10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2016

Other birding experiences have given me opportunities to meet kind, generous people in Mexico who seemed to belong to another time, to wonder if a nearby foraging bear was too close while doing a point count in Colorado, and to feel the deep territorial growl of a Jaguar in the primeval black of a Peruvian rainforest.

Birds 158

Birds Costa Rica Chickens Goats 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2016

2 Horned Puffin – Fratercula corniculata On my trip to Alaska, and the beautiful island of Kodiak to photograph the grizzly bears, my one wish was to track down and photograph the Puffins. While still a subspecies of the Bushtit , this is another bird that I am cheering on to get to be its own species some day. #2

2016 100

2016 Grizzly Bear Puffins Mexico 100

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 9, 2008

To the Editor: Re “ Bearing Up ” (Op-Ed, Jan. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the scientific literature is very clear that polar bear survival is highly threatened in the wild. Because polar bears are at the top of the marine food chain, their bodies accumulate persistent organic pollutants that disrupt their reproductive systems.

New York Times 40

New York Times Polar Bears New York Bears 40

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2024

Incidentally, their range is huge and circumpolar, extending from Scandinavia all the way through Siberia to Kamchatka, and from central Alaska and British Columbia east to Hudson Bay. For many years Waxwings were my bogey birds that I kept on missing. Remarkably, I found them instantly, though nobody else was watching them.

Finland 222

Finland Estonia Bears Ireland 222

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

For example, my list of the Top 25 National Wildlife Refuges for birding includes locations in Utah ( Bear River MBR ), Minnesota ( Minnesota Valley NWR ), and Wisconsin ( Horicon NWR ). Even some states that technically have checklists barely qualify: the great state of Illinois has just a single checklist with two species (from an airport).

Rhode Island 114

Rhode Island United States West Virginia Puerto Rico 114

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

Dunn starts in Alaska with the goal of seeing Rufous Hummingbird at the northern extreme of its migration (which he does with some effort and a few bear sightings) and ends in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, “the end of the world,” with the sighting of a Green-backed Firecrown feeding at a firetree in cold drizzly rain.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2016

While in Kodiak Alaska, I did get a few very nice Kodiak Grizzly Bear shots. This large bear was chasing salmon, and paid me little or no attention. The Northern Cardinals that inhabit this area tend to stay in cover and the dense thorn bushes, so getting this male up on top of this cactus was a treat.

Grizzly Bear 122

Grizzly Bear San Jose Bears Fish 122

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2018

They earn the annual avian medal of honor because they fly to Costa Rica from as far as Alaska and other places where Snowy Owls roam. Life is always better when bearing witness to Sunbittern madness. The shorebirds I did see, though, are highlights by rote. The distances are almost unimaginable. The changes are vast. Global Big Days.

Costa Rica 176

Costa Rica 2018 Birds West Virginia 176

Critter News

AUGUST 29, 2008

That's what Governor Pallin did in order to suck up to oil and gas interests in Alaska. The state has sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, seeking to reverse his decision to give polar bears protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears Endangered Species Bears Alaska 100