article thumbnail

What are the Costs of Changing Bird Names?

10,000 Birds

The birding world has been debating whether honorific common bird names ( e.g. , Clark’s Nutcracker or Baird’s Sandpiper ) should be changed. This once-niche issue moved into the broader birding world ( including 10,000 Birds ) with a petition to change the name of what was then called the McCown’s Longspur.

Birds 246
article thumbnail

Birding Shanghai in February 2023

10,000 Birds

February 2023 was a slow month for birding in Shanghai, at least for me – so slow that I almost put the Spotted Dove , possibly my least favorite bird here, on the cover. Not a cover species The Black Kite is not actually black, but of course, misleading bird names are not exactly rare. Maybe those should be protected too?

Birds 130
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Solid Air: Invisible Killer Saving Billions of Birds From Windows–A Book Review

10,000 Birds

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.

article thumbnail

Our Best Birds of 2020

10,000 Birds

In this post, we’ll share the most positive of the positives, at least for those who write for 10,000 Birds who decided to share. Of all the birds that make the list for a given year one of those birds must be the Best Bird of the Year. We are always content bird-watching around Broome anyway!

2020 241
article thumbnail

Arizona, or Central Mexico?

10,000 Birds

I got back into birding less than a decade ago, long after moving to Mexico in 1983. So I can hardly speak with authority on birding in the U.S. A quick study as I researched this post revealed that fully 37 Arizonan “specialties” are common birds right here where I live. So that’s a big negative.

Arizona 263
article thumbnail

How to Know the Birds: The Art and Adventure of Birding – A Book Review

10,000 Birds

But, sometimes an appreciation of birds and birding requires more than a reference book with images of birds and facts about their identifying field marks. There are large avian handbooks and small ‘how-to bird’ guides, and quite a few excellent books of both types have been published.

Birds 115
article thumbnail

Talking Starlings

10,000 Birds

This particular species is not native to New Zealand (similar to its status in North America). The bird is now bonded to humans and an ambassador to her class and the bird has quite the vocabular y. In areas where starlings are introduced, the laws for keeping them as pets are relaxed. Birds starlings'