10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2023

According to the McMurray hatchery , the “Silver Pheasant is considered a good ‘starter’ breed for people who want to learn more about raising pheasants” Hm. In one group, they added a blue egg to their nests. In the other, they added both such an egg and a peanut half-shell. What a weird world.

Italy 180

Italy Birds China France 180

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

They generally lay four eggs, but we have only seen a maximum of three surviving chicks after a few days. A good indication that they have eggs or young is the extreme noise that they make. They will often fly at both people and other animals in defense of their eggs and young. Masked Lapwing chick hiding in a cow footprint!

Breeding 143

Breeding Cows Eggs 2012 143

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2016

It’s a bang-up breeding year for super-endangered birds! The species, which migrates from the Russian Arctic to Southeast Asia, is down to about 200 breeding pairs in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching. For the past several years, getting the birds to breed has been an exercise in futility. Both photos by the WWT).

Eggs 190

Eggs Louisiana Breeding Asia 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2017

After a very good Wet Season with substantially more rain than normal over the first few months of 2017 the land was flooded and a huge variety of birds arrived in the Broome area to take advantage of the ideal conditions for breeding. Australian Painted Snipe nest with four eggs. Four eggs in the Australian Painted Snipe nest.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Raised 2017 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Egg harvesting to sell as food was intensive then, with thousands taken annually from the breeding colonies in Chile. Egg collection for local consumption still continues at lower scale. Conservation organizations such as the Flamingo Specialist Group is actively trying to inform the public on the vulnerability of flamingos.

Chile 154

Chile Endangered Species Eggs Argentina 154

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area. Understated elegance is also something the White-browed Tit is rather good at.

China 167

China Mongolia Birds Russia 167

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

Of the sixteen pairs of Pied Oystercatchers between Gantheaume Point and Willie Creek on the south side, which is a length of breeding territories covering 23 kilometres-just over 14 miles-only one chick fledges most years. There is egg predation, chick loss and sometimes possibly just some “bad parenting”!

Eggs 165

Eggs Raised Breeding Family 165

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

However, it is kind of sophisticated in that the females lay very individualized eggs in order to be able to detect the added eggs of parasite cuckoo finches. Let’s hope it can find some relatively unfragmented habitat for breeding – studies show that the failure rate of nests is much higher in fragmented habitats.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Most Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of up to a dozen or more individuals. Within a group, 1–7 male co-breeders compete for matings with 1–3 joint-nesting females who lay their eggs in the same nest cavity. This is a photo of a juvenile at my water feature.

Woodpeckers 183

Woodpeckers Breeders Groups North America 183

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

I should have known that birding High Island meant I would be 20 minutes away from a place where hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and waterbirds rest, feed, breed, and generally have a good time. I love American Avocets and I rarely see them in such marvelous breeding plumage, so I was in heaven. Clapper Rail. Back to the Flats.

Houston 200

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 200

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

In the non-breeding season, male Baya Weavers sometimes enter the basket-making trade, often with considerable success. Meanwhile, the females seem to have a much more relaxing life, at least in this early stage of the breeding season. It very effectively forms a small foraging group in this manner. You can see why here.

Birds 201

Birds Sri Lanka Taiwan Cats 201

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

The Dry Tortugas National Park is located some 70 miles off of Key West in a small group of keys that makes up the farthest points included in the state of Florida, so it was no surprise that we had a four hour boat ride ahead of us before landing in the park. Lots and lots of birds. Brown Noddy. Sooty Terns are incredibly birds.

Birds 173

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 173

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2014

Sociable Lapwings breed in several areas along the Kazakhstani – Russian border and overwinter in Iraq, Sudan and northwest India. These birds even lay their eggs on piles of cow or horse dung, most likely to elevate them from the cold ground and possibly provide some heating through the process of rotting plant material.

India 240

India Sudan Ukraine Camels 240

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2013

They will only breed if the conditions are good and the male will be responsible for nest building and incubating the 6-12 eggs for approximately 60 days. There had been good rains the previous year and as a result of that there were numerous family groups. He will then rear the young Emu for up to 18 months.

Australia 177

Australia Investigation Family Groups 177

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2011

The birds are not allowed to breed on the runway, but many loaf around on it. Around 100,000 of these terns breed on almost every available space on the island, and walking through groups of them is a deafening and quite painful experience. This species doesn’t breed on Tern Island itself, but does sometimes turn up there.

Hawaii 172

Hawaii Breeding Wildlife Eggs 172

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

The non-breeding distribution is virtually unknown, although they are suspected to winter in northern South America (Howell and Web 1995). Clutch size, incubation period, time to fledge, and eggs are all undescribed. Until recently the vocalizations of Sinaloa Martin were unknown and known breeding sites are few and far between.

South America 179

South America San Diego Mexico America 179

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2017

Deep in a walking reverie, I was startled out of my daydream by a group of tiny terns perched at the edge of a sand embankment, looking over at me as I looked at them. It’s mid-April, and soon they will begin laying eggs. There is no mistaking a Least Tern: they were back!

South America 102

South America United States Protection Pelicans 102

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2014

At the beginning of the 20th century they were nearly extinct, with no breeding pairs left in the west of Germany and just very few in Germany’s East. They were protecting the last three pairs that were left in West Germany from egg thieves! Ospreys have shown a remarkable recovery in Germany. Go Eagles!! all the way to Saxony.

