10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2011

Of course, it should not be hard to find birds angry with Matthew Gonshaw of London, a pig in human form, who was recently jailed for six months after admitting to “ten charges of theft and possession of rare eggs.” …and some seriously pissed off birds. Perhaps he should be launched from the giant slingshot?

Pigs 170

Pigs Eggs Humane Birds 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch. According to Couzens, after laying the eggs, females sometimes immediately abandon their first mate and pair up with another male. But maybe that is actually a good thing.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Being a bit older myself now, I have to point out that young human males usually do not look that good, at least to me. I guess the whole point about this band name is to suggest -ironically, of course – utter blandness. A juvenile male. The real thing: an adult male. Advice to them: Things can only get better.

Birds 242

Birds LACS France Japan 242

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

Baby birds are cuteness personified, possibly even more so than other baby animals, including human babies, and pose interesting questions of survival and development. Baby birds may be separated from the nest and their parents because of natural occurrences (violent weather, floods) or unknowing human interference or predators.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 270

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 270

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

In my imagination, the job of a male Australian Brush Turkey is pretty similar – removing or adding bits and pieces to his pile of rotting vegetation in order to get the right temperature to incubate the eggs buried underneath to hatch. So, as a preemptive strike, I present to you the Golden-headed Cisticola.

Australia 198

Australia Birds Koalas Parrots 198

Critter News

APRIL 1, 2009

He asked whether cows, chickens, sheep and some of the other animals that we eat are usually treated and killed in a humane manner. The meat industry will say yes, of course, all animals are treated and killed humanely. In my opinion, the crux of the question touches on what is “humane.” Here is my opinion.

Farm Animal 100

Farm Animal Farmed Animals Farming Factory Farm 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2023

May is a busy month for birds migrating through Shanghai – and of course, last May was completely missed due to the lockdown. Of course, if you do not like the color red, we can also offer a blue bird – the Siberian Blue Robin. Here at 10,000 Birds, we never forget that you, the reader, have a choice.

Birds 130

Birds Raised Cattle Mammals 130

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

And we do feel like we know them, not as intimately as Sophie Osborn, of course, but stories create connections, especially when they are lively stories about birds with names and personalities. Familiar subjects to many of us, but ones that take on a new intensity when discussed in connection to birds that you feel you know.

California Condor 190

California Condor Falcons California Birds 190

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2011

Brown-headed Cowbirds evoke strong feelings in many birders, some of whom can’t abide a bird that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, often to the detriment of the nest owners’ offspring. But I miss the open land with skies never ending And the challenge of laying eggs in a nest with defending.

Eggs 160

Eggs Buffalo Sparrows Humane 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 14, 2012

Of course, this week will largely focus on the adorableness that baby birds bring. But, just like with human babies, you have to admit that sometimes you anticipate fawning over a baby bird and instead nearly end up retching instead. Can you handle the cuteness? We will have some of those less attractive baby birds as well.

Birds 184

Birds Eggs Humane Experience 184

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

A Barred Cuckoo-Dove showed somewhat atypical behavior or had not read its eBird entry about it being “seldom seen out in the open … quick to flee when approached” Of course, Hongbenghe, Yunnan is quite far away from Chicago. “It is not deep enough yet! The White-cheeked Partridge is classified as Near Threatened.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

But it wasn’t until he studied falconry’s appeal to centuries-old cultures–the Persians, English, Dutch, French, Chinese, Russians, and people of the Middle East–that Cade realized the sport of kings was slowly dying and would disappear along with the age-old mystique of a raptor returning to the human who trained her.

Falcons 190

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2012

He’d like to thank his mom, his agent, and of course the Birding Academy. The nest cam, in my mind, is the perfect compromise — minimally invasive to the bird, while offering even the most unadventureous or house-bound humans the opportunity to get to know a small slice of nature.

Montana 166

Montana Geese Blackbirds Canada 166

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2013

Other hardy souls signed up for an early morning “Ostrich Run” 5k, with the prizes beinging–you guessed it–actual ostrich eggs. Emptied of their contents, of course.). A few days later, I was the assistant (a glorified gofer , if you will) for a morning-long session on migration.

San Diego 182

San Diego Ostriches Chicago Colorado 182

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2011

Platypus have bills, bats and bugs can fly, and reptiles lay eggs, but only birds have feathers. The introduction gives both a simple overview of how birds use their feathers as well as brief idea of how humans have been fascinated by feathers since prehistory. Feathers are the unique ingredient when it comes to birds.

Reptiles 191

Reptiles Bats Eggs Humane 191

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

We can, of course, count wild, native, species. Of course, there are a lot more rules that apply to both birds that can and can’t be counted, and one of the most entertaining ways to get a bunch of birders to make a Facebook discussion thread go on forever is to innocently ask a question about some esoteric aspect of listing rules.

Chickens 208

Chickens Florida Feral Species 208

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2012

Of course you do. That said, the purpose is to cover the world-wide puffin picture, and North American puffin redoubts like Eastern Egg Rock, Matinicus Rock, and Machias Seal Island (confusingly referred to by the joint term Matinicus Seal Island in at least one instance.) Do you want to know about them?

Puffins 127

Puffins Seals Europe Eggs 127

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically. The visual beauty and textual facts are a strong combination.

Delaware 183

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 183

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

There were ten students in total that had signed up for the spring break “Seabirds” course in Dry Tortugas National Park, and after long drives down from North Carolina we had all made it right on time. My first instinct when something bites me, of course, is to yelp and yank my hand away with all possible speed.

