10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

By Julie • March 14, 2011 • 18 comments Tweet Share ACTION ALERT! Tomorrow, MARCH 15, 2011, is the deadline for public comment on a proposal to hunt sandhill cranes in Kentucky. March 14, 2011 Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Jon Gassett, Commissioner One Sportsman’s Lane Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 Dear Mr. Gassett, I am a writer, naturalist and artist with a special interest in human/bird interactions.

2011 83

2011 Campaign Hunters Kentucky 83

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Asides / World Sparrow Day 2011 World Sparrow Day 2011 By Corey • March 19, 2011 • 3 comments Tweet Share Though it may seem insane to American readers, as well as to any other people who view the House Sparrow as an invasive pest, in its home range Passer domesticus is on the wane. Coreys 2011 Year List - 228 Copyright © 2011 10,000 Birds.

2011 77

2011 Sparrows Deer Cats 77

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 25, 2011

Earth Hour 2011 takes place tomorrow, March 26, 2011 ! People, businesses and iconic buildings around the world will switch off their lights for an hour at 8:30pm local time. The World Wild Life Fund hosts this event to help spread the word that people care about the Earth, and conserving the resources we have. You can sign-up and pledge to take part by clicking here ! And don’t forget to turn off your lights!

2011 100

2011 Animal 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / First Phoebe of 2011 First Phoebe of 2011 By Corey • March 20, 2011 • 11 comments Tweet Share My first sighting of an Eastern Phoebe each year is, for me, when spring officially begins. I guess 2011 will be a standard year of birding for me. Audrey Mar 20th, 2011 at 1:17 pm and PS.

2011 67

2011 Deer Philadelphia Blackbirds 67

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

If you do know what a kestrel is, particularly an American Kestrel , our buddy Robert Mortensen came up with a constructive way to finish your Labor Day weekend… The purpose of the Great Kestrel Count 2011 is to celebrate the the ABA Bird of the Year, introduce someone to birding, and have fun. Be sure to send pictures, stories, and video clips of your celebration of The Great Kestrel Count 2011 to Robert , who will post them at www.BirdingIsFun.com to share with the world.

2011 66

2011 Atlanta Bald Eagle North America 66

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2011

The deadline is September 5, 2011, so get to snapping! Audubon Magazine features some of the finest nature photography you’ll ever have the pleasure to behold. If your nature photography dazzles the eye and delights the imagination, you should consider entering this year’s award contest. If the phenomenal prizes don’t inspire you, the level of competition should! Asides Audubon photography

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2011 Birds 65

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2011

v=WV48TIkHVKg Now, obviously it is always difficult to choose a few favourites, but if you find an image in the complete DOY 2011 gallery that you believe is worthy of being in this post, feel free to give the details in the comment section below – and a description of why you find it so appealing – and I will add it to this post over the next few days.

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2011 Puffins Netherlands Italy 79

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 13, 2011

In honor of Petfinder.com’s 15th birthday , they want everyone to spread the word about pet adoption on March 15, 2011. March 15th is “Adopt the Internet Day&# ! What is it and how do you help? We love this idea and will be participating! Hopefully you love it too, and Petfinder has some fun and easy ways to help you spread the word: What You Can Do. Add a badge to your Web site to show your support. Take the pledge that you will tell one person about pet adoption on March 15.

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2011 Adoptable Pets Animal 109

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2011

2011 is about to become 2012 and birders the world over are taking a look at their year lists and reminiscing about the awesome sightings and devastating dips that they have experienced. We here at 10,000 Birds thought this would be a perfect time to look back and figure out what each of us considered our Best Bird of the Year, just like we did last year.

2011 75

2011 Guyana Minneapolis South Korea 75

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Asides / Galveston FeatherFest 2011 Galveston FeatherFest 2011 By Mike • March 16, 2011 • No comments yet Tweet Share Texas has been on my mind quite a bit lately, as has spring migration. Coreys 2011 Year List - 228 Copyright © 2011 10,000 Birds.

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2011 Deer Massachusetts Utah 50

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

For 13 years now, friends and family have been gathering in an undisclosed corner of Potter County, Pennsylvania during the third weekend of July to create a glorious giant chicken of wood, straw, and gunpowder only to burn it. See why we keep the location undisclosed? The Chicken Inferno is always one of the highlights of my year, but bird watching rarely takes center stage at the event. This year, though, the birding was better than usual.

