Remove Eggs Remove Europe Remove Raised
article thumbnail

Avian squatters at the end of Europe

10,000 Birds

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. White-rumped Swift in flight.

Europe 299
article thumbnail

Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History from Cave Art to Conservation–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Urban Renewal: Is It Safer for Songbirds in the City?

10,000 Birds

The scientists, who studied bird populations in Europe and China , speculate that urban areas may have some appeal for passerines that rural areas otherwise lack. Birds like cuckoos, who lay their eggs in songbirds’ nests, and whose young then off the hosts’ own chicks, tend to avoid cities.

China 124
article thumbnail

Birding the Kruger Park (2): Bateleur area

10,000 Birds

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.

Ostriches 147
article thumbnail

Swift Departures 

10,000 Birds

The Common Swift , Apus apus , is the most widespread of all the world’s 114 swift species, breeding throughout much of Europe and far into Asia, and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa May is the quietest month, as the returning birds soon get down to the urgent business of breeding.

Liberia 246
article thumbnail

The Oriolest Oriole

10,000 Birds

This revelation shocked me when I first read it, but as it it turns out the troupial is not one of those next parasites and lays and leaves like North American cowbirds and cuckoos in Europe. Troupials raise their own chicks, generally 3 to 4 per clutch, they just steal the nest in which they raise them.

Baltimore 236
article thumbnail

The long and winding road

10,000 Birds

We are familiar with the story, birds flying north in the boreal summer, taking advantage of the warmth, long days, and abundant insect life, to raise their young. They also migrate to and from the High Arctic, crossing the Atlantic to Europe, but they keep going, down across the Mediterranean into Africa.

Somalia 255