10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2016

Thus, your birding year is one-twelfth over; happy with your year list so far? As you can see from the feature pic, my lousy owl luck precluded me from getting too close to one of these crepuscular hunters. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2016 101

2016 Hunters Owls Birds 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

With the lockdown lasting until the end of May (ironically thus pretty much including the whole spring migration – the divine sense of humor is a rather malign one, I am afraid), June still had the freedom of birding anywhere in Shanghai, not just inside a smallish compound. Accessorizing for birds.

Singapore 147

Singapore Mountain Goats Birds Giraffes 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2016

Birding, on the other hand, costs nothing to play and contributes to lifelong happiness. The very handsome bird wasn’t hanging out where expected, but I was lucky enough to spy it chilling (literally) on an ice-encrusted pier, unperturbed by the duck hunters that chased everything else away! Make smart choices, people!

2016 100

2016 New York Hunters Birds 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2021

In 2012 , the NFC revised some of its goals and set forth a new vision of waterfowl management that emphasized a core of hunter and conservationist supporters. Although I have no evidence, I suspect eBirders are broadly representative of birders generally, though they are likely younger than the overall birding community.

Minnesota 264

Minnesota Research Pennsylvania Ohio 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2013

The Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act , which went into effect seventy-nine years ago on July 1, 1934, authorized the annual issuance of what is popularly known as the Duck Stamp. In 1976, Congress changed the official name to the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp , presumably to broaden its appeal to non-hunters.

Ducks 244

Ducks Wildlife Hunters Hunting 244

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2012

The family Picathartidae consists of two very unusual birds; White-necked or Yellow-headed Picathartes , endemic to the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa; and Gray-necked or Red-headed , restricted to Lower Guinea forests of Central Africa. White-necked or Yellow-headed Picathartes, Bonkro, Ghana.

Sierra Leone 268

Sierra Leone Ghana Cameroon Equatorial Guinea 268

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2015

We assume natural selection has shaped birds to avoid predators. Noticing predators, reacting to them perhaps with an alarm call, and escaping them, as well as other behaviors, keep the bird alive and thus allow it to reproduce. We would expect, then, that natural selection favors birds that are good at these things.

Birds 120

Birds Research Humane Pets 120

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

Having been penned in our house for the last month (and more), the last time we have been out birding seems like a distant memory. I was ardently working to finish a years-long project on the birds of T&T so those last few weeks have not been bird-less by any means. A tree that is loved by birds is also loved by the birder.

Trinidad 261

Trinidad Hunting Venezuela Woodpeckers 261

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2013

Joseph Chiera is a Masters student in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in NYC and a “somewhat newbie” to birding. After taking an ornithology course last year, he was hooked and spends most of his free time birding or reading birding blogs. Of course, birding was on the itinerary!

Iceland 188

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 188

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2011

During the filming of this production, I got to experience “dirt hawking&#. 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. Survival of the fittest.

League Against Cruel Sports 270

League Against Cruel Sports Rabbits Falcons Hunting 270

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept of Birds and People , Mark Cocker and David Tipling’s book that, in 592 pages, explores the intersection of just that—birds and us. Nor have I overlooked “sightings” of birds in movies mouthing other birds’ calls. I’m not sure why.

Birds 214

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2017

Aisholpan Nurgaiv is a graceful, rosy-cheeked 13-year old girl with a magic smile who makes living on the edge of nowhere and forever look like the easiest experience in the world. It’s a gripping scene, especially as Aisholpan struggles to capture the lively young bird on the small cliff ledge as the parent eagle flies overhead.

Eagles 102

Eagles Mongolia Hunters Hunting 102

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2014

and provides diverse nature experiences for visitors from around the world. Congress appropriates these monies primarily with funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF). The National Wildlife Refuge system is one of America’s greatest treasures.

Ducks 220

Ducks Wildlife Hunting Fish 220

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2015

Most interesting is that one’s knowledge of important things like where to find food (or danger) was based on experience not on general principles. So an Efe off his trail, or another trail he knew about, was not much better than, say, me (after a couple of years gaining my own experience) at having a clue. And this is unusual.

Minnesota 179

Minnesota Detroit Birds Laws 179

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2014

Charles Harper’s Birds & Word s is the signature book of this bird and nature artist’s career. Charles Harper’s Birds & Word s is the signature book of this bird and nature artist’s career. White article on bird feeding stations. I just count the wings. A tradition was born.

Betty Crocker 170

Betty Crocker Birds 2008 2007 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2017

For nearly a hundred years, after the eggers, meat-hunters, plume-hunters, and a human-influenced gull population boom, puffins were absent from the island. Or perhaps it’s just a bird with cold feet? It was an experience I won’t soon forget, and neither will my poor, frozen family. (We

Puffins 100

Puffins Eggs Hunters United States 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

My initial reaction was, “Really, dude, of all the birds that you’re allowed to have in Wisconsin, you choose the bird that is going to make birders who don’t understand falconry angry?” They’re not known to be the easiest birds to work with , especially when the temperatures are high. Go home now!”

Wisconsin 243

Wisconsin Falcons Owls Hunting 243

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 229

Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 229

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

And it looks even better in my hands while I dream about a visit to regions of Brazil I had scarcely heard of before being provided with a review copy of the first volume of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil.*

Brazil 202

Brazil Wildlife 2011 Birds 202

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge : Open to migratory bird hunting (youth only). The Refuge is now home to nearly 200 species of birds, over 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of insects, fish and plants. This is an Urban Refuge ! Why would you open it up to hunting?

