10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

” But the tanager brand is changing. Most of these birds are small, finch-like species with thick, conical bills for cracking seeds or eating insects. The word “ tanager ” conjures certain images for most of us birder types. We’re learning we’ve got to expand our idea of what it means to be a tanager.

2003 207

2003 Sparrows Family South America 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. But meanwhile, let’s look at the four avian families that comprise the brand new order Suliformes. Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas.

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Experiments in the field (the famed Asa Wright Nature Center veranda) involving Bananaquits and bananas came up with numbers ranging from 7 to 16, but a tanager always came along to interfere with Bananaquits’ noisy appreciation of their namesake fruit. Even during the breeding season the birds appear to be quite unwary of humans.

Trinidad 191

Trinidad Birds South America Research 191

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

February 12 is Darwin Day , the birthday of the brilliant author of On The Origin of Species. 10,000 is the approximate number of bird species in the world but certainly not the actual number. 10,000 is the approximate number of bird species in the world but certainly not the actual number.

Groups 178

Groups Branding Species 2009 178

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2018

Several years ago, I read about the enormous colonies of breeding birds in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and I did some research to satisfy my curiosity. ( Google Scholar is an excellent resource and free full-text PDFs can be located for many papers, particularly when research is taxpayer-funded. It is helpful to have a sample paper.

Transported 113

Transported 2011 Research 2012 113

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

I couldn’t wait to give names to all my new species. I tried using the Internet, but found it frustrating for all the usual reasons; websites either didn’t include all species or were difficult to use for identification. Each species account is 2-pages long, one page of text and one page of photographs.

Ireland 170

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

Our first shopping trip when we arrived in Florida was to buy a field guide and that afternoon we thought we had a soft drink can sitting on a fence-you know the brand-no, it’s not that…it’s a cardinal! Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

South Africa 158

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 158