10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2011

Rufous Hummingbirds have a well-earned reputation for getting lost — they breed along the west coast but turn up in New York in fall and winter pretty regularly — and an equally well-earned reputation for hardiness, as they breed farther north than any other hummingbird species, into Alaska.

South America 156

South America New York Alaska America 156

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2012

But as I and others have said before, it does raise a very practical question about what field guides, which have for the most part been slavishly devoted to taxonomic order, are going to do. In any case, the species does come north into U.S. waters every year after breeding.

Falcons 172

Falcons Parrots California Breeding 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 201

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 201

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Pough “with illustrations in color of every species” by Don Eckelberry, Doubleday, 1946. If you remember that the first edition of Sibley was published with “National Audubon Society” on the cover, raise your hand. The press material says it covers over 800 species, so you know I had to do a count.

North America 279

North America America Birds California Condor 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

The hope and claim is that transferring this process to gull identification works more easily and just as accurately (at least for species) as an examination of plumage and molt patterns. Species Accounts. Gulls Simplified covers 25 species. From the Laughing Gull species account.

North America 199

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 199

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

Raised in and around the West Texas steppe country where temperatures reached 100 degrees with regularity, he began life as the Dust Bowl and Great Depression converged. His parents moved where opportunity beckoned, taking him from San Angelo, Texas, to Columbus, New Mexico, then to Dallas, and finally on to California.

Falcons 178

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2018

Following passage of the United States Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus ) was among the first 75 species listed for protection, the so-called “Class of 1967”. Reintroduction efforts expanded to Arizona in 1996, and later, to the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.

California Condor 104

California Condor Oregon California Zoos 104

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2011

The Western Gull is a relatively common marine gull found on the western coast of the United States and northern Mexico. It is at the breeding season, however, that the Western Gull accomplishes real mischief. Some gulls are particularly good at hunting the Ashy Storm-petrel, a species which also has its stronghold on this island.

Breeding 175

Breeding Collecting California Hunting 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Kills in Canada, Alaska and Mexico are not included in the count. Further, the crane take in Mexico is a free-for-all: neither regulated nor recorded. Initiating a hunting season on a large, charismatic species like a crane is no way to resuscitate hunting. Nationwide, wildlife watchers now outspend hunters 6 to 1.

2011 245

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 245

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2014

August arrived and I was releasing birds knowing they’d need time to adapt prior to making that long flight across the Gulf of Mexico, headed to South America. But lets see … I’d say one of my most memorable releases is that of a Purple Martin , a species of special concern in California.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 220

Wildlife Rehabilitation Ohio Tulsa West Virginia 220