10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills goes on to give greater detail of the former nesting sites in Europe: it could once be found “in southern Germany and Austria, in the valleys of the upper Rhine and Danube Rivers, and in the Alps of Switzerland, Italy and Germany, and perhaps in Hungary and Greece”. Here they were easy to overlook.

Morocco 235

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 235

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2019

Barn Swallows are pretty much anywhere in the world (I just saw them back in Germany). But the way it is, familiarity breeds (relative) contempt. The Cattle Egret (or Eastern Cattle Egret , to be exact, but that would mess with my alphabetic order) can be seen in farmland around Shanghai. A thoroughly modern bird.

Germany 133

Germany Cattle Blackbirds Birds 133

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

It also used to be a rather common bird in the South of Germany, but the German population has crashed and collapsed (almost?) If it still breeds in Germany at all, which it might do, it is so rare by now that pairs do not get reported to anywhere except to the relevant nature conservation authorities. What on earth?

Cattle 120

Cattle Germany Iran Breeders 120

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Thus, the cattle we raise for meat and dairy are sometimes called Bos taurus while the extinct wild form is always called Bos primigenius. The chance that this was a real Turkey are not great, and the chance that Columbus actually brought breeding stock from Honduras to Spain is not great, so maybe, maybe not.

Turkey 210

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 210

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

The Kerkini Lake National Park is my favourite birding area in the whole of the Balkans and while I’ve been here in April and again (migration), September (migration), October (coffee break), December and January (wintering), this was my first time in the breeding season, in May. But nowadays, they, too, breed here, about 20 pairs this year.

Greece 200

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2018

Beset by poaching by cattle ranchers, habitat loss, DDT, and lead poisoning (from consuming shotgun pellets embedded in the condor’s carrion fare), populations of this enormous New World vulture fell into a serious decline in the twentieth century. A portion of all draft and bottle sales of Condor Kolsch will be donated to these programs.

California Condor 106

California Condor Oregon California Zoos 106