2011 66

2011 Chickens Blackbirds Turkey 66

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2011

A most interesting question was posed to me by a birding friend. I could not guess the answer despite some pretty good tries on my part. I open the question up to you. The email, received on May 7 at 6:15AM, reads verbatim: “RE: NEW YARD BIRD ‘This morning – flying with three of another related species (those were interesting enough in themselves). It was still a little dark out there; I would have missed it had it not been for the three companions.

2011 66

2011 New York Species Birds 66

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2011

Hello all. This will be my last Avian Quiz. I am hanging up my computer? My binoculars? Hard to tell. I hope you’ve had as much fun with these quizzes as I have had. Here is this week’s quiz: I was fortunate to visit a college friend these last few days. I live in the US, in New York State. My friend also lives in the US, but in a different state. A state that I have never visited before. [Yes, Yes, that's a hint. It's not nearby.] Please do NOT guess the species.

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2011 New York Species Birds 59

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2011

Today’s quiz is all about birds. Every clue is about birds. Birds, birds, birds. The answer, however, is not about birds. I give clues to 4 words, a phrase. Your task is to figure out the next word in this sequence of words. 1 st two words: Birdsong I am hearing now, near the end of June, in the suburbs. I am in upstate NY and it’s pretty common hereabouts.

2011 59

2011 Louisiana Texas Florida 59

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2011

Summer is ending, and that means the birds are migrating again. In Cyprus it also means that the hunters and trappers are active again. It starts with the trappers, who’ve been at it for weeks now. BirdLife Cyprus started their Fall monitoring program weeks ago. The trapping is particularly bad in the Cape Pyla area. If you’re a tourist there, no problem, you can get some sand and sun only a walking distance from fields used for trapping.

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Cyprus 2011 Killing Hunters 68

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2011

This week’s quiz is all about what we don’t know. Or that the internet will allow anyone to post anything no matter whether it is correct or not. While researching this quiz on the internet, I have seen many numbers claiming to be the correct number. These numbers include 234, 204, 172, 225, 212, and 221. The snarky part of me is tempted to have judgments about all these people who post invalid numbers. Don’t they do their research?

2011 59

2011 North America Research America 59

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

The odd climate patterns lately have conspired with my already suspect grasp of phenology to completely baffle my sense of season. As I’m sure you’ve heard me mention once or twice, winter comes early– very early –to western New York. Yet we’ve barely seen a flake of frost so far. Even more peculiar, I think our foliage just hit peak last week. This seems at least a couple of weeks off what I expect. Has weather and seasonal activity been screwy where you live?

2011 77

2011 New York Experience Experiments 77

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2011

In the United States, so much seems to be happening towards the end of October. Not only is baseball hitting the very apex of what excitement it arouses, but the storylines in the National Football League are just beginning to manifest in reality rather than in the empty space between commentators. Kids can’t help but work themselves into a multi-week Halloween frenzy. And we still get to enjoy fall migrants knowing well that the birds of winter aren’t far away. Good times!

2011 77

2011 United States Turkey Experience 77

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2011

The final answer. Thank you all for your good wishes on this last quiz. And great appreciation for all the guesses and answers, right and wrong, throughout these years. For me, writing good quizzes has meant working long hard hours, researching, emailing, reading field guides, conferring with master birders around the world. After a few months, I hired three full time staff members to assist in this task.

2011 64

2011 Portland Oregon New York 64

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birding / Best Bird of the Weekend (First of March 2011) Best Bird of the Weekend (First of March 2011) By Mike • March 7, 2011 • 12 comments Tweet Share We’re already a week into March, but I’m still shoveling snow. Best Bird of the Weekend (Second of March 2011) Where Are You Birding This Second Weekend of March 2011?

2011 66

2011 Deer Costa Rica Philadelphia 66

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2011

Happy Halloween! See how I assume you celebrate Halloween no matter where in the world you live? Must be the way you’re dressed… The best bird of my weekend was Tufted Titmouse , which has become more prominent here as we approach winter. I forgot how much bigger these birds are than the other species like chickadees they pal around with. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend ™ was one of the many American Pipits that were moving along the coast.

