And this year, despite optimistic forecasts of a great flurry of wings, Scottish gamekeepers think that there has been only a marginal increase in the number of birds flying the gauntlet of the guns.

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Art restorers working in Valencia's cathedral spotted the birds flying through a hole in what turned out to be a false ceiling and were intrigued.

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In Open City, writer Teju Cole describes Colonel Tassin - a (real) 19th Century figure - who kept count of the number of birds killed by flying into the Statue of Liberty, as many as 1, 400 a night.

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Part of the vision calls for flying jets in the same formation as a flock of birds, which would reduce energy use and carbon emissions.

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It was agreed the equipment would not be put in place during bird nesting season, and the mast would not have supporting guy lines which could pose a risk to flying birds.

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Globalstar's 48 birds act more like flying antennas, carrying calls to switching systems on the ground that are simple to operate and are linked into local phone networks.

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Yes, the digital effects are phenomenal -- midget dragons, oversize dragons, a flying coach drawn by seven white birds, a fully rigged ship rising from beneath a lake, aerial shots of the Hogwarts campus that truly put the fanciful buildings on the map -- but they're so skillfully interwoven with the main action that you take them for granted as casual magic.

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