From a small town to a big city...
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A Birding Blog
By Jared Conaway
From a small town to a big city...
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Hi all! Welcome to the blog and to today's post. On August 11th I had a fantastic birding trip with my great friend Caleb Strand, A.K.A Positive Encouraging! In fact, that was the entire day. Our original plan was to hit Sunflower, Mt. Ord, Granite Reef and end the day with GWR, but because of the sketchy weather in that direction, we quickly transitioned to Dateland. Dateland... Dateland... DATELAND! This place is interesting. It is between Gila Bend and Yuma City, in the middle of nowhere. The elevation is 800 ft. and lower above sea level. 100s of thousands of Creosotes and other small shrubs are sparsely distributed throughout this very flat, vast, and desolate area of the Mohave Desert. The actual town, or lack thereof, is just a Circle K, RV park, Elementary School, and large Date Palm grove, plus a few other buildings. The best part about Dateland is: The birds! Of course, that's something you expect to here from a birder, a hardcore birder at that. This place has an insane birding history behind it, and an epic future ahead. Wood Thrush, Thick-billed Kingbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Kentucky Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Cassin's Finch, Palm Warbler, Red Crossbill, Varied Thrush, Lewis's Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Black-throated Blue Warbler, and Scott's Oriole, just to name a few. For an Arizona birder, these are some of the best birds you could ever see, at least in the state. But hey, I'm always game for a Wood Thrush. It is still early in the season for vagrants, but things will really pick up within the next 2 months. I got up around 3:00 am, with Caleb arriving around 4, just as planned. I even managed to not get stung by a scorpion again! That is always a plus nowadays. On the way to Dateland, I asked Caleb why vagrants such as eastern warblers end up so far west like in Yuma and southern California, this is a question I've had a while now, and I should know the answer by now, because I'm a birder. So, this is why: Often young birds or new adults get to where they need to go by following the adults, because being young and all, migration is a first for them so don't know the landmarks that the adults are long familiar with. If a predator or even a slight breeze separates the inexperienced bird(s) from the flock, it doesn't know what else to do but go westward. By going west the bird could end up stopping anywhere in that direction, Alaska, Washington, Wyoming, etc. But sometimes these birds aren't just inexperienced, they are dumb, they go straight west. They land in southern California because they've reached the end of the continent. But even then, some birds are complete idiots. They fly past the continent to attempt crossing the ocean to get to where they think their destination is. But they see the islands off the coast of Cali, and they have to land there to live. I don't know about other birders, but I'm so glad that birds are dumb! So yeah, this same fact applies to Dateland, they have to stop there because there's a huge desolate desert between there and the food-rich and excellent climate California coast. This is Yuma County, near Dateland, pretty much the very definition of what a desert is. Our first good bird of the day was LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. Personally I like Northern Shrike better, but that's just an opinion. A WESTERN TANAGER and a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE just being buddies. A BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK and Western Tanager just being buddies. That same Black-headed Grosbeak let me approach within a few ft. and obtain killer photos! I love it when birds do that, everyone does. It refreshes my memory that birds aren't always far away. Unfortunately it's not for the reason I would like it to be, this bird didn't want to be buddies, he was just too exhausted to react right away. He didn't lift a wing until I was 1 ft. away! He then returned to his favorite hose when I turned around top look back. These moments were also very special because this is a species I never expected to have a close-up encounter with. Ones I do expect this kind of experience with are Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees (and the other 2 common Alaskan chickadees), Gray Jays, and Northwestern Crows. OK guys, I must admit, I've taken 2 full weeks off the blogging streak. As a result, My memory isn't as fresh as when I posted these BHGR pix. None to worry though, because all I'm doing is cutting myself some stress for just the Dateland part