10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

And here I am now, avoiding the two barking dogs trying to bite my tires while I am driving through pre-dawn darkness towards the delta of the river Styx, or Acheron , as it is known today at the Ionian Sea coast of Greece. This is possibly the only European wetland I’ve birded where Common Moorhens outnumber Eurasian Coots.

Greece 162

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2011

Dirt hawking is a form of falconry that involves hunting rabbits and other small game with Harris Hawks (other hawk species also qualify). One of the primary reasons that these hawks make such excellent falconry birds is because they are one of only two raptor species (the other is the Galapagos Hawk ) that hunt cooperatively.

League Against Cruel Sports 270

League Against Cruel Sports Rabbits Falcons Hunting 270

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2015

“The estuary and the delta of the River Kalamas form the most important wetland of northwest Greece”, so the “ Birding in Greece ” guidebook claims for the area where I am heading, a bit late since I overslept this morning. Yet, beside a few Little and one Great Egret , a raft of Eurasian Coots , no birds. It is getting a bit hot.

Greece 238

Greece Dogs Pelicans Fish 238

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2017

Newly re-opened after budget cuts, the park sported one staff member in the office who generously gave us a map, one woman and her dog, and one family in the set of RV camping spots at the edge of the lake. Still, I felt the familiar excitement of birding a new place. Pretty standard, in terms of bird-fare. Totally not.

Alabama 113

Alabama Birds Deer Turkey 113

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

The Aruban Burrowing Owl hunts primarily from the ground, hopping and running after lizards, insects, and small mammals. As a result, the Aruba Birdlife Conservation Foundation began a campaign to make the Burrowing Owl the country’s national bird , which was officially named in 2012.

Prairie Dogs 102

Prairie Dogs Tortoises Owls South America 102

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2019

Over-all there were almost 80,000 photos taken, nearly 50 story’s posted on this website, and 10 countries, all with some amazing birds. In the end, I truly did set out to reduce the number of birds that I feature here from 1302, my years total species, down to 10-12. I present to you, my favorite birds of 2018.

2018 176

2018 Costa Rica South Africa New Zealand 176

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2019

And yet, on the bridge the birds are relatively protected from the dogs, beach-goers, and predators that frequent their traditional habitats along dunes. Though the terns actively feed throughout the day, the skimmers wait until dawn and evening to hunt for prey in small flocks, flying low and fast across the water.

Protection 113

Protection Florida Eggs Hunting 113

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

I get that you’re really angry, I mean, he was a popular lion and yes, his cute widdle cubs will probably die to, but I can’t help feeling you’ve kind of missed the point a bit, and well, ending all hunting in Africa will not solve much and maybe make things worse and… No, no, I’m not a hunter. I’m sorry.

Lions 223

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 223

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Many countries have private reserves and concessions, run for tourism or hunting, that provide outstanding wildlife watching opportunities. Brown-hooded Kingfishers hunt far from water. As well as birds, the reserve holds endangered species like African Wild Dogs. Crested Barbets come in close.

Zimbabwe 101

Zimbabwe Botswana South Africa Endangered Species 101

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

And here I am now, avoiding the two barking dogs trying to bite my tires while I am driving through pre-dawn darkness towards the delta of the river Styx, or Acheron, as it is known today at the Ionian Sea coast of Greece. This is possibly the only European wetland I’ve birded where Common Moorhens outnumber Eurasian Coots.

Greece 204

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 204

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Here and there, spits of pale sand became playgrounds for families and dogs, or hunting areas for Great Blue Herons. I’ve been doing a lot of freelance photography recently, and I wanted to use this opportunity to just look and bird without worrying about light or my shutter speed. A view of East Bay.

Bald Eagle 154

Bald Eagle Florida Alligators Fish 154

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

Unfortunately, developers are hungrily eying the 70-acre parcel despite some local opposition and the fact that it is a wetland that provides excellent habitat to a variety of birds (to say nothing of mammals, insects, etc). Expect to read more about Flushing Airport on 10,000 Birds in the future; the habitat is too good not to visit!

New York City 154

New York City New York Birds Homelessness 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2020

Whiskey Month at Birds and Booze: This January, Birds and Booze at 10,000 Birds is setting its sights on whiskeys all month long. Luckily, we needn’t wander into such whimsical territory to find Scotland’s putative national bird.

Eagles 166

Eagles Lions Hunting Lamb 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

New Zealand 162

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Early starts are the rule when monitoring endagered species in Mkuze Game Reserve, in South Africa, but there’s a particular urgency to this morning’s start. And the morning before the Mkuze pack of Painted Wolves, or African Wild Dogs, had been very close to one of the park’s few Lions, as far as tracking collars had told.

Wolves 193

Wolves Lions Dogs Vet 193

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa). Yellow-billed Stork.

Ethiopia 251

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 251

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2012

All of the sudden we have bird multi-media everywhere. Meantime, I got a copy of an iAuthored iBook on birds that I’ve reviewed here. And all this has caused there to be musings in my head about multi-media technology, birds, and birding. The very first multi-media resource for leaning birds were birds.

Birds 172

Birds Collecting Rodents Wounded 172

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2014

There are birds more prized by North American birders than the Great Gray Owl , but not many*. Though hardly common, Great Gray sightings are a yearly occurrence in Western Montana, and it is one of the twelve species of owl known to breed in the state. Not only did they, but they invited us to tag along with them. We went beyond.

