10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

Nick Sly, a friend of 10,000 Birds who writes intermittently at the thoroughly-recommended Biological Ramblings , is an ornithologist who graduated not so long ago from Cornell only to be cast out into the real world where he keeps a wry eye on all things biological! Not good, I think – it will probably be another scorcher.

Eggs 269

Eggs Venezuela Porcupines 2008 269

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

It has been more than 5 years since I last went to Australia, and I was even less of a qualified bird photographer then than I am now. However, the lockdown forces me to go deeper and deeper into my photo collection, if I want to write anything at all. I guess it is a bird though. Admittedly, it is mostly grey.

Australia 198

Australia Birds Koalas Parrots 198

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2017

If there’s one common theme to this week’s bird news items, it’s their collective bizarreness: The eagle has landed—on the drone, as France trains birds to take out drones that stray into restricted airspace. Scientists ponder the feasibility of genetically engineering chickens to lay the eggs of endangered bird species.

Penguins 100

Penguins Argentina France Stray 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Egg harvesting to sell as food was intensive then, with thousands taken annually from the breeding colonies in Chile. Egg collection for local consumption still continues at lower scale. The Andean Flamingo is now protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Photo: Marcio Cabral de Mora – Flickr).

Chile 155

Chile Endangered Species Eggs Argentina 155

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2012

I caught glimpses of lots of fine, fine birds including a heroic Killdeer protecting a nest and my first Willow Flycatcher of the season. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed.

2012 159

2012 New York Fish Birds 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2016

If we had been predators, their actions would have (hopefully) led us away from the nest, keeping their eggs and chicks safe. Next to it lay an egg, the baby inside fervently pecking and tapping until it too could break the shell and emerge onto the dunes. Snowy Plovers aren’t the only birds nesting on the dunes.

Eggs 100

Eggs Long Beach Abandon Abandoning 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Producing a book about birds and nesting is a dangerous business. The truth is that there are few images cuter than baby birds in the nest opening their mouths and begging for food, but there are curmudgeons amongst us, myself included, who don’t like to admit this. And of birds courting and mating. We simply refuse to squee.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2020

In most every one of his books (or articles, like those that were collected in his last book, A Naturalist At Large ) he poses a question about the natural world — often a question, like the central one in White Feathers, that no one else has thought much about — and then solves it. I saw it because I looked up.”

Eggs 131

Eggs Emotional Bats 2014 131

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2013

But there is one Cape bird that stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to character – the African Penguin. An African Penguin peers protectively around its fluffy chick. But their endangered status is belied by the fact that they are one of the easiest rare birds to find in Africa.

Penguins 226

Penguins South Africa Africa Sharks 226

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2018

The idea behind is simple, some birds may move and if counted within a week or a month, double counting is almost guaranteed. Mechanisation (ploughing and harvesting in particular), chemical fertilisers and pesticides, fire and predation all contribute to high mortality of eggs, chicks, juveniles and incubating females. Snowing rain?

Hungary 157

Hungary Serbia Austria Eggs 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

The lack of people does not mean we have any less extinct or threatened bird species than other countries. Even the first explorers to Australia documented there was a risk of extinction of birds and animals into the future and subsequently decided to collect as many specimens as possible! Preface,p.xxiv.

Species 176

Species Australia Birds Parrots 176

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. million in the late 1990’s.

Delaware 183

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 183

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2014

In birding, we like to think that we don’t need much ‘stuff’. Another book, maybe a bird finding guide. Our ‘stuff’ allows us to bird more, better, further. It defines our birding lives when it’s not threatening to overwhelm our cars and homes. I expected a picture book; I got a collection of essays!

Collecting 173

Collecting Mauritius Egypt Cyprus 173

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2012

After 28 days of sharing the duty of sitting on three eggs we finally had the arrival of our first Pied Oystercatcher chicks for 2012 on Friday August 3rd. It is unusual for three eggs to be laid here in Broome and many eggs do not even hatch due to predation each season.

Eggs 177

Eggs Dogs Shelters Family 177

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

At Sea With the Marine Birds of the Raincoast opens with the unexpected appearance of a Laysan Albatross. Having shown us the bird, the boat, and the water, Fox then introduces herself: “Albatrosses, petrels, fulmars, puffins and gulls live out their lives along these transect lines; my job is to count them all.”.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

We can bird all over the world, and although we are not guaranteed a field guide to every single region and country in the world, there are a whole lot more of them than in the mid-1970’s, when world birders like Phoebe Snetsinger often had to put together their own checklists and guides. I couldn’t wait to give names to all my new species.

Ireland 180

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 180

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2014

I enjoy collecting children’s books about birds and nature that I come across in the expected (book stores) and unexpected (academic library conference reports) places. The Taínos named the birds Iguacas, after their call. Spanish settlers arrived in 1493 and called the birds Coterras. The birds thrive.

Puerto Rico 241

Puerto Rico Parrots New York City 2013 241

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 200

Endangered Species Species South Africa Morocco 200

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Weavers are truly magical birds, combining bright plumages with ingenious weaving talents and cheerful, noisy social lives. This blogpost will introduce you to the various genera of birds that are considered to be weavers. Image taken by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours in Cameroon. Image taken by Adam Riley in Ghana.

Tanzania 232

Tanzania Buffalo Kenya Namibia 232

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Larger, denser with avian information than your typical field guide, a Crossley Guide bursts with bird images, photographic plates that verge on the surreal of birds in all plumages and poses against real-life habitats, informing, sometimes overwhelming us with visual and, if you can take your eyes off the images, textual information.

Ducks 124

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 124