10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

Jennifer Ackerman points out in the introduction to What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds , that we don’t know much, but that very soon we may know a lot more. What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds is a joyous, fascinating read.

Owls 220

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 220

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2022

When going to Australia, one of the two birds I wanted to see most was the Tawny Frogmouth. When these birds breed, this can lead to highly cringeworthy announcements, for example from Adelaide Zoo : “We have egg-citing news!” The Black-faced Monarch is a relative in the same bird family, the Monarchidae.

Birds 237

Birds Australia Ducks Mountain Goats 237

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

There is a lot of extreme behavior here (and a lot of that behavior takes place in Australia), but this is not simply a collection of the world’s most fantastic bird tales. Many popular science books have neither. As Ackerman explains in her Introduction, studying extreme behavior brings new insight into what we think we know.

Research 233

Research Birds Science Costa Rica 233

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 229

Dissection Birds Research Europe 229

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

I have written about the interesting sex life of these jacanas a few times already (short version: female mates with male, lays a bunch of eggs for him to incubate and raise the chicks, leaves him, finds another male, repeat). Apparently, after a male first mates with a female, he throws out the first one or two eggs she lays in their nest.

Birds 147

Birds China Eggs Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

While hoopoes are in their own family, DNA studies suggest that the hoopoe diverged from hornbills, and the wood-hoopoes and scimitarbills from the hoopoe. However, it is kind of sophisticated in that the females lay very individualized eggs in order to be able to detect the added eggs of parasite cuckoo finches.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2018

Can the whole family live together in harmony during the school holidays? Western Australia. Western Australia. Western Australia. Western Australia. Western Australia. Western Australia. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. August is the make or break month for relationships. Bravo if you have.

2018 100

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Los Angeles 100