10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

In this instance, a team of crack experts assembled to move with precision timing in the face of bad weather, magnificently hostile terrain, and primitive facilities, all in order to give the collected eggs the absolute best chance to become healthy, breeding Spoon-billed Sandpipers in their own right. Also, there’s a bear!)

Eggs 163

Eggs Russia Research Breeding 163

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

99% of the commentary I have seen has been angry bordering on outright hostile, the few exceptions mostly being the kind of right wing “news” sites that love nothing more than tweaking a tree-hugging liberal like myself. It may even have been mentioned in Google+, although it is unlikely anyone noticed. You do a lot of good.

Lions 182

Lions Killing Hunting Hunters 182

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2012

Our small group spent a weekend at the Ferret Research Camp, a cluster of trailers tucked in the middle of a black-tailed prairie dog town and the site, as the name implies, of a black-footed ferret reintroduction program. Here, then, I was to spend three days and two nights, the nights most key because of the nocturnal nature of the ferrets.

Wildlife 182

Wildlife Ferrets Montana Prairie Dogs 182

4 The Love Of Animals

DECEMBER 22, 2009

If you have extra dog shirts/sweaters around (or if you would like to buy new ones), send them to The Dog Project. They are collecting sweaters to help dogs in shelters keep warm in the winter months. If dogs have to be in a shelter, at least they will be more comfortable. Try making a toy yourself. Get creative!

Shelters 100

Shelters Pets Dogs Cooking 100

4 The Love Of Animals

AUGUST 28, 2012

That’s right, your faithful, adoring four-legged friend. Yes, it would be lovely to have your dog trot smartly up the aisle with a cushion bearing your unique engagement rings , but deep down you know if that’s realistically going to happen. Train, Train, Train.

Pets 100

Pets Kittens Bears Suffering 100

Animal Person

MAY 12, 2009

So there was no traffic, no noise, and each day we awoke to the drama of the creatures who lived right outside our door. Creatures have come in phases for me: the duck phase, the cat phase, the dog phase, the bear phase (I was living in Vermont--it was unavoidable), the Canada goose phase. And a dead end.

Geese 100

Geese Ducks Feral Cats Vermont 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Solomon Islanders say that the species was driven to extinction by cats and dogs introduced by Europeans. The bird’s skeleton bears similarities to New Guinea’s much smaller (!) It is correct, of course, to think of extinction this way during the Holocene Extinction, which we are living through right now.

Solomon Islands 275

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 275

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

And, although these days I like to switch it around, sometimes using National Geographic or Stokes or a specialty guide or my Sibley phone app, that creased, dog-eared, red library tape bound book is still the field guide I keep in my car or slip into my suitcase for a trip to anywhere east of the Rockies.

North America 158

North America 2003 Birds America 158

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 24, 2006

According to this Associated Press story, if you are wearing a Sean John jacket with fur trim purchased from Macy's, that trim might have come from a dog indigenous to Asia known as a "raccoon dog." But when HSUS purchased several of these jackets, the jackets arrived bearing the labels "Made in China" and "genuine raccoon fur."

Fur 40

Fur Fur Industry HSUS Raccoons 40

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 20, 2007

The sleight of hand that gave us the “selfish” gene gives us the rights of baboons. But this means that the apes appeal to animal-rights activists for precisely the wrong reason—namely, that they look like people and behave like people, while making no moral demands. And that explains, in part, the appeal of the animal-rights movement.

Animal 40

Animal Morals Apes Emotional 40