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Our Favorite Bird Books (and one pair of Binoculars) of 2022

10,000 Birds

Myers, a professional birding guide in “real life,” summarizes the etymology and history of all common bird names (of bird families and groups, not all 10,000-plus species). The guide covers 265 of Maine’s 461 bird species: common nesting species, common migrants, and wintering birds.

Sri Lanka 214
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Some Hokkaido Winter Passerines

10,000 Birds

Given how far Hokkaido is from Europe, it seems a bit surprising how many bird species wintering on this Japanese island have a name starting with “Eurasian” Or how many of these species I have also seen in my parents’ garden in Germany. In science speak, this is named the optimal body mass hypothesis.

Iran 165
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Bird Butts and Other Matters

10,000 Birds

The birds were too far away to identify, and I know more than one species does this, but if I had to guess they were starlings. There is a bit of science news. If half the Warblers go extinct, that would be a lot of species but you’d still pretty much have Warbler DNA. But there were a gazillion of them. This makes sense.

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The Parable of the Goat Mites

10,000 Birds

And so, these goats ate the flora of the island: unique species of Indian paintbrush and woodland star, bushmallow and wirelettuce and morning glory. Also, they were infested by a species of ear mite unknown to science. And so, the goats grew small and nimble, shy and drought-tolerant, through natural selection.

Goats 158
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How The Bird Got Its Beak

10,000 Birds

The feature distinguishes birds from other species; All birds have them, no other species do. Beaks vary across different kinds of birds, and this great diversity in beaks is part of the great diversity of the 10,000+ species of birds that exist today; Beaks thus facilitated the diversification of birds.

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Pigeons have tiny compasses in their heads

10,000 Birds

One researcher tested British school children to see if they could find their way home by driving them blindfolded, in a bus, out into the country and asking them to point their way home. David Dickman, in the April 26th Science Express , write: Many animals rely on the Earth’s magnetic field for spatial orientation and navigation.

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Licking Clay: the Macaws of Tambopata, Peru

10,000 Birds

The field site I am assigned to is located in one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and home to a particularly rich avifauna that numbers well over 500 species. Hundreds of riotously colored birds representing 14 species of macaws and parrots flock and frolic together in less than fifty meters of forest canopy.

Peru 254