10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

Over the winter, the universe lost four whooping cranes to what appears to be recreational shooting: three gunned down together in Georgia on December 30, 2010, and another in Alabama on January 28, 2011. It may be as sick as deliberately targeting an endangered species for death. Speculation is useless in acts of vandalism.

2011 243

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 243

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; this category is reserved for only the most threatened species in the world. Conservationists searched intensively in 2011 but found none. It has not been seen in its small home range in central Vietnam since around 2000.

Vietnam 156

Vietnam 2000 Germany Groups 156

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. Now that the colony is off limits for hunting, the population has grown and the village is benefitting tremendously from entry and guide fees, and a school is being built courtesy of conservation funds. Is there a solution?

Ghana 199

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 199

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

birders have been able to visit Cuba as part of survey groups and cultural exchanges for years, but those trips have been few in number and not always easy to find. Each account gives population estimate, population trend, estimated area, endemism level, reasons why the species is threatened, and conservation measures adopted and proposed.

Cuba 238

Cuba Birds United States 2000 238

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

As 2013 draws to a close we here at 10,000 Birds thought that it would be a great idea if we, like we did in 2010 , 2011 , and 2012 , shared our Best Birds of the Year. Red Knot XS41059 was banded as a 1st year bird on September 11, 2011 near the town of Tain in the Scottish Highlands on the south shore of Dornoch Firth.

2013 168

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 168