10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

But a falconer did legally trap a snowy, I saw the picture on his Facebook page before he deleted it after a firestorm of controversy exploded. ” But then I thought of the other wild raptors falconers can take like a Northern Goshawk, Gyrfalcon, Great Horned Owl and Peregrine Falcon and debated with myself about why an owl is different.

Wisconsin 251

Wisconsin Falcons Owls Hunting 251

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

This was actually the place where the late Richard ffrench spent much of his time as a music teacher, amassing countless observations of birds that would later form the basis of one of the essential birding guides for Trinidad and Tobago. The subtle white edging to the gape of this bird indicates it is near breeding time.

Trinidad 218

Trinidad Birds Parrots Falcons 218

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2019

That was a work trip, although I still managed to find a few mornings to bird. So you can bet some more birding was in order. An October trip meant many European birds had already flown south for the winter. Smaller raptors were either European Sparrowhawks (true hawks) or Eurasian Kestrels (falcons).

Switzerland 115

Switzerland Austria Europe Spain 115

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. I had a finder bring me a bird he’d correctly ID’d as a merlin – a not-too-common falcon – but when he brought him in, I could see he’d been trying to feed it BIRD SEED!”

Squirrels 250

Squirrels Hamburgers Chickens Wildlife Rehabilitation 250

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Alvaro Jaramillo, brilliant bird guide and proprietor of Alvaro’s Adventures , just tackled this thorny topic on the ABA Facebook page. But when you have a native bird that has been taken into captivity due to conservation problems, and then you release these birds back into their native range – THESE ARE NOT INTRODUCTIONS.

California Condor 151

California Condor Rescue Game California 151

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2017

Last weekend, I went on a birding binge. I spent two full days where the birding was near constant, and, just to keep the binoculars from being neglected, topped it off with another half day of birding on our drive back from Cano Negro, Costa Rica. Like most of my birding weekends, this one began somewhere in the Central Valley.

Costa Rica 128

Costa Rica San Jose Birds Farming 128

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

This bird was photographed a few years ago in Connecticut, by Corey Finger. I know birders just as well as I know birds, and I was not ready to put all my faith in this fantastic sighting. Sure enough, the bird’s true identity became known the next day.

San Francisco 173

San Francisco San Diego Connecticut South America 173