10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2020

Juniper is a decidely wintery spice, and its piquant, piney flavor is generally used to season game, offal, and charcuterie, steaming heaps of sauerkraut, warming cordials, and other hearty fare best enjoyed during the shorter, darker days of the year. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are important pollinators (depicted here by John James Audubon).

New York 237

New York Connecticut Mississippi North America 237

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2017

Ka’ena Point is also a breeding ground for the Federally protected Laysan albatross, where 45 nests were being carefully monitored by the non-profit Pacific Rim Conservation. Emboldened by the averted gazes, the excuses by the adults in their lives, the legal bargains and wrist slaps, they set their sights on increasingly bigger game.

Albatross 214

Albatross Honolulu Hawaii Killing 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2011

Look at the facts, lay your emotions aside and listen to reason—exactly the same reasoning that’s been so persuasive in convincing me that hunting cranes is the right thing to do. There was a lot of hunting for Bald Eagles—it is traditionally a game species. In my home state, Bald Eagles are breeding in 35 Ohio counties.

Bald Eagle 264

Bald Eagle Eagles Hunting Kentucky 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

Behind the marsh is a quarry, in front of it the Gulf of Argostoli, a small pine wood to the right and some eucalyptus trees to the left. I mean, I’ve been to games, but I don’t memorize who played third base for Pittsburgh in 1960.” Two-thirds of the world’s population breeds colonially on Greek islands.

Falcons 235

Falcons Greece Madagascar Game 235

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2023

It could easily be mistaken for a book about aviation or space navigation or even a flight simulator game if you don’t read the long, adjective-filled subtitle: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration. Flight Paths is a splendid but risky title for a book about bird migration.

Science 260

Science Illinois Investigation Research 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

I learned of the trip right as it had been delayed and made a vow that I would be on that ship. About half of all breeding Wandering Albatross nest on the Prince Edward Islands. Erik overheard a few waiters joke about the birders “…they keep going left, then right, left, then right.” Which makes it a haven for seabirds….and

South Africa 264

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

Why allow hunters to shoot right into the middle of them? One was “Superdad,” one of the few successful breeding whooping cranes in the entire eastern population. Could Ohio lose its entire pioneer breeding population? State game departments have a mandate to serve all the citizens of their state, not just the ones with guns.

Kentucky 260

Kentucky Hunters Hunting Protest 260

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

There’s lots of disheartening stuff going on in the bird world this week, so let’s start with some love in the air, in honor of Valentine’s Day: An avian version of “The Dating Game” at a Chicago-area zoo aims to reveal how best to manage mating in captivity. I know, right?!) Bad news: The massive Common Murre die-off along the U.S.

Penguins 100

Penguins Chicago Zoos Game 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2012

In addition to their homing tendency, breeding swallows are attracted to old nests. In California, the Cliff Swallows usually arrive in February so the agency in charge of enforcing these laws, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), considers February 15th to September 1st the swallow nesting season. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJma0Szy8R8

San Diego 165

San Diego illegal California South America 165

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

Many native bird species have been displaced or lost their breeding grounds, leading to a significant decline in their numbers. That’s right, we’re in Shanghai—a place where birds and concrete collide in a remarkable display of irony. Who needs biodiversity when you can have another shopping mall, right?

China 240

China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 240

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2012

Which these days involves a frenzy to breed and raise a brood. My friend on the end of the line got right to the point: “What does a Kingfisher look like?” He told me where he’d found them, and we hung up and I went back to my card game. A Baird’s Sandpiper, our most common breeding shorebird.

Bald Eagle 222

Bald Eagle Breeding Raised Whales 222

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2019

The game-changer was the new scope, Swarovski 25-60×65 STX , which truly allowed me to follow those tiny tracks in the mud. An asphalt road passes by the eastern pond, the site of the breeding colony of Black-headed Gulls , in some years with a pair or two of Mediterranean Gulls among them.

Serbia 202

Serbia New Jersey Europe Hunters 202

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Marabous occur throughout tropical and subtropical Africa from Zululand in northern South Africa right up to the arid Sahel region fringing the Sahara Desert, avoiding the closed canopy rainforest zones of central and west Africa. During breeding season, their white plumage turns a delicate pink color, a lovely sight indeed.

Africa 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

To explain what a Grallard is one must first go back to those societies and recall that one of their predominant preoccupations was game. New Zealand had, once upon a time, some fairly spectacular game birds, including massive flightless geese, massive flightles rails, and really enormous moa. Female Mallard, photo by Corey.

Species 217

Species New Zealand Ducks Game 217

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2016

The key to solving the puzzle of Germany’s large white-headed gulls was banding juveniles of all forms in their breeding colonies and the fact that some humans find immense joy in driving around garbage dumps, looking at birds with pricey scopes and trying to decipher tiny codes on plastic or metal rings of various shapes and sizes.

Kazakhstan 173

Kazakhstan Germany Ukraine Asia 173

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2012

This may be the most awesome pelagic you’ll ever experience… For me it was the publication in 1984 of Peter Harrison’s ground-breaking identification guide to ‘ Seabirds ’ that opened up the off-shore world of pelagic birding right on Cape Town’s door step.

Albatross 241

Albatross Penguins Dolphins Whales 241

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

we learn) that are home to coveted boreal species, breeding wood-warblers, and two species of Grouse. Additional helpful design features include the names of family groups against a yellow-and-white striped background on every page corner and having every bird image facing right (except for that Common Loon chick!),

Los Angeles 246

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. Below are our Best Birds of the Year. What was yours? Let us know in the comments…see you there!

2014 245

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 245

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

The Accounts present text on the left and images on the right. Small images accompany many of the larger bird images–the bird in flight, juvenile form, breeding plumage–and there are separate plates for first-year and second-year gulls and for hawks as they look in flight, from below. The text pages have a lively look.

