Animals news

• Country diary: Hooray for the hard, frozen ground – life on Earth depends on it | Ed Douglas

  13-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Blacka Moor, South Yorkshire: The very cold daytime temperatures should be welcomed, and the reason is right beneath our feetAt the edge of the moor, there’s a knot of birch that over the years has become familiar to me – not for the trees themselves, but for the earth that nourishes them. Here the ground turns to a peaty gloop and the path braids as walkers explore different ways to keep their boots out of the mud. Not today, though. Today the grou
  
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• He invented mini saunas for frogs – now this biologist has big plans to save hundreds of species

  13-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  A deadly fungus has already wiped out 90 species and threatens 500 more but Anthony Waddle is hoping gene replacement could be their salvationStanding ankle-deep in water between two bare cottonwood trees on a hot spring day, eight-year-old Anthony Waddle was in his element. His attention was entirely absorbed by the attempt to net tadpoles swimming in a reservoir in the vast Mojave desert.It was “one of the perfect moments in my childhood”, he says. Continue reading...
  
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• Berry nice to meet you: bumper fruit crop could lead to huge mating season for NZ’s endangered kākāpō

  13-01-2026 05:21 via theguardian.com
  After a four-year wait, the abundant fruiting of the rimu tree could inspire the world’s heaviest parrots to boost their population It has been four long years, but the world’s heaviest parrots, the kākāpō, are finally about to get it on again. The mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree has triggered breeding season – a rare event conservationists hope will lead to a record number of chicks for the critically endangered bird.Kākāpō, the world&r
  
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• The friendship secret: why socialising could help you live longer

  12-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Neuroscientist Ben Rein is on a mission to show that being around others not only feels good, but can even improve recovery from strokes, cancer and heart attacks. So why are so many of us isolated and glued to our phones?‘I hate it.” I’ve asked the neuroscientist Ben Rein how he feels about the online sea of junk neuroscience we swim in – the “dopamine fasts”, “serotonin boosts” and people “regulating” their “nervous system&rdquo
  
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• She spent 366 days searching for her cats after losing them in the LA fires: ‘I promised my babies’

  11-01-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  After her Altadena home burned down, Darlene Hamilton wondered whether her cats Merlyn and Kiki had escaped. A year later, she hasn’t given up hopeMost nights for the last year, Darlene Hamilton slept four hours and woke at about 4.30am. She wanted to sleep, but she could not.Instead the 66-year-old started the day at her Altadena rental home in morning darkness with a familiar routine, scouring through websites of local humane societies and lost animal groups in search of two familiar lit
  
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• I tried to make my dog go viral on social media – it taught me more than I expected

  10-01-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Making a star of Murphy the labrador seemed like a harmless and plausible quest. But I hadn’t reckoned with all kinds of costsRead more summer essentialsEddie sits at a cafe dressed in a turtleneck and blue beret. “On a scale of 10-10, rate how good I look,” the caption to his post reads.The socialite’s page is full of candid content: enjoying a doughnut at a popular Melbourne brunch spot, relaxing in a chic robe and celebrating a paid “staycation” at the Hyat
  
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• St Louis residents report monkeys roaming on city streets

  10-01-2026 18:42 via theguardian.com
  St Louis zoo identified the stray simians as vervet monkeys, but it’s not known where they came fromSome residents in St Louis, Missouri, spotted monkeys roaming their streets this week in a situation that feels like the movie Jumanji come to life.A handful of monkeys were spotted in north St Louis by residents on Friday. Continue reading...
  
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• Bye bye, bear: beast living ‘rent-free’ under California home has been removed

  09-01-2026 22:31 via theguardian.com
  The 550lb black bear was drawn out with paintball guns after it had resided under the home for more than a monthGetting rid of an unwanted houseguest can be difficult, but seldom does it involve a paintball gun and an electrified mat. A 550lb black bear that took residence under a southern California home for more than a month has been removed, KTLA has reported.Altadena resident Ken Johnson first noticed the bear was living in the crawl space below his home in late November. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Boom, he’s out’: bear living ‘rent-free’ under California home has been removed

  09-01-2026 22:31 via theguardian.com
  The 550lb black bear was drawn out with paintball guns after it had resided under the home for more than a monthGetting rid of an unwanted houseguest can be difficult, but seldom does it involve a paintball gun and an electrified mat. A 550lb black bear that took residence under a southern California home for more than a month has been removed, KTLA has reported.Altadena resident Ken Johnson first noticed the bear was living in the crawl space below his home in late November. Continue reading...
  
