10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 210

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 210

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

The NYC owls have little to do with the book in front of me except that it too is about birds and people. The 26 essays in When Birds Are Near are all about the real-life and emotional spaces where people overlap with birds. The essays range widely in place, bird, and voice, though the emphasis is on the North American.

New York City 198

New York City Birds Owls Fox 198

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

These were the sounds I heard as I walked around a small pond in Amherst, Massachusetts last week, looking for dragonflies, listening for birds. If you’ve been to the Amazonian rainforest on a birding tour, then you have probably seen the brilliant colors of the tiny Poison dart frogs, the deep brilliant reds and blues and yellows.

Reptiles 190

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2016

But, by December 2013, my eyes, and the eyes of birders across the country, were fixed on Neil and where he was headed next, and if—that huge if—he would see “The Bird.” L ost Among the Birds: Accidentally Finding Myself in One Very Big Year is Neil Hayward’s story of his Big Year, and it is well worth the read. Please—don’t do that!

2013 108

2013 Arizona Birds San Diego 108