10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

Penguins are cartoons, emoticons, animated films, children’s books (though owls really take first place here), sports teams, a book publisher, and a Batman villain (a rare example of penguin negativity, though Burgess Meredith did bring an endearing attitude to his 1960’s TV portrayal). © Otto Plantema, used with permission.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

I am exhilarated – I have had only a handful of chances to observe this species! These falcons mostly feed on insects, but in the breeding season they catch migrating passerines – they even time their breeding to coincide with Autumn migration of passerines in late summer! Such a fascinating species.

Greece 232

Greece Falcons Madagascar Africa 232

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

So, it sometimes comes to South Africa to relax and enjoy relative anonymity. Colorful bills and heads seem quite popular among Letaba’s bird species – see the African Jacana (blue and black) … … the Striated Heron (yellow and blue) … … and the Yellow-billed Stork (yellow and red).

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

Birds of Kruger National Park covers the 259 species most frequently seen in the park, about half of the total number of birds documented there. This still leaves the user flipping through sections, looking for the species in question, though I don’t think there are many species with this habitat overlap.

Ecuador 178

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 178

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

The Kerkini Lake National Park is my favourite birding area in the whole of the Balkans and while I’ve been here in April and again (migration), September (migration), October (coffee break), December and January (wintering), this was my first time in the breeding season, in May. But nowadays, they, too, breed here, about 20 pairs this year.

Greece 198

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 198

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2019

In the end, I truly did set out to reduce the number of birds that I feature here from 1302, my years total species, down to 10-12. Our first Day In South Africa, I spotted the Burchell’s Courcal, as it flew across the road in front of us we entered Kruger National Park. I present to you, my favorite birds of 2018.

2018 168

2018 Costa Rica South Africa New Zealand 168

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

Other species have certainly expanded their ranges, but never in such a rapid and global scale. The Cattle Egret is native to Africa, where it is a familiar sight among herds of large mammals. They feed on insects stirred up by the herds, at times sitting on the animal itself picking off ticks and other insects. coromandus.

Cattle 170

Cattle South Korea Suriname Seychelles 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

” Writing about owls means writing about roughly 250 species (I counted 245 on the 2022 Clements spreadsheet, but I might have missed a few, and we all know that each classification system is different). The chapters on courtship and breeding and roosting and migration are the longest, which isn’t surprising.

Owls 220

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 220

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Some differences in animal behavior are quite striking. I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

They are software mascots, cartoon characters, animated film dancers, children’s book heroes, zoo celebrities, and documentary film stars. Every section is excellent, Going from back to front, the Species Natural History section is where to go for answers to all your questions about penguins and then some.

Penguins 205

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 205

Animal Person

MARCH 27, 2009

In "Council Bozos Want to Ban Circus Animals in City" Ellis Henican ridicules the New York City Council for introducing a bill to ban the "display of wild or exotic animals for public entertainment or amusement." The elitist “animal-rights” zealots hate to admit this.

Circus Animals 100

Circus Animals New York City Elephants Zoos 100

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Busch Gardens’ animal care team has something new keeping them up at night – a four-week-old baby cheetah that requires regular feedings and 24-hour care. Cheetahs are included on both the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of vulnerable species as well as on the US Endangered Species Act list of threatened species.

Jacksonville 100

Jacksonville White Rhinos Zoos Rhinos 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 14, 2012

Ethiopia , a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. The Abyssinian Empire was the only African nation to survive what is now known as the Scramble for Africa, and was never colonized (it did endure 6 brutal years under Fascist Italian occupation).

Ethiopia 271

Ethiopia Eritrea Africa Mammals 271

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. Here’s the kicker though.

California Condor 187

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 187

4 The Love Of Animals

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Nat Geo WILD takes viewers around the world to follow dedicated people working to save Nature’s Miracle Babies – often the last hope for critically vulnerable species. Each animal they raise to adulthood is a step away from extinction, with the ultimate challenge to return them to the wild. Miracle Babies: Baby Pandas.

Pandas 100

Pandas Leopards Gorillas Zoos 100

Animal Ethics

JUNE 7, 2016

In light of this horrible incident, is it right for the zoo to carry on a breeding program that subjects more animals to such unnatural lives? It is estimated that due to conflicts with humans, the bushmeat and body parts trade, disease and habitat destruction, large mammals in Africa may be extinct by the end of this century.

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Gorillas Zoos Non Human 40

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

I had assumed that the the prions would turn out to be the Fairy Prion , the common local species which I saw lots of up in Northland over Christmas , but it turned out that while tehre were a few of these the vast majority of the prions wrecked were the more southerly species, the Broad-billed Prion. Oh, there they are.

New Zealand 189

New Zealand Vet Collecting Geese 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2014

There are approximately 10,000 plant species in the Cerrado. It also supports the greatest variety of large mammals in all of South America, including such iconic species as Maned Wolf and Giant Anteater. A Rufous-winged Antshrike, a typical species of lightly wooded savanna in the lower elevations of the park.

Brazil 168

Brazil South America Collecting America 168

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 207

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 207

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. We already had South Africa, Zambia and Uganda under our belts, but my clients’ request for the next year came right out of the blue: Ghana! We also knew we had discovered Africa’s next hot birding destination.

Ghana 196

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Gannets and Boobies (Sulidae) Black-and-white gannets breed on the cold, rocky coasts of the northern and southern oceans.

2011 154

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 154

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

This makes it a particularly exciting time in New Zealand as the Rugby World Cup begins in two days, and the competition is being held right here in New Zealand (I would imagine they might be more excited if they hadn’t just lost two matches to Australia and South Africa, their big rivals in the Tri-Nations).

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Penguins Sanctuary Birds 157