10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

The chapter titles of Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds represent both ends of the spectrum: “A World Full of Poisons,” “Malaria,” “Forest Intruders,” “Lead Shock,” “Shot.” Conservation. It’s not easy.

California Condor 176

California Condor Falcons California Birds 176

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2022

Some more photos of Australian birds mixed with irrelevant facts and mediocre half-jokes, as a way to pass away the time while being under lockdown in Shanghai (note: it is over now but this post was written during the lockdown). It must be a bit frustrating for a flower to be less colorful than the bird visiting it though.

Australia 194

Australia Birds Feral Cats Kangaroos 194

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2016

This is not surprising at all due to the fact that we have monitored the Pied Oystercatcher breeding success (or lack thereof ) since 2000 along a twenty three kilometre stretch of beach and it is very rare for any of the sixteen pairs to succeed. This pair of Pied Oystercatchers has been successful on one occasion and that was in 2012.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Feral Cats 2000 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2016

Specifically, the state’s Big Island, where a new fence was just completed in the hopes of protecting an endangered bird. Though the Hawaiian Petrel lives throughout the Hawaiian islands, its numbers are low, and fewer than 100 pairs breed in the Big Island’s Hawaiian Volcanoes Natural Park (also home to the Mauna Loa volcano).

Protection 133

Protection Feral Cats Hawaii Feral 133

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2020

Our first Pied Oystercatcher eggs for this year’s breeding season were laid early and were due to hatch last weekend. They are a large chunky bird with substantial legs when they hatch out. Feral cats are also a problem in Broome. This is a sad outcome for the first attempt at breeding this year for Pied Oystercatchers.

2020 172

2020 Eggs Feral Cats Breeding 172

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

The Christmas Bird Count was the answer. The IWC census starts from mid-January following the logic that it is the period when the birds have reached their wintering grounds and are rather static, so the chance of double-counting the same flock is minimal. But it is so frustrating to pass the birds by without IDing them!

Geese 145

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2015

Two Feral Pigeons. Three Feral Pigeons. And so on… not much of a birding day, heh? One more Feral Pigeon. One Feral Pigeon. The weakest bird from a pigeon fancier aviary gets a dubious honour to be promoted into a Kamikaze. A Hooded Crow. One more Hooded Crow. A Great Tit. Yet, not a trace of a falcon.

Switzerland 193

Switzerland Serbia Feral Falcons 193

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2014

Yes there are birding sites and there are birds – but hardly much info about them (beside Fat Birder ). Local birding sites are well known – among local birders. Nevertheless, describing where to bird is easy. And so, which dozen or so birds to choose as the Belgrade specialties? Black Stork – spring/summer.

Serbia 176

Serbia Eagles Birds Sparrows 176

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Walking along a dirt track next to a prairie, my friend and I were on the look-out for different sparrow species when a large bird suddenly darted into the clearing. In fact, they are central to many Mexican and Native American spiritual beliefs, and have been named the state bird of New Mexico.

New Mexico 101

New Mexico Mexico Coyotes Rattlesnake 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2014

These wild birds migrate out of Florida to northern breeding areas in the spring and are not present in Florida during the mottled duck breeding season. State biologists are observing more and more mixed flocks and mixed pairs in the wild and these feral mallards are mating with mottled ducks, producing a hybrid offspring.

Florida 205

Florida Ducks New Zealand Feral 205

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2019

There was evidence of feral cats and now we have seen foxes around Broome we know they will also be a threat to our local shorebirds. Pied Oystercatcher chicks can swim, but maybe feral cats will too if they are hungry. Some nests had clearly been there for some time and had contained eggs until recently.

Feral Cats 120

Feral Cats Eggs Feral Fox 120

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

However, in this post, I’d like to lay out the basic numbers as we pretend to know them about overall bird mortality, human related causes of mortality, and somewhere in there I’ll note that the number of birds that are killed by windmills is so small that it says “zero” on my pie chart. So keep that in mind.

