10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

The third weekend of January, I travelled to the coastal city of Acapulco to give a seminar on family finances at a church there. It originally served as the port of entry for goods brought from Asia by Spanish galleons. And my one lifer for the trip was a family of Rufous-naped Wrens that apparently live in the same garden.

Birds 166

Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 166

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Lakshmi rides an owl as her Vahana (a spirititual being or animal that transports a God) and the Spotted Owlet has been chosen to represent the family. Common throughout India with a range that covers much of South-east Asia, it can often be seen around habitation where it catches small rodents, insects and invertebrates.

Owls 185

Owls Rodents Transported India 185

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

But we forget that the family Sturnidae consists of more than our familiar European Starling. And would have still direct the same ire towards starlings if the specie sin question were a different one, like, perhaps, Central Asia’s gorgeous Rosy Starling ?

India 158

India Stray Dog United States Stray 158

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2011

Of course, I’m speaking of the mysterious Wood Stork , Mycteria americana , the only representative of that famous family to regularly occur north of the Mexican border and present in large numbers along the northern coast of South Carolina, where I found myself a couple weekends back. Here’s to the Wood Stork, then!

North America 170

North America Pedigree South Carolina Brazil 170