Critter News

DECEMBER 23, 2009

The purpose is to protect ocean species as a whole. I'm not sure how this fits into my support of animal rights though. I think that ocean life, with the exception of mammals, are often overlooked because they are not the sentient, communicating species that we identify with, like primates, dogs, cats, etc.

Animal Rights 100

Animal Rights Advocacy Rights Marine Life 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2022

In the northern temperate zone, August is a time of hazy, lazy dog days, a month when you soak up that last bit of summer during outdoor picnics and shorebird chases. Even so, we do have some sandpipers and plovers around; there have been recent reports of Surfbirds and various other wading species.

Costa Rica 198

Costa Rica Eagles West Virginia Albatross 198

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

When I agreed to read and review Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson's THE DOG WHO COULDN'T STOP LOVING (Harper 2010), the regal Charles Hobson Booger, III was still with us. He was adopted by the Masson family and was apparently the most loving dog all who met him had ever had the pleasure of being licked by. And the crying would never stop.

Dogs 100

Dogs Pit Bulls Greyhounds Kennels 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

It is also fascinating to see how similar Old World trogons look to their New World relatives, right down to the same flamboyant color patterns. Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. These species are visually very similar, with subtle differences in their tail patterns. Wikipedia has been used.).

Mexico 191

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 191

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2021

They don’t need to be professional bird killers either, predators only need to be in the right place at the right time. Smaller frogs and toads, mice, bugs, worms, dog food, and carrion, you name it. By chance, on October 22, I happened to be in just the right place at the right time.

Costa Rica 261

Costa Rica Investigation Shelters Illinois 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2014

With about 110 recorded species, the Kozara becomes truly magical place when the Danube swells and reclaims what is rightfully his. Hence, I had the be equally grumpy to explain to them that I had an equal right to be there (equal right? armed with binoculars only?), Kozara backwaters. All dabbling ducks can dive, but rarely do.

Serbia 244

Serbia Stray Dog Protection Botswana 244

Animal Person

JANUARY 6, 2010

The way I see it, there are three camps on this one: People who think that dolphins or Great Apes or chimps could function as a gateway to other animals getting rights. You could be for or against animal rights and believe the gateway theory. Would you actually actively campaign against rights for some species?

Dolphins 100

Dolphins Animal Rights Rights Animal 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2021

Once I observed a man walking his two small dogs here, passing by a perched White-tailed Eagle but looking down at grass and not noticing the largest raptor in Europe at all. Personally I wasn’t happy, but I do not live there and do not have a septic tank in my backyard, so I felt that I had no right to complain.

Otters 263

Otters Protest Protesting Protesters 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2018

Birdwise, it turned out to be a good one and my year list was almost 400 species long, which made me happy… almost. Two kilometre above us, Mount Belles was snow-capped and some two-thirds up the slopes, the thin white cloud sliced up the mountain like a razor in Buñuel’s “An Andalusian Dog”. The solution? The Kerkini Lake.

Greece 185

Greece 2017 Pelicans Geese 185

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2022

At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.” And it does not even live in reeds.

Raccoons 224

Raccoons Birds Oregon China 224

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2017

As the dog days of summer descend upon us here in Mexico, many of our avian residents have bailed out and headed back north to avoid the summertime heat. The number of bird species to be found, falls dramatically, but we can always rely on our impressive populations of Herons, egrets and even a few rails to keep our birding juices flowing.

Mexico 100

Mexico Birds Protection Dogs 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Two full days at Hart Mountain Wildlife Refuge, three days at Dog Lake, and a short visit to Upper Cottonwood Lake brought back many great memories, in addition to a nice list of birds. Then, to finish the week, we visited the famous, and not necessarily for all the right reasons, Malhuer Wildlife Refuge. The bunny got away.

Oregon 115

Oregon Owls Wildlife Barn Owls 115

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2020

In Costa Rica, a lot of those birds fly right overhead. Costa Rica being such a small place, one hardly ever seems out of earshot of roads with rumbling trucks and auditory attacking motorcycles, of dogs hell bent on barking into the night, of occasional music being played. Latin America tends to be loud and Costa Rica is no exception.

Costa Rica 273

Costa Rica South America Colombia Paraguay 273

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

Back in the old place, there were more birds in the nearby coffee farm but it wasn’t easy to bird because I couldn’t see it from my door and there were stray dogs. Right at home. They shared the bushes with three of Costa Rica’s common flycatcher species, each nearly as vocal as the blackbirds. These were.

