10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

The six chapters that follow explore bird communication in mating; defending territory; rearing children; responding to predators; interacting with neighbors and functioning in large groups; and communicating successfully in a noisy human world. There is so much here! I do wish there was more about research on female bird song.

North America 279

North America Research Birds Groups 279

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2017

It’s 2017 and we have reached the halfway point. If you are doing any sort of year list, you know what I’m talking about and also know that now is the time to take a moment, count up the species, and go over strategies to reach those birding goals for 2017.

Costa Rica 101

Costa Rica 2017 Birds Tigers 101

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2021

In an effort to better understand the “human dimension” of its conservation efforts, several surveys were conducted, including the National Birdwatching Survey (NBS). In 2012 , the NFC revised some of its goals and set forth a new vision of waterfowl management that emphasized a core of hunter and conservationist supporters.

Minnesota 264

Minnesota Research Pennsylvania Ohio 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

There are many more factors than I imagined: compass errors, wind drift, overshooting, extreme weather and irruptions, natural dispersal, and human-driven vagrancy. Some birders may want to carefully read the chapter on human-driven vagrancy, which takes up the question of ship-assisted vagrancy. Next time, I’ll know why.

Birds 263

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 263

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Our wine of the week – the 2017 Raimat Saira Albariño – features these graceful, long-necked birds on its label, where the storks take shape in a flying formation of lovely geometric abstractions reminiscent of the work of Charley Harper. Raimat Saira Albariño (2017). Good birding and happy drinking! Three out of five feathers (Good).

2017 114

2017 Spain California Condor California 114

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

Birdlife South Africa has previously done two of these types of trips before, previously called Flock to Sea – Namibia in 2013 and Flock to Nowhere in 2017, in partnership with MSC Cruises. It has had very few humans walk its soil and who have had little impact to this otherwise pristine nature. Which makes it a haven for seabirds….and

South Africa 264

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2023

The bird on the photo is one of the estimated 3500-15,000 individuals still alive according to the HBW – a frightening thought given the (too) large number of humans, of which there are about 1 million times more (and of course, each of which weighs 5000 times more than the flycatcher).

Birds 130

Birds Raised Cattle Mammals 130

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Those of us who chase rare birds for our counties, states, or other human-made geographical distinctions watch birds for more reasons than the twitch. Recently, while guiding ABA 2017 Big Year winner Yve Nagy Morrell in Costa Rica for a handful of days, we found ourselves trying for just a few more.

Costa Rica 196

Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 196

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 195

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 195

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2019

The answer may lie more in the work of executive producer Gael Garcia Bernal, co-founder of the Mexican Ambulante Film Festival and the actor who co-presented the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film with the words, “As a Mexican, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of wall that separates us.”*

Advocacy 268

Advocacy Mexico United States Texas 268

Animal Person

AUGUST 12, 2010

In " Move to Limit 'Factor Farms' Gains Momentum " in today's New York Times , we learn that farmers in Ohio have agreed to phase out gestation crates within 15 years and veal crates by 2017. I won't get into whether I find that to be a victory. After all, he's part of a family business.

Gestation Crates 100

Gestation Crates Farming Factory Farm Factory Farming 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

The chapters on “Human Ecology in the Tropics” and “The Future of the Neotropics” succinctly describe the amount of damage humans have wrought on the rainforests and outline the complexities of current conservation initiatives. Princeton University Press, 2017. The New Neotropical Companion.

South America 164

South America Ecuador Reptiles America 164

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2018

Places for the birds to perch near the feeders? Do you change your feed according to the seasons? But, while I wait, I’m very happy observing the way a chickadee selects its seed. The Joy of Bird Feeding: The Essential Guide to Attracting and Feeding Our Backyard Birds . by Jim Carpenter. Scott & Nix, Inc., Paperback, 8 x 1.2

Birds 183

Birds New York City Squirrels New York 183

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2019

In September of 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by two powerful hurricanes: it was grazed by Irma and then clobbered by Maria, a Category 4 storm that cut a devastating swath across the island. The human and economic consequences were dramatic, and continue to be felt. The 2018 CBC tallied 2,492 birds of 87 species.