Owls 241

Owls Minnesota Montana 2014 241

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2011

Black Skimmers are another of those birds, like White-breasted Nuthatches , that people can’t help but like. They have awesome bills that slice through the water in search of fish, they bark like small dogs, they have a cool color scheme. A bird such as Rynchops niger is a testament to the marvels of evolution.

Niger 177

Niger New York Asia Fish 177

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2015

But the fact is nature has little to do with most problems facing native birds. Consider this: ninety percent of birds treated at wildlife centers are admitted as a result of human interactions that have nothing to do with “nature.” A personal encounter with a wild species changes one’s perspective. The difference seems obvious.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 189

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Rescue Wildlife 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2014

I’ve mentioned before that the seasons aren’t very interesting in a birding sense. We lose a handful of species, mostly waders flying across the whole Pacific but also a cuckoo flying just half of it. A few South Island birds spend the winter on North Island. But I have been birding, and reasonably regularly too.

New Zealand 140

New Zealand Australia Albatross Pigs 140

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2020

While entering our double kayak I asked Andrew Hester, a local bird expert, if bilharzia is present in the shallows of the Ngotwane Dam, further down the river. Among 60 or so heron species in the world this is the only one using this peculiar fishing technique. nubicoides ) using them as a high viewpoint to hunt dragonflies.

Botswana 205

Botswana Africa 2001 Fish 205

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 214

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 214

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

E.g. I remember trying to enter my local scrubland once, just across the car park behind the last apartment building and there, awaiting me, was a territorial pack of stray dogs barking at an intruder – me. At some stage, a salmon-hunting bear at a shingle beach came too close, mere 9 steps. Cactus finch, Geospiza species.

Animal 115

Animal Bears Stray Dog Blackbirds 115

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

The birds that wear tuxedos and star in major motion pictures. People call them “flightless birds&# but they do in fact fly; They just do it underwater. The evolution of the living penguins is one of the best known cases among birds, or even vertebrates in general, mainly through the study of DNA, bio-geography, and anatomy.

Penguins 201

Penguins Seals Peru Science 201

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. It is also related to Wood Stork of the Americas and Milky Stork of Asia.

Africa 247

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 247

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

I find it astonishing that people argue of whether feral cats are bad for birds in North America. Dogs are similarly dispersed across size ranges, with Foxes, Coyotes, and Wolves taking prey across different parts of the size range. How many wild birds are eaten by either feral Cats or “outdoor Cats?” ” Many.

Feral Cats 257

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 257

Reddit Animals

DECEMBER 15, 2023

The spotted hyena displays greater plasticity in its hunting and foraging behaviour than other African carnivores it hunts alone, in small parties of 2–5 individuals or in large groups. During a hunt, spotted hyenas often run through ungulate herds to select an individual to attack. mph), they are the fastest birds on land.

Africa 40

Africa Buffalo Ostriches Animal 40

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2014

Sure, there is unlimited potential and every single species can once again be counted, but, nonetheless, birders often put forth the energy to get that list built up again, to erase that zero, and to hopefully put three (or even four) digits in its place before the end of the year. Short-eared Owl is a great way to start off a birding year!

2014 164

2014 Fox Birds Owls 164

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

This is the thing—no matter how devoted you are to birds and birding, once you get to Africa, you can’t resist the mammals. This means you need to pack a mammal guide in addition to your bird guide. Species that belong to the famous “Big Five” get special badges. Believe me, I tried.

Rhinos 249

Rhinos Mammals Animal White Rhinos 249

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2013

My post last week where I defended game hunting as a conservation tool has, unaccountably, encountered a certain amount of push back. Who would have thought that a post defending hunting game in general would have not been universally acclaimed? I will address two of them in the new year, namely, “Is hunting moral at all?”

Tigers 180

Tigers Hunting Game Protection 180

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

Wildlife conservation is concerned with protecting wildlife at the level of species or perhaps population. With the exception of species that number in the hundreds, conservation biologists are not as concerned with the fates of individual animals, it is only when such fates of many individuals are added up do they begin to worry.

Animal Rights 268

Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 268

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2023

The person who named this bird apparently cleverly chose the name Yellow-rumped Flycatcher to distinguish the bird from the Narcissus Flycatcher, which is also yellow-rumped. In Chinese, this bird is called White-browed Flycatcher, which introduces some (possibly undesirable) logic into the world of bird names.

Monkeys 147

Monkeys Birds South Korea Owls 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2020

For example, the process applies to, among other things, the listing (and delisting) of species under the Endangered Species Act and interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. For example, Congress passed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act in 1934, but it did not mandate specific rules for a Duck Stamp Competition.

Ducks 218

Ducks Hunting Hunters Legislation 218

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2019

Falconry Month at Birds and Booze: I’ve decided to dedicate this month of March 2019 to wines and beers related to the history of falconry – or hawking – for no other reason than that I’ve recently acquired several bottles adorned with mostly medieval European iconography relating to this “sport of kings”.

2015 113

2015 Italy Falcons Europe 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the rest of 10,000 Birds. I’m not just saying this to be an annoying gadfly on the backside of the birding and general wildlife community, although this is certainly a fringe benefit. Qualifying statements to follow). I’m not even trolling (much).

Lions 191

Lions Killing Hunting Hunters 191

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2011

Orlando is so rich in roadside and overhead birds that I kept a list of species seen from the car which ran to 30+ on the first morning and included a Bald Eagle nonchalantly sitting on a street lamp by a Target store. The colonies at “Gatorland&# include other large wading birds too.

2011 118

2011 Alligators Florida Deer 118