10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

Everyone is looking back on their best birds of 2019, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at a book that looks back a little further: Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City , by P. Because, as this book demonstrates so well, it is sometimes important to look back in order to move forward. “Wait!”

New York City 150

New York City New York Birds Breeding 150

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Navarro’s exceptional drawings illustrate the species accounts. Forty-eight species. Compare, for example, the species account illustration of the Cuban Trogon with the photo that opens up the introductory chapter. The luxury of space means that each species can be shown from various angles and in distinctive poses.

Cuba 231

Cuba Birds United States 2000 231

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2019

And the book is about much more, ripple effects from what happens when part of a living thing becomes the central ingredient to a highly visual, social, profitable business. I did often wonder while reading the book whether the result equaled the effort. The late Victorian age was not a good time to be an egret!

Industry 119

Industry Virginia Portland Campaign 119

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Every now and then you read a book which you believe should be read by everyone on the planet. Nature’s Best Hope by American entomologist and conservationist, Doug Tallamy, is such a book. Insects and a host of other invertebrate life have evolved with these plant species, and thus depend on them.

Wildlife 263

Wildlife North America Mammals Breeding 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Producing a book about birds and nesting is a dangerous business. Some people love books like that. I’m happy to say that Laura Erickson and Marie Read have written a book, Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds , that is not too cute and that does not anthropomorphize.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2018

Fun fact: only three species in the lower 48 states are not protected by that statute – the House Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, and Common Starling.). The book, handsome and hefty, is meant to “commemorate and amplify” the Year of the Bird initiative –but it’s a self-celebration of sorts, too. As happy as, well, larks.

Birds 122

Birds Minnesota Protest Protesting 122

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept of Birds and People , Mark Cocker and David Tipling’s book that, in 592 pages, explores the intersection of just that—birds and us. Still, I found it a little disjointing that a book has been written about our relationship with birds. So, I just sit here, amazed at this book.

Birds 213

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 213

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. And, each essay tells a story.

Birds 115

Birds North America Breeding America 115

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2021

His latest book is The Real James Bond , available as a hardcover, an eBook and an audiobook. In 2021, the American Ornithological Society announced that it has now classified the Bahama Nuthatch as a distinct species, Sitta insularis. One is a species altogether new to science — a nuthatch discovered on Grand Bahama Island.”

Bahamas 344

Bahamas Philadelphia 2004 Science 344

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2011

Be warned, The Atlas of Birds is not a map book, though it does contain maps, lovely orange and purple and green bird distribution maps. And, it is not a coffee table book, though it is on the large size (11 x 8.5) It is pretty amazing how much information Mike Unwin compresses into the book’s 144 pages.

Albatross 197

Albatross Birds Campaign Protection 197

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

This is a very good thing; it means they publish a lot of books about birds (probably more at this point than U.S. This is a hefty book, 560 pages long and dimensions of 6.3 Over 3,200 photographs have been used, most showing species in their habitats. British birders are very serious about birding and their birds.

Ireland 144

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 144

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Life Along the Delaware Bay: Cape May, Gateway to a Million Shorebirds , by Lawrence Niles, Joanna Burger, and Amanda Dey, is a book with a mission. The numbers, as detailed in this book, are alarming: the horseshoe crab harvest grew from less than 100,000 in 1992 to over 2.5 million in the late 1990’s.

Delaware 179

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 179

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2023

The (Big) Year that Flew By: Twelve Months, Six Continents, and the Ultimate Birding Record – which is the book’s full title, or Arjan Dwarshuis’s Big Year, as I prefer to call it shortly, is a highly anticipated and a long awaited travelogue of the author’s 2016 race against time across 40 countries in his attempt to break the world birding record.

Papua New Guinea 249

Papua New Guinea Guinea Suriname South America 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2022

Even so, we do have some sandpipers and plovers around; there have been recent reports of Surfbirds and various other wading species. Their local guide excitedly confirmed the bird as a Harpy Eagle (only the most dearly wanted species for every birder in Costa Rica), took photos and video, and spread the news.

Costa Rica 190

Costa Rica Eagles West Virginia Albatross 190

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

This is how it looks like: Or at sunset: A species I did not come for from Shanghai is the Black-crowned Night Heron. They look crap but presumably offer some protection for the chicks, though not from each other (see the murderous activities within the nests in my previous post ). Yes, we have them in Shanghai as well.

Birds 217

Birds Eagles Elephants Rhinoceros 217

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

Or, Pygmy leaf-folding frogs, Afrixalus brachycnemis, from Tanzania, tiny climbing frogs who lay their eggs in leaves and then fold the leaves over them for protection, sealing the nest with secretions. This is what happens when you read a book like Frogs and Toads of the World , by Chris Mattison.

Reptiles 185

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 185

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2019

To give an idea of what I mean by “birdy”, although Costa Rica is similar in size to West Virginia, more than 920 species have been recorded within the borders of this southern Central American country. With so many species to choose from, it’s far from easy to decide which merit inclusion.

Costa Rica 113

Costa Rica Parrots Birds West Virginia 113

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2022

The stars of the bird world take many forms and fame is often related to location but some species, some cool groups of birds are accorded priority no matter when or where they are seen. The Olive-crowned Yellowthroat is one of Costa Rica’s resident wood-warbler species. 13 Warbler Stars from the North.

