It's all about the birds
We are currently on a Dendrology tour of California NSE and West, The general paucity of birds is remarkable. Apart from American Crows here and there one can drive hundreds of miles, freeways and otherwise, without seeing anything avian other than an overstuffed turkey sandwich. Seabirds an exception. Sent from my iPhone > On 26 … Read more
The following quote from Scientific American… https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/silent-skies-billions-of-north-american-birds-have-vanished/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-review&utm_content=link&utm_term=2019-09-25_top-stories&spMailingID=60516237&spUserID=MjkzMjYyMzc4MjgS1&spJobID=1723346337&spReportId=MTcyMzM0NjMzNwS2 Is drawn from their report on the decline of bird numbers in the USA… One bright spot the researchers found was that wetland birds have made recoveries, driven largely by increases among waterfowl such as ducks, geese and swans. “It’s because of the strong constituency of recreational waterfowl … Read more
The ‘Wings on King’ bird survey project on King Island, Tasmania, will be undertaking the 2019 Spring surveys 7-10th November. Registrations are now open www.birdsofkingisland.com/register Associated events include dinner on Saturday evening. Speaker – Fred van Gessel who will be on the island recording the King Island bird calls including those of our two critically … Read more
Had a look at HANZAB and birds of palearctic but the results are confusing . Male Australia nominate weight 600g 670g tarsus 42.8mm 46.7mm toe 46mm 47.5mm Female weight 825g 1100g tarsus 48mm 53mm toe 52mm 53mm Do not know if this helps the argument . Australian does have relative longer toe, would that help … Read more
Of the two Australian live Peregrine nestcams, Orange seems likely to have the widest possible variety of prey, including galahs & pigeons as largest I’ve so far seen. I agree that a galah would likely provide an Australian hunting challenge in adept flight & fiesty character (indeed, the tiercel there has brought in smaller prey). … Read more