Animal Person

MARCH 18, 2009

The site was where northern Kazakhstan is now, the culture was called Botai and the date was around 3500 B.C. And that fact gives rise to a thought-experiment. Horse-drawn carriages and breeding and racing horses and using them to play polo or to schlep kids around is an insult to horses. Let's leave them alone.

Experiments 100

Experiments Experience Horses Transported 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

And here is the problem: Siberian Chiffchaffs are visually distinct, call very differently from European Chiffchaffs and their song is so different that one form doesn’t react to the other’s song in playback experiments. Maybe the two song-types are connected by a gradual change?

Kazakhstan 158

Kazakhstan Europe Russia Asia 158

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2024

All the so-called grey geese – Greylag, Bean, White-front, Lesser White-front, Swan – look very much alike, and it takes experience to identify them by their calls and their shape and size. Explaining the increase in the number of sightings is difficult, as the Siberian breeding population is declining.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2014

Such has frequently been the case in my survey area deep within Kazakhstans barren Mangghystau province, and the most memorable reverse-lifer experience has been with a Tolai Hare just recently. Mammals Kazakhstan rabbits' The Tolai Hare to me is not a hare, it is more of a miracle. what is this thing?

Humane 157

Humane Kazakhstan Camels Rabbits 157

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. Secretive, silent and undetectable outside of its breeding season, found only in the U.S. I wrote about the experience here.

2012 157

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 157