10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

This, 2022, has been a curious year for books about birds and birding. Here are ten titles (it could have been more) selected for their uniqueness, excellence in writing and research, and giftability. Dragan]: Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide , by Hume, Still, Swash, and Harrop is a photographic guide.

Sri Lanka 219

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 219

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

If you followed Dorian’s adventures on his Big Year blog, Biking for Birds , you are familiar with many of these stories, but not the major one, the internal journey that was going on inside Dorian’s mind as he pedaled and birded: his history and multi-year struggle with alcoholism and related addictions.

Birds 207

Birds Los Angeles Massachusetts New York City 207

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

This shouldn’t have to be stated, especially in a book on bird evolution by an evolutionary biologist with a Ph.D. How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity by Douglas J. Futuyma is a synthesis of theory and research about evolution and birds. that’s three birds).

Science 207

Science Albatross Research Birds 207

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Birds of Belize by Steve N. Howell and Dale Dyer and Birds of Costa Rica by Dale Dyer and Steve N. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Two books, two authors, two countries bursting with neotropical avian diversity. © 2023 by Steve N.

Costa Rica 206

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 206

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

It is home to four diverse forest ecosystems (deciduous, mixed, boreal, and lowlands), experiences seasonal weather systems ranging from cold dry Arctic winters to humid, thunder-storm filled summers, and, according to the latest official checklist, hosts four professional sports teams with bird names.* state and Canadian provinces.

North America 203

North America Birds Owls Canada 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

In 2007 I was working in a university building that was just begging for bird feeders. This was where I set up my bird feeders, just one at first, then expanding as everyone expressed delight in seeing the Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Downy Woodpeckers. There were no dead birds for weeks. I hoped it was an anomaly.

New York City 249

New York City Birds Illinois Science 249

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

One good thing about birding during a pandemic–the forced restrictions on place and time translate into more time to observe what birds do. Bird behavior–endlessly fascinating, but so much still hidden and unknown. Extreme behaviors also push scientists to look at birds in new ways.

Research 215

Research Birds Science Costa Rica 215

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2023

Chinese Penduline T**s are not particularly woke birds. White’s Thrush is described as “burly” on eBird – not entirely unjustified, I guess, but this description fails to capture the way the intricate patterns of the bird make for great camouflage and also for its own kind of beauty. Maybe the grandparents help.

Birds 189

Birds Blackbirds Indonesia Bhutan 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2023

This leaves Shanghai in June with basically just the year-round species and the summer breeders, maybe with a few added ultra-lazy individuals of migratory species. This leaves Shanghai in June with basically just the year-round species and the summer breeders, maybe with a few added ultra-lazy individuals of migratory species.

Birds 130

Birds Eggs Breeders Breeding 130

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2015

Birders head to Costa Rica to see stunners like Resplendent Quetzal , Three-wattled Bellbird , Orange-collared Manakin , fancy hummingbirds , tanagers, and literally hundreds of other birds. These and several other species might end up being armchair ticks if and when we take a closer look at their evolutionary history.

Costa Rica 206

Costa Rica Species South America America 206

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

Hannah Buschert was first exposed to birds and birding during a required ornithology course at Oregon State University and she quickly caught the birding bug. This is Hannah’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Hannah and Erik ready to see some birds! I love to go on cruises.

South Africa 262

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 262

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2021

The survey also sought to identify “the key attributes important to birding experiences” and learn more about “decisions to participate in birdwatching and level of identity as birdwatcher.”. For example, the survey (of eBirders) found: “Nearly all respondents (99%) indicated they participate in birdwatching or birding.”.

Minnesota 264

Minnesota Research Pennsylvania Ohio 264

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

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Galápagos: A Natural History, Second Edition by John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin gives the traveling naturalist the tools needed to fully appreciate and experience the Galápagos Islands. Where once there were 13 species of “Darwin’s finches,” there are now 17. There are changes in where to find the birds.

2006 242

2006 Tortoises Sea Lions Sea Turtles 242

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2023

I see myself as an old school birder, which means that I do remember the times when good bird photos were rare and far in between, and the times when bird paintings were getting ever more impressive. Yet, there is one group of birds where even I prefer photographs: gulls. The colder – the better. I hate the cold.

Europe 222

Europe Africa Greece Groups 222

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

10,000 Birds is running a series of articles by and about tour guides, tour companies, eco-lodges, and other birding travel organizations. We want to help the birding tourism industry come back strong from the COVID pandemic. We partner with the best guides in the area to provide unapparelled birding experiences.

Costa Rica 152

Costa Rica Reptiles Research Industry 152

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2024

Mid-February is an early start for spring – even this far south – but spring is spring, and birds were waiting. My plan was to do research for this post, so I decided to enter as a common mortal and not use the electronic pass. There were birds singing everywhere. Interestingly, a bird of prey set off a psychological experiment.