of the adventure, since I remember everything else pretty well. Also, I only forgot unimportant details. So, with that said, here's some highlights: Fem. Bullock's Oriole. I know, we all want to see a male. It's not my fault. Fem. HOODED ORIOLE. It was hanging out with the BUOR in the exact same palm. I would recommend going back and forth between these pics to get a feel for the differences of these 2 species, because while the brilliant males are conspicuous, females are cryptic about their identification. Of course, if you have these 2 squared away, that's excellent! Eventually we ran into another Black-headed Grosbeak, presumably the same one due to same level of tameness. Just like the previous one it paid off with some great photos. Black-headed Grosbeaks aside, this is a migrant ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. #firstpic. This creature is very cute. Oh, by the way, I've done this quite a few times on my blog, but I'm going to start doing this all the time, whenever I feature a lifer, state bird, or one that is very cool, I will give identification features (if it's got a painstakingly similar cousin), sometimes distribution (for example, the Ash-throated is a southwestern species), and things that distinguish this species from others as particularly cool ( for example, why seeing Double-crested Cormorants in large numbers instead of Neotropics at the GRPs is unusual). So yeah, just thought I'd mention that, since I'll be giving the life hystory on a number of birds during this post. With that said, I haven't put the ATFL in the spotlight yet: Along with Brown-crested Flycatcher this species is an uncommon member of genus Myiarchus. Distinguished from the gorgeous Brown-crested by a smaller, narrow bill, whiter underside, colors on Ash-throated are much brighter on Brown-crested, and choice of habitat; Riparian for BCFL, dry washes for ATFL. However, both species favor riparian (Brown-crested outnumbering in that habitat) but BCFL stays away from dry washes. BCFL favors willows and cottonwoods over mesquites and paloverdes favored by ATFL. Of course identifications don't come that easy, that means that BCFL can perch in a paloverde or mesquite, and an ATFL can perch in a cottonwood or willow. A couple other things to remember are: The larger more peaked head of a Brown-crested, as well slightly darker crown/face and darker back. I generally like to have more than 1 photo of each bird. It is a fact that Warbling Vireos are cute. That fact gives them a pass on being colorful. Turkey Vultures on the other hand... They are horrific-looking. I don't know how else to put, but their heads are almost a skull. Someting gross but kinda awesome is that Black Vultures will actually tease Turkey Vultures until they regurgitate their food. Then the Black Vulture eats it. Disgusting, but it's great because it makes the Turkey Vulture look terribly dumb next to the epic Coragyps atratus. On a side note, at the phoenix zoo a Black Vulture walked right up to the glass and stayed close to me. It kept looking straight at me, it was adorable. Yes, unlike the hydeous skull-faced Turkey Vulture, Black vultures are actually cute. Caleb then spotted my first lifer of the day, The Long. The billed. The CURLEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was flying high in the sky and moving away very quickly, so yours truly did not get a photo. There's a ton of hope though. Like seriously, if you were to weigh the amount of hope there is for this bird, it would be 2,000 pounds. The hope comes in the form of flooded alfalfa fields during late fall/winter. Large flocks come to this habitat during that time frame. Now's probably a good time to mention that we ran into Christopher McCreedy here. We did, he's a fellow ebirder, he's also well known for not using playbacks when birding for fun (he does for science). He's also a biologist, the kind that studies Dusky and Willow Flycatchers, among other birds and animals. #itisimportanttonote that his camera, is... huge. Probably the largest camera in North America. If it has subspecies then it probably is the largest subspecies too. One day I'll get around to getting one of those. Definately not as big as Mr. McCreedy's that would make a 15 minute birding outing exhausting. That camera probably weighs as much as an anvil. "What'd you do today?" "I photographed a Hepatic Tanager with an anvil." ":/" This COMMON GROUND-DOVE reminds me of such a dream... Yes, you heard me right, another species of men's soap!! This Mourning Dove wishes he could be as cool as his cousin. This dove didn't allow for a complete victory though, the photo makes this obvious. The Common Ground-Dove (COGD) is one of the smallest American doves at 6 1/2 inches. In Arizona they nest in Mesqite Bosques, migrating through and wintering in dry flat areas with an abundance of small seeds. Their scientific name (Columbina passerina means "little sparrow dove". Their size makes it clear why that name has been designated to them. Although not utilizing particularly beautiful habitat, the dove itself is very attractive. Its beak is bicolored magenta and black, the crown is a powder blue-gray with black-bordered feathers (giving a scaly appearance, this feature is also on the breast). Its eyes are big and brown, the tail and wings are stubby, and the body is washed with a salmon tinge. Like the other Columbinas (ground-doves), its primaries are bright red-brown. 