Killing 274

Killing Cats Fish Birds 274

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2019

It is quite common for several clutches of Pied Oystercatcher eggs to be laid during the breeding season and often within ten days of egg or chick loss. The two chicks appear to favour being close to the male bird and this is most likely due to the male bird being on the eggs when they hatch.

Eggs 123

Eggs Feral Cats Shelters Feral 123

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2014

I have a larger post coming out next week as part of a special 10,000 Birds topical extravaganza, so for now just three little things. But did you know that there is a bat that specializes in eating birds that are migrating at night? Giant Bats Snatch Birds from Night Sky. Birds research' And daily feces analysis.

Los Angeles 173

Los Angeles Bats Feral Cats New York City 173

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2015

I was birding one of my favorite places yesterday, Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Palm Beach County, Florida, and, as generally happens, people were asking me about the birds they were admiring. Small), it provides a friendly and authoritative way for people interested in the birds around them to learn more quickly and easily.

Colorado 235

Colorado Florida Birds New Jersey 235

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2018

We have been busy walking the beach and keeping an eye on our local Pied Oystercatchers and the two pairs that laid their eggs earliest for the 2018 breeding season and successfully hatched out their chicks have now lost their chicks to predation. Animal prints leading to and from a raided nest.

Eggs 118

Eggs Feral Cats Feral 2018 118

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Within its European range, it was heavily hunted until the late 19th century, and the Mute Swan was subsequently a very rare bird to encounter in the wild. Contradicting this relentless shooting were efforts to establish feral populations in many regions of Europe, both within and outside its natural range.

Feral 169

Feral Europe Asia North America 169

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2012

There I found a study which showed that the ingenious little birds had found a protein source that allowed them to coincide their breeding with times of man-made, rather than natural seasonal abundance. They are popular as caged birds and escapees have established a number of feral populations beyond their normal ranges.

Asia 190

Asia Feral Breeding Africa 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2014

Feral cats have been able to adapt very well in Australia and have grown larger over the years and can survive in areas that you would not expect. We have seen them on remote beaches hunting shorebirds and taking their eggs and they have been responsible for much of the egg loss in breeding Pied Oystercatchers along the Broome coast.

Australia 157

Australia Species Feral Cats Feral 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

It is commonly kept in captivity and has therefore established many feral populations world-wide originating from escaped / released cage birds. This is what happens when people choose their pet birds on visual factors alone without taking vocalizations into account. Very stupid thing to do.

Germany 244

Germany Netherlands Zoos Geese 244

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2015

Since discovering our first Pied Oystercatcher nest on Cable Beach in July 2000 we have observed the breeding of these local shorebirds along the coast between Gantheaume Point in the south and Willie Creek in the north, which is a distance of 23 kilometres. For birds that rarely fly they were suddenly constantly in the air.

Feral Cats 158

Feral Cats Eggs Feral Cats 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2013

And so, when Salvador Ramirez left, there were feral goats on the island of San Clemente, the southernmost of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. And so, the local subspecies of Bewick’s wren, a bird described in 1908 a “very common on all parts of the island,” was gone by the 1940’s, its habitat converted into goat flesh.

Goats 160

Goats Bald Eagle Fox Feral 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2012

This is our thirteenth year of observing Pied Oystercatchers breed along the coast near Broome and it gets easier every year! They always nest from the end of June and they always nest in the same place or within a few metres if there is disturbance around the breeding territory. They are so predictable!

Eggs 177

Eggs Turtles Feral Cats Investigation 177

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2017

Bank Swallow) holes, among 60+ other bird species. However easy they might be, I was there so early and the sun was so low that their white undersides were bright-WHITE and I had to observe several birds in a row just to be sure. In the Bird Identification guide, it is deservedly described as an introvert.

Serbia 117

Serbia Breeding Woodpeckers Feral 117

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

And Flamingos and Hornbills and a Secretarybird and birds with names like Hamerkop and Thick-knee and Eremomela (which I know is a scientific term, but which, when pronounced correctly, reminds me of a Yiddish term of endearment my grandmother used). And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa.

