10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

” Writing about owls means writing about roughly 250 species (I counted 245 on the 2022 Clements spreadsheet, but I might have missed a few, and we all know that each classification system is different). These are behaviors that are most likely to vary across species and topics that make for compelling stories.

Owls 220

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 220

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

I’m happy to say that Laura Erickson and Marie Read have written a book, Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds , that is not too cute and that does not anthropomorphize. And of eggs and nests and birds on nests. Oops, the curmudgeon in me slipped.) And of birds courting and mating.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

It’s a unique bird, even its scientific name is wonderful, so it’s not surprising that Gerard Gorman, Woodpecker Expert Supreme, has written a book all about the species. But they are woodpeckers: the genus Jynx of the subfamily Jynginae of the Picidae family. They are beautiful, but in a different way.

Woodpeckers 243

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

Interestingly, these juveniles look more similar to another species, the Pale-billed Parrotbill, than the adult babblers – and they sometimes are part of the same flock. If you want to see how this species builds its nest, see here.) These roads are much less of a hindrance for the Pin-striped Tit-babbler , a mid-story bird.

Burma 200

Burma Birds Vietnam Laos 200

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

However, the lockdown forces me to go deeper and deeper into my photo collection, if I want to write anything at all. So, the basic idea is to show 15 species of Australian birds in each post and give you the usual trivia about them. The parrot is multicolored, providing a simple explanation for the Latin species name of varius.

Australia 194

Australia Birds Koalas Parrots 194

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2022

According to an article in the Guardian , “nearly a quarter of black swan families are parented by homosexual couples, the males sometimes mating with a female simply to have a chick. Once the egg has been laid, the female is chased away and the males hatch it.” No wonder species definitions are so problematic.

Birds 216

Birds China Pythons Breeding 216

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

China 237

China Birds Pythons Eagles 237

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Pough “with illustrations in color of every species” by Don Eckelberry, Doubleday, 1946. The National Audubon Society Birds of North America covers all species seen in mainland United States, Canada and Baja California. The press material says it covers over 800 species, so you know I had to do a count.

North America 279

North America America Birds California Condor 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2021

We review what the publishers, distillers, or manufacturers send us, or what catches our collective eye, or what we have time for. Colombia is one of those countries that Dragan’s dreams are made of: it has 1,965 bird species – more than any other country in the world. He says that [Steven L.]

Birds 245

Birds Colombia Collecting Bald Eagle 245

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

It didn’t occur to me till I started reading The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird that there was also a possible threat to the eagle herself: poachers, who steal raptor eggs and chicks. McWilliam realizes he’s dealing someone special, a career falcon egg-thief.

Falcons 219

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 219

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

JUNE 27, 2018

There are important details within that dictum that we will ignore here, but this has to do with knowing when a characteristic doesn’t really tell you about the relative position of species on a “tree of life” vs when the characteristic works for that purpose. Rather, cladistics is a way of looking at the process of evolution of species.

Monkeys 142

Monkeys Gorillas Whales Whaling 142

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

The guide covers 747 breeding residents or regular migrants, 29 introduced species, and 160 vagrants, a total of 936 species. Within each group, birds in the same family are grouped together and birds in the same genus “usually occur consecutively.” 210-531), indicated by brown page tabs.

Australia 108

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 108

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. It’s fascinating stuff. Most of the chapters in The Bird Way focus on one or two scientists who has done extensive research on ‘outlier behavior.’

Research 233

Research Birds Science Costa Rica 233

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2022

Echidna-egg laying mammal-500th post. Great Bowerbirds collecting blue items. More than three hundred bird species have been recorded in Broome and there is plenty of variety. Over time we have noticed changes in the bird species that visit and different times of year offer different species. Foster to Fish Creek.

Australia 147

Australia Singapore Birds Battery 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2013

The centre now encompasses native bush into which some of these endangered species have been released. (It To deal with this peril to one of New Zealand’s most important birds (or family of birds, there are five species of kiwi), one bank has been spearheading a campaign to save those chicks.

New Zealand 162

New Zealand Raised Endangered Species Rats 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

The vast majority of the 10,000+ living species of birds are passerines, and the vast majority of those have a similar system of breeding: Mom and dad bird make a nest and share parental responsibilities roughly equally, if not identically. There are variations on that theme, of course. Even the non-passerines often follow this pattern.

Breeders 206

Breeders Breeding Birds Groups 206

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

I couldn’t wait to give names to all my new species. I tried using the Internet, but found it frustrating for all the usual reasons; websites either didn’t include all species or were difficult to use for identification. Each species account is 2-pages long, one page of text and one page of photographs.

Ireland 177

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 177

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.

North America 154

North America Sparrows America United States 154

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

Although designed as a field guide, it is a hefty book, 376 pages long, covering 336 species. Many species are dimorphic, with females looking different from males. Many species also differ with age. And, there are some odonate species that include andromorphs, females which look like the males. Yes, 675 photographs.

United States 238

United States Costa Rica Massachusetts North America 238

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Do not buy these books, unless you are collecting old bird books. First published in 1973 in association with the Asa Wright Center, the book focuses on species descriptions, with illustrations grouped together in plates positioned in the center of the book. The AOU has not accepted that split.

Trinidad 201

Trinidad Birds South America Research 201

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2012

The IOC world birdlist recognizes 90 species that bear the name “weaver” or “malimbe” Not all of these are true weavers as we will discuss below. There are currently 64 recognized species in this genus, a remarkable number indeed, and this includes the 5 Asian and 2 Malagasy species.

Tanzania 228

Tanzania Buffalo Kenya Namibia 228

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2019

beats have still managed to share 82 checklists and accounted for 737 species. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. 01 Jun 2019.

2019 121

2019 Jamaica Eggs Woodpeckers 121

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2014

A History of Birdwatching in 100 Objects uses stuff, redefined as ‘objects’, a term that gives an archival sheen to everyday items, to tell our collective history. I expected a picture book; I got a collection of essays! 32, 1887) and Egg collection (no. There are many unexpected goodies here.

Collecting 173

Collecting Mauritius Egypt Cyprus 173

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2015

In Broome it is very easy to get 100 species on January 1st, which looks great for a while, but then you realise that before long other Beat Writers have jumped on aeroplanes and wandered further from home than we have. Pied Oystercatcher family together for the last time in 2014. Magpie-lark nest on a ladder!

2015 188

2015 2014 Ducks Ponies 188

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl covers every residential, migrating, vagrant, exotic, and introduced swan, goose, dabbling and diving duck in North America (Canada and the United States): 62 Species Accounts on four swan species and one vagrant subspecies; 15 goose species; 46 duck species; plus accounts for hybrid geese, ducks and exotics.

Ducks 122

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 122