10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

Everyone loves baby birds; 10,000 Birds even had a Baby Bird Week once upon a time! Baby birds are cuteness personified, possibly even more so than other baby animals, including human babies, and pose interesting questions of survival and development. Aren’t they usually in their nest with their parents?”

Wildlife Rehabilitation 270

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 270

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2022

The name is a puzzle though – even the HBW states that the bird has “small or no crest” These photos were taken on Sep 26, indicating that the birds passed Shanghai rather late (according to the HBW, “autumn migration from early to late Sept”). The Japanese Paradise Flycatcher is listed as Near Threatened.

China 190

China Birds Ukraine Killing 190

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. So, the basic idea is to show 15 species of Australian birds in each post and give you the usual trivia about them. And that seems to be the only vaguely satisfying thing left to do at the moment.

Australia 198

Australia Birds Koalas Parrots 198

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 234

Dissection Birds Research Europe 234

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.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2022

According to a bird guide published in 1911, “Competent authorities have proposed to divide the world, biologically, into two parts – Australia and the rest of the world, and they have considered Australia the more interesting part.” chocolate-bird (??), little fieldwren, and speckled jack.

Birds 147

Birds Australia Parrots Memphis 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Construction is still ongoing at Nanhui, there are constant rumors that key birding sites will be made inaccessible … you have to take every Nanhui visit as it is your last (yes, another clichee). Still, there were a few birds there this September. Still, there were a few birds there this September. A juvenile male.

Birds 242

Birds LACS France Japan 242

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

In responding to Suzie’s post defending wildlife rehabilitation I began to think again about the areas in which animal rights and animal welfare overlap with the field of conservation, and the ways in which they don’t. Animal rights is concerned with preventing the suffering or even use of animals by humans.

Animal Rights 267

Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 267

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2022

According to a local African superstition that I just made up, it is not harmful to eat toxically colored birds if you eat them in the dark. Colonial history reflected in bird names. Unfortunately, the Fork-tailed Drongo is not the honest and god-fearing bird one could wish for. She also laid eggs in Melba Finch nests.

South Africa 197

South Africa Africa Birds Cape Verde 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2012

Today I’m exploring a couple questions that have been bouncing in my head for a while…I’d love to hear your thoughts…I’m not calling into question animal rights, just the focus of the movement. – The Great Ornithologist Felonious Jive Animal rights. This makes perfect sense.

Animal Rights Movement 218

Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Wildlife 218

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

Hongbenghe is a very small village in Yunnan, right next to the border with Myanmar. The main attraction for birders here are the hornbills – I have written about them before , so this post will be more on the other birds I saw there in 2017. One road simply ends here, giving the place a real end-of-the-world feeling.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

The Zoo episode focuses on two Pink Pigeon couples: The Stud and Serendipity, a male and female that the zoo people hope will mate and produce a viable egg, and Thelma and Louise, a same-sex pair-bonded couple who the zoo people hope will incubate the egg and nurture the chick. More about the Dodo in a minute.) Because, Ms.

Mauritius 102

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 102

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

JUNE 27, 2018

– Birds are indeed dinosaurs, yet, are indubitably not. Knowledge is knowing that a bird is a dinosaur. Humans have always classified organisms in a variety of ways, depending on need. Some sort of ancient fish-with-feet is the ancestors of humans. Therefore, humans are fish with feet, right?

Monkeys 144

Monkeys Gorillas Whales Whaling 144

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2022

Oh, and maybe humans need to be a bit less destructive to your habitat, too. It seems that at Nanhui, somebody is trying to kill even more than 2 bird(s) (species) with one stone (to be more accurate, not a single stone but a massive amount of concrete). While small, these birds cover impressive migration routes.

Cattle 147

Cattle Portugal Buffalo Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2013

How far is the closest human settlement? The species must be listed as a separate, full species by both of the most widely used ornithological bird lists, Sibley/Monroe and Clements. Only problem is, last time I checked there were no birds down there, let alone endemic ones. So we can rule that one out.

Birds 215

Birds South Africa South America Feral Cats 215

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Mating systems and parental care patterns can be odd among birds. Male-female role reversal, happens in some familiar birds, but is rare. Male Phalaropes, Jacanas, Tinamous, and Rheas build nests, incubate the eggs and take care of the chicks. Females then begin to lay eggs in the nest the male prepared.

Eggs 154

Eggs South America Raised America 154

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

JANUARY 16, 2020

all the time pointing with my right hand while holding the steering wheel with my left, and the hardest thing, keeping my eyes on the road. But I was driving too fast and passed it, so I had to uncomfortably break on moist and somewhat slippery road to reverse and to stop opposite to the bird, less than 4 metres from it.

Serbia 246

Serbia Owls Slovakia Bosnia 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

It stops those thousands of migrating birds flying across the Gulf of Mexico and directs them right onto the trees, fields, sanctuaries, beaches along the Bolivar Peninsula, where they hopefully find food and fresh water. And us, the birders who travel here from March to May to worship the birds as they seek to survive.