South Africa 253

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 253

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2017

Germany has only one high seas island it calls its own, the mighty (from a birding perspective) island of Heligoland. However, these breeding colonies were not always German breeding colonies. Spending the winter far out at sea in the Arctic when you are a bird barely larger than a feral pigeon?

Germany 100

Germany Denmark Namibia Breeding 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

Isn’t it a Eurasian bird?… No, I’d remember that, I didn’t see that many birds in France. …maybe there’s a secret Corn Crake breeding farm out in Gilgo Beach. Our Target Bird . Had the bird moved to a different area? The bird was right there, they said, pointing vaguely north.

New York 156

New York North America France Feral Cats 156

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2018

Pied Oystercatcher chick sheltering under an adult bird. There are several birds of prey in the area including Black Kites and Brown Falcons. Feral cats have been an issue in previous years and continue to be a problem along the length of Cable Beach that we monitor. Clumsy Pied Oystercatcher chicks not long out of the nest.

2018 100

2018 Eggs Feral Cats Camels 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago? The bird guide question was a conundrum.

Trinidad 194

Trinidad Birds South America Research 194

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2011

We are into the second attempt at breeding for this season in Broome for Pied Oystercatchers. Sadly a lot of eggs are lost to feral cats and chicks are sometimes taken by birds of prey. Sadly a lot of eggs are lost to feral cats and chicks are sometimes taken by birds of prey.

2002 166

2002 Feral Cats Eggs 2007 166

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2011

Australia is a dry continent and as such all bird-life needs to take advantage of any fresh water that is available. During wet years the bird-life has the incredible adaptability to find fresh water lakes in the middle of the continent. Derby Poo Ponds give an alternative to bird-life from all the surrounding mud.

Feral Animals 172

Feral Animals Australia Ducks Feral 172

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

Like manky mallards, ganky geese display remarkable variety due to both the methodical manipulations of breeders and the variable volatility of the more natural kind of breeding. Feral geese run the gamut from pure white to almost entirely gray or brown. We certainly see enough of them, don’t we? Get yours today!

Geese 145

Geese 2011 Deer New York 145

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

But I figured there had to be some birds there. So there would be some birding. The most valuable site I found was UAE Birding , an excellent site full of location guides, recent sightings, and a busy forum where its members discuss all aspects of birdiness in the area. So I asked if I could stretch the layover by 24 hours.

United Arab Emirates 116

United Arab Emirates UAE Oman Feral 116

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

But I figured there had to be some birds there. So there would be some birding. The most valuable site I found was UAE Birding , an excellent site full of location guides, recent sightings, and a busy forum where its members discuss all aspects of birdiness in the area. So I asked if I could stretch the layover by 24 hours.

United Arab Emirates 115

United Arab Emirates UAE Oman Feral 115

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Some time after the Spanish encounter with the Turkey, birds were brought back to Europe where they were raised and became an important source of food and fancy feathers. The one case that could have been an actual Turkey was a bird spotted in Honduras, where they may or may not have been, by our friend Christopher Columbus.

Turkey 202

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 202

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Long-time readers of this blog probably also know Tai Haku, the scuba-diving, tree-planting, bird photographing nature blogger at Earth, Wind, and Water. For a successful relocation, check out Rare Birds: The Extraordinary Tale of the Bermuda Petrel and the Man who Brought it Back from Extinction.)

Puerto Rico 186

Puerto Rico Guam Virgin Islands Feral 186

4 The Love Of Animals

MAY 8, 2011

Half a decade ago, in a little mountain town about 60 miles northeast of San Diego, a feral kitten dragged his front left leg uselessly. Born with only two legs as a result of irresponsible breeding, Tink’s spirit is irrepressible as she races about on a custom set of wheels.

San Diego 100

San Diego Kittens Emotional Cats 100