10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

Baby birds are cuteness personified, possibly even more so than other baby animals, including human babies, and pose interesting questions of survival and development. Baby birds may be separated from the nest and their parents because of natural occurrences (violent weather, floods) or unknowing human interference or predators.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 249

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 249

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Second, reading about birds courting and parenting brings out the tendency to identify, which leads directly to anthropomorphism, the tendency to assign birds human emotions and thoughts. Think of birds too much as humans and you lose the specialness that makes them birds. And of eggs and nests and birds on nests. But special.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2017

27, 2015 Christian Gutierrez, Raymond Justice, and Carter Mesker went on a camping trip to Ka’ena Point Natural Area Reserve on Oahu, Hawaii. They emerged from their bloody rampage leaving fifteen adults dead, and fifteen destroyed nests with either smashed or missing eggs. They were simply sent to Family Court.

Albatross 214

Albatross Honolulu Hawaii Killing 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

Ballantine and Hyman explore how birds communicate and summarize studies on how that communication functions in diverse bird families all over the world. Their text is combined with 200 (rough count) brightly colored photographs, many full or three-quarter page in size, and 10 charts and diagrams. There is so much here!

North America 278

North America Research Birds Groups 278

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

That system may treat sentient animals like car parts, ruin antibiotics we need for human medicine, and destroy rural communities by polluting our air and water, but at least it’s “efficient” (a word Mr. Hurst hammers three times). The idea that eggs from free-range chickens are somehow morally superior to other eggs is, frankly, weird.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Gestation Crates Gestation 40

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2023

The photos in this post were taken in 2015 and 2016 – I was not only an amazingly attractive, almost young person then, but also a surprisingly bad photographer. As a consequence, even though the Verditer Flycatcher does not discriminate against foreign eggs, no cuckoo species has found a viable way to turn it into a useful stepparent.

China 169

China Birds Eggs Woodpeckers 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

This is how, I think, the “Crossley technique” works best—coverage of specific bird families that pose identification challenges to birders at all levels of skill. And Hybrids: Waterfowl tend to hybridize to a greater degree than most other bird families, and the guide does an excellent job of covering hybrids. Barker and Carrol L.

Ducks 115

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 115