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Don't get in a flap: test your knowledge of urban birds – quiz

Cities are home to a huge array of birdlife, but do you know your curlew from your godwit?

Which bird – the fastest living creature in the whole world – has found a home in city centres across Britain, Europe and North America?

Hobby

Peregrine

Swift

Which tropical-looking bird, weighing just 4.5g is now overwintering in Vancouver, Canada, where winter temperatures can fall well below zero?

Anna's hummingbird

Tropical kingbird

Worm-eating warbler

Which exotic pink waterbird gathers in large flocks in the lagoon in the centre of Montpellier on the French Riviera?

Roseate spoonbill

Scarlet ibis

Greater flamingo

Which bird of prey is a common sight as it gathers in huge flocks over cities such as New Delhi, India?

Himalayan vulture

Black kite

Indian spotted eagle

Which globally endangered species of wading bird, of which there are fewer than 500 left alive, stops off in Hong Kong each spring and autumn on its migratory journeys?

Long-billed curlew

Bar-tailed godwit

Spoon-billed sandpiper

Which black-and-white waterbird – known as the "bin chicken", "dump chook" and "refuse raptor" – regularly raids rubbish bins in Melbourne, Australia?

Australian white pelican

Australian white ibis

Black-necked stork

America’s national bird, which species of raptor regularly nests in Denver city centre?

American kestrel

Bald eagle

Golden eagle

Which epic global traveller flies all the way from the Antarctic Ocean, to breed in the centre of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik?

Bar-headed goose

Arctic tern

Wilson's storm-petrel

Which graceful creature, Europe’s largest wildfowl, is also Denmark’s national bird, thanks to a story from Hans Christian Andersen?

Mute swan

Whooper swan

Bewick's swan

Which pinkish-brown garden bird is known as the "television dove" in Germany, because of its habit of perching on rooftop aerials?

Turtle dove

Laughing dove

Collared dove

4 and above.

Pretty good: your bird knowledge is clearly a feather in your cap

7 and above.

Great bird knowledge: you're in the top flight!

0 and above.

Oh dear: bird-wise you're getting by on a wing and a prayer ...

Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

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Britain has faced its toughest test for decades, but we will build a better tomorrow'

Vital lessons about our mutual dependence will help us emerge stronger from the pandemic

If ever a crisis proved that our fates are bound together, it has been the last six weeks. The state has asked many businesses to stand idle to save lives, firms have turned to the state as their guarantor of survival and workers have risked their lives for us all. When we have faced our toughest test for decades as a nation, it has been essential to pull together.

Yet we are only at the beginning of the need to recognise the mutual dependence between public and private sectors and our collective solidarity.

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From foreign news to fashion, how our editors see the climate crisis

Editors from across the Guardian explain how they are putting the climate emergency front and centre

The climate crisis is a story that reaches every corner of the world and on the international news desk our team of correspondents report on it from around the globe.

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Can't hurry love: slow worms embrace marathon sessions of lockdown loving

If you’re gardening more than usual, try not to disturb the legless lizard, which can mate for up to 10 hours at a time in May

Under a small, sun-baked mat, a curled metallic-gold slow worm lies basking in the heat, the dark stripe running down its body revealing its youth. Sensing attention, it begins to wriggle away, revealing a companion, which speeds rapidly into the grasses in the opposite direction.

After a winter of social distancing, slow worms – a type of legless lizard that grows up to half a metre long and is often mistaken for a snake – have been venturing out of hibernation to enjoy warming their cold-blooded bodies in the spring sun.

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'Not just weeds': how rebel botanists are using graffiti to name forgotten flora

Pavement chalking to draw attention to wild flowers and plants in urban areas has gone viral across Europe – but UK chalkers could face legal action

A rising international force of rebel botanists armed with chalk has taken up street graffiti to highlight the names and importance of the diverse but downtrodden flora growing in the cracks of paths and walls in towns and cities across Europe.

The idea of naming wild plants wherever they go – which began in France – has gone viral, with people chalking and sharing their images on social media. More than 127,000 people have liked a photo of chalked-up tree names in a London suburb, while a video of botanist Boris Presseq of Toulouse Museum of Natural History chalking up names to highlight street flowers in the French city has had 7m views.

