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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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    An Interesting Detail Regarding Feeding by Brown Pelicans

    Back when I first saw brown pelicans hunting I noted a curious aspect about their feeding process. Brown pelicans utilize several different hunting methods. On that occasion they were using their spectacular high aerial dive method. As I observed various individuals engaging in dives I was...
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    New Sea Otter Book

    This new book examines sea otter life in a manner that’s different from any of the others that I’m aware of. If you’re curious about what the daily life of a sea otter is like, this book provides an intimate picture and is worth checking out. The book is about a behavioral case study that...
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    An interesting wood duck food item

    During this seasonal period in my locale the wood ducks here eat a food item that, offhand, you might not think they would bother with. We are currently in the season here during which the cottonwood trees disperse their seeds. Those of you who live in areas which have an abundance of cottonwood...
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    Gulls in a northern elephant seal rookery

    Gulls are amazing opportunists and are great at finding ways to take advantage in various settings and circumstances (and oftentimes in some surprising ways). I saw a good example of this during the times that I observed the annual, large, seasonal northern elephant seal birth/breeding rookery...
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    Memorable Red Kangaroo Encounter

    While going over some old photos of my visit to Australia I came across two that reminded me of a unique encounter that I feel is worth sharing. My flight arrived in Melbourne and from there my first destination was Mutawintji NP. Shortly after arriving there I went for a hike in the campground...
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    Parrots in California?!

    No, this photo of a pair of Black-hooded parakeets (aka Nanday parakeet/conure—Aratinga nenday) perched in a Eucalyptus tree wasn’t taken in Brazil or Australia. Instead, it was taken in Zuma Canyon in southern California where an introduced feral population of this South American avian species...
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    An Uncommon Sighting of a Common Bird

    Today I saw something that I've never seen before: a white American coot. The coot is white, not an albino (its eyes are dark colored and it has some black patches and spots). I've seen many coots over numerous decades all across the U.S. and parts of Canada and this is the first white one that...
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    An unusual avian Christmas e-card

    While cleaning out files from my computer I came across one that I made during the period when I worked on the California condor reintroduction project that I had completely forgotten about. During the holiday season in one of those years I had been playing around on my computer and, just for...
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    A Coot Mugging

    Numerous instances of thefts by individuals within and between avian species have been observed. Here’s one that I recently observed again that isn’t as popularly known. In this instance an American wigeon was observed following and hanging close around an American coot. Its reason for doing so...
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    An Impressive Catch By A Roadrunner

    I’ve always been very impressed with the quickness, agility and hunting skills of greater roadrunners. I recently observed something that left me even more impressed with these skills. As this incident began, two black-chinned hummingbirds were foraging low in flight under the lower branches of...
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    Passenger Pigeon Story

    Given the magnitude of what was done, the human-caused extinction of the passenger pigeon stands as the single most reprehensible of our many crimes against nature. Within a period of essentially just three decades our species drove what almost certainly was the most numerous avian species ever...
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    Condor social status

    [This is a continuation of my previous posts (‘Condor portraits’ and ‘Social condors’) in which I am sharing photos and information relating to the first group of California condors to be released at the Pinnacles National Monument condor reintroduction site.] Condors are very social birds...
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    An intriguing raven population; anyone seen this beak feature?

    [This will require some background info. and descriptions so it’ll be a bit long.] As a biologist working for the National Park Service I spent 4 years observing and monitoring the endangered island fox population on San Miguel Island (SMI)--this is one of the 5 islands of Channel Islands NP...
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    Social condors

    [This is a continuation of my previous posts (Condor portraits) in which I am sharing photos relating to the first group of California condors to be released at the Pinnacles National Monument condor reintroduction site.] While individual California condors do spend time ranging alone, they are...
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    Condor portraits (Part 2)

    (Continued from "Condor portraits (Part 1)") Here are the portraits of the other 3 condors involved in the first release at the Pinnacles NM reintroduction site. Note the varying position of the ruff on the birds among the various portraits. The condors will vary the position of the ruff...
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    Condor portraits (Part 1)

    I was a part of the team that conducted the first release of California condors at the Pinnacles National Monument Cal. condor reintroduction site in central California. I have lots of photos from that initial phase of the project. At some point in the future such photos will be of some...
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    A crafty theft!

    Just before beginning a case study on a sea otter mother and her pup I witnessed the incident pictured in the attached photo in which a wily western gull stole a piece of crab right out of the paws of the as yet still pregnant mother to be. This was a crafty bit of thievery as this female was a...
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    New book about chick rearing by the pied-billed grebe

    Life and Loss Among the Reeds: A Tale of Two Pied-Billed Grebe Families, by Andrew Abate. If you’re looking for something other than a bird ID book, something that transports you into the daily lives of individual birds then you might consider checking out this book. It’s a unique and original...
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