Houston 225

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 225

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2015

Not only do we take care of zillions of injured and orphaned birds/mammals/reptiles/whatever, we also have to deal with and educate the public. Mourning Doves fed cheerios, raptors fed hot dogs, infant squirrels fed watered down peanut butter because squirrels eat peanuts at the feeder, right?” The baffling, mind-boggling public.

Squirrels 250

Squirrels Hamburgers Chickens Wildlife Rehabilitation 250

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Another item they feed on is hunting edible bird nest swiftlets, which are quite common in edible swiftlet houses in Sabah, Malaysia ( source ). Another paper reviews information on Oriental Pied Hornbills raiding the nests of various bird species in Singapore and even pet bird cages.

Rhinoceros 131

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 131

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

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. She has contributed many pieces to 10,000 Birds and writes about her birding adventures on her blog, newbirder.tumblr.com. Lots and lots of birds.

Birds 184

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 184

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Australia is a vast country with a very small human population, which mostly clings to the edge of the continent. The lack of people does not mean we have any less extinct or threatened bird species than other countries. Handbook to The Birds of Australia, 1865. Preface,p.xxiv.

Species 176

Species Australia Birds Parrots 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2019

Greeney was recommended to me as a book I HAD to review by no less than three birding friends. I hesitated because a 496-page book about two skulky neotropical bird groups is a little intimidating. I also wondered if a book like this would be of interest to 10,000 Birds readers.

Research 149

Research Eggs South America Costa Rica 149

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I worked with an enormous collection of bird skins in the collection of Te Papa (The National Museum of New Zealand) during my (unfinished) PhD. Shelf after shelf after shelf of trays of dead birds, most with their original archaic Victorian era label written in spindly cursive attached to a leg. Box after box of egg.

Collecting 231

Collecting Solomon Islands New Zealand Fiji 231

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2013

Especially the bird breeding season, which passes by at the blink of an eye. Travis got to experience things he normally wouldn’t (like spending about 5 hours every day in a pool) and seeing the world famous Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic team (I can post a photo of them right? It hasn’t been a summer to remember.

Abandon 169

Abandon Abandoning Abandonment Eggs 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

Author Sherrida Woodley thinks deeply about dearly departed birds. He had stalked the nest for days, waiting for just the right time when she would be on the verge of fledging, then took her into his care. His life brought him into close proximity with birds, observing them and practicing taxidermy to learn even more.

Falcons 190

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Acrocephalus palustris is the old world Marsh Warbler, and is one of the birds in the Chernobyl area. Alternatively, imagine I set the dial to produce simple heat, like the kind that comes out of your stove to cook your scrambled eggs. A recent study, Chernobyl Birds Have Smaller Brains , looks at this in birds at Chernobyl.

Mammals 244

Mammals Birds Fish Cooking 244

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Once upon a time, back in the heady, innocent days of 2014, I reviewed a book called The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds. The combination of dark humor, sly intelligence, and very very pretty paintings of birds was, unsurprisingly, a winner in my eyes. The Mincing Mockingbird.

Lovebirds 107

Lovebirds 2014 Eggs Wildlife 107

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2011

We here at 10,000 Birds thought this would be a perfect time to look back and figure out what each of us considered our Best Bird of the Year, just like we did last year. Not only did we not expect to see this seabird this far inland, it was a life bird for me! We would like you to join in!

2011 192

2011 Birds South Korea North Dakota 192

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

The danger of reviewing a field guide to the birds of an exotic country you’ve never been to is that you become obsessed with visiting that country, no matter how far away and how expensive it may be. I’m already looking up birding tours of Borneo and pricing airfares. Borneo, the authors say, is under-birded.

Brunei 179

Brunei Birds Asia China 179

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2011

Here is a handy exercise that you can try to give you long frustrating hours on the computer and provide a good excuse to avoid contact with the rest of humanity. But please also consider that the subject of this exercise is an image gained without having to disturb a hungry bird refuelling during its migration.

Unwanted 196

Unwanted Eggs Neglecting Rights 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2012

He’d like to thank his mom, his agent, and of course the Birding Academy. This bred both indifference, and on the flip side a tendency to overly pester the few charismatic birds they did come in contact with. ” This weekend, remember a bird you love.

Montana 166

Montana Geese Blackbirds Canada 166

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2013

Especially happily that the meeting was held at the Palmer House Hilton, right near my office, so that I was able to spend my morning volunteering and still put in a full day at work.). Other hardy souls signed up for an early morning “Ostrich Run” 5k, with the prizes beinging–you guessed it–actual ostrich eggs.

San Diego 182

San Diego Ostriches Chicago Colorado 182

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

We birders are very particular about the birds that we count. We can count introduced species that have met the criteria of the “Bird Police” for the area to which they are introduced. There are lots of birds we can’t count. There are lots of birds we can’t count. We can’t count caged birds.

Chickens 208

Chickens Florida Feral Species 208

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2018

What was the weirdest place you ever birded? Of the estimated 500 million cattle in India, only 4% were destined for consumption by humans as meat. One large banyan fig as well as all bushes around were completely covered with flies and their eggs – every inch. Some smelly sewage ponds? Oh, don’t bother responding. A war zone?

India 140

India Stray Dog Cows Rats 140