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2011 Experience Experiments Species 75

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2011

It was a gusty weekend in New York City and environs, with fall finally feeling like fall is supposed to feel. Sparrows have almost completely taken over for wood-warblers and temperatures are finally waning as is only proper. How was your weekend? Mike was in Costa Rica this weekend after what felt like an interminable delay at the airport in Atlanta where he had to change planes. He lost nearly a day off of his trip but I am sure that he managed to see some birds once he arrived.

2011 75

2011 Costa Rica Atlanta New York City 75

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2011

Last week, I mentioned how odd the weather has been around here. By odd, of course, I mean absolutely lovely. I know these patterns are atypical for western New York. I’m still curious about what my fellow naturalists have noticed: has the weather been odd by you? How so? Enough phenology… let’s get down to some field ornithology! My Best Bird of the Weekend™ had to be White-breasted Nuthatch.

2011 74

2011 Jamaica Ducks New York 74

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Don’t you just love sharing your best bird of the weekend with people that actually appreciate exciting sightings? Precious few are fortunate enough to work in an office where avian observations are swapped around the water cooler. For those of us who are not in that chosen.0001% (Occupy ABA , anyone?),

2011 73

2011 Owls Experience Experiments 73

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

How highly do you value a three-day weekend? For me, time of year exerts a significant impact on the worth of extra days off. Plus I work all the time, so I don’t really get a weekend! But this is about you, right? Does a three-day weekend in late fall mean as much to you as one in late spring? Obviously, my question is prompted by the extended weekend triggered for many by Veterans Day in the U.S.

2011 73

2011 Philadelphia Eagles Wildlife 73

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2011

Sometimes a person should keep his fool mouth shut. Before the weekend began, I opined about how October felt like a real fall month as compared to the capricious climate swings of September. Then the freezing rain began! So much for my weekend… Unless you like House Sparrows more than I do, you won’t be impressed by my best bird of the weekend.

2011 74

2011 Philadelphia Sparrows Experience 74

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2011

The shadow of Halloween is falling over the United States as we speak, foreboding haunted hijinks for celebrants, especially the junior set. Have you ever seen anyone birding in costume or even done it yourself? Wearing camo while busting the ghosts of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers doesn’t count, but otherwise we’d all love to hear stories and see pictures! I’ll be shuttling my little goblins to an assortment of Halloween-themed diversions this weekend.

2011 73

2011 United States Woodpeckers Birds 73

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Avian Quiz – March 11, 2011 Avian Quiz – March 11, 2011 By Jory • March 11, 2011 • 7 comments Tweet Share As I’ve mentioned before, clues for these quizzes are taken from bird guides and other resources. North America Mike McCloy Mar 11th, 2011 at 12:59 pm Southern Appalachian Mountains (usually about 4000-5000 ft.

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2011 North America Deer America 46

4 The Love Of Animals

DECEMBER 30, 2010

Celebrate safely, and we look forward to seeing you in 2011 Thank you dear readers for a wonderful 2010!! We are excited for the coming year, and hope to keep bringing you fun, animal related content. We especially hope to reach our goals of promoting animal rescue and adoption, all while having a lot of fun in the process. We truly couldn’t do it without your support! Thank you!! PurinaCare recently sent us an email with resolutions for pets and pet parents!

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2011 2010 Pets Adoptable 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2011

On this final day of 2011 it is time, just like it was on the final day of 2010 , to share your Best Birds of the Year. Here, without further ado, are your Best Birds of 2011, in no particular order. The bird I picked as my Best Bird of the Year 2011 is the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Susan Kailholz-Williams had raptors as her BBOTY: My best and thrilling bird of 2011: First confirmed nest of Mississippi Kites right here in Ohio.

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2011 Ohio North Dakota Illinois 62

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2011

Ah yes, the answer to this week’s quiz. Here is what I remember about the quiz: the clues are all about birds, but the answer is not. OK, got it. Clues=birds. Answer=not birds. I gave clues to the first four words in a sequence of words, your job was to get the next word in sequence. Here are the clues, and their answers: 1 st two words … I’m listening to a local birdsong right now, eastern US north to Canada, common, suburban … Tufted Titmouse … “Peter, Peter”.

2011 61

2011 Louisiana Florida Canada 61

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Asides / Cats Are Still Public Enemy Number One, For Birds Cats Are Still Public Enemy Number One, For Birds By Corey • March 21, 2011 • No comments yet Tweet Share The New York Times and Tweety have it absolutely correct. Coreys 2011 Year List - 228 Copyright © 2011 10,000 Birds.