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• Snaking around the parakeet problem | Letters

  09-01-2026 17:48 via theguardian.com
  Stephen Pound on using rubber serpents to deal with greedy, ring-necked parakeets. Plus letters from Dr Andrew Bodey and Nigel WalkerThe curse of the ring-necked parakeets so vividly described in your report certainly struck a chord with me and, no doubt, with many more Londoners (Rapid expansion of ring-necked parakeets in UK sparks concern, 2 January). Whether the green beasts escaped from the set of the African Queen or from Jimi Hendrix’s garden matters not to me but I did object most
  
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• Week in wildlife: rare gorilla twins, racing camels and a psychedelic spider

  09-01-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: Mermaid’s purses bring riches to the beach | Tom Allan

  09-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  North Sands, Salcombe, Devon: They’re my daughter’s favourite find, and I’ve never seen such a concentration. These ones have only just hatchedIt’s two hours to high tide, and the beach has been reduced to a half moon of smooth sand. The sea is grey, grey-blue and green, and even here in the estuary it’s lined with ragged swell. Winter swimmers in trunks and swimming costumes are wading in, hunching their bare shoulders.Without much sand to run on, my four-year
  
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• ‘Gifted learner dogs’ can learn words by eavesdropping, study says

  08-01-2026 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Certain canines can learn using cues from people’s gaze, gestures, attention and voices, researchers findWhether it is a piece of food or a four-letter expletive, words can be learned by young children overhearing adults – but now researchers have found certain dogs can do something similar.Scientists have discovered canines with the unusual ability to learn the names of myriad objects can pick up such labels by eavesdropping on conversations. Continue reading...
  
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• On the lamb: 50 sheep break away from flock and storm German supermarket

  08-01-2026 18:37 via theguardian.com
  Woolly incursion occurred during seasonal migration of animals in the Bavarian municipality of BurgsinnAbout 50 wayward sheep have broken off from their flock and stormed a discount supermarket in German town, startling and delighting customers as they rushed to explore the aisles before being escorted from the premises.The woolly incursion occurred on Monday during a routine seasonal migration of the farm animals in the Bavarian municipality of Burgsinn. A few dozen of the sheep had other ideas
  
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• In Queensland tens of thousands of cattle die of thirst and hunger encircled by fresh water and grass

  08-01-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘It sounds completely absurd,’ one grazier says. ‘But they are actually perishing because they are not drinking’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastStranded upon sodden islands that dot the submerged plains of outback north-west Queensland, encircled by fresh water and with grass growing before their eyes, tens of thousands of cattle are dying of thirst and hunger.“It sounds completely absurd,” grazier Angus Propsting says. “But th
  
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• Supermarkets could help UK shoppers eat more sustainable local fish – study

  08-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Shift from ‘big 5’ imports to British fish such as sprats and sardines would help diets and the planet, say researchersSupermarkets could help to support British consumers to move away from their reliance on mainly imported seafood – the “big 5” of cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns – to more sustainable, nutritious and locally caught fish such as sardines and anchovies, researchers say.A study by the University of East Anglia (UEA), which confirmed previou
  
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• Country diary: Everything is frozen, but still the finches come | Amanda Thomson

  08-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Abernethy Forest, Cairngorms: Thanks to a local collaborative effort, linnets, bramblings, green and goldfinches are coming to this field in joyful flocksIt’s -6C and I’m off to what has been a regular haunt recently – a field planted by a small, community-run charity, Speyside Fields for Wildlife, which works with local farmers, crofters and others to take over “spare” fields and land for wildlife-friendly crops.Some sites are planted with annuals such as corn
  