2 other highlights were 3 WESTERN WOOD PEWEES we saw throughout our walk, and a flock of LARK SPARROWS that came after the dove. You guys know I love LASPs. After all, LASPs are life. I'm just kidding on that last part, but they are an important, meaningful bird on my Life List. I mean, I did see my very first on a special day, Global Big Day (treated by me as Maricopa Big Day). I was also surprised to see a flock of 40 that same day! I like them so much because they have such an amazing plumage pattern. And this is the legendary Dateland I speak of. Doesn't exactly look like the kind of place with a history of Wood Thrushes, huh? Next up we headed to the school of Dateland. This place has contributed to some of Dateland's mythical creatures, such as Lewis's Woodpecker. Here we found our rarest bird of the day, are you ready for the rarest bird of the day? It was funny because we were literally just talking about it when Caleb found it. The one. The only: The legendary Yuma county fire-breathing dragon- ha, I mean HARRIS'S HAWK. Note that it's basically anorexic. Caleb sure knows how to make birds appear when we're conversating. Caleb, you and I need to have a discussion about Curlew Sandpipers at the GRPs... And that is the end of the post. Except that I'm just kidding! "Listen you don't even know me this is just beginning." That something TruDog said and I'll say it to. #bytheway TruDog is Truett McKeenhan, tobyMac's (Toby Mckeehan's) son. Toby is one of my favorite artists, his songs are so catchy! He's most of what I listen to when I blog. One of my fave songs by him is "Undeniable". The message is that God is undeniable and unmistakable. It's also an epic birding jam! This here is a gorgeous WHITE-STRIPED TIGER-BEETLE. Caleb found it in the Dateland Circle K. This small desert beetle is freaking amazing-looking! Our first stop along the Old U.S. Hwy 80 were the Aztec Dairy sludge ponds. Doesn't exactly sound appetizing, now does it? But, it's were the shorebirds are. Our first peeps of the day were Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper and my favorite, a flock of 6 BAIRD'S. Y'all will see some photos later, but these 6 individuals were a bit of distance away. Nonetheless, I got great binocular views and excellent comparison with the adjacent WESAs. BASA is distinguished by a larger body, shorter, thicker legs; sharply cut-off buff-brown breast and long primary projection. The last feature is due to their nature as a long-distance migrant (more so than the other common stints) wintering in western South America. However, the long primaries are useless for differentiating from WRSA (White-rumped) In this case use the straight bill of BASA & different patterns/colors. I don't know why I particularly favor the Baird's Sandpiper, after all it's a brown and white bird like almost all the other sandpipers. I guess it's that the more species shorebirds there are in a large group is when that kind of birding gets interesting. I'm really excited for the day(s) to come where I find something much rarer or much more cool looking in one of those flocks (like say, a Curlew Sandpiper, one of my favorites. Sooner rather than later buddy!). "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" After a while we finally arrived at a place I had been anticipating the whole morning. I had some catching up to do with a young Brown Pelican at the Paloma Ranch. This is not a Brown Pelican, you guys know that, this is the Eared Grebe Lord. At this time of year this species is very early, thus I thought it was a good idea to obtain photos, despite being an insignificant rarity (I didn't mean that Mr. Grebe Lord, I love you buddy, your significant, your life matters). Right, the pelican: I was so relieved when I saw it as soon as we got out of Caleb's magic minivan. The relief came from the thought that I wouldn't get a chance to see this species this year. Even a week prior to this trip when the young pelican was first reported, I was worried that Paloma Ranch wouldn't come around to my schedule. Even then, there is always fear that the bird will fly away. Speaking of, I