Eagles 167

Eagles Germany Breeding Hunting 167

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2016

The female is a smaller bird and they only breed once a year laying one large olive green egg. Due to the large numbers of grasshoppers we have been encountering larger numbers of Australian Bustards and on dull days they can be found in small groups rather than singularly. The average weight of a male bird is 6.3

Australia 103

Australia Mice Eggs Eagles 103

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2012

Typically there are four eggs in a brood especially on good year. Once the eggs hatch the family begins the long walk down to the shoreline. Some of these birds, breeding up here at 73 degrees north will winter at the tip of South America, Tierra Del Fuego, 54 degrees south or so. This was a later nest. “Are we there yet?

South America 159

South America Eggs Family Raised 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Color-coded page headings denote bird groups, matched by color-coded bird silhouette icons located midway down the edge of the page. Published by Doubleday in 1946, the guide was initially seen by Roger Tory Peterson as competition to his own best-selling field guide, soon to be released in the landmark second revised enlarged edition.

North America 278

North America America Birds California Condor 278

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2018

Scientists were largely limited to studies birds in breeding colonies, at least those we knew about and that were accessible (and, if you think that’s a complete list, you haven’t read the news that came out this week about a new colony of Adélie penguins found in the Danger Islands, Antarctica). Technology to the rescue!

Albatross 114

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2018

I found this little grouping of Guillemots, with parents, babies and even an egg. What started as a small group of birds, with the hope they would make it on their own, is now a very strong breeding population. Here is just a small portion of one wall, covered by Guillemots.

Puffins 100

Puffins Wildlife Reserve 2003 Farming 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2014

We have seen them on remote beaches hunting shorebirds and taking their eggs and they have been responsible for much of the egg loss in breeding Pied Oystercatchers along the Broome coast. Feral cat predation on Pied Oystercatcher eggs. They are incredibly cunning and not easily trapped.

Australia 157

Australia Species Feral Cats Feral 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

Try Bermuda Petrel, Pterodroma cahow , one of the group of seabirds called gadfly petrels. 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. It isn’t in your book of seabirds? (It

Birds 164

Birds Rats Breeding 2012 164

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. So, there are separate descriptions for birds normally grouped in the Savannah Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco complexes. Read the Introduction!

North America 141

North America Sparrows America United States 141

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

This is evident in the introductory material, which includes sections on The Origin and Evolution of Borneo’s Birds, Conservation in Action, Vegetation and Bird Life in Borneo, Climate, Rainfall and Bird Breeding Seasons, and Bird Migration. Back to the field guide! Browsing this field guide is a visual pleasure.

Brunei 172

Brunei Birds Asia China 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) Even during the breeding season the birds appear to be quite unwary of humans. 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago?

Trinidad 188

Trinidad Birds South America Research 188

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2011

Currently she does full time voluntary work for the local Australasian Wader Study Group, which aims to understand and analyze the factors determining shorebird numbers in a rapidly changing world. She also monitors Pied Oystercatchers breeding along a 23km stretch of beach by bicycle and on foot.

Australia 149

Australia 2011 Sharks Deer 149

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

Studies on improving ostrich egg hatchability. Also, I learned that in the US , ostrich eggs are priced at $40-$75. Each fresh egg weighs 4 pounds and is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs. . Together these family groups form a clan and the clans defend this territory from other neighboring clans.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

The proprietor of our ecolodge guides my small group of birders up a steep slope where we see, just at the point where a scope view deteriorates into pixels, a huge bird—a Chaco Eagle, also known as a Crowned Eagle—on a huge nest. McWilliam realizes he’s dealing someone special, a career falcon egg-thief. Author Joshua Hammer.

Falcons 198

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 198

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.” Plantema gives highly detailed information about the weather, terrain, ownership of and access to the islands and coasts where penguins breed.

Penguins 277

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 277

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

What the Owl Knows is organized into nine chapters: introduction, adaptation (including vision and flight), research and researchers, vocalization, courtship and breeding, roosting and migration, cognition, and two chapters on owls and humans–captive owls (not zoos, educational owls) and owls in our cultural history.

Owls 199

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 199

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2017

The most common member of the Grebe species around Broome is the Australasian Grebe- Tachybaptus novaehollandiae and it has taken advantage of our exceptionally good Wet Season early this year and has been breeding very successfully. During breeding season the Australasian Grebe has a very distinct pale yellow patch at the base of the bill.

Breeding 100

Breeding Geese Ducks Eggs 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2024

A study on the breeding biology of Whitehead’s Broadbill was just published in May 2023 but leaves a bit of a puzzle as the breeding success is described as relatively high, meaning there should be other reasons for the population decline of the species. Must have been a camera fault.

Birds 214

Birds Indonesia Breeding Charlotte 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

All New World Quail are highly gregarious, typically found in coveys or flocks except during breeding season. In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June. She will usually lay 12 to 17 eggs, averaging five per week 1 , before beginning incubation.

California 211

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 211

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2018

One of our male Pied Oystercatchers has been marked with an engraved leg flag “A1” and was one of the first pairs to lay eggs this season. Sadly the two chicks did not survive very long at all and the pair of Pied Oystercatchers were soon getting ready to lay more eggs. “A1” Preparing another nest site.

Eggs 106

Eggs Feral Cats Feral Raised 106