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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. This was in southern Spain, near the town of Zahara de los Atunes in Cádiz Province, on the northern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. They breed in colonies, often close to human habitation.

Europe 299
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Best Birds of my First Year with 10,000 Birds

10,000 Birds

But the Kentish Plover was sheltering its young under its body, and the Little Ringed Plover was incubating an egg — right in the middle of downtown Madrid! Iberian Green Woodpecker, Madrid, Spain. Greater Flamingo, Málaga, Spain. I had to go to southern Spain to knock that one off my bucket list. I mean, come on!

Austria 223
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Seabird City Spectacular

10,000 Birds

A month later I had the chance to watch these impressive birds again, fishing off Cape Trafalgar in southern Spain. They don’t nest until they are at least four or five years old, when they finally acquire full adult plumage, with the female laying just a single egg that takes 44 days to hatch.

Puffins 245
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Royal Decree Issued in Spain Over Animal Welfare

Critter News

But some industry experts doubt Spain, a nation which has an unemployment rate above 20% and a stagnant economy, can afford to pay out €300m to farmers. Others have suggested that the amount of money allocated would only be enough to assist half the Spanish egg industry to convert.

Spain 100
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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.

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The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

One of Whittaker’s first experiments was to place other birds’ preen oil on the nests and eggs of Dark-eyed Juncos. Hoopoes do come up in the chapter on bacteria–Whittaker cites a series of “important” research studies out of Spain that she and co-investigator Kevin Theis find insightful and inspiring.

Science 264
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Summer Books for Kids (and the rest of us)

10,000 Birds

They cut down the trees the parrots used for nesting and brought black rats, who ate their eggs, and honeybees who swarmed into their nests, and by 1937 there were only about 2,000 Puerto Rican Parrots left. In a few years they could only be found in El Yunque, a tropical rain forest in northeast Puerto Rico. territory.