Birds 184

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 184

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2012

Of course, a lot of the mammals would be hiding. If cats displace ferrets, then that probably means that birds are getting hit harder than rodents, and among birds, adult birds are getting hit harder than eggs or hatchlings. I had noted that if you took a quick look around you’d think there were a lot of birds and very few mammals.

Cats 189

Cats Boston Ferrets Killing 189

Animal Person

AUGUST 16, 2011

Most interesting for me was the mental lock most people have that we vegans are always looking to break or find the key to: Why do good people who understand what happens to animals for unnecessary products such as “steak” or eggs, continue to consume such things? Of course that can be debated. People believe one thing and do another.

Vegan 100

Vegan Morals Animal Rights Advocacy 100

Animal Person

MARCH 17, 2009

But, says Cantor, “’animal science’ rejects scientific knowledge: that humans are natural herbivores and did not evolve as hunters as formerly believed; eating from animals is linked to the most widespread and devastating chronic diseases; and more.” But no LGU has yet put its meat-industry courses on the course of ultimate extinction.

Meat Industry 100

Meat Industry Industry Meat Responsible Policies 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2014

They cut down the trees the parrots used for nesting and brought black rats, who ate their eggs, and honeybees who swarmed into their nests, and by 1937 there were only about 2,000 Puerto Rican Parrots left. And, of course, it shows the beauty of the world of the rain forest. Other Europeans came. Africans were brought over as slaves.

Puerto Rico 241

Puerto Rico Parrots New York City 2013 241

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

I very much enjoyed the first section, which relates the history of the bird and its relationship with us, humans, from its discovery in 1851 up to the fateful Lake Mack fire and its aftermath in the 1980’s. A nest wasn’t found until 1903, which set off a craze for Kirtland’s Warbler skins, nests, and eggs.

Michigan 240

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 240

Animal Ethics

DECEMBER 28, 2010

This last implies of course an improvement in ethics, as opposed to morality, as I have defined it, unless we already understand 'Do as you would be done by' as applicable to whales, cattle, chickens, and so on, as it is to human beings. I eat eggs though they may come from battery hens. I am myself not so heroic.

Morals 40

Morals Whales Whaling Chickens 40

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Not in words, of course, but they can answer in ways that we can understand if we are paying attention. That system may treat sentient animals like car parts, ruin antibiotics we need for human medicine, and destroy rural communities by polluting our air and water, but at least it’s “efficient” (a word Mr. Hurst hammers three times).

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Gestation Crates Gestation 40

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Feel free to insert your own French joke here (though of course in the US, restaurants now serve Freedom Frogs rather than French Frogs). Apparently, some bird photographers think that any human artifacts shown on a bird photo immediately spoil the whole photo. This included recording a total of 77,760 minutes of video.

China 242

China Birds Pythons Eagles 242

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

There is something about a mature rainforest, for example, that cannot be replicated by any human. Humans have altered their habitat for hundreds of years, creating various new habitats that some aspects of nature have come to colonize. There are of course, many other birds which feed on flying insects, such as jacamars and trogons.

Trinidad 228

Trinidad Family Abandon Abandoning 228

Animal Ethics

JANUARY 9, 2009

His book on atheism is among the best I have read on that topic, which is why I used it in my Philosophy of Religion course many years ago. (I I use different books in my courses to keep things interesting for me.) My examination will not be complete, of course. The contrast would be, for example, “health vegetarianism.”

Vegetarian 40

Vegetarian Morals Meat Vegan 40

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

One paper describes them breeding in a human settlement in abandoned clay jars. ” While this species is not explicitly associated with infanticide, the fact that the bird lays 1-3 eggs but only ever raises one chick also implies that the species should also be closely watched by child protection agencies.

Rhinoceros 131

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 131

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2022

Gisela Kaplan has written a book about the species, and how they seem unperturbed by humans: “It’s one of their most successful defense strategies. When these birds breed, this can lead to highly cringeworthy announcements, for example from Adelaide Zoo : “We have egg-citing news!”

Birds 242

Birds Australia Ducks Mountain Goats 242

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Of course, it is hard to resist looking at a paper titled “Host personality predicts cuckoo egg rejection in Daurian redstarts” Basically, the personality of a female redstart (bold or shy) predicts the responses to parasitic eggs – bold hosts are more likely to reject parasitic eggs. They were missed.

Birds 208

Birds China Eggs Owls 208

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

One Oriental Pratincole of them was courageously raising its wings when I unknowingly drove towards its eggs – I reversed, but I am not so sure about the next person using that road … Being yelled at by the chick of an Oriental Pratincole. I guess looking elegant during sex is difficult for most humans, too.

Birds 230

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 230

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

The Zoo episode focuses on two Pink Pigeon couples: The Stud and Serendipity, a male and female that the zoo people hope will mate and produce a viable egg, and Thelma and Louise, a same-sex pair-bonded couple who the zoo people hope will incubate the egg and nurture the chick. Because, Ms. On the WCS web page, Ms.

Mauritius 102

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 102

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2022

Once the egg has been laid, the female is chased away and the males hatch it.” The main reason seems to be a better sharing of the workload in the more equal same-sex couples – something that is hardly irrelevant for humans. Though of course, competition for these jobs from Eurasian Spoonbills is fierce.

Birds 221

Birds China Pythons Breeding 221

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 193

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 193

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Even during the breeding season the birds appear to be quite unwary of humans. Of course, you then miss out on all the natural history, the nesting data, descriptions of eggs, mating rituals, and ffrench’s personal, affectionate observations of his birds.

Trinidad 205

Trinidad Birds South America Research 205