10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

While Mike and Corey – fitting for being real celebrities in birding cycles – get invited to far-flung places such as Uganda, minor local birders sometimes at least get invited to places nearby. The birding life. But now back to birds … Little Ringed Plovers also seem to like to breed directly on the road.

Birds 207

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 207

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2023

Fortunately, there are a few more such breeding species than most Shanghainese are aware of. While the HBW states that it breeds at 300 – 2450 meters, in Shanghai – where such elevations are not available outside of the upper floors of a few highrises – it makes to with an altitude of about 0 meters as well.

Birds 130

Birds Eggs Breeders Breeding 130

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. If you like cute birds, you will probably like the Black-and-yellow Broadbill. Homework assignment: Is the bird in this video a male or a female? Maybe the birds I saw were not real. You can see why here.

Sri Lanka 205

Sri Lanka Birds Taiwan Cats 205

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Empire Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are the largest living penguin species, almost four feet tall (taller when they stretch), and the least likely to be seen on birding or nature trips. I was surprised to find out that the Penguins studied by Kooyman at the Ross Sea have no need to do a march since they breed so close to the water.)

Penguins 152

Penguins Seals Leopards Research 152

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2023

I recently asked ChatGPT some questions about the best birding locations in the United States and the results were decidedly mixed. Here are the queries and the ChatGPT responses are below: What is birding? What is a “nemesis bird” in birding? What is a “big year” in birding?

United States 147

United States North America Birds America 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 177

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

In retrospect, this weekend at Wuyuan was not exactly my finest hour as a bird photographer – hopefully, I could do better now, and perhaps one day I will, should normal traveling ever be possible again in China. I’d rather see yellow birds than yellow plants. Such a cute bird deserves a better representation.

China 147

China Birds Breeders Zoos 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Not professionally – these people come in SUVs and probably never recapture their gas money from the fish they catch (though come to think of it, neither do I with my bird photos). This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). One strange thing about Chongming is the inevitable presence of people fishing. End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

Another paper on Taiwanese birds found that “the urban Crested Goshawk bred 34 days earlier on average than the rural population with significantly higher nesting success”, concluding that “the urban Crested Goshawk population benefits from high food supply and low predation risk.”

Birds 147

Birds China Eggs Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Well, they mainly feed on birds, which may explain their low popularity. For the White-throated Rock Thrush , Wikipedia gives the slightly puzzling statement “The bird’s population is unknown, but is not increasing or declining.” Even if they look as charming as this Northern Boobook. Unfortunately, it is true though.

Birds 192

Birds China Eggs Owls 192

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

It is near a river, attracting some birds that like to eat wet food. As the national bird of Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the African Fish Eagle is usually very busy whenever it stays in these countries, giving speeches, opening shopping centers, etc. The birds I asked about this pretended not to be related to anyone though.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

But, sometimes an appreciation of birds and birding requires more than a reference book with images of birds and facts about their identifying field marks. There are large avian handbooks and small ‘how-to bird’ guides, and quite a few excellent books of both types have been published.

Birds 114

Birds North America Breeding America 114

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Sure, they’re always a dependable, can’t-miss tick whenever you need them to be there, whether it’s the first day of the year, or the first few minutes of a Big Day or Christmas Bird Count. But there’s no getting around the fact that the starling is likely the most detested bird on the continent – as far as birders are concerned, anyway.

Farming 180

Farming New York Breeding Unwanted 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

Hannah Buschert was first exposed to birds and birding during a required ornithology course at Oregon State University and she quickly caught the birding bug. This is Hannah’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Hannah and Erik ready to see some birds! I love to go on cruises.

South Africa 262

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 262

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

The experience was marvelous — but it also weighed heavily on me. That’s because I’d already seen the conclusions contained in a study that Audubon (my employer) was preparing to release, a study about birds and climate change. Birds are finely tuned to the climatic conditions that support them.

Species 174

Species Science Los Angeles 2000 174

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They looked out their windows and across their patios and up from their apartment terraces and saw–birds. This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives.

2020 263

2020 Birds Groups North America 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2023

The second thing to note is that this is an excellent and courageous book that tackles a group of birds whose field identification has stumped the most skilled birders. ” This builds and expands on a classic series of articles by Bret Whitney and Kenn Kaufman that appeared Birding magazine between 1985 and 1987.* known-identity).”**

Los Angeles 203

Los Angeles North America America Species 203

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

After Jason recently asked ChatGPT for birding advice, the management consultant in me – constantly thriving for efficiency improvements – immediately thought of the next step. The Seasonal Spectacles: Shanghai’s birding scene comes alive during the spring and autumn migration seasons.

China 160

China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2012

This title basically means I get paid to watch birds (like the above Indigo Bunting I digiscoped with my iPhone and Swarovsksi Scope) before wind farms, solar panels and pipelines go under construction (or sometimes I get to id bird parts found post construction). ” So how does this happen?