remember when over 2 years ago I went for the Palmer Pied-billed Grebe, that even after getting great looks, the real relief came when the lady said it couldn't fly and wouldn't be able to for 2 more weeks because of missing primaries. That 2 weeks ended up being 3 weeks, the last day it was seen was Sept. 5th, I saw it on Aug. 14th. I was happy that there was plenty of time for even more birders to see this extremely rare bird (not seen in the county for more than 50 years). So yeah, I had a few reasons to be worried, despite the fact that they aren't good reasons for the non-birders reading this. Especially because it hasn't been a half-century since a Brown Pelican was present in Maricopa CO., more like since last year. Based on this young bird, the beauty contest automatically goes to the American White Pelican of the interior west lakes. The Brown Pelican is a coastal resident, undoubtedly the most characteristic and familiar bird of California & Florida beaches, even to non-birders. I also wouldn't doubt that a few of my blog viewers have seen this species often, I'm sure some of you guys live in Florida or California. Heck, if that is the case, you've seen adults in breeding plumage, which are actually a match for the beautiful American White Pelican. Something pretty high on the epic scale that Brown Pelicans do is plunge into the water in a completely vertical position to catch fish. I hope to see this someday, and I know I will, I'll be able to just drive to California once I have my license. However, I have seen Arctic terns do the same thing. Kittiwakes actually land on the water surface that way, not to catch fish. This young pelican is going through a molting stage; old feathers replaced by new ones. As a result I don't think it can fly, almost, but not quite. Its primaries look pretty rough and short. #itisimportanttonote that the Brown Pelican is the smallest of the Pelecanus and is the only one with subspecies. It is rare and annual in Maricopa, once a year round resident at Tempe Town Lake. Not seen there since January 14th, 2017. Also present was a continuing LESSER SCAUP, way early for winter. I don't know what to say about this duck. This is actually the same photo, except it's the cormorant edition. Do you know why this pic is significant? Because it's a DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT side by side with a Neo. I've seen this situation a lot since we moved, but this is my first photo of that. Finally I can show you how to distinguish these 2: First and foremost, DCCO is the back bird: DCCO bill: long & dark, curved on the top of upper mandible NECO bill, short & stout; lighter color DCCO neck: thicker NECO neck: narrower & shorter DCCO body: muscular and stocky; longer as well NECO body: comparatively slender, breast not as muscular. DCCO malar patch: broad & rounded NECO malar patch: very narrow & rectangular. Normally bordered with white, but not on this bird Interestingly these 2 cormorants are in exactly the same plumage stage. Both are transitioning from breeding to winter plumage, which must be why the Neo is temporarily missing the characteristic broad white border around the malar. Now class, using what we just learned, here we compare perched birds. This time they're mostly in summer plumage. Now it's obvious how much larger DCCO (left) is. You can also clearly see the forementioned white malar border on the Neo (right). Another distinguishing feature of DCCO is the short tail and thicker legs. Here's a closeup of a GREG family. "Greg you imbecile, get your freaking skeletal smelly feet out of my face!" "Neco, I am going to wrap these skeletal feet around your stubby beak, and fling you over my back, you are going to hit the water too hard to survive. Btw those were your last words." Before Neco could react, Greg stayed true to what he just said. "R.I.P Neco," said the random Brown Pelican. Oh, how I love birding. Next up were the Citrus Valley slop ponds. In one pond was a large flock of Killdeer & Black-necked Stilts, the other had a huge flock of peeps to search through for any goodies. Again the usual WESAs & LESAs were present in decent numbers. scanning through we picked up our first SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER of the day, also my first for Arizona. Although I've most certainly seen this species in a large mixed flock with WESAs 3 years ago in Homer AK, I didn't get to properly enjoy them because I only found out years later when I carefully reviewed those photos. SESA is easy to overlook until you actually lock onto it in the midst of the flock. After that it's pretty difficult to lose track of. I guess what I specifically like is the crisp plumage, it reminds me of a mix between a winter Sanderling & summer WESA. That combined with the fact