10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2017

My reasons for not liking a strict taxonomic order were essentially twofold: Similar species are not grouped together making identification harder than it should be. Birds of Borneo (2009): based on taxonomic order from 2008, with some changes due to practical reasons, review here. Phillipps, Q. &

Brunei 149

Brunei 2009 2016 2014 149

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2011

In fact, the two groups appear to belong near parrots and passerines, which are now thought to be sister clades. But what no major checklist has yet done (to my knowledge) is to take the next step and rearrange the order in which these groups of birds are presented. Some of this should sound familiar.

Parrots 219

Parrots Falcons Costa Rica South America 219

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary was an amazing and unexpected treat, but that’s because I failed to do my research. It’s only 15 minutes north of High Island, though in neighboring Chambers County (High Island is part of Galveston County, good to know if you’re going to be researching eBird checklists). Wood Thrush!

Houston 200

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 200

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) A little bit of research when I got home unraveled the ways of publishers here and in Great Britain. The first two questions were never definitely answered.

Trinidad 188

Trinidad Birds South America Research 188

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

First issued in a limited printing in 1972, then re-issued by Ammo Press in 2008 after Harper’s death in June 2007, it contains images that are iconic and familiar, striking and unique. Graphic artist Todd Oldham writes in the 2008 preface that this font is called “kismet”. A tradition was born.

Betty Crocker 170

Betty Crocker Birds 2008 2007 170

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

UNLESS that is you get yourself down to the internationally-renowned Tambopata Research Centre in southern Peru where literally hundreds of macaws (and other parrots) congregate around a 50 meter high clay bank. The experience is one of the ornithological highlights in the world. Is this one of the ornithological highlights on the planet?

Peru 254

Peru Parrots 2011 Research Center 254

Animal Ethics

JULY 22, 2008

Common-sense, rational reforms reflect the emerging consensus of mainstream animal protection groups like the Humane Society of the United States and millions of Americans who care about animals. Hope Ferdowsian Director of Research Policy Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Washington, July 14, 2008

New York Times 40

New York Times Humane Society Of The United States New York Apes 40

Animal Ethics

OCTOBER 17, 2008

Research indicates that sows do just fine in individual housing. And you do not acknowledge the individual care that pigs get in such systems and the protection from predators, diseases and the aggression that pigs often exhibit toward each other in group housing. Editorial rhetoric won’t help.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Gestation Farm Animal 40

Animal Person

JULY 3, 2009

This particular group fits in with other Bekoff books as well as those by Jonathan Balcombe and Jeffrey Masson (see here for more on some of them from April of 2008). And those mythical differences, of course, have historically been used to legitimize our use and treatment of our nonhuman cousins.

Morals 100

Morals Mammals Humane Emotional 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

There are over 5,000 species of frogs in existence (5,858 at the time the book was written, the exact number changes as research dictates re-arrangements of taxonomy and new species are discovered). But, within the frog group there is a tremendous range of diversity. And, they look like frogs.

Reptiles 181

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 181

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

But research has shown that some plovers even use the super-sensitive soles of their feet to detect movement beneath the substrate. We filmed these particular birds in early 2008 and this was when my videographer, Aderman, was still getting to grips with bird filming.

Florida 182

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 182

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2020

The speaker turned out to be Tim Laman, and the topic was the incredible research he and Ed Scholes had spent years doing on birds of paradise in New Guinea. The material is meticulously documented with citations of monographs by Clifford and Dawn Frith and Bruce Beehler plus additional research papers and materials.

Guinea 260

Guinea Birds Papua New Guinea Family 260

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

It confirms many of the once-radical notions put forward or refined by Shannon Hackett and her colleagues in 2008, and several since, and it proposes solutions to some of the most deeply unresolved questions about how major bird groups are related to each other. ( In 2008, Nick Sly published a review of Hackett et al.

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

The focus is on “groups of birds that are often observed in diurnal migration.” Also, because The Shorebird Guide already covers this group so completely.) Each section is composed of a ‘group introduction’ followed by individual species accounts. The group introduction of each section expands on these topics.

Ducks 224

Ducks Groups Species North America 224

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

This is the story of Fox’s experiences on board the Achiever, the research vessel of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. The Achiever’s survey voyages took place from 2005 to 2008; the goal was to collect baseline data on sea mammals and marine birds. Northern Fulmar, image courtesy of Peter Hodum.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

For my new book, due out in 2012 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I’ve been researching sandhill crane hunting. A Great Backyard Bird Count Miracle Best Bird of the Weekend (Last of January 2011) What is the International Bird Rescue Research Center Anyway? From July 1 2008-June 30 2009 Ducks Unlimited raised 200.4

2011 238

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 238

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

The Sibley Guide to Birds, 2nd edition (2014) covers 923 species; The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America (2010) 816; Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America (2008) 544; Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America (2008) 528; and the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America (2005) covers 392 species.

North America 177

North America America 2017 Birds 177

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

I was in contact with a group of birders for whom I arranged and guided an annual tour to Africa. They are large passerines and research has shown them to be an ancient basal offshoot from the passerine tree (at approximately the same time as rockjumpers, were even placed in the same family until quite recently).

Ghana 187

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 187

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

Ken also had a very dry sense of humour … and we definitively enjoyed his wry take on life… Despite being only in his twenties [in 2008], Ken seemed to have been birding for at least forty years, so good were his birding skills.”.

Rwanda 200

Rwanda Primates Wildlife Gorillas 200

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Science and Conservation , the second section, presents two-page summaries of the diverse research being done around the world about penguins. An interesting way of presenting images resulting from a group project; one that makes us think about the subject rather than the creator. I like it, but I also feel frustrated by it.

Penguins 191

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 191