Costa Rica 178

Costa Rica Barn Owls Stray Dog Blackbirds 178

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2015

Putting a baby bird back in its nest is not always the right thing to do. Bird brought in by a cat or dog. Even if you do not see an obvious wound, cat or dog saliva, which is full of nasty bacteria, can still get into a bird’s eyes/orifices and will eventually kill the bird; it will just die more slowly and painfully.

Wounded 256

Wounded Rescue Medical Cats 256

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2012

The species was extinct, a vanished part of the vanishing prairie — and not for the first time. In the 1950s the species was unofficially regarded as extinct by most biologists, a small part lost in the general tumble and disarray of the entire ecosystem they’d inhabited. You couldn’t see it.

Ferrets 190

Ferrets South Dakota Wyoming Captive Animal 190

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

Although lip service was paid to the fact that lions are endangered and a lion was poached, the language of anger was the language of animals rights. I’ve written before at length about how conservation and animal rights , while often drawing on mutual a reverence of nature, are different beasts. Not at the moment, anyway.

Lions 215

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 215

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2019

After getting to the letter C last week in a roughly alphabetical order, I will show the second 10 species today. The Light-vented Bulbul is probably one of the two or three most common species here in Shanghai, which is not bad given that it is a fairly attractive bird.

Latvia 126

Latvia Birds Sparrows Abandon 126

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2016

Rehabbers are very responsive, although constantly living under the gun makes us sometimes vent about species that aren’t necessarily the ones in question. Three: Why would anyone , no matter what their species, want to become tangled in human hair? So right from the beginning, none of this makes any sense. Feel free to vent!”.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 183

Wildlife Rehabilitation Porcupines Raccoons Birds 183

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

A flock of small birds at the dyke, Yellowhammers mostly… I cannot see well because of one enthusiastic hunting dog which takes pleasure in running through the snow and flushing them up whenever the birds land. Scanning the water for rarer species… S. Scanning the water for rarer species… S. Yeah, right.

Geese 181

Geese Hunting Boars Birds 181

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2013

The Montana Field Guide, a helpful online compendium provided by the state government, lists seven species. That is, in extremely precise mathematical terms, three times more species of hummingbirds than breed near the Olde Homestead. I examine the species accounts in detail, searching for clues.

Montana 215

Montana Alaska Stray New York 215

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2017

Newly re-opened after budget cuts, the park sported one staff member in the office who generously gave us a map, one woman and her dog, and one family in the set of RV camping spots at the edge of the lake. . – but early for normal people on a cloudy Saturday morning. Still, I felt the familiar excitement of birding a new place.

Alabama 113

Alabama Birds Deer Turkey 113

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

The birdlife here is wonderful, a ten-night safari should give you over 200 species, (2018 & 2019 both gave us 242!). The Okavango Delta is also one of the best places to see the endangered African Wild Dog. Those waters never see the sea! The Okavango Delta is rightly famous as one of the last great unspoilt wild places on earth.

Botswana 182

Botswana Africa Elephants Angola 182

4 The Love Of Animals

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Every year 3-4 million dogs and cats die in animal shelters in the United States because there aren’t enough homes for them. Profiles will be chosen based on several criteria, including the caregiver and animal’s story, level of need, and risk of unwanted pregnancy, such as in homes with both an unaltered male and female of the same species.

Spay 100

Spay Spaying Neutering Unwanted 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

Alex, who publishes the bird and wildlife blog Birdland West , wants to share sincere feelings about a species near and dear to the hearts of many of us… I’m new to birding, and I’ve lived in urban areas for many years where the bird population is mainly crows and pigeons. They were very curious, but unusually gentle.

Seattle 220

Seattle Wildlife Rehabilitation Rescue Dogs 220

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2014

As I bird, walk the dog or run errands, puffs of white float down on the breeze. The species that calls western Montana home is the black cottonwood, while plains and narrowleaf cottonwood call the rest of the state home. Up on Higgins near the book store it’s just the occasional bit of fairy floss angling down across my vision.

Montana 168

Montana Cattle Deer Humane 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2020

A few paddle strokes down the river and on the right bank there were four Impala antelopes ( Aepyceros melampus ). Among 60 or so heron species in the world this is the only one using this peculiar fishing technique. The gentleman living on a farm by the Ngotwane Dam said ‘A croc took my dog, right there!’. Grey Heron 4.

Botswana 196

Botswana Africa 2001 Fish 196

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2016

The old gravel road is not marked, but is very wide and you can see a gate on your left as you follow the road as it sweeps off to your right. When you approach the gate it will still not say where it goes, but will warn you that the property has 1080 dog baits on it in an attempt to eradicate wild dogs.

Fish 100

Fish Australia Dogs Owls 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

New Zealand 162

