10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

As an older Chills song is titled, “Familiarity breeds contempt” (And no, I do not think NZ band The Chills originally came up with this phrase – I can use google as well as any other person and thus know that the expression familiarity breeds contempt was first used in English in the 1300s by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Pandas 209

Pandas Birds Mammals China 209

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2019

I couldn’t help thinking this–me, the anthropomorphism hater– as I watched a pair of Philippine Eagles tend their nest, raise a chick, and tear monkeys apart in Bird of Prey: The Story of the Rarest Eagle on Earth , a well-crafted, beautifully filmed documentary with a mission. The Philippine Eagle has a kind face.

Eagles 203

Eagles Philippines Eggs Birds 203

Animal Person

JUNE 8, 2009

Part V: Me and My Monkey. He talks about "My research monkey," Clayton, and what he did to Clayton, and writes as if Clayton didn't mind at all. Engber writes of experimenting on cats and on the "furtive language" vivisectionists use to decrease the emotional impact of what they do. But that's now what happened.

Animal Welfare 100

Animal Welfare Monkeys Animal Welfare Act Vivisection 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2021

… – part 2 – Once I finish this writing, with a strange mix of emotions I will put the Lynx field guide Birds of Colombia to the bookshelf for the first time, more than half a year after I received it. We found Black-collared Swallows breeding in cracks among the lower riverside rocks. Black-collared Swallow by Tyler Ficker.

Dolphins 261

Dolphins Colombia Otters Birds 261

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

Here local hunters had known about the colony and for generations had been harvesting the birds by simply picking the adults off their nests during the breeding season. However they will not and cannot breed, and once these individual’s natural lifespans are over, these bird populations will be lost forever.

Ghana 193

Ghana Hunters Gambia Guinea 193