that here in Arizona they are an uncommon transient makes then a special find in a flock of the typical shorbs. Also in midst of the flock were a couple more BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS, SOLITARY, WILSON'S PHALAROPES and my first of fall (FOF) SEMIPALMATED PLOVER. The Semi Plover was absolutely adorable, a field mark of this species. Additionally we picked up some LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, not literally, though I wish, you know what I mean. But there was one bird I was particularly interested in, one Caleb got me to anticipate... Here came the absolutely cutest creature I've ever seen! Please give it up for my favorite bird of the day, I remember how happy I was to find this tiny plover... (blank space) (more blank space) (That was a lot more blank space) The. Snowy. Plover!!!!! What makes this bird so awesome you ask? What gives it a grand introduction? Because it is adorable. It is fluffy. It is brilliant white, and breeding birds are especially beautiful with black on the side of the neck, cheeks, and crown.. It is the warmest brown. It is very tiny, about half the size of a Semi, and that is a 3rd the size of a Killdeer. SNPL is equipped with many qualities that make it the cutest of all shorebirds: Enormous eyes, large head, stubby bill, tiny size, short tail, and small, sharp wings. These characteristics make it epic too. The fact is that this plover is fantastic I think it's neat that this plover looks like a freaking plushy. Its distribution on our continent is complicated: It has tiny populations in: Montana, Saskatchewan, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona. Larger populations reside along the Gulf & Pacific coasts, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas, Utah, northern Nevada, and California. So yeah, the Snowy Plover is a very lovable bird, certainly my favorite lifer of this day. Next up were the Gila Bend Sewage Ponds. Our target bird here were a pair of RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, which we got right away, along with a couple dozen WIPHS and SPOTTED SANDPIPERS. We also scanned for terns such as Common/Forester's without getting any. I got curious about many odd sounds coming from the Creosotes, they turned out to be Desert Clicker Grasshoppers. Since I don't want to be empty-handed with a Red-necked Phal pic in this post, so here's one from spring. Next up was the Arlington Wildlife Area. We really didn't see any birds, unless you would like to beg me for Cinnamon teal photos that I can't provide because I didn't take any. But that didn't keep it from being hilarious. First we had to drive to the end of a slippery muddy road to get there. Caleb's got driving skills. This area is also the most reliable location for Yuma Ridgway's Rail in the county, I think. That's when my great friend Caleb did something that is too hilarious to forget. Ridgway's Rails like a round of applause before they feel comfortable to make an introduction. Caleb took that a step further, or a leap further even. "RANDOM RIDGWAY'S RAAAAAAAAAIIIIIILLLL!!!!!!!!!!! KEK KEK KEK KEK KEK KEK KEK KEK!!!" I was awestruck, the Paloma pelican was scarred for life, it was a great moment in Jared's birding history. Lastly we proceeded to head back. The first time down that road I was laughing, but now I was really nervous. Probably because this time I looked at the size of the ditch adjacent to us. As soon as we got started, a Matthew West song came on, and Caleb said, "Matthew West, that's a perfect way to go out, anything you wanna say to your Mom before we die?" Mr. Positive Encouraging was joking of course, which kept me laughing through our second drive down that intimidating dirt road. I'm glad God kept us safe, and I'm glad Caleb'as a skilled driver (just as he's a skilled birder). That there is one of the reasons I love birding: I get to have a great time with my hilarious friend. Next up were the Old U.S 80 slop ponds. I really don't know why the heck any shorebird would stop here to have a meal. Just order In n' Out (#notsponsored), because these slippery sloppy slobbery slop ponds will send any appetite to its grave, they smell absolutely horrific. It only took a few minutes for me to forget about the smell, because that's all it took for my next lifer to happen: I present to you the long-anticipated WESTERN WILLET! The most eye-catching characteristic of the Willet is the pair of conspicuous black & white wings. Also evident is the enormous size, the largest Tringa at 15 inches (the trailing Wilson's Phals the size of SOSA). Also note that the phals look extremely similar to nonbreeding Lesser Yellowlegs. The western ssp. of the Willet summers on the shores of lakes surrounded by upland prairies of the beautiful interior