2011 74

2011 Cats Deer New York 74

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

We’re heading into the third weekend of November, which every year (so far) is followed by the fourth weekend of November. If you live in the United States, the fourth weekend of November is the only time of year your relatives might be interested in your ornithological information about Meleagris gallopavo , so be sure to trot out these turkey facts around the Thanksgiving table. I’m sharing them now to give you a full week to study.

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2011 United States Turkey Birds 70

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

This week’s quiz is geographically GLOBAL in nature. It is not limited to North America, as many of my other quizzes are. Your objective is to determine the correct country and then answer the questions shown at the bottom of the quiz. Good luck! Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 2. It is at the top of my list of countries to visit specifically for birding. No plans yet, sigh.

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2011 Myanmar Venezuela Bolivia 53

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2011

This just in… Dan Rhoads, weary to the bone with eyes nearly burnt out from competitive bird watching, just completed his report of the Second Annual Cyprus Bird Race , transmitted it to the 10,000 Birds home office through secret back channels, and then collapsed. We expect he’ll recover in time, but don’t let his struggles be in vain.

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Cyprus 2011 Cattle Blackbirds 52

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2011

Our late autumn has been absurdly warm in the northeastern United States and though winter is only days away it seems no one has notified the weather. That is, no one had notified the weather until this past Sunday, the day of the Queens County Christmas Bird Count. While it wasn’t unreasonably cold it was the coldest day that we had experienced since February. I guess that is only fair – after all this is the Christmas Bird Count that we all do, not the 4th of July Bird Count!

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2011 Sparrows Ducks Abandon 56

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2011

Life, Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. From what I read, birds are the class of Aves [feathered, winged, bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying and vertebrate animals]. Also, and this is pretty cool, there are extinct birds that have different characteristics [no wings, for example. Who knew?]. No surprise: there have been debates about how all the birds should be organized within this structure.

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2011 Family Eggs Species 59

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2011

To call this quiz “An Avian Quiz&# is a bit of a stretch. All disparaging comments should be forwarded to Corey or Mike. All kudos should be sent to me! This week I mangle and analyze words. Your job is to make some sense of it all. On this quiz, you might want to work backwards.

2011 50

2011 Asia North America Europe 50

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birding / Avian Quiz Answer – March 11, 2011 Avian Quiz Answer – March 11, 2011 By Jory • March 14, 2011 • 1 comment Tweet Share First off, congratulations to all who tried the quiz, and to Mike and Jason who got it right. Share Your Thoughts « Best Bird of the Weekend (Second of March 2011) Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?!

2011 50

2011 Deer New York Kentucky 50

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

How was your weekend? North of the equator, we have precious few remaining days where light exceeds darkness. The encroaching darkness instills in me a measure of gloom, but also creates the conditions that make fall activities interesting. Remember, I’m writing to you from a fairly northern latitude, though Clare probably thinks I’m spoiled! My weekend was full of fall family fun with the highlight, a trip to pick the last of the season’s berries and the first of its apples.

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2011 Family Experience Experiments 66

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2011

Have you used August as an excuse or incentive to travel? I highly recommend it, but then again I always advocate travel, no matter the month! Would you believe my best bird of the weekend was a Screaming Piha ? Believe it, and in the ABA area no less. I took my kids on a fun whirlwind tour of Washington D.C. but my best bird of the weekend was in Baltimore, specifically the Aquarium.

2011 66

2011 Puffins Baltimore DC 66

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2011

Do you know what I love about October? Pumpkins! Everywhere you look in the United States around this time of year, giant orange squashes are just loafing around, killing time until their inevitable trip to the mulch pile on November 1. Pumpkins feature in some pretty tasty dishes, but once I discovered how much better sweet potato pie tastes than pumpkin pie, I’ve preferred these curcurbits for their festive fall attitude. Do you think of October when you see pumpkins?

2011 65

2011 Costa Rica Stud United States 65

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birding / Where Are You Birding This Third Weekend of March 2011? Where Are You Birding This Third Weekend of March 2011? By Mike • March 17, 2011 • 24 comments Tweet Share Happy St. Best Bird of the Weekend (First of March 2011) Where Are You Birding This First Weekend of March 2011? Liz Mar 17th, 2011 at 3:04 pm Cool capture!

2011 53

2011 Oakland Deer South Dakota 53