Arkansas 186

Arkansas Science Research Farming 186

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

Erika is a first year graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke. In her free time she travels near and far to find birds to continue building her life list, though many of her favorites can still be found right in her own backyard. Dry Tortugas National Park: Bird Banding Sooty Terns. Brown Noddy.

Birds 175

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 175

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2016

New Year’s resolutions from birding friends are starting to trickle in as I write this review. It is the last day of 2015, time to select the bird of the year past and set goals for the bright open future, when everything is new again. The process is called “Wide-angle birding: Be the bird, see the bird.”.

Birds 189

Birds Groups 2015 North America 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2015

Birds are a subset of dinosaurs (See: Honey, I Shrunk the Dinosaurs. Prior to the extinction of all of the other dinosaurs, resulting from a cosmic impact event about 65 million years ago, the ancestors of modern birds were different from modern birds in many ways, but also similar in many ways. So how did beaks evolve?

Alligators 209

Alligators Chickens Research Birds 209

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2021

If you haven’t been to Costa Rica, or if you’ve birded Costa Rica but somehow missed their damselflies and dragonflies (not a problem! I know how intense some birders can be), I can tell you from experience that there are some exquisite, stunning odonates flying around there. Paulson received his Ph.D. CONCLUSION.

Costa Rica 257

Costa Rica North America Family America 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

A bit of background: Pink Pigeons are medium-sized, pink/gray/ brown birds found on the island of Mauritius, Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. Mauritius may sound familiar, it was also the home of one of our most famous extinct birds—the Dodo. Don’t these birds care about propagating their species?

Mauritius 101

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2015

There are many charismatic endangered birds that capture people’s hearts and imaginations: the colossal California Condor , the evocative Red-crowned Crane , and the adorable Spoon-billed Sandpiper come to mind. This is a short series that brings attention to these incredible birds, and my various adventures to try and see them.

Ecuador 192

Ecuador California Condor Blackbirds Parrots 192

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Penguins are also bellweathers of climate change; dwellers of remote areas you’ve (probably) never heard of; creatures who have developed unique, innovative ways of adapting to the harsh environments where they breed and rear chicks and the water environments in which they feed and swim.

Penguins 193

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 193

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2018

The sight of the large bird, so awkward on the ground, trying to launch itself with the coaching of an indefatigable parent, was funny, charming, and amazing in its uniqueness. We didn’t know much about migration routes, foraging away from the breeding colony, and feeding during migration, in the water and in the air.

Albatross 114

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Phenology is a vital science. Cultures that experience it generally put a holiday of some sort at the end to motivate people to even bother living through it. Black-capped Chickadees , Song Sparrows , and Dark-eyed Juncos start testing their breeding songs as well, though they have a longer wait before things get serious.

Bald Eagle 156

Bald Eagle Montana Owls Dogs 156

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

Last week a mystery bird from New Jersey rightly caused a fair bit of confusion among birders of the Garden State and beyond. The bird was a sparrow, that much was clear, but it didn’t seem to fit any of the easily boxes the other North American sparrows can be fairly easily sorted into. New Jersey mystery sparrow.

New Jersey 216

New Jersey North Carolina Sparrows Connecticut 216

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2012

How to Be a Better Birder is a very different kind of birding book, and, once you think about it, the perfect book to be written at this particular moment in the birding universe. But, think about it: how much has been written about the process of birding, the skills required to find birds and to learn about birds in the field?

New Jersey 229

New Jersey Science United States Birds 229

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, experts have determined that the current rate of bird extinction is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times the background rate. Globally, 1,313 bird species of a total of count of 10,064 are threatened, a frightening 13% of the total.

Endangered Species 185

Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 185

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2011

Earlier attempts to spread the risk around had failed, so Don and his team applied science to the problem, spending several months studying the birds in the wild in order to work out how to care for them and to decide what type of habitat to release them into. It worked, and the translocated birds were soon breeding.

Species 220

Species New Zealand Rats Endangered Species 220

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2018

In addition to my monthly posts here, I have also written short pieces and feature articles that rely on bird-related scientific literature. Other papers are locked behind paywalls.) That research ultimately led to an article about the conservation efforts regarding the Laysan Duck in the June 2017 issue of Birding.

Transported 113

Transported 2011 Research 2012 113

Animal Person

JUNE 8, 2009

For those who didn't read the five-part Slate series " Pepper, the stolen dog who changed American science " by Daniel Engber , I recommend it for the history, but also for the misconceptions and assumptions that you might want to discuss on the Facebook discussion about the series. Let's deconstruct: Part I: Where's Pepper? Maybe on paper.

Animal Welfare 100

Animal Welfare Monkeys Animal Welfare Act Vivisection 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically. You simply cannot bird the Delaware Bay and walk away unaffected.

Delaware 177

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 177

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2011

The research, although widely accepted, was greeted with some skepticism early on (Sutton 1966), and eventually followup attempts to replicate his research and experiments near Clyde River Nunavut by Richard Schnell found that the data could not have been have been collected as Smith’s publications had indicated.

Research 167

Research Europe Iceland Panama 167