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• Are crabs animals and should we experiment on monkeys? Major review of Australia’s research code to mull tough questions

  06-01-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Ending use of animals in teaching and limiting surgery in research settings to veterinarians among suggested changesSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereAnimal sentience, categorising crustaceans as animals, and rehoming lab animals are all on the table as the Australian code for animal research is scrutinised for the first time in a decade.More than 845,000 animals – including mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits and primates – are
  
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• ‘Mad fishing’: the super-size fleet of squid catchers plundering the high seas

  06-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Every year a Chinese-dominated flotilla big enough to be seen from space pillages the rich marine life on Mile 201, a largely ungoverned part of the South Atlantic off ArgentinaIn a monitoring room in Buenos Aires, a dozen members of the Argentinian coast guard watch giant industrial-fishing ships moving in real time across a set of screens. “Every year, for five or six months, the foreign fleet comes from across the Indian Ocean, from Asian countries, and from the North Atlantic,” s
  
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• A passion for pigeons – why we love a Columba | Letters

  05-01-2026 18:54 via theguardian.com
  Ross McQueen and Teresa Rodrigues share their admiration for birds in the much-maligned genus ColumbaI can only agree with Toussaint Douglass that we should do more pigeon-watching (The hill I will die on: Pigeons are working-class heroes and deserve some respect, 29 December). Ever since Covid, I have been entertained by the pair of wood pigeons that make their home on the windowsill of my flat.During lockdown, when the outside world was scary and remote, these wood pigeons cheerfully slapped t
  
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• How demand for elite falcons in the Middle East is driving illegal trade of British birds

  05-01-2026 09:51 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: data reveals hundreds of UK nests have been raided in the past decade amid growing appetite to own prized birds for racing and breedingIn the echoing exhibition halls of Abu Dhabi’s International Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition, hundreds of falcons sit on perches under bright lights. Decorated hoods fit snugly over their heads, blocking their vision to keep them calm.In a small glass room marked Elite Falcons Hall, four young birds belonging to an undisclosed Emirati sheikh ar
  
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• Aliens: the spread of invasive plants and animals across Europe – in pictures

  04-01-2026 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Erik Irmer has been documenting the spread of invasive plant and animal species that disrupt native ecology across Europe. He focuses on humans’ interactions with these plants and animals. Aliens is published by Fotohof Continue reading...
  
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• Jason White on plastic pollution in the food chain – cartoon

  03-01-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
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• Country diary: A wave of relief on the farm with the inheritance tax change | Andrea Meanwell

  03-01-2026 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Tebay, Cumbria: Small farms like ours contribute to society, but we need help to survive. A huge cloud has lifted over our futureJust before Christmas I attended a farmers’ conference near Penrith, which included a presentation on the inheritance tax rules for agricultural land. An accountant worked through an example of a typical hill farm like ours: the bill worked out as £59,000 every year for 10 years.Between the farm and our off‑farm jobs, we can’t generate
  
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• We can still rely on the kindness of strangers | Letters

  02-01-2026 17:26 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to an article by Martin Kettle about a lost wallet and restored faith in human natureI can readily confirm Martin Kettle’s points (Need cheering up after a terrible year? I may have just the story you’re looking for, 28 December). I tripped up while last-minute Christmas shopping in Nailsworth on Christmas Eve; couldn’t move, very painful. The passersby and staff from a nearby shop were helpful and sympathetic. They must have been busy, but they freely gave me t
  
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• True signs of feline feelings | Brief letters

  02-01-2026 17:18 via theguardian.com
  Dogs v cats | French potatoes | Suffolk rocks | Copper cables | A jab at M&S | Easter eggs – alreadyOn the A64 between York and Leeds, there used to be a large sign (Letters, 1 January) near its rehoming centre reading: “Dogs Trust”. Underneath, someone added: “Cats don’t”.
  Lindsay Walter
  York• Seen on a farm gate here in Norfolk: “Potatoes” – to which had been added “Twinned with Pommes de Terre”.
  Pau
  
