10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

The book is chiefly about how people have conceptualized and studied birds, but there is an underlying theme, the changing ways in which our Western culture has viewed animals, nature and God. The drawing on the left is from 1714, the one on the right is the result of Birkhead’s own dissection.

Dissection 218

Dissection Birds Research Europe 218

4 The Love Of Animals

JUNE 7, 2012

Then travel to the Rockies, for a ringside seat as male bighorn sheep go head-to-head in a bloody battle for breeding rights. Then go to the Atacama Desert where Humboldt penguins raise families in the driest place on earth. Then go to the Atacama Desert where Humboldt penguins raise families in the driest place on earth.

America 100

America Sheep Penguins South America 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

As members of the raphine tribe spread out and diversified, taking on strange and sometimes flightless forms on small islands, many lost their ability to adapt to new competitors and predators — notably, humans and the animals that travel with us. I also find this model compelling. Rodrigues Solitaire ( Pezophaps solitaria ).

Solomon Islands 275

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 275

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

All of this leads to a longer life list, which is, after all, the entire point of bridwatching, right? Birds, because they fly, don’t store fat without paying a huge cost, which might in turn make them more vulnerable to variations in both food supply and thermal stress than ground dwelling animals. Well, not really.

Research 191

Research Humane Compassion New York 191