10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 18, 2018
There is a virtual flock of new and interesting bird science news all of the sudden, including the rediscovery of an extinct Bahama Nuthatch. But here I want to note, and for now, dismiss, a find from Madagascar. It was always thought that humans first inhabited the island of Madagascar about four or five thousand years ago or so.
10,000 Birds
JANUARY 10, 2024
“Birds and insects, as might have been expected, are very few in number; indeed I believe all the birds have been introduced within late years” – Charles Darwin , Naturalist’s voyage around the world I wonder if Napoleon went birdwatching during his final years in exile on the volcanic island of St Helena.
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10,000 Birds
JANUARY 27, 2012
Madagascar: The Last Inheritor of Gondwana tries to walk the “all of the above” line, which is sometimes satisfying, sometimes disconcerting, and sometimes outright frustrating. Finally, and of particular note to this audience, birds do not feature largely in the piece. The answer, of course, is all of the above.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 18, 2022
Bird-wise, Mauritius is probably primarily known for a bird that no longer exists, the dodo. The Red Fody is an introduced species, though from nearby, sort of (Madagascar). I could not have designed a nicer-looking red bird. Admittedly, so is the population on Mauritius, except for the individual birds themselves.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
This is particularly poignant if the bird has disappeared during the course of my birding days or “on my watch” as I like to think of it. Islands, for various reasons, experience more extinctions than continents (with Africa being the only continent not suffering a bird extinction!). The lost paradise, Lake Bemanevika.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 7, 2021
When you bird afar and wander wide, you carry a field guide to the birds of the region you are exploring, a pair of binoculars, likely a camera, perhaps a spotting scope and a tripod too, plus clothing, medicines, toiletries, electronics, money and documents… Did you notice the missing item? Yet, those bird guides are hefty.
10,000 Birds
JUNE 17, 2014
It has been discovered that largosity and flightlessness, which perhaps fortunately tend to go together in birds, evolved more than once. Later the continents broke up into smaller regions such as South America, Africa, Asia and such, an a few smaller pieces like Madagascar and New Zealand as well. This was on Gondwana.
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