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Echidna-egg laying mammal-500th post!

10,000 Birds

When I realised that this weekend would be my 500th post for this website I thought I could broaden the “birding” topic to “egg-laying” topic. In Australia we have two egg-laying mammals. Echidna use their spines as defence and roll up as tight as they can to protect themselves.

Mammals 255
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Photo Essay: Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult

10,000 Birds

My morning routine has already been simplified down to the essentials – roll out of bed and out from under the protective mosquito net, pull on dirty odorous field clothes, munch down a quick breakfast. She lays an egg every day or two until completing a clutch of anywhere from five to ten eggs.

Eggs 269
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Pied Oystercatcher eggs become chicks

10,000 Birds

One of the pairs of Pied Oystercatchers on Cable Beach have hatched their eggs this week. There had been one egg in the nest scrape on July 25th and a second egg followed. This Tuesday I was expecting the eggs to start to hatch and they did just that. Shading two eggs.

Eggs 182
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A few more Pied Oystercatchers start to breed

10,000 Birds

Sadly they were not successful with their first clutch of eggs, but are busily making nest scrapes again. We are hopeful that soon they will have laid another clutch of eggs. Since then we have had the two pairs of Pied Oystercatchers that breed between the Surf Club and Gantheaume Point lay their first clutch of eggs.

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A Pied Oystercatcher family

10,000 Birds

In theory the eggs are laid, the adults share the incubation of the eggs for 28 days and then fluffy chicks emerge. Well, basically it is a good area for putting a nest as there is ample food nearby and the dunes offer protection and good views of incoming predators. If only it was that easy!

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Northern Potoo

10,000 Birds

Besides the avian attributes of flight, feathers and laying eggs, potoos are quite possibly the most unbird-like birds in the world. Another really bizarre attribute of the potoos is their seemingly casual behavior of laying eggs on bare branches without any attempt to build nests.

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The “Rufa” Red Knot is now protected under the Endangered Species Act

10,000 Birds

For example, in the Delaware Bay, warming coastal waters can cause horseshoe crabs to lay their eggs earlier than normal; conversely, more intense and frequent coastal storms can cause late spawning. In both cases, knots, which feed on the crabs’ eggs, can miss their peak refueling opportunity.