10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2016

While so many spent the weekend obsessing over eggs, others cast their eyes to the feathered fruit of eggs… not necessarily Easter eggs, but different, non-chicken eggs. Maybe this whole comparison falls apart upon closer scrutiny, but these are still fine days to be looking at birds! How about you?

2016 100

2016 Eggs Chickens New York 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

The California Quail ( Callipepla californica ) is the California state bird, inhabiting scrub, broken chaparral and woodland edges primarily in California, Oregon, Washington and Baja California. In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June.

California 231

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 231

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

The Mourning Dove ( Zenaida macroura) is among the most abundant and widespread terrestrial birds endemic to North and Middle America. This gentle bird frequents bird feeders and readily nests almost anywhere. A seemingly rather peaceful bird, it gets its name from its easily identifiable mournful call. v=44fNo6B5gUI.

Hunters 180

Hunters Hunting North America Game 180

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2019

Then my phone buzzed with a text message from my good birding buddy Mary and, well, it let me know that a Burrowing Owl had been found in Queens and the photo posted to twitter. I got rightly dragged but also heard from the finder of the bird, Jen Kepler, that the bird was indeed real, and really was at Big Egg Marsh.

Owls 113

Owls New York City New York Eggs 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2015

I have been working in the avian world for 25 years, but last summer I was out-birded by a 14-year-old girl. I was there for Arts and Birding , a five-day adult course in photography, videography, sketching, painting, writing, or any combination thereof … plus lots of birding.

Puffins 264

Puffins Birds Groups West Virginia 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2020

Having finally found a Black Vulture for my Queens list , an important tick both because it was long overdue and because it was the tenth bird since my last set of predictions, it is time, once again, to look at what might be coming to my Queens list. Black Vulture – The bird that has been reported the most in Queens that I have never seen.

2018 164

2018 2015 Birds 2019 164

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2017

They emerged from their bloody rampage leaving fifteen adults dead, and fifteen destroyed nests with either smashed or missing eggs. The young men had severed the birds’ legs in order to remove the tags. In the following days harrowing photos of dead birds and severed body parts were posted on social media pages.

Albatross 214

Albatross Honolulu Hawaii Killing 214

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Several years ago, I was asked to visit my nephew’s preschool class and talk about birds. Jake lives in southern Florida, so he and his friends had to be interested in learning about these birds, which they saw everyday, right? How old were the baby birds? I chalk it up to the original baby bird book, P.D.

Birds 223

Birds Owls Switzerland Lions 223

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

The recently released 2014 State of the Birds Report lists the Bank Swallow as one of the common birds in steep decline. These birds have lost more than half their global population, and the 33 species combined have lost hundreds of millions of breeding individuals in just the past 40 years. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xkp-BYEMSJg.

North America 191

North America 2014 California Birds 191

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2018

I am preparing for the new census of one of the rarest birds of Serbia, the globally threatened Great Bustard , taking place two days from now. Together with African Kori Bustard (which I observed on a camping trip in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve), this is the heaviest flying bird in the world. m–8 ft 10 in).

Serbia 106

Serbia Romania Hungary Hunting 106

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2013

Growing up, you may have been told that a baby bird doesn’t need flying lessons. After three years of observation at a Bald Eagle nest in Washington state, I believe that young birds do, in fact, learn to fly — and they appear to learn much the same way we do. It really looked like a game of tag.

Eagles 192

Eagles Bald Eagle Seattle Game 192

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2014

More than 99% of the population of Tricolored Blackbirds ( Agelaius tricolor ) live within the state of California and form the largest colonies of any North American passerine bird 1. Therefore the actual numbers of birds killed are grossly underestimated. The California population estimate derived from the Survey was 145,000 birds.

Blackbirds 191

Blackbirds California 2014 2013 191

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2013

The aim of the game was to band raptors, and specifically to band Golden Eagles. It was the only bird I could see through the narrow slit in the blind, and so, as a bird-watcher, I watched it. Sara, one of the researchers, explained that it was a newish bird. Birds banding Golden Eagle starlings' I’m not.

Eagles 181

Eagles Tethering Science Wounded 181

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2018

The definition of the word HUNT is “to chase or search for game or other wild animals for the purpose of catching or killing.” In 1850, the Passenger Pigeon ( Ectopistes migratorius ) was the most abundant bird in North America and possibly the world.

Hunting 115

Hunting Hunters Gorillas Wolves 115

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

In my runs through the dinosaur halls with Jake and Zach, I’m pretty sure I saw Deinonychus , the small fossil that inspired the velociraptors in Jurassic Park and, more importantly (in some minds), revived a 19th century theory that birds are descended directly from dinosaurs. Like birds. Ostrom resurrected the 1868 theory of T.

Mongolia 190

Mongolia Science Reptiles Indiana 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Life is hard for baby birds, as the world is filled with reasons why they might not make it too adulthood. Starvation and predators make it hard to grow up, and birds have evolved a lot of strategies to give (at least some of) their chicks the best chance in life. Seabirds are one group of birds that go for the latter strategy.

Eggs 166

Eggs Puffins Breeding Raised 166

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2012

Energetically sticking his head out, then in, then back out a different hole was a vaguely sinister-looking brown bird, obviously outraged that someone had the nerve to put him in there. “He He had two major strikes against him: one, he had been found and raised alone by someone with little knowledge of birds, and so was imprinted.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 189

Wildlife Rehabilitation Parrots Game Eggs 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

To explain what a Grallard is one must first go back to those societies and recall that one of their predominant preoccupations was game. Yes, cute little Skylarks were all well and good, but what Kiwis really wanted were birds they could shoot and fish they could, uh, fish. The birds you see around here have a bit of both in em.

Species 169

Species New Zealand Ducks Game 169

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. For birders, it’s the extremely large book, shelved in a place where it can’t crush the field guides, used to research the history of a bird in their area. It included surveys of nocturnal and marsh birds, and a point count survey of songbirds.

Pennsylvania 239

Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 239

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

JUNE 20, 2012

I know it sounds strange, especially when the folks at Mission San Juan Capistrano are trying to coax them back by playing recordings of the bird’s mating calls. Because I am a local Audubon board member, I was recently contacted by a bird lover who witnessed Cliff Swallow nests being destroyed at the marina where they dock their boat.

San Diego 165

San Diego illegal California South America 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2013

I decided to spend my day Friday birding the heck out of my home borough to see how many species I could track down for the day. Nonetheless, I ended up with 124 species of birds in Queens in the just-over-twelve-hours I spent birding. It is annoying that the only game bird you can see in Queens are an introduced species.

Jamaica 151

Jamaica New York City Oakland Bats 151

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

If there is one thing that Kiwis care about, it’s birds. No, wait, not birds. One thing visitors love to see in New Zealand is Kiwi, the national (sort of) bird, and they also enjoy seeing some of the other birds the place has to offer. Kiwis care about rugby. A good place to see the enigmatic Kokako.

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Penguins Sanctuary Birds 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2015

It is probably a safe bet that readers at 10,000 Birds relish field guides irrespective of their subject. If this was a bird guide, we would all have one already. Did you know for example that some species of bee are cleptoparasites , exploiting the nests of other species for their own eggs.

Ireland 101

Ireland United States Game Species 101

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

MARCH 11, 2011

And reports of birds nesting – not owls, of course, those weirdo snow fetishists, but other birds nesting – light up my life. With a hardiness that belies their delicate looks (but helps explain their phenomenal success), these pioneering pigeons are already sitting on eggs at at least one location in Montana.

Montana 138

Montana 2011 New York Bahamas 138