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• A ban on trail hunting makes little sense | Letters

  02-01-2026 17:18 via theguardian.com
  Stopping trail hunts because some break the law is as logical as closing supermarkets because people shoplift, writes Lindsay Gilmour. Plus a letter from Roderick WhiteIf the government is going to stop all trail hunts because some break the law (Labour ‘alienating rural people’ with plan to ban trail hunting, says Countryside Alliance, 26 December), can we also expect a ban on supermarkets because some people shoplift, a ban on cars because some drivers break the speed limit, or a b
  
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• Colorado authorities suspect mountain lion attack after woman found dead near trail

  02-01-2026 15:03 via theguardian.com
  Other hikers had reported seeing the animal near the body and scared it away ‘by throwing rocks’ at itAuthorities in Colorado are investigating a suspected fatal mountain lion attack after a woman was found dead on a hiking trail in Colorado on Thursday.In a news release on Thursday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said that hikers reported seeing a mountain lion near a person lying on the ground on the Crosier Mountain trail in unincorporated Larimer county at around 12.15pm local
  
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• Rapid expansion of ring-necked parakeets in UK sparks concern

  02-01-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Bird organisations say more research on the species needed to control impact on other wildlifeIn the past 20 years, the soundscape in the ancient wild, rolling landscape of Richmond Park has been transformed. Once you would have heard the chirrup of the stonechat, the chirp of the greater spotted woodpecker or the song of the skylark. Today, the auditory power of one bird dominates.The bright green ring-necked parakeet increased 25-fold from 1994-2023 in the UK. They are still mainly based in th
  
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• ‘A place of darkness and light’: the uninhabited Japanese island that became a rabbit paradise

  02-01-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Once host to a poisonous gas research facility, Okunoshima is now an Instagram-friendly tourist destinationThe bunny-ear designs on the window aside, there is little to indicate that the ferry has arrived on an island teeming with rabbits. Then, moments after the passengers disembark, there is activity in the undergrowth. A single rabbit scampers out, wholly untroubled by its two-legged visitors. And then another.A short walk along the coast takes visitors deep into rabbit territory on Okunoshim
  
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• What makes an elephant abandon her calf – and is it a growing problem?

  02-01-2026 12:00 via theguardian.com
  A helpless baby elephant has won the Thai public’s sympathy but her case has shed light on the pressures facing herds across AsiaKhao Tom, a two-month-old elephant, plays with a wildlife officer, nudging his face and curling her trunk around his wrist. When she lifts her trunk in the air, signalling that she is hungry, the team at the rescue centre seems relieved – she has not been eating well. A vet prepares a pint-sized bottle of formula, which she gulps down impatiently.Khao Tom h
  
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• Week in wildlife: a hide-and-seek squirrel and an otter in a Christmas tree

  02-01-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I need to help’: Barnsley woman’s rabies death inspires dog-vaccinating mission

  02-01-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Robyn Thomson immunised thousands of animals in Cambodia after shocking death of her mother this summerIt was just a scratch. Among all the feelings and thoughts that she has had to wrestle with since the summer, disbelief is the emotion that Robyn Thomson still struggles with the most. “You never think it would happen to you,” said Robyn. “You don’t really think it happens to anyone.”Robyn’s mother, Yvonne Ford, had shown no signs of illness in the months aft
  
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• ‘It’s a matter of time before a farmer is seriously injured’: on the trail of hare coursers in Wiltshire

  01-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Police show the Guardian around hotspots for a rural crime that has links to international gangs – and is on the riseA cold, bright afternoon in the Vale of Pewsey and a couple of brown hares were nibbling away in a field of winter barley. It was a tranquil scene in this tucked-away corner of the English West Country but tyre tracks cutting through the crop were a sign of the violence that takes place when night falls.This is one of the hotspots in Wiltshire for hare coursing, in which cri
  
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• ‘Heartbreaking’: Florida wildlife groups decry state-sanctioned bear hunt

