10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

Just as the ranger was telling us that we might see wild cats – well, not wild cats, but rather, Wildcats , the wild version of the domestic cat, Felis silvestris lybica , one of those cats popped its head out of the brush about 50 feet beyond her. The most interesting thing about this cat was lack of kitty-cat-ness.

Feral Cats 257

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 257

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Seeing a wild Snow Leopard is every wildlife enthusiast’s dream, probably the ultimate and most elusive wildlife experience on the planet. Knowing this, we were certainly far from disappointed by our experience but we of course all dreamed of a closer view. However most recent research places them amongst the Panthera.

Snow Leopard 279

Snow Leopard Leopards Hunting Sheep 279

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

A number of research projects have sought to determine if some of these human brain abilities are found in other animals. Even among our primate relatives, whoa are generally very smart, “Theory of Mind” is found in only a few species. But that’s another story. Here’s the idea. The graph shows the results.

Abandon 268

Abandon Abandoning Abandonment Research 268

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 246

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

UNLESS that is you get yourself down to the internationally-renowned Tambopata Research Centre in southern Peru where literally hundreds of macaws (and other parrots) congregate around a 50 meter high clay bank. The experience is one of the ornithological highlights in the world. That’s right – birds eating clay.

Peru 255

Peru Parrots 2011 South America 255

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I once had a cat who loved to lick plastic bags, and while I find the pleasure in this hard to comprehend, it still seems more understandable to me than the joy (?) of catching extremely small fish. The solution for one female Chinese Pond Heron in a Japanese heronry: mating with a Little Egret ( source ).

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

It has also found its way to Japan where it is considered to be an invasive species. Now and then individual catfish of various species hunt nearer the surface and larger catfish such as the American Channel Cat will take a duck or other water bird. My own experience at catching catfish (big ones!)

Fish 245

Fish Birds Whales Whaling 245

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

Getting to know the subtleties in differences between closely related species takes years of dedication and practice. Thirdly, many species of shorebirds display such vast differences in their summer and winter plumages that it is always interesting to note how some birds in the same flock are in contrasting stages of plumage.

Florida 234

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 234

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

This species is not only usually the earliest, but the most common. What’s remarkable about this species is what we don’t see here: the extremely long migration that this species makes, with some individuals traveling from Sub-Saharan Africa to Greenland and back every year. Get yours today!

Cyprus 145

Cyprus 2011 Deer New York 145

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

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. These are magical experiences. It is hypothesized, for example, that nocturnal seabirds like the Bermuda Petrel eat bioluminescent prey.

Birds 199

Birds Rats Breeding 2012 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2011

Universities like Harvard, Columbia and Cornell regularly use the research facility. On the grounds, Punta Cana has preserved a 1,500 acre Ecological Park that is an excellent place to view the local endemic bird species and enjoy nature. Additionally the foundation provides a facility for important biological field work.

Dominican Republic 230

Dominican Republic 2011 Birds Deer 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2011

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil giveaway we asked readers of 10,000 Birds to name the bird in Brazil that they would like to see more than any other species. What follows are the responses that readers offered, a veritable aviary of sought after species. It is a really neat bird that I have not seen before.

Brazil 244

Brazil 2011 Birds Wildlife 244

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

The title of the one just mentioned starts with “Intimacy across species boundaries” … The Spot-necked Babbler is “shy and social”, according to eBird, which sounds a bit like a contradiction to me. ”, in which the Red-whiskered Bulbul is named as one of the two most heavily targeted bird species.

China 147

China Vietnam Birds Monkeys 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

Basically, this species is so dimwitted, it doesn’t know how to survive. Because, Pink Pigeons are not capable of doing the tasks required to create and bring up children of the species. Don’t these birds care about propagating their species? What happened to Thelma and Louise? I know, that’s harsh.

Mauritius 109

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 109

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

Take a look at this little Blue Tit and admit that you have never seen a more pathetic picture of a bird that combines the colours blue, yellow, green, white, and black in the most marvellous way you have ever seen: Recent research has shown that Leonardo da Vinci showed a Blue Tit to his model while he painted the smile on “Mona Lisa&#.

2011 198

2011 Birds Deer Europe 198

Animal Person

OCTOBER 26, 2009

This says it all: "[T]he vision of sustainable farms that give animals a good life (a life as good as we give our dogs or cats) and an easy death (as easy as a death we give our suffering and terminally ill companion animals) has moved me" (242). But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Vegan 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2023

So, all this makes birding this place an occasionally less than pleasant experience. The family has about 37 species, but that includes several fulvettas – only 21 of the species have “parrotbill” in their names (and frankly, the bills of fulvettas do not look like those of parrots at all).

Pandas 259

Pandas Birds Eggs China 259

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2023

In Kangding, there is a rather opulent bird hide – two stories, solid construction, spacious, lots of glass, a separate paved parking lot, though mysteriously (and as far as I can tell from my experience of living in China for almost 20 years, not indicative of fundamentally different physical needs of Chinese people) missing a bathroom.

Birds 147

Birds Mammals St. Louis Monkeys 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2023

Like the Eastern Crowned Warbler (which eBird mysteriously calls a “boldly marked songbird” despite its similarity to about 50 other warbler species) … … and the Arctic Warbler (or maybe some other warbler looking very similar). Daniel Gustafsson and coauthors looked at chewing lice of the Grey-headed Lapwing.

Birds 130

Birds China Taiwan Raised 130