10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. And the term is ‘non-reversed size dimorphism.’).

North America 214

North America Owls America Dominican Republic 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2024

a handful of times, only to realize how important it is to have a resource that will help birders differentiate amongst these very similar looking birds. Fork-tailed Flycatcher is a seven-page bird, partly because the account includes a vagrancy chart (another new feature). Introductory Material Sixteen species, 190 pages.

Los Angeles 169

Los Angeles North America Species America 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2021

Have you ever wondered what birds were flying overhead while you slept or what critters crept through your yard unnoticed? The Terra Project is an exciting collaboration between bird guide author Scott Whittle , wildlife tracker manufacturer CTT , and non-profit Conservation Science Global. appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

North America 258

North America Science America Europe 258

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

There was a time when I thought each bird species had its own individual song. Then I found out that there was this vocalization called a ‘call,’ so I thought each bird species had its own individual song (but just the males) and individual call. Bird communication is a complex and evolving science.

North America 278

North America Research Birds Groups 278

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

Thank you, goddess of birding luck and text group people).* My inner self felt stuck in an area between disbelief and total joy and the voices near me were echoing this state of mind: “Oh My God,” “I never thought I would see this bird,” “Look at that bill!” “How did that bird get here?”

Birds 255

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 255

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 247

New York City Birds Illinois Science 247

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2020

If you want to write a bird guide, you should have guided people yourself. Howell and Fabrice Schmitt: both of them are international bird tour leaders with WINGS. Birds of Chile – A Photo Guide has 240 pages and more than 1,000 photos accompanied by a brief text to make bird ID easy. And that is what recommends Steve N.

Chile 194

Chile Birds South America North America 194

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2019

We should stop naming birds, especially non-European birds, after European and Euroamerican naturalists and scientists, especially if we are committed to making the worlds of birds and birding accessible to more people than the demographics that produced the Audubons, Wilsons, Stellers, and MacGillivrays.

Birds 260

Birds North America Cooking Campaign 260

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2023

Flight Paths is a splendid but risky title for a book about bird migration. It could easily be mistaken for a book about aviation or space navigation or even a flight simulator game if you don’t read the long, adjective-filled subtitle: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration.

Science 181

Science Illinois Investigation Research 181

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2016

Long ago, before I became the bird-name rancoteur I am today, I had an idle question. Why, I asked myself, did the loons come to be called loons in the English-speaking regions of North America when they were already known by the much more practical term divers back in the colonists’ mother country?

North America 119

North America America Birds Science 119

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 209

Dissection Birds Research Europe 209

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

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 114

Birds North America Breeding America 114

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2015

While not in New Guinea and the tropical Pacific, he helped establish natural history-based undergraduate student programs that integrate indigenous communities with wildlands conservation in threatened landscapes of western North America and Central America.” You see, the bird was collected for scientific study.

Collecting 157

Collecting Papua New Guinea Science Birds 157

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 262

Birds North Carolina North America Owls 262

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Louisiana is a magical place to bird. At the same time I was ogling Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Upland Sandpipers, Marybeth Lima was also birding Louisiana. Chapter Two is a potpourri of stories about nemesis birds, birding by ear, birding for science, under the rubric of birding ‘for the love of it.’

Louisiana 264

Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2020

Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) releases a survey called “ Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis.”. The report stated that there were 45 million “birders,” of which 39 million were “around-the-home birders” and 16 million were more active “away-from-home” birders who traveled at least a mile to see birds.

2016 257

2016 North America 2020 2019 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

They also remind me why I love birding in Michoacán. I would love to know how the order spread across these regions, since that spread must have involved either crossing oceans or the frigid regions that these birds avoid. Both are large, stocky birds, with a large head and long, squared-off tail. Those are good numbers.

Mexico 177

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 177

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Two reactions on hearing that Steve Howell and Brian Sullivan have written a guide entitled Peterson Guide to Bird Identification–in 12 Steps : (1) What? In other words, you don’t even observe the bird closely until Step 7, and that is to observe behavior. Another identification guide?, (2) Howell and Brian L.

Birds 136

Birds North America 2012 America 136

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

The American Birding Association celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year and one aspect of its celebration was a reprint of the first issue of the publication now known as Birding. Thus, at that time, birding information was scarce and local, distributed, if at all, by individuals or rudimentary networks of birders.

UCLA 125

UCLA North America Los Angeles America 125

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2012

There are probably more identification guides about raptors than there are for any other bird group. But, before Jerry Liguori’s wonderful photographic guides of Hawks at a Distance (2011) and Hawks from Every Angle (2005) and before Clark and Wheeler’s classic Field Guide to Hawks of North America (2nd ed.,

North America 215

North America Bald Eagle Birds Eagles 215

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

These bark-burrowing beetles, which apparently hitched a ride in cargo shipments from their native Asia, have been starving the ash trees of eastern and midwestern North America to death for a dozen years now. These birds may be the North American ash tree’s last line of defense against the EAB invasion.

