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November 29 – I Sea You
Today’s factismal: Seabirds have a specialized gland that removes salt from their blood and pumps it out their noses. If you ever see a seabird and it looks like it has a runny nose, don’t worry that...
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December 22 – A Goose For Christmas
Today’s factismal: Scrooge bought a turkey for the Cratchit because it was more expensive than a goose. If you’ve ever read Dicken’s classic “A Christmas Carol” (or seen any of the many, many, many,...
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January 5 – Happy New Bird!
Today’s factismal: National Bird Day was first celebrated in 1894. Before we get into the meat of today’s post, please let me apologize for my absence. A slippery patch of ice led to a sprained arm...
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January 7 – It’s All Happening
Today’s factismal: The London Zoo is doing its annual animal census this week. If you stop by the London Zoo this week, you might see someone with a clipboard peering at the animals and making “one...
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February 22 – Faster Than A Speeding Pullet
Today’s Factismal: A peregrine falcon has been recorded diving toward its prey at 242 mph. What brown and white and found all over? The peregrine falcon! This predator is both the world’s fastest bird...
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April 7 – So Cool!
Today’s factismal: PenguinWatch is the world’s most popular penguin-related citizen science project. It may be late Spring up here in the Northern Hemisphere, but way down in the Southern Hemisphere,...
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April 25 – Ten For The Peng-Win!
Today’s Factismal: Today is World Penguin Day. If you are a fan of Bloom County then you know that today is opus’ favorite day of the whole year: World Penguin Day! But, as Opus could tell you,...
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June 24 – On Wings Of Eagles
Today’s Factismal: In the time since the Endangered Species list was created, 34 species have recovered – and 10 have gone extinct. It is no secret that man has had an outsize effect on the...
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September 19 – A Confusion of Terms
Today’s factismal: There are more than fifty different terms for groups of birds. If you are a typical hunter-gatherer (or mathematician), then you tend to count like this: one bird, two birds, three...
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September 27 – Bird In The Hand
Today’s factismal: Birds are born with belly buttons but they lose them as they grow older. At first blush, it seems like an odd question: “Do birds have belly buttons?” but it turns out that, as is...
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October 3 – Trump This
Today’s factismal: The trumpeter swan is the heaviest living bird native to North America and the biggest living waterfowl anywhere in the world! There is indescribable beauty in the dance of a...
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October 20 – Eye On The Sparrow Hawk
Today’s factismal: The American Kestrel is the smallest and most common raptor in North America. If you ask the typical seven year old “What is a raptor?”, they will probably tell you that it is a kind...
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November 18 – Zoo Is It?
Today’s factismal: The first modern zoo was created in 1826. Odds are that on some sunny weekend you’ve found yourself wandering the paths at your local zoo, staring at the monkeys and trying to...
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December 26 – One Geek A’Counting
Today’s factismal: There are six types of bird in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Everyone knows the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. That’s no surprise, given that it has been a perennial favorite...
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January 20 – Nice Ice Babies
Today’s Factismal: Today is Penguin Awareness Day. Today is a day of Earth-shattering importance. I do not refer to the minor affairs of politics. No! I refer to the fact that today, of all days, is...
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