Costa Rica 277

Costa Rica Nashville Tennessee Turtles 277

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2017

Once again thanks to the good folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt we here at 10,000 Birds are giving away books! Carrie reviewed the book here and, like me, she has a soft spot for Pete Dunne’s prose. But enough about the book! One of our email subscribers chosen at random will win one of the copies of the book.

North America 166

North America Falcons Birds Eagles 166

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2019

Focusing on an often under-appreciated portion of the continent, the book showcases forty species found in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio – but perhaps not for long. The result is a book that invites and doesn’t exhaust the reader. I honestly found it in many ways quite hopeful.

Indiana 128

Indiana Downers Iowa Illinois 128

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2019

But I insisted he try the blood and violence guy, and he humored me, only to send me, later, a longish email, pointing out the flaws in my judgment and in the book and the author, and closing with this: “Since I didn’t care for any of his characters, I really didn’t care who killed whom.”. Fair enough.

Humane 133

Humane 2018 Laws Science 133

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2014

Nearly wiped out by human heedlessness, development, and pesticide use, under the protection of the Endangered Species Act this handsome fish eagle has made a stunning comeback, rebounding in numbers and recolonizing areas where many thought they were gone forever. As an experiment, I also ran this book by a non-birding friend.

Bald Eagle 227

Bald Eagle Eagles Endangered Species Washington 227

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2023

This park protects the largest remaining tract of dry deciduous forest in the west of India, offering visitors 37 species of reptiles, 38 species of mammals and, not to be forgotten – almost 300 bird species. It belongs to the same species as those in Europe, but a smaller subspecies ( Sus scrofa davidi ).

India 147

India Lions Boars Mammals 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

This is a cruise like no other, full of scientific lectures, over forty guides spread out on deck, bird-themed parties, and a lights-off mandate to protect birds at night. The marine protected area status was designated in 2013. Marion has a fascinating history with invasive species.

South Africa 263

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2017

As far back as the late ’70s he’s been entertaining and enlightening birders with his essays and books on the hows and why of birding. The latest from his pen is Birds of Prey , a hybrid between an identification guide and an essay collection, a book of lore that provides a comprehensive overview of the raptors of North America.

North America 102

North America Falcons America Eagles 102

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2021

I developed a new idea of a sustainable tourism company which rather than complaining about unsustainable practices in the industry, could promote education and research in the field, contributing positively to the protection and conservation of the cultural and biological diversity in Colombia.

Colombia 232

Colombia Industry Birds 2000 232

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Similarly, the Alpine Leaf Warbler is one of the more attractive species in an otherwise almost indistinguishable family of identical leaf warblers. (“But the difference in wing bars, Kai!”). Is it more important to protect one’s reputation as a serious bird blogger, or to spread a bad joke?

Birds 239

Birds North Korea China Woodpeckers 239

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2021

In birding circles, Costa Rica is better known for protected areas, quetzal tours, and glittering displays of hummingbirds than the things that fly in urban spots. Those books talked about the small, cool looking quail as being a bird of scrubby fields and weedy habitats but Niagara seemed to be just a bit too far north of their range.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Falcons Farming Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2017

He has recorded over 20 new bird records for Honduras, dozens of new butterflies, new orchid records and even new species for science. If there was a bird book available for that country I’ll bet that it was, in fact, written only in English. You can help this effort by donating toward the printing of books.

Honduras 138

Honduras Missouri Birds Panama 138

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2015

I haven’t increased my life or country list, only my city list for one species (I don’t even know which one). Still, six years ago I nominated that central Belgrade zone for an Important Bird Area – some parts of it should become protected any time soon and all the data that can further strengthen that protection is welcome.

Serbia 212

Serbia ALA Protection Collecting 212

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2016

In July 2013, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources held a meeting in Bremerhaven in Germany, to decide whether to turn the Ross Sea into a marine protected area. There are 11 species of birds that breed in the Ross Sea region. Back to the Future – the Case for Protection. And the Mammals.

Russia 172

Russia Penguins Whales Whaling 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

“Gamebirds” to some, cool, cryptic understory birds to the birding people, grouse crouch protected as unfettered winds sway the top of the tall prairie grass. Even so, he still knew many species and always yearned to learn about the wildlife he encountered. The remaining four species are the most grouse-like of the bunch.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

Tell me, what happens if we rip away hunting when hunting protects more wildlife land in Africa than national parks? Conservation is concerned about protecting populations, species, habitats, ecosystems. That conservation uses the death of the species it is trying to save is both paradoxical and not. I’m sorry.

Lions 208

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

It provides goals and a definite direction for your birding travels and thoughts; sometimes it even becomes the basis of a book! In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Journeys With Penguins: Tracking the World’s Most Extreme Penguin is a different type of penguin book. Kooyman (co-author with Jim Mastro) spent decades studying Emperor Penguins and can be considered the world’s foremost expert on the species. Kooyman and Jim Mastro The book is divided into two sections.

Penguins 156

Penguins Seals Leopards Research 156

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 14, 2021

Geographic patterns of species richness for birds (1,558 species) in East Africa at 0.25° resolution (blue indicates low species richness, while brown indicates high species richness). At the time of writing, Uganda has 16 hotspots with 400+ so far eBirded species, of which one has almost 600 species.

Africa 199

Africa Kenya Uganda Tanzania 199

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2013

It is something mystical, something holy, and most relevantly for this book, something that you quest for. More and more often, I am seeing books in which birds are the magic rings, the elusive objects that control the fates of characters and, at least on a symbolic level, the fates of whole worlds. Something worthy of epic.

Science 203

Science Florida Woodpeckers Protection 203