10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2017

Despite mostly guiding them, I still somehow managed to see a European Badger sitting and watching me back for several seconds, before it slipped into bushes and quite a few White-tailed Eagles , e.g. four in just one morning. And how about Black Storks, otters and eagles? And, with it, its otters, eagles and storks.

Eagles 159

Eagles Campaign Otters Serbia 159

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2020

For starters, the official national animal is the unicorn, a fairy-tale beast chosen by Scottish royalty in the Middle Ages for its reputation as the natural enemy of the lion, the adopted mascot of English kings. Pair of Golden Eagles (1899) by Scottish painter Archibald Thornburn (1860-1935).

Eagles 157

Eagles Lions Hunting Lamb 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

We are facing a plague of poaching that is again decimating the species. Will the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) conference delegates up-list them to Appendix I of the Convention, forbidding any future sale over international borders? I say they were butchered, face-off.

Elephants 180

Elephants Botswana Zimbabwe Africa 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2013

And so, these goats ate the flora of the island: unique species of Indian paintbrush and woodland star, bushmallow and wirelettuce and morning glory. And so, most had been neutered, adopted out to soft-hearted landowners as odd pets, conversation pieces. Also, they were infested by a species of ear mite unknown to science.

Goats 159

Goats Bald Eagle Fox Feral 159

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

We sing about them, we paint them, we use them as mythic and poetic symbols for our spiritual and emotional feelings, we wear them in myriad and often colorful ways, we adopt them as household pets. Cocker writes about the species within each family with a literary specificity softened by a tone of conversational patience.

Birds 205

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 205

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2017

Now when you’re working at your best, overcoming the odds to incubate your eggs through a snowstorm or nudging your fledgling into their first tentative forays off the nest or adopting a baby from a completely different species as your own (that was top-notch work, guys, really excellent), you totally have them into you.

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle Belize Iowa Eggs 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. New World Vultures.

California Condor 175

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 175