10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

The Carolina grasshopper Dissosteira carolina ranges from sea to shining sea, into Canada and nearly to the tip of Texas. Cattle Egrets might well get them when they leap out of the way of our domestic replacement bison. Surely they couldn’t be the same species, across a continent. But they are.

Montana 170

Montana Cooking Texas Cattle 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2011

Ferruginous Hawks are, at the moment, fairly common amidst their habitat of the short-grass prairies that stretch across the entire western Great Plains from southern Alberta through parts of west Texas and California. The large range they occupy is what is keeping their population afloat, however, declining.

Prairie Dogs 164

Prairie Dogs Colorado North Dakota Soreing 164

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

The four main grasspipers that move through Costa Rica are the same ones usually referred to as such by folks looking for them on turf farms from southern Ontario to Texas. It’s more like hoping for them because the abundance of open land on cattle farms and little birding coverage brews up a fine needle in a haystack situation.

Costa Rica 158

Costa Rica Farming Texas Cattle 158

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

The warm, sunny climate beckons a wide variety of passerines, raptors, and shorebirds to spend the winter, inflating the species diversity to the extent that Miami-Dade can go toe-to-toe with counties in Texas and Arizona during this season. Cattle Egret: 133. American White Pelican: 19. Brown Pelican: 53. American Bittern: 2.

Miami 169

Miami 2015 United States Birds 169

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 6, 2007

According to the HPMAJ column, "Loos told cattle producers the livestock industry must show the public that there are moral and ethical justifications for taking the life of an animal to feed a person. Consider Charlie Stenholm, a former Texas Congressman turned agricultural lobbyist. Doublespeak at its worst.

Factory 40

Factory Factory Farm Factory Farming Gestation Crates 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2015

Formerly common, their present scarcity in the country is a reminder of what happens to biodiversity when spectacular rainforest is replaced with cattle pasture. The Texas A and M Soltis Center : I was very pleased that we could once again bird this excellent site. Reforest and they will eventually come back elsewhere.

Costa Rica 101

Costa Rica Farming Louisiana 2014 101