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Wagbachniederung in Late Spring

10,000 Birds

Black-headed Gulls were also breeding in the wetlands in large numbers, becoming very agitated when a Western Marsh-Harrier quartered low over the reeds. I initially wrote “second” instead, having seen a Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler in Sri Lanka, but then realized it’s not a Locustella.

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Birding Ruili, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

For example, one paper states that in Sri Lanka’s cloud forest, only about 3% of all trees have suitable cavities. The female sometimes rejects this fruit, turning her back and defecating in the direction of the male” A more detailed (and slightly less disgusting) description of the mating behavior can be found here.

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Birding Sepilok, Borneo (Part 2)

10,000 Birds

In the non-breeding season, male Baya Weavers sometimes enter the basket-making trade, often with considerable success. Meanwhile, the females seem to have a much more relaxing life, at least in this early stage of the breeding season. You can see why here.

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Where Tulips Come From (It Ain’t Holland)

10,000 Birds

When he returned to Portugal in disgrace after usurping his position from the rightful governor, Sampayo supposedly took tulip bulbs with him from Sri Lanka. This tale too, however, does not hold up to scrutiny because tulips do not occur in Sri Lanka and the island itself is far from the route Sampayo’s ships should have taken.

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15 expat-friendly countries for a birder to move to

10,000 Birds

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. Sri Lanka (375 / 436). It makes me think what is the meaning of life, the universe and everything? Why am I here? And where all those birds are? Map by BirdLife International. The Afrotropics.

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Bradt travel guide to Sri Lanka by Philip Briggs – review

10,000 Birds

Sri Lanka is a ‘must visit country’ for any keen birder. Still, I was thinking and re-thinking: should I write about the Sri Lanka travel guide now, when that country is in an economic tailspin and even its Prime Minister says the economy has “completely collapsed”? Where to look for the birds?

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An Unexpected Twitch

10,000 Birds

The most memorable of those moments for me was when I saw a Daurian Starling in an urban park when I lived in Sri Lanka (see my personal blog ), a rare vagrant on the island which, as I found out the following day, had been seen by others for a few days already. Plus it feels as if you twitched it even if you didn’t.

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