of Barnacle Geese] is now confirmed throughout much of the Baltic coast S North Sea. A pair did lay infertile eggs in Iceland in 2018, but that’s about the only record I can find).
They may eat other insects if they have to, but all they really want are ants and Gorman lists 24 species of ant that are part of their diet in Europe, any life stage will do. Gorman also leads bird tours in central and Eastern Europe and posts photos and updates on his work on his own website and, as I said before, Facebook. .”
The compactness of both books (Dragonflies is 208-pages and Butterflies is 224-pages long) of course stems from the small number of each type of insect in Great Britain and Ireland; comparative field guides for Europe and Great Britain are necessarily longer and heavier. I’m going to look at Britain’s Dragonflies first.
It didn’t occur to me till I started reading The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird that there was also a possible threat to the eagle herself: poachers, who steal raptor eggs and chicks. McWilliam realizes he’s dealing someone special, a career falcon egg-thief.
home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Beautiful Blue Backyard Bird Beautiful Blue Backyard Bird By Jochen • March 10, 2011 • 9 comments Tweet Share There is a lot of whining associated with colours and Europe’s birds.
There is a total of 235 different bird species in Greenland, most of them are migratory birds with approximately 60 species breeding within the land. Some of the most common breeding birds are White-tailed Eagles , Northern Fulmars , Black Guillemots , Common Eiders , Rock Ptarmigans , and Arctic Terns. Source: Shutterstock ).
This species has suffered rapid population reductions across most of its range owing to the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat and land-use changes in eastern Europe, says IUCN’s Red List. In the last year, a broken bustard eggshell was found, but since no displaying was observed, those could have been unfertilized eggs.
Europe has one species (Eurasian Spoonbill), the Americas have one (Roseate Spoonbill), Australia two (Royal and Yellow-billed Spoonbill), and Asia has two as well (Eurasian and Black-faced Spoonbill). Studies on improving ostrich egg hatchability. Also, I learned that in the US , ostrich eggs are priced at $40-$75.
Both Harris and his co-author, Wanless, study their puffins on the Isle of May off Scotland, and as a result the bulk of the book is centered on Britain specifically, and Europe more generally.
Gorman, a Brit who now resides in Central Europe, is a naturalist and tour leader who specializes in Eastern Europe and woodpeckers. He has authored Woodpeckers of Europe (2004), Birding in Eastern Europe (2006), a monograph on The Black Woodpecker (2011), and numerous popular and scholarly articles.
What the Owl Knows is organized into nine chapters: introduction, adaptation (including vision and flight), research and researchers, vocalization, courtship and breeding, roosting and migration, cognition, and two chapters on owls and humans–captive owls (not zoos, educational owls) and owls in our cultural history.
According to Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills of the World , a handsome volume written by James Hancock, James Kushan and Philip Kohl and published by Academic Press in 1992, Geronticus eremita “once nested in the mountains of central Europe, across northern Africa and into the Middle East. But this range is now much reduced.
I don’t know how many Gray Partridges there are in America, but here in Britain (and Europe, too) we wouldn’t mind if some were sent back to their home countries, as this delightful little game bird has declined catastrophically throughout much of its range during the last 50 years. I guessed that his mate was close by, incubating her eggs.
B95 and his Calidris canutus rufa kin may travel back and forth from South America to the Arctic, but another subspecies of Red Knot , Calidris canutus islandica , makes the journey up here from Great Britain and other parts of Europe. Anywhere from 3-8 very pale blue eggs are laid, incubated by both parents.
There had been works on falconry before Frederick’s time: treatises on falconry date back to the 10 th century in Europe, and King Harold of England (of Battle of Hastings fame) reputedly owned the largest collection of volumes devoted to the subject in all of Europe.
The guide, one of the last offerings in the Peterson Field Guide series from publisher HMH, shows photos of nests of most North American species and describes nest structure, location, how the bird makes the nest, number of eggs, and what the eggs look like. Donna). ==. Tristan). ==.
.” It is a relief to eventually reach the chapter on The Life of Waterfowl, written in a much more conversational style and unashamedly fascinated with waterfowl’s unique breeding behaviors. Barker and Carrol L. Harrison, 2005, PUP).
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 30+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content