Psychology 161

Psychology Portugal Japan Eagles 161

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Birders derive “value” from birding. But does the value of a particular trip come from the number of birds seen, viewing a particular species, seeing an endangered species, catching a glimpse of a rarity, adding a lifer, or something else? How much do birders value a birding experience?

Oregon 172

Oregon Washington Birds Chad 172

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2015

Birds are a subset of dinosaurs (See: Honey, I Shrunk the Dinosaurs. Prior to the extinction of all of the other dinosaurs, resulting from a cosmic impact event about 65 million years ago, the ancestors of modern birds were different from modern birds in many ways, but also similar in many ways. So how did beaks evolve?

Alligators 209

Alligators Chickens Research Birds 209

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

Most serious bird photographers dislike taking pictures of birds wearing rings (or what on the other side of the Atlantic you call bands). I can sympathise, as a shiny new ring, clamped to a bird’s leg, rarely enhances its portrait. The information I received didn’t indicate the age of the bird.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Morocco Iceland Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. The little red bit on the crown on this photo indicates that it is a male bird.

Woodpeckers 224

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 224

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Not only that, but the university retains on faculty a bona fide authority on the region’s avifauna: Professor Oliver Komar is the co-author of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America and as brilliant a field birder as I’ve ever met in the Neotropics. Zamorano happens to be incredibly birdy. than we had time to attempt.

Honduras 133

Honduras Birds Kentucky Research 133

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

If you like birds on posts, if seeing “little brown jobs” posing nicely in the distance as you drive or walk along a dirt road only to have it fly away as you approach makes you deliriously happy, then North Dakota is the place for you. I wanted to see prairie birds and I wanted to experience a new state.

North Dakota 135

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 135

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 117

Birds Research Humane Pets 117

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. End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2016

New Year’s resolutions from birding friends are starting to trickle in as I write this review. It is the last day of 2015, time to select the bird of the year past and set goals for the bright open future, when everything is new again. The process is called “Wide-angle birding: Be the bird, see the bird.”.

Birds 189

Birds Groups 2015 North America 189

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2022

A recent episode of the American Birding Podcast featured an interview with Virginia Rose (Founder and President) and Freya McGregor (Coordinator) of the non-profit Birdability. The mission of Birdability is to “share the joys of birding with people who have disabilities, and to ensure that birding is accessible to everybody.”

Portland 185

Portland Oregon Laws Experience 185

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.

Sri Lanka 256

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 256

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. Gray-necked or Red-headed Picathartes in Korup National Park, Cameroon.

Sierra Leone 264

Sierra Leone Ghana Cameroon Equatorial Guinea 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2013

However, ongoing research at Sia Essential Species Repository (see below) reveals this is not always the case, and that there are actually five phases between albino and leucistic. Wildlife centers depend heavily on the advice of veterinarians who work with wildlife, and who often exchange treatments and experiences with each other.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 191

Wildlife Rehabilitation Wildlife Birds Delaware 191

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Cuban Trogon, the national bird who wears the colors of the Cuban flag! There is an island of fascinating birds out there, and I want to see them all. ” birding destination.* The full name of this unique volume is Endemic Birds of Cuba: A Comprehensive Guide Including West Indian Endemics Living in Cuba.

Cuba 226

Cuba Birds United States 2000 226

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago? The bird guide question was a conundrum.

Trinidad 190

Trinidad Birds South America Research 190

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Birding for the Curious: The Easiest Way for Anyone to Explore the Incredible World of Birds by Nate Swick brings birding back to its roots—a simple, joyous way to enjoy nature using our eyes, ears, hands (for sketching), and brain. There are now no excuses except a lack of curiosity. And, nobody wants to admit that.

Birds 263

Birds North Carolina North America Science 263

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 207

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 207

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

There is GISS and there is Birding by Impression and they are not the same. GISS—general impression, size, shape—is intuitive, the result of an unconscious cognitive process derived from experience in the field. Experienced birders can identify birds using GISS; all birders can identify birds if they adopt the BBI approach.

Birds 169

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 169

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

All of these titles deal with birding in specific North American geographic areas: The Atlantic coast, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The photos show the forms of the bird seen on the east coast and are annotated with notes on plumage and other distinguishing field marks. It’s time for some short book reviews. Well, short for me.

Pennsylvania 160

Pennsylvania Texas Whales Whaling 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2015

So what does climate change mean for birds? Though all birds will be somehow impacted by climate change, I think it is important to note that not all will suffer. As deserts expand, birds suited to arid climates may be just fine. As deserts expand, birds suited to arid climates may be just fine. Whats in it for birds?

North America 210

North America Birds San Francisco Suffering 210