10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia). Two years ago I screamed “UralOwlUralOwlUralOwl!!!”

Serbia 246

Serbia Owls Slovakia Croatia 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch. According to Couzens, after laying the eggs, females sometimes immediately abandon their first mate and pair up with another male. How efficient. How surprising.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2014

Sociable Lapwings breed in several areas along the Kazakhstani – Russian border and overwinter in Iraq, Sudan and northwest India. These birds even lay their eggs on piles of cow or horse dung, most likely to elevate them from the cold ground and possibly provide some heating through the process of rotting plant material.

Sudan 248

Sudan India Ukraine Camels 248

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2022

The bird “spent five months on Mindoro Island in the Philippines during the non-breeding season and migrated through Taiwan, the Chinese east coast, and the Korean peninsula” and on to the Russian Far East (indicating a certain lack of solidarity with Ukraine). This is not really an option at Nanhui though. The female.

China 184

China Birds Ukraine Israel 184

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

I have written about the interesting sex life of these jacanas a few times already (short version: female mates with male, lays a bunch of eggs for him to incubate and raise the chicks, leaves him, finds another male, repeat). Apparently, after a male first mates with a female, he throws out the first one or two eggs she lays in their nest.

China 147

China Birds Eggs Breeding 147