Woodpeckers 273

Woodpeckers Illinois Science Chicago 273

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2013

Bluebird Man is about Alfred Larson, but you can be one of the film’s heroes by contributing to its production… There is something special about bluebirds, and it isn’t just because the world’s three species are only found in North America. There is something more. Tree Swallows are also cavity nesters.

Idaho 185

Idaho North America America Science 185

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

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

It is now the month of love, and there are few birds I love more than the alcids. This may be surprising in a group of birds that – let’s be honest here – all tend towards the drab, but the Marbled Murrelet was not named for its luxurious bathroom finishes. And yet the birds themselves remain mysterious and lovely.

North America 114

North America Science Collecting Fish 114

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

The task of wrestling this topic down into something that the human mind can manage, without losing sight of the big picture because it’s snowing in Buffalo, is likely to be the task of a lifetime for many science communicators. If I have any complaints, they lie not in the information but in the way the information is presented.

Netherlands 158

Netherlands Birds Buffalo Science 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2012

And let’s also say that you’ve already had a great morning field trip where you saw a ton of new birds and a filling lunch that left you in no need of any refreshment until dinner time. So there I was with one of North America’s most famous birders, safely out of the rain, with a cold beer, my binoculars, and my camera.

Honduras 177

Honduras Birds 2009 North America 177

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

One of these days, Jeopardy will feature a category called “Field Guides” and the first clue will be: “This landlocked South American country finally got its own bird field guide in 2016, but it wasn’t available in the United State until 2019.” Bolivia doesn’t come up much in discussions of birding travel.

Bolivia 168

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 168

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2023

I recently asked ChatGPT some questions about the best birding locations in the United States and the results were decidedly mixed. Here are the queries and the ChatGPT responses are below: What is birding? What is a “nemesis bird” in birding? What is a “big year” in birding?

United States 147

United States North America Birds America 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2013

Everybody knows sparrows, except for the fact that most people don’t know anything about sparrows.Kim Todd sets out to rectify this in a small, elegant book that covers both House Sparrows , the Passer tribe, and the other birds colloquially called sparrows throughout the world (albeit she concentrates most on North America and Britain.)

Sparrows 175

Sparrows Feral Cats North America Feral 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2019

For many North American birders, wood warblers represent everything exciting, compelling, and immediate about birding. North American warblers, on the other hand, often bear names of, at best, marginal utility. Consider some examples: NAMED FOR OTHER BIRDS. NAMED FOR PEOPLE.

Rights 113

Rights Connecticut Tennessee Nashville 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2011

Phoebe, Liam and I went down to work (and play) in January 2011 at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival , and it was the highlight of our winter. I don’t get a lot of life birds in North America any more, but this confiding little gent offered himself up to the list: a Florida Scrub-Jay. But here you go.

Florida 145

Florida Tail Banding Ducks Ohio 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2011

Okay, this post will provide fair warning: If torment, torture, and terror in birding aren’t your thing, or if you are underage and your parents are watching, just take a last glance at this artistic rendering of a flying Great Tit in low light and then click this post away. And you might live to bird another day.

North America 145

North America Europe America Asia 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2016

Jason’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds tackled the importance of the National Wildlife Refuge System. How many birders are there in America? Fish & Wildlife Service released “ Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis.” That’s a lot of birding. As it turns out, there are very few estimates.

Wildlife 164

Wildlife Portland 2002 Collecting 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2013

Sagebrush and Bell’s Sparrows are the birds to talk about. Although this list may not be comprehensive by any means, here are some potential splits that could shake up North American birding in the coming years. An excellent synopsis of the situation is right here at 10,000 Birds. Photographed off Hatteras, NC.

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San Francisco Fox Sparrows California 172

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 17, 2014

But the tenets of the North American Model were developed in the 19th century, when wildlife ethics and science were a mere glimmer of what we understand today. Now, in 21st century America, we’re entertaining new considerations, in keeping with our modern understanding of wild animals and conservation.

Wildlife 232

Wildlife Coyotes Hunters Wolves 232

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2012

Though it was well-known to the Native American populations that shared its space, the black-footed ferret was overlooked by Lewis and Clark and all subsequent Euro-American expeditions, remaining officially unknown to science until John James Audubon, his sons, and the Rev.

Ferrets 180

Ferrets South Dakota Wyoming Captive Animal 180

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

I spent the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the usual post-hurricane activities—looking for storm birds, making sure my loved ones were o.k., trying to grasp the enormity of what had just happened, and reading this book, The Feathery Tribe: Robert Ridgway and the Modern Study of Birds by Daniel Lewis. And, draw birds.

Collecting 145

Collecting Illinois United States Science 145