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Transport after coronavirus: how will we fly, drive, commute and ride?

Social distancing rules will ‘kill cities’, experts warn – and the future of mass transit hangs in the balance

This is the second feature in our Life after lockdown series, which looks at how Covid-19 could change Australia for good

Before the pandemic struck, Sara Blazey made the same three-hour commute to work, three days a week, for the better part of 12 years. The 63-year-old family lawyer from the Blue Mountains works for a domestic violence legal advice hotline in Parramatta and it used to be that she would wake at 7am, drive seven minutes to Hazelbrook station and from there catch the 7.17am train to Parramatta before making the same one-and-a-half hour trip home in the evening.

With the pandemic, all that would change. Domestic violence support services such as the one Blazey worked for were declared “essential” services, meaning they could keep operating despite restrictions. To ensure they could do so safely, the organisation did what some commentators long thought impossible and began to transition its employees into working from home.

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Forest fire season is coming. How can we stop the Amazon burning?

The Guardian investigates fire in the state of Pará - to reveal the loopholes that allow deforestation to be legitimised

We found the first fire without looking, crackling and roaring on farmland beside the busy Amazon highway, the flames consuming a road sign with its name – BR-163 – lying in the grass. Trucks thundered past, ferrying soya and corn from the agricultural heartlands of Brazil’s central-west to the ports of Santarém and Miritituba. Nobody was around.

Every year fires roar across the Amazon, and in just a few months they will be here again. But last August the number of blazes reached a nine-year high, and sparked an international crisis for Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Months later, their traces hung over the forests in the Amazon state of Pará, leaving blackened logs and charred tree stumps where there was once rainforest.

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How did Michael Moore become a hero to climate deniers and the far right? | George Monbiot

The filmmaker’s latest venture is an excruciating mishmash of environment falsehoods and plays into the hands of those he once opposed

Denial never dies; it just goes quiet and waits. Today, after years of irrelevance, the climate science deniers are triumphant. Long after their last, desperate claims had collapsed, when they had traction only on “alt-right” conspiracy sites, a hero of the left turns up and gives them more than they could have dreamed of.

Planet of the Humans, whose executive producer and chief promoter is Michael Moore, now has more than 6 million views on YouTube. The film does not deny climate science. But it promotes the discredited myths that deniers have used for years to justify their position. It claims that environmentalism is a self-seeking scam, doing immense harm to the living world while enriching a group of con artists. This has long been the most effective means by which denial – most of which has been funded by the fossil fuel industry – has been spread. Everyone hates a scammer.

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Country diary: the bumblebees' low drone has replaced the hum of traffic

Marshwood Vale, Dorset: It began in March, when the buff-tailed queens emerged from hibernation, zigzagging from bloom to bloom

In the garden on a bright morning, with sunshine lancing the cherry blossom, my eye is drawn to the fat glitter of a queen bumblebee gathering nectar in the golden bowl of a tree peony flower. A black, almost velvety, body and rich orange-tipped rump indicate that this is a red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius). Her wings shine as if newly waxed, while her tongue briskly probes a tassel of stamens. After a few seconds she’s off to check the next bloom – then airborne again, zooming over the wall.

Lockdown has replaced the background hum of distant traffic with the low, blundering drone of bumblebees. It began in March when buff-tailed queens emerged from hibernation, zigzagging across the lawn. Buff-tails are easily recognised by their size – the queens can be more than 2cm long – and their markings, two well-separated yellow bands and a brown-tinged tail-tip. Because they nest in holes in the ground, they are also called earth bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). The name is like an anchor, tethering a creature of sunlight, pollen and warmth to the chthonic darkness underground.

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They won't be loved: Maroon 5 play it safe with dullest halftime show of all time

Maroon 5 could have silenced their many haters with a spectacular performance. But they didn’t do that.





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Viola Davis’s message to white women: ‘Get to know me’

But Davis does see a path forward: empathy and becoming educated on one another’s experiences.