Fish 143

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 143

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2017

Here are some facts to keep in mind about Good Birders Still Don’t Wear White: Passionate Birders Share the Joys of Watching Birds: (1) This is not a dress code. (2) The 37 essays by birders, bird artists, photographers, tour leaders, ornithologists, field guide authors, and other members of the tribe (even bloggers!)

2017 140

2017 Costa Rica 2007 Hunters 140

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

The topic was the concept of humans as predators, or hunters, or really, eaters of meat, and I was discussing the many ways in which people misconceived this notion. This allowed them to carry out experiments such as giving some bones to the hyenas to see what they would look like after being munched on for a while.

Humane 165

Humane Lions Buffalo Hunting 165

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Most of the books about extinction, including Fuller’s Extinct Birds (now, ironically, out of print), describe what was lost and look for explanations, scientifically and historically. The idea of Lost Animals was conceived after the publication of Extinct Birds (2001), a 400-page, four-pound book on 75 extinct species.

Animal 267

Animal Mammals Hawaii Dolphins 267

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Originally a hunting term, the Big Five were the most dangerous and prized targets of the great white hunters on safari. As visitors’ and the public’s interests expanded from the Big Five, and an appreciation for lesser mammals, birds and smaller wildlife has became more widespread, the term Little Five was coined.

Buffalo 203

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 203

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

And, sure enough, as the sun set birds came over in ones and twos and fours and fives, adding to what was already a pretty darn big flock of birds spread out on the West Pond. Mostly the ducks were Red-breasted Merganser and Greater Scaup , the two most prevalent species on the pond, but there were a few other birds mixed in as well.

Ducks 170

Ducks 2011 Jamaica New York 170

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

It’s my fantasy and it’s yours: Quit the job, say good-bye to the family, and bird. British birder Chris Gooddie, my new birding hero, not only dreamed the fantasy, he lived it. That’s Pitta, people, not Antpitta, which is what I foolishly first envisioned, having never birded beyond the Americas.)

Hunters 193

Hunters Sri Lanka Asia Solomon Islands 193

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2019

Last year I reviewed The Feather Thief , an enjoyable tale centering on the use of feathers in the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying, and how that led to the theft of priceless bird skins by one obsessed young man. The late Victorian age was not a good time to be an egret!

Industry 119

Industry Virginia Portland Campaign 119

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2020

After being home for just over a month, I’ve been doing two things to keep my birding sanity. Firstly, I’ve been birding the heck out of our backyard, and encouraging people to do the same (both here and elsewhere ). Along the track, the shimmering scarlet gorget of a Hunter’s Sunbird shone like a beacon.

Kenya 229

Kenya Owls Hunters Ostriches 229

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2019

These reports (called “ Banking on Nature “) are relevant to birders because they are among the few comprehensive analyses that relate to the economic impact of birders on national wildlife refuges, which are among the more popular birding locations. A number of these NWRs appear on my list of the Top 25 NWRs for Birding.).

Wildlife 247

Wildlife Maryland San Francisco Minnesota 247

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2024

A first-winter Red-breasted Goose at Cley, North Norfolk As a general rule, geese are birds of subtle, even dull, plumage. All the so-called grey geese – Greylag, Bean, White-front, Lesser White-front, Swan – look very much alike, and it takes experience to identify them by their calls and their shape and size.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. It provides goals and a definite direction for your birding travels and thoughts; sometimes it even becomes the basis of a book!

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2012

In fact, this is the source for the statistic — that approximately 71 million Americans are “bird watchers” — that has been a veritable iceberg to the Titanic of any birding-industry company that took the number at face value. economy than either hunters or anglers: 2011 Fishing Expenditures: $41.8

Hunters 243

Hunters Ducks 2006 Wildlife 243

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. I chalked up 132 species in a pretty relaxed eight days, during which birds shared the agenda with culture. This area offers probably the best wetland birding near Belgrade. What has changed in the meantime?

Serbia 158

Serbia Birds Bulgaria Farming 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2011

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil giveaway we asked readers of 10,000 Birds to name the bird in Brazil that they would like to see more than any other species. It is a really neat bird that I have not seen before. It would mean that I was birding in a really cool place! Come quickly!”

Brazil 205

Brazil 2011 Birds Wildlife 205

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2014

even before I took binoculars, I was always chasing, hmm… impressionable experiences. Can birding possibly compare? I haven’t put myself in life threatening situations while birding (unless you count paddling with crocodiles ?). Satisfying the most ancient need in one hunter-gatherer’s mind? Town squares?

Farming 237

Farming Serbia Europe India 237

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

On the second day of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival I wasn’t scheduled to lead any field trips. Rather than sleep in or do some other foolish thing like that I did what any self-respecting birder from New York who finds himself in Florida would do: I went birding! Birds Great Horned Owl owls'

Owls 183

Owls Hunters New York Wildlife 183

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

Time to give away a wonderful book on 10,000 Birds! This offering is actually hard to part with: a copy of Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Pantanal and Cerrado of Central Brazil signed by both John Gwynne, who managed the project, and Guy Tudor, eminent neotropical bird artist and art director of the project.

Brazil 181

Brazil Wildlife 2011 Deer 181