North America 264

North America America Hawaii Birds 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2011

Besides that, I teach environmental ethics courses for biology students at the university and currently I am working also on an exciting project of producing a simulation game called ecosim (primarily an education tool for students) in which the player has to fulfil conservation tasks in an interactive ecosystem (e.g. Does this sound vague?

Badgers 145

Badgers Ethics Africa Spain 145

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 3, 2010

She has a new book out (which I am reading right now) called One Good Dog. I’m an author, good character names are fair game) joined the family and something rather miraculous happened. The work of shelters and breed rescue organizations is vital. Today we have a great guest post from author Susan Wilson. Sasha learned to purr.

Pit Bulls 100

Pit Bulls Rescue Massachusetts Feral Cats 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

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. This is the time of year that we rightfully contemplate the noble Turkey. Diffusion to other european countries subsequently was very rapid.

Turkey 260

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 260

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

This makes it a particularly exciting time in New Zealand as the Rugby World Cup begins in two days, and the competition is being held right here in New Zealand (I would imagine they might be more excited if they hadn’t just lost two matches to Australia and South Africa, their big rivals in the Tri-Nations).

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Penguins Sanctuary Birds 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Jake lives in southern Florida, so he and his friends had to be interested in learning about these birds, which they saw everyday, right? The Pigeon has spawned an empire of books, DVDs, plush toys, games, and musical theater. I have decided that the bird is an Alpine Chough, a red-billed blackbird that breeds in the Swiss Alps.

Birds 258

Birds Owls Switzerland Lions 258

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Hare could run a very profitable shell game. Instead, he simply points at the cup on the right. What’s at play here, she concluded, is not some inner sense of right and wrong but a learned ability to act submissive when an owner gets angry. Foxes that slunk back in fear and snapped their teeth didn’t get to breed.

Wolves 100

Wolves Fox Dogs Puppies 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

In Africa, our bee-eaters occur from the southern tip of the continent right through to the far north, occupying an incredible range of habitats and niches, from the interior of the deepest rainforests of the Congo to the arid steppes of the Sahel. They occur throughout Subsaharan Africa but avoid the deserts and rainforests.

Africa 266

Africa South Africa Gabon Uganda 266

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2022

In the light of all this, I needed to up my game. Early July is right in the middle of month-and-a-half where I have seen the Sinaloa Martin. But there are certain aspects that suggest that this town is not an early stop along their migration, but rather a part of their summer breeding range. So now, we had a party!

Mexico 147

Mexico United States Breeding Penguins 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Sandhill Hunt: They’re Voting Now Sandhill Cranes: Game Birds? They reach breeding maturity at four to seven years of age, produce only one chick per nesting season, and only one in three offspring survive to fledging age. This slow reproduction rate is unlike any other avian game species currently hunted.

2011 263

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2023

It also seems to host a population of Red-breasted Chats right next to the highway; I had previously struggled to find this species reliably, and always in a more remote site. “Nacho” couldn’t spend the morning with us, but he was kind enough to give us access to his property, and point us in the right direction.

Mexico 276

Mexico Cuba Species 2014 276

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2020

Many of these were still in their breeding plumage, a special treat for us here in the tropics as they would soon shed their richly patterned exterior for a drab and more mundane outfit. Whatever was in flight within their airspace was fair game. I happened to look up at just the right time to catch a small flock of Scarlet Ibis.

Trinidad 255

Trinidad South America Blackbirds Industry 255

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2012

Further investigation revealed that 30 years ago, the Pennsylvania Game Commission had brought breeding eagles down from Canada to start a Bald Eagle re-introduction program, hoping to bolster the population ravaged by DDT. The program was successful, and the number of Pennsylvania eagles climbed.

Bald Eagle 257

Bald Eagle Wildlife Rehabilitation Pennsylvania Eagles 257

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

All New World Quail are highly gregarious, typically found in coveys or flocks except during breeding season. At this age, they are also able to make short flights, a highly desirable trait for game birds. During non-breeding season the call initiates the covey’s departure from the roosting site. www.youtube.com/watch?

California 263

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 263

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

eBird states that “small white patch on throat is not obvious and difficult to see” And they use a photo that I submitted as main illustration, so they must be right. Note to self: If I am ever reincarnated as a Common Kestrel , I need to make sure not to have my photo taken while preening. It just looks stupid.

Birds 272

Birds China Eggs Owls 272

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Rueppell’s (facing left) and White-backed (three birds facing right) Vultures have worryingly leapt two categories from Near-Threatened to Endangered. A pair of Hooded Vultures in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania by Adam Riley. Rueppell’s Vulture scanning for a carcass at Ndutu, Tanzania by Adam Riley.

Endangered Species 238

Endangered Species Species South Africa Morocco 238

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2012

You could raise both, given that there are 40 million Pheasants released in the UK each year and previous research by the industry’s own science lobby (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust) had found little evidence of raptor take (0.6% of nearly 500 radio-tagged releases).

Industry 252

Industry Research Raised Killing 252

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

Another 170 are in captivity, many of them breeding stock for reintroduction efforts. That’s what you do with other game, right? Fourth Whooping Crane This Winter Shot Animal Rights vs Conservation in Cyprus Tennessee Crane Hunt Tabled for 2 Years! Wicked, right? Why not just shoot the biggest one?

2011 244

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 244

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2011

Bicknell’s Thrush is a bird that is important to me because I grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, one of the places that it breeds. But that is all part of the game that is the big year. The logistics for a big year can leave you in situations with surprising misses. Washington in New Hampshire in July.

New York City 157

New York City New York New Hampshire Research Center 157