west ecoregion. Another highlight was this STILT SANDPIPER. This individual is transitioning into winter plumage. Most people don't actually know why birds a lot of birds become dull in the winter, or why males are more bold than females, after all, it's the opposite for us humans.Well, let's start with winter plumage: They have to remain inconspicuous on their wintering grounds so they have a good chance of surviving into the next breeding season, a crucial time of year. During that season females remain dull though. That's because they don't just have themselves to protect, they have babies. However, there are a few shorebird fems that make sure all eyes are on them in order to lead potential danger away from their adorable chicks. They are: Killdeer, Purple Sandpiper, and Willet. These 3 will perform the famous broken-wing act, infamous to predators. I wonder if the chicks do the same thing so that mommy Willet doesn't send them to school?... I love this photo. Sure, it's not the result of expert photography, but it's so cool because it includes 5 species of shorebirds all of the genus Calidris. It is a fantastic comparison pic because it represents how you'll typically see shorbs when your birding, plus you can still clearly see all the characteristics that makes each of these species unique. From left to right: An extremely overweight BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (below WESA), and STILT SANDPIPER. #itisimportanttonote the BASA puts the p-h in phat. Now, all these shorebirds are common, but that's a good thing, because once you're familiar with these main 5 Calidris of the west (plus Red Knot & Sanderling), you'll be able to identify something much rarer in a flock of these guys, like say, a Temminck's Stint. Our last highlight for the US 80 slops was a BLACK VULTURE that provided awesome views and cooperatively soared very low, eventually landing in a tamarisk. CATTLE EGRETS! Then we hit Hunters Ponds. You guys might recognize this as the place I've struck out on Black-bellied Whistling Ducky. Well this time we were here for shorebirding. Something very bizarre happened: The right bird is a SESA. Caleb and I felt sorry for him because he was all alone, at first. We were relieved when we saw he had a buddy. His bud was surprisingly a BASA. It was odd because these 2 species are almost never seen alone in Arizona, they are normally in large flocks of LESA & WESA. So this was an interesting situation. Note how normal-sized this Baird's is compared to the other one. SESA is barely larger than a LESA, and barely smaller than BASA, yet the LESA next to the BASA is significantly smaller. Anyways if that Baird's Sandpiper sat on that Least Sandpiper, then R.I.P LESA. Here you can see the long wings, thick legs, and longer bill of BASA. SESA has a short, thick bulbous-tipped bill and short primary projection. Additionally it has white-bordered pale feathers on the mantle & wings, giving a scaly appearance.
Our last shorebirding stops for the day were the Agua Fria Riverbed & GRPs. First we hit AFRB, where we finally received our first AMERICAN AVOCETS of the day. Another highlight of that place was a Black-tailed Jackrabbit, a mammal I hadn't previously gotten good looks at, and that was years ago. At GRPs we managed to find 2 more SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS in a large flock of LESAs (with some WESAs of course), as well as yet another BASA. We also had a rare female REDHEAD, 2 more BURROWING OWLS (we had about 50 that day!), a flock of 7 PIED-BILLED GREBES, and 2 new patchers; BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS & WESTERN TANAGERS! Oh my gosh guys, this is the end of the post! An overweight-Baird's-Sandpiper-sized thank you to my great friend Caleb Strand for such a great time and for making this happen! This trip was so much fun, we ended the day with 5 lifers- LONG-BILLED CURLEW, COMMON GROUND-DOVE, BROWN PELICAN, SNOWY PLOVER & WESTERN WILLET- 19 species of shorebirds, besides the lifers some of my faves were: Baird's Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Plover. We came out with a total of almost 100 species of birds, with the absolute best out of all being Snowy Plover! Fortunately a trip involving the same route is happening this Sunday! Some birds to look forward to are Reddish Egret, Red Knot, and maybe some vagrants in Dateland this time! I'm very excited! Stay tuned for my next adventure, it's going to be exciting! #likecommentsharefollowplz. "R.I.P Neco. He will forever be in our hearts. Sometime in the past- August 11th, 2018. There's not much to say on his grave stone except that Neco was an idiot." ~the random Brown Pelican Neco's funeral will take place soon. #pleasebethere.
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