  31-12-2025 17:26 via theguardian.com
  Fifty-two black bears were killed in three-week hunt state officials said was necessary to reduce ursine populationWildlife officials in Florida say the slaughter of dozens of black bears during a controversial three-week hunt this month was a success, despite the opposition of protesters who condemned the “heartbreaking, bloody spectacle”.The Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) on Tuesday announced that 52 bears were killed between 6 and 28 December, and promised
  
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• How the climate crisis showed up in Americans’ lives this year: ‘The shift has been swift and stark’

  31-12-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Guardian US readers share how global heating and biodiversity loss affected their lives in ways that don’t always make the headlines The past year was another one of record-setting heat and catastrophic storms. But across the US, the climate crisis showed up in smaller, deeply personal ways too.Campfires that once defined summer trips were never lit due to wildfire risks. There were no bites where fish were once abundant, forests turned to meadows after a big burn and childhood memories of
  
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• ‘They didn’t de-extinct anything’: can Colossal’s genetically engineered animals ever be the real thing?

  31-12-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  The bioscience startup has attracted billions in investment – and a flurry of criticism, but founder tells the Guardian plans to bring back the woolly mammoth will not be derailedDeath and taxes are supposed to be the things we can depend on in this life. But in 2025, the American entrepreneur Ben Lamm sold much of the world on the idea that death did not, after all, need to be for ever.This was the year the billionaire’s genetics startup, Colossal Biosciences, claimed it had resurre
  
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• What happened next: Valerie the dachshund taught us how to survive – and thrive

  31-12-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  We could learn a lot from the pampered sausage dog who became a canine Bear Grylls. Perhaps all of us are capable of more than we might expectWho among us hasn’t yearned, at least momentarily, to cast off the trappings of our comfortable lives and live wild, unfettered and free? This year someone showed us the way: a charismatic Aussie sausage dog (I believe that’s “snag” in local vernacular). Whether you already carry Valerie the miniature dachshund’s story in your
  
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• If you really care about animals, stop eating them | Letters

  30-12-2025 18:30 via theguardian.com
  Dean Weston says we are still killing animals by the billion, but praising ourselves for marginally reducing panic and pain, while Jo Barlow calls for transparency and truth about where our food comes from. Plus a letter from Scott MillerYour editorial applauds the government for rearranging the furniture in a burning house (The Guardian view on animal welfare: a timely reminder that cruelty is wrong, 23 December). Fewer cages, gentler gas, a close season for hares. All very civilised. Yet the c
  
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• ‘I never imagined we could buy an island’: how a community saved Mexico’s Galápagos

  30-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  When developers began circling Espíritu Santo island in the 1990s, a private conservation effort saw them off. But today the Unesco site faces a new threat: mass tourismOn a clear day over the Sea of Cortez, Espíritu Santo looks untouchable. Turquoise water laps at the shores of the island’s rocky coves; whale sharks cruise past snorkellers; seabirds caw over ancient cliffs. The pristine island and its Unesco-protected surroundings – informally called “Mexico&rsqu
  
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• UK’s warmest spring on record led to rise in songbirds breeding, data shows

  30-12-2025 12:38 via theguardian.com
  Dry and warm 2025 spring gave glimmer of hope for threatened wild birds but many remain in long-term declineThe warmest and sunniest spring on record this year led to an increase in the breeding of some of Britain’s best-loved songbirds, data has shown.Scientists said the dry and warm spring had provided a glimmer of hope for threatened wild birds. In the 2025 breeding season, from May to August, there were higher than average breeding successes for 14 species including the chiffchaff, gar
  
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• Country diary: Meet Houdini, the three-legged hedgehog who’s moved in for winter | Kate Bradbury

  30-12-2025 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Hove, East Sussex: I’ve had to create a halfway house for him, between the rescue centre and the wild. Only, he’s named after an escapologist for a reasonIn the dark, a three-legged hedgehog trundles clumsily by, gathering leaves to make his bed more comfortable, although apparently not comfortable enough to hibernate. This may be his eighth winter; hedgehogs lose pigment with age and his bright pink nose suggests he’s well over five – the average age of a wild hog. Excep
  
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• Bells and whistles: how our reporter prepared for visiting bear hotspot – video

  29-12-2025 16:17 via theguardian.com
  The town of Osaki has been making the headlines as a bear hotspot as Japan reels from a year of record ursine encounters and deaths. The Guardian’s Justin McCurry visited Naruko Onsen hot springs in the north-eastern town, equipped with bells and whistles to ward off any bearsJapanese town reeling from year of record bear encounters Continue reading...
  
