10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2019

While the hunting of game with trained birds of prey can be a controversial topic among birders , falconry was a valuable early source of information on birds, and its history, culture, and imagery continue to fascinate bird lovers, as we shall see. In English, the plays of William Shakespeare abound with the language of the falconer.

2016 133

2016 Portugal Falcons Japan 133

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2023

In the human psyche, owls can be cuddly signs of good luck and benificence (as they are in Japan, and Harry Potter movies) and, at the same time, eerie and unsettling. Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Barn Owls 113

Barn Owls Owls Serbia Finland 113

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

They bred on a number of islands near Japan and Taiwan, and ranged widely and abundantly from the Aleutian Islands south through California. Not only were they a common bird, they were a common bird nearshore; indigenous peoples hunted them up and down the coast. Brown Pelicans are not an unusual sight on the California coast.

Albatross 215

Albatross Endangered Species Geese Alaska 215