10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2016

and dreaming of a place where the heat is moderate, beer snake-cold and birds innumerable… Let’s say, where the average annual maximum varies from 22 to 24 degrees Celsius / 72 to 75 Fahrenheit and where some 700+ bird species – 24 of them endemic – are waiting for an intrepid birder… Answer to the riddle?

Africa 134

Africa Uganda Gorillas Rwanda 134

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 218

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 218

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species. Why am I here?

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Which, naturally, got me to thinking about the newly erected order Suliformes, a development I mentioned in my December column, 2010′s Top 10 Developments in Bird Taxonomy and Systematics , but which I thought deserved further examination, for it’s one of those stories that defines the era in which we are living and birding.

2011 154

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 154

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

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. Prime destinations for seeing African Elephant in the wild include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda.

Buffalo 207

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 207

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 ). The post A Walk in the Desert appeared first on 10,000 Birds. Greyish Eagle-Owl.

Kenya 235

Kenya Owls Hunters Ostriches 235

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

4%: Mexico, West Papua (Indonesia), New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya. Interestingly, the respondents felt no need to further elaborate why, presuming that everyone knows why they should bird Costa Rica. Australia is understandable: good infrastructure, moderate prices and easiness of finding birds, combined with 350 endemics.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

Placing one hand over his pate, as he was wont to do, and pointing at the others as he spoke with the finger of his other hand, Isaac stated in his semi-elvian voice, colored with the British Colonial Accent he grew into as the son of a South African Brit exiled to Kenya, the following: “Eric, shut up. Your argument is invalid.

Humane 165

Humane Lions Buffalo Hunting 165

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. After publishing my stories I got emails from people all over the world who had seen similar behavior in various birds and mammals. Waterfall Dances: Do animals have spiritual experiences? by Marc Bekoff. Empathy Among Elephants.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

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 194

Endangered Species Species South Africa Morocco 194

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

This country boasts over 1,000 bird species, vast wildernesses, a superb network of protected areas, the greatest concentration of large game and predators on the planet, excellent lodges and friendly people. This 12,000 square mile ecosystem stretches across north-western Tanzania into the Maasai Mara in Kenya.

Tanzania 222

Tanzania Africa Stud Leopards 222

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2020

Will bird tour agencies, guides, eco-lodges survive? Will the threatened species make it through if there are no birding tourists to make those birds and their habitats valuable to local people just the way they are (as opposed to tropical timber)? What will be left of birding tourism? Colombia 1959 bird species 2.

Uganda 253

Uganda Bolivia Ecuador Indonesia 253