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• The hill I will die on: Pigeons are working-class heroes and deserve some respect | Toussaint Douglass

  29-12-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  These unfairly maligned animals were nuggets for our ancestors and served for the UK during the second world warIs there something I would figuratively die on a hill for? Yes, there is – and as it happens, I’m sitting on a literal hill right now, feeding them. Pigeons. Why pigeons? Because it’s about time they get the respect they deserve.I like pigeons. Because they’re like me, working class. You can tell pigeons are working class because every pigeon looks knackered. It
  
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• A French Youth review – bullfighters grapple with the horns of valour and acceptance

  29-12-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Jérémie Battaglia’s captivating documentary follows two north African raseteurs battling bulls and systemic racism in southern FranceIn southern France, the ancient and controversial tradition of Camargue bullfighting remains to this day. In contrast to more lethal forms of the sport, participants – or raseteurs – win points by snatching various ribbons attached to the bulls, each of which comes with a cash prize up to thousands of euros. Following a group of athl
  
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• Brigitte Bardot’s image complicated by her support of the far right

  28-12-2025 19:14 via theguardian.com
  Film star turned animal rights activist was outspoken on immigration and future of FranceBrigitte Bardot – a life in picturesBrigitte Bardot, hailed as the French Marilyn Monroe, was the first major film star to channel her glamour and fame into supporting France’s far right, who she backed for more than 30 years.Up until her death on Sunday, Bardot had expressed her contentment at Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party’s rising share of the vote before the
  
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• Brigitte Bardot’s image complicated by her controversial politics

  28-12-2025 19:14 via theguardian.com
  Film star turned animal rights activist was anti-immigration and was repeatedly convicted of racial hatred, particularly towards Muslims Brigitte Bardot – a life in picturesBrigitte Bardot, hailed as the French Marilyn Monroe, was the first major film star to channel her glamour and fame into supporting France’s far right, who she backed for more than 30 years.Up until her death on Sunday, Bardot had expressed her contentment at Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally p
  
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• ‘It would drive some people crazy’: Victoria’s French Island remains remote, and that’s how most like it

  28-12-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Just 70km from Melbourne yet only accessible by ferry, the island’s isolation is the source of its appeal and its biggest drawbackRead more summer essentialsApproaching French Island on the ferry at dawn, if you’re lucky you might be greeted by the sight of hundreds of ibis in flight. From far away, they look like starlings in murmuration, the flock constantly swelling and shifting like the sea far beneath them.Just 70km from Melbourne in the middle of Western Port Bay, French Island
  
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• Brigitte Bardot: the zeitgeist-force who was France’s most sensational export | Peter Bradshaw

  28-12-2025 10:57 via theguardian.com
  Bardot titillated the world for five decades, but the controversy and voyeurism surrounding her shouldn’t overshadow an intriguing film career• Bridgette Bardot dies aged 91
  • A life in picturesBardot … there was a time when it couldn’t be pronounced without a knowing pout on the second syllable. French headline-writers loved calling the world’s most desirable film star by her initials: “BB”, that is: bébé, a bit of weirdly infantilise
  
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• ‘It brings you closer to the natural world’: the rise of the Merlin birdsong identifying app

  27-12-2025 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Merlin has been trained to identify the songs of more than 1,300 bird species around the worldWhen Natasha Walter first became curious about the birds around her, she recorded their songs on her phone and arduously tried to match each song with online recordings. After a friend recommended Merlin Bird ID, a free app, she tried it in her London garden and was delighted to discover the birds she assumed were female blackbirds – “this is how bad a birder I was” – were actual
  
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