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Weird Geese

10,000 Birds

I first noticed it 3 seasons ago when it showed up in a local farmer’s sheep field. I assumed it to be some kind of domestic breed or an escapee and didn’t pay it much attention. Despite being alone, it appeared to associate with the sheep in much the same way that it might with a flock of its own kind.

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Nyala, Southern Africa’s Stunning Antelope

10,000 Birds

By this I mean applying the term antelope to cover all of the family Bovidae, which would include the sheep, goats and ox. The crest on the back becomes erect during breeding displays. But it is in Africa that the group reaches its most diverse, from the enormous Eland to the diminutive Suni, and a whole range of body types in between.

Africa 225
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Birding the Pannonian Sea Sands

10,000 Birds

July is that boring period after the breeding and prior to migration season. These are overgrown in steppe grasses and local sheep herders are subsidised by the authorities to bring their animals here to keep the grass short, prevent succession by bushes and manage the habitat for vulnerable Sousliks , or European ground squirrels.

Sheep 182
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Emerging birding destinations: Serbia

10,000 Birds

Depending on your particular interest, opt for March/April (spring migration), May/June (breeding season), August to October (autumn migration), or November/December when waterbird migration reaches its peak. So far Serbia has 326 eBirded species or 90% of the 362 birds in its official checklist. Top-5 hotspots. Deliblato Sands Reserve.

Serbia 317
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A Pennine Challenge 

10,000 Birds

Meadow Pipits are abundant breeding birds on the moors Romaldkirk produced most of the village birds we could expect: there were House Martins and Swifts, Chaffinches and House Sparrows, plus Jackdaws on the church (which dates from Saxon times, more than a thousand years ago).

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Birding Balangshan, Sichuan, China (part 3)

10,000 Birds

Wikipedia has a paragraph on their interesting mating system : “Home ranges are occupied by breeding groups of 3 or 4 males with 3 or 4 females. It sounds like a sheep , something even I can remember. I side with the HBW on this issue. These are unrelated birds that have a socially polygynandrous mating system.

China 260
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The National Wildlife Refuge System: Birders Leading the Way

10,000 Birds

Farallon NWR , a group of islands near San Francisco, hosts the largest colonies of breeding seabirds south of Alaska. These refuges support huge numbers of swans, geese, ducks, cranes, and shorebirds as they hopscotch their way to breeding grounds in the north. These protected areas are not merely convenient, they are essential.

Wildlife 190