10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

There were ten students in total that had signed up for the spring break “Seabirds” course in Dry Tortugas National Park, and after long drives down from North Carolina we had all made it right on time. No, that was not a typo, the Sooty Terns fly non-stop for an average of five years before they return to the Dry Tortugas to breed.

Birds 177

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 177

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

That summer of 1938, when he was ten years old, Cade read of two brothers, Frank and John Craighead, who wrote of their experiences with falcons in National Geographic. ” By 1970 the man who championed Peregrines had convinced Cornell University to build a Hawk Barn for captive breeding of these birds.

Falcons 178

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

The story of the cahow, a “Lazurus species” that was thought to be extinct for over 300 years and then discovered to be breeding on a tiny remote island in Bermuda, is part of modern birding legend. A particularly good type of fertilizer, for example, drastically increased the population of crabs, spoiling Bermuda’s golf courses.

Birds 167

Birds Rats Breeding 2012 167

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically. The visual beauty and textual facts are a strong combination.

Delaware 179

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 179

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. Green-striped Brush Finch, a Mexican endemic) to 14 pages (Song Sparrow, of course). Of course, Wright approaches identification from a historical viewpoint.

North America 147

North America Sparrows America United States 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

A lovely looking and distinctive sounding bird (so they say, I sadly have not seen one…yet), the Kirtland’s Warbler can only be found during its breeding season in Jack Pine forests 5 to 20 years old in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. At several points in recent history, Kirtland’s Warbler appeared to be on the verge of extinction.

Michigan 227

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 227

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

The fields near the Tiaozini mudflats look very much like a lunar landscape, but this does not seem to keep a number of species from breeding there, sometimes directly on dirt roads. But now back to birds … Little Ringed Plovers also seem to like to breed directly on the road. Blandness sells. Also available as a set of two.

Birds 213

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 213

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 194

Trinidad Birds South America Research 194

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

Gorman’s personal field experience informs much of the text and his total grasp of the field means he relates one research finding to another with narrative ease. I do wish that Gorman included more of his personal experiences and stories in the natural history tradition of ornithologists like Alexander Skutch.

Woodpeckers 232

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 232

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Of course, it is hard to resist looking at a paper titled “Host personality predicts cuckoo egg rejection in Daurian redstarts” Basically, the personality of a female redstart (bold or shy) predicts the responses to parasitic eggs – bold hosts are more likely to reject parasitic eggs. They were missed.

Birds 196

Birds China Eggs Owls 196

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

Unfortunately, the Ashy Drongos did not exactly do what he predicted that they would do – mob potential predators more frequently during the breeding season and mob the more dangerous predator (in this case, the Black Eagle) more intensely. Of course, here in Tengchong, it is a very common bird.

China 181

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 181

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

The Zoo episode focuses on two Pink Pigeon couples: The Stud and Serendipity, a male and female that the zoo people hope will mate and produce a viable egg, and Thelma and Louise, a same-sex pair-bonded couple who the zoo people hope will incubate the egg and nurture the chick. Because, Ms. They’re just not the greatest architects.

Mauritius 101

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 101

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2011

The male bird has the “red cap&# more than the female during the breeding season and is believed to take less interest in the nesting. Females seem to be the only sex to sit on the eggs according to literature, but no research appears to have been done on the night time routine.

Eggs 162

Eggs Family Breeding Protection 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

But, of course, regular 10,000 Birds readers know this from beat writer, Australian birder Clare Morton , whose writings about the birds of Broome and other Australian areas have taught many of us about the joys of Australian birding. These “vignettes” are sadly limited due to space considerations.

Australia 106

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 106

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

This is the story of Fox’s experiences on board the Achiever, the research vessel of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation. The species was seemingly killed off by feather hunters, but then, after years, reappeared at the site of one of the deserted breeding colonies, Torishima Island in Japan.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

Which, of course, is entirely wrong. Let us for once judge a book by its cover, and take a thorough look at a Black-headed Gull in breeding plumage. How do I know of their Gothic moods when they have hidden them so well in an egg-white shell of conformity? It is the claws that give them away, their black nail polish.

2011 161

2011 Birds Deer Europe 161

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2023

So, all this makes birding this place an occasionally less than pleasant experience. One interesting paper argues that contrary to what might seem logical, cuckoos do not aim to lay eggs specifically into the nests of those parrotbills whose egg color and pattern match their own.

Pandas 202

Pandas Birds Eggs China 202

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

And of course, birders (at least me) do not care too much for Giant Pandas, which are the main attraction of this area, despite their pathetic habits. Indeed, most cuckoo eggs are accepted by the babax ( source ), although a small proportion of hosts reject cuckoo eggs and often boast about this capability when having a few too many drinks.

Hamburgers 207

Hamburgers Birds Science China 207

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

Besides the urgent need to identify my dragonflies, I was interested in hands-on experience using these field guides. It covers 63 odonate species: 44 breeding species (19 damselfly, 25 dragonfly), and, in a second part of the Species Accounts, 19 vagrant, potential vagrant and former breeding species (5 damselfly, 14 dragonfly).

Ireland 172

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 172

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2019

But in many cases, Frederick found that the claims of these vaunted but unthinking sources stood in contrast with his own experiences as both a falconer and keen observer of birds. Of course, this fanciful story had been devised to explain the absence of nests in Europe by this Arctic breeder, but Frederick dismissed it as nonsense.

2015 113

2015 Italy Falcons Europe 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2012

And, in a tree off to the right in that direction, I noticed a mass of stuff that resembled a Bald Eagle’s nest as much as any mass of stuff ever could, but of course, it was not a bald eagle nest. Consider this thought experiment. All winter, I almost never went west on that road, only east, but a couple of times I did go west.

Eagles 174

Eagles Bald Eagle Coyotes Mississippi 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

It was a heart-pounding scene straight out of Jurassic Park, an odd experience for a laid-back pursuit like birding. Of course, no ordinary chicken would do, but the Red Junglefowl is the primordial progenitor of poultry, the wild source of cutlets, nuggets, and Buffalo wings. I wrote about the experience here.

2012 147

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

Of course all field guides have changed tremendously over the years and some were really NOT pocket guides! Right now great flocks of wood-warblers are making their way north from the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America to breed across the United States and Canada.

South Africa 158

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2015

To research this book, he traveled extensively to see as many woodpeckers as he could; this field experience was supplemented with museum research and consultations with other experts, plus a library of print material ranging from field guides to scientific papers.

Woodpeckers 241

Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 241

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

I have written about the interesting sex life of these jacanas a few times already (short version: female mates with male, lays a bunch of eggs for him to incubate and raise the chicks, leaves him, finds another male, repeat). Apparently, after a male first mates with a female, he throws out the first one or two eggs she lays in their nest.

Birds 147

Birds China Eggs Breeding 147