10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2019

There’s little doubt that these unwilling but plucky exiles have beaten the odds over the last few months, first evading the sights of eager autumn hunters, and then the jaws of hungry foxes and weasels, only to endure the many privations of the harsh and long North American winter eking out their survival in a strange and inhospitable landscape.

North America 113

North America Vermont America Farming 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

Barn Swallows are a bit unhappy with their image as restless aerial hunters and would like to gain a more stately and dignified profile. Of course, it is quite common for human parents to set fire to their family homes in order to keep the adult children from moving back home, but this is not an issue for drongos.

Singapore 147

Singapore Birds Mountain Goats Giraffes 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

The land was of course already occupied by San (Bushmen) hunter-gatherers for millennia and more recently Bantu tribes of the Nguni branch (most notably Zulus and Xhosas). The famous Verreaux family who made several expeditions into the province through the 1820’s and 1830’s procuring specimens for rich collectors.

Mozambique 182

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 182

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2020

This boldness isn’t restricted to exchanges with other grouse, either: in some locales, members of this circumpolar family are astonishingly foolhardy around humans. It’s also one of Scotland’s most iconic birds and the favorite quarry of hunters during the August season that begins on “The Glorious Twelfth”.

Sheep 189

Sheep Branding Ireland Fowl 189

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

About a month before departure my clients asked me if we were going to the same sites in Ghana as the offerings of another, rather upmarket, birding tour company. Here local hunters had known about the colony and for generations had been harvesting the birds by simply picking the adults off their nests during the breeding season.

Ghana 188

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 188

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

By the way, if you google “Black Kite”, the very first result you get even before the Wikipedia entry on the bird is a company named Black Kite. It is mostly a question of economics – raising just one is troublesome enough given the resources required to feed and educate the chick. Like this bird family b.

Birds 130

Birds Iraq China Ireland 130