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GOP Homeland Security Chair ‘Concerned’ With ‘Growing Leadership Void’ At DHS

Following the ousters of the Homeland Security secretary and Secret Service director, and the withdrawal of the would-be ICE director’s...




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Pelosi to lay down multitrillion-dollar marker with new coronavirus package

The speaker isn’t yet negotiating with Republicans or the White House on the next aid bill.




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Live tracker: How many coronavirus cases have been found in each U.S. state?

Using data from the COVID Tracking Project, we’re following how each state is responding to COVID-19.




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Watchdog warns SBA that loan limits will hurt small business borrowers

The SBA's IG said the agency veered from the law Congress drafted to create the program when the agency set rules for how businesses could obtain loan forgiveness.




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Court filing shows Reade spoke of harassment in Biden’s office

In a 1996 document, Reade’s ex-husband referred to a sexual harassment problem but did not mention assault or provide details about who was involved.




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The Southern Democrat with the power to shut down Trump's convention

Up for reelection this fall, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has to decide whether to allow Trump's coronation to proceed amid a pandemic.




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High blood pressure: Studies show adding this drink to your diet will lower your reading



HIGH blood pressure is often referred to as the "silent killer" due to its non-obvious symptoms, which when they do appear are often too late. Adding this drink to your diet will lower your reading and reduce your risk of serious health complications.




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Hair loss treatment: A mineral which strengthens hair follicles to stimulate hair growth



HAIR loss treatment: The quest for magic cure to help halt the process of hair loss produces numerous searches and theories. Taking this essential mineral helps strengthen hair follicles which stimulate hair growth.




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Coronavirus symptoms: How to tell your cough is a sign of COVID-19 - one major indicator



CORONAVIRUS has been raging in the UK for months now yet symptoms remain a mystery for many people. The NHS cites coughing as a main warning sign but how can you tell a regular cough from a COVID-19 one?




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How to live longer: Follow this specific diet to lower your risk of early death



HOW to live longer: If you are looking to lead a long life, eating a healthy, balanced diet is the hard and fast rule to live by. The best diet to follow is still debated vigorously but there is a broad consensus emerging.




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High blood pressure: Study reveals the best type of breakfast cereal to lower your reading



HIGH blood pressure is an ominous threat because it marks the first stage in a sequence of events that could lead to cardiovascular complications. To ward off the threat, it is important to start your day with a cereal that keeps your reading in check.





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Can I astrally project my way out of coronavirus lockdown?

After all, astral projection would definitely qualify as the lightest carbon footprint travel option.




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How car-free streets can help with social distancing

Coronavirus is exposing our lack of walking space.





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These dirty power plants cost billions and only operate in summer. Can they be replaced?

Two new reports argue that renewable energy and battery storage can make so-called peaker plants obsolete.




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Can today’s hottest sustainable building method actually slow climate change?

Cross-laminated timber draws praise -- and skeptics.




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Bill Maher: Liberal Media Has Allowed ‘Joe Biden, Sex Monster’ To Overshadow ‘Donald Trump, Lethal Incompetent’

Bill Maher’s final “New Rule” on Friday’s Real Time With Bill Maher was, as usual, a doozie. “The liberal media and liberal party,” said Maher, “is doing…exactly what Republicans want: for us to go down the rabbit hole of ‘Joe Biden, sex monster.'” Maher was of course referring to allegations made by Tara Reade, who […]




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Government offers one-off payment for farmers coming off Farm Household Allowance

Farmers are entitled to a new, one-off payment from the Federal Government to help them decide if their farm is sustainable or could be sold.




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Sydney news: Anglican Archbishop tells same-sex marriage supporters to start own church

MORNING BRIEFING: Archbishop Glenn Davies says anyone in favour of same-sex marriage should step away from the church and not "ruin it", while a Sydney prison officer is charged with having an inappropriate relationship with an inmate.



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Satellite images question how private dams filled during Murray-Darling pumping embargo

Investigations will begin into how a number of dams in drought-ravaged parts of NSW came to be filled during a ban on pumping water along parts of the Murray-Darling earlier this year.




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How racehorse Absolutely Win once bought for $180,000 ended up at Queensland's Meramist Abattoir

After 17 races, it became clear this $180,000 thoroughbred wasn't going to cut it on the track this is how Absolutely Win ended up at a Queensland slaughterhouse.




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Qantas flight makes history by touching down in Sydney after flying 19 hours non-stop from New York

The Qantas flight, which landed in Sydney on Sunday morning, is the first in a series of trials of "ultra" long-haul trips which could become reality by 2022.



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  • Economics and Finance:All:All
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Sydney news: Parramatta Speedway to be demolished, man allegedly blows six times legal limit

MORNING BRIEFING: Police charge a man who allegedly returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.299 during a random breath test last night, and motorsport fans plan to protest against the NSW Government's decision to demolish the Parramatta Speedway.




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Free clothes at Keith's Closet allow psychiatric ward patients to say goodbye to hospital gowns

As vulnerable patients arrive at one hospital's psychiatric ward with just the clothes on their back, a support service is ensuring access to free, clean garments of their choice.




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Mascot Towers on unstable ground due to 'loss of soil', owners say

The owners of Sydney's troubled Mascot Towers claim new test have revealed a "loss of soil" under the apartment complex's north east corner the same area cracks first appeared before the building was evacuated in June.




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Sydney news: Commuter chaos as M1 closed at Berowra, man dies in Maitland house fire

MORNING BRIEFING: Commuters and HSC students have been advised to avoid the M1 at Berowra after a road worker was hit by a utility early this morning, causing lane closures, and a man dies in a blaze at a Maitland home.




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Water safety campaign launches to help save 'wholly preventable' child drownings, limit adult distractions

Royal Life Saving Society Australia is warning parents to limit distractions and be vigilant with water safety, as new data shows one-year-olds are at the greatest risk of drowning compared to any other age group.




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NSW builders would owe duty of care, be easier to sue for faulty work under proposed laws

In the wake of the construction disasters of the Opal Tower and Mascot Towers, the NSW Government is introducing new laws to Parliament which would mean builders have a duty of care to owners and could be fined upwards of $100,000 for any faulty work.




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Apartment owners fear for 'suicidal' neighbours as combustible cladding crisis takes its toll

Owners of apartments affected by the combustible cladding crisis in Victoria tell researchers of the emotional and financial toll it has taken on them and their neighbours.




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#buyfromthebush calls on city consumers to keep small-town shops open during drought

A social media campaign quickly gathers followers as it shines a light on drought-affected towns struggling to maintain their businesses, and encourages people to buy remotely in the lead-up to Christmas.




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Newcastle Anglican diocese hoses down talk of a split over same-sex marriage

Newcastle's Anglican Dean calls for unity and respect as the diocese prepares to vote on blessing same-sex marriages.




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Almost 900,000 people living below poverty line in NSW, report reveals

Meet John. He's 59, and used to be a teacher. He's also been job hunting for a decade and is one of almost 900,000 people in NSW living below the poverty line, according to a new report.




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Sydney woman stabbed cat 20 times before throwing it off balcony, police allege

A 19-year-old woman is charged with torture and causing the death of an animal after allegedly stabbing a cat 20 times and throwing it from a balcony on Sydney's northern beaches.




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Calls for royal commission into racing industry after emails show Racing NSW was told about prohibited thoroughbred sales

There are growing calls for a royal commission into the racing industry after the ABC revealed emails proving Racing NSW was told more than a year ago about the unauthorised sale of thoroughbreds for slaughter at a livestock auction.




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NSW police strip-search data shows lowest drug prosecution rate in seven years

Of more than 5,000 strip searches conducted by NSW police in the past financial year, less than a third found any illicit drugs, new data shows.




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Gannon family 'relieved, hopeful' following outpouring of support

A family at the centre of a regional medical mix-up is relieved at an outpouring of support.




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BOM issues dangerous wind warning as dust blankets drought-ravaged towns

Extreme winds are churning up dust from Broken Hill to Sydney, with some parts of the central west turning red and forcing residents to eat dinner under bedsheets so as not to spoil their food.