Puerto Rico 255

Puerto Rico 2017 2018 Virgin Islands 255

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

Not all habitat change is due to humans; there is Chestnut Blight destroying American Chestnuts in the early 1900s, and the more recent Dutch Elm disease. Still, the authors praise more than mourn, emphasizing that the most severe changes occurred before 1955, and that some NYC infrastructure changes have actually helped area bird life.

New York City 158

New York City New York Birds Breeding 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

Your last post for 10,000 birds was in 2017. And don’t forget, I’m the one coming out of solitude and ready to rejoin humanity in March of 2020. But I only rehabbed birds, so I had to do research and call my mammal rehabber friends. Are you still rehabbing birds? Not actively – unfortunately!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 268

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 268

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2018

I am a human being, so I am entitled to, and I do, say that the starling is an ugly bird. Thomas acknowledges that the Anthropocene epoch, the age of humans, is bringing a sixth great extinction, but that, by itself, is not something he much mourns. Prum, Doubleday).

Humane 105

Humane Species North America Sparrows 105

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

The posts are on diverse aspects of bird sound, from recording equipment and techniques to taxonomy to identification to hearing loss (human, not bird), and make an entertaining complement to the field guide. So is Pieplow’s contribution to the 2017 anthology Good Birders Still Don’t Wear White. by Nathan Pieplow.

North America 179

North America America Birds New York 179

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

Here, then, is coverage of the first half of our second day in Puerto Rico (16 January 2017), the day that our trip turned from near disaster to total victory thanks to a headache and a serendipitous stop on the side of the road. There are still three-and-a-half more days to cover! What am I talking about? I’m not sure how we forgot!).

Puerto Rico 100

Puerto Rico Birds 2017 Woodpeckers 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

With the advent of human development, we can now add “farmland and plantations” to various types of forest, rainforest, and swamps. Mangrove areas are disappearing and there are natural areas of savannah in addition to human-created grasslands. The Introduction also offers sections on Conservation , by Nick W.

Indonesia 136

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 136

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

The adults presumably have already learned that humans are not usually good news even if not named Donald Trump. A Lesser Cuckoo stayed in one of the Nanhui microforests for a few days, not being afraid of humans at all. However, this September, a friend alarmed me to the presence of a Fairy Pitta a little bit past 6 a.m.

Birds 130

Birds Tigers Humane Ecuador 130

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2017

Valentine’s Day may be, in many ways, merely a Hallmark holiday, but why miss an opportunity to celebrate the humans you love. Rolling into the second weekend of February should remind us that even the most misanthropic birders can feel love for more than just the thrill of observing avifauna.

2017 106

2017 New York Birds Humane 106

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Darwin Day is February 12th, and for an early celebration I thought I’d take a look at a book that rethinks the way Darwin, and we, think about evolution—a very specific part of evolution, the way beautiful features and behavior have developed amongst birds and, by extension, amongst humans. Doubleday, 2017, 448p. By Richard O.

Ducks 100

Ducks Research Animal Stud 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2019

So, I was excited to read reports in late 2017 of a pair of Whooping Cranes being seen on a cattle farm. In September, Abigail Ruth, a small human, was born and I became a grandmother. I was spending January 2018 with family in southeast Florida, and when my visit ended I packed up my car and took a very meandering route back to NYC.

2018 168

2018 New Jersey Michigan North Dakota 168

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2016

Others, by their own admission, are Luddites and believe that the pinnacle of human technological achievement was reached on the day that man first bound a notebook in moleskin. This is not an exhaustive list as a few of the beats do not use compatible listing software, or have reservations about revealing sightings of sensitive birds.

2016 154

2016 Sanctuary Australia Ghana 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Perhaps the most positive reaction came from noted bird photographer Marie Read, who noted that the information about waterfowl reaction to humans and decoys would be of great interest to nature photographers. As of January 2017, Ducks Unlimited has conserved 13,902,792 acres in North America, including 5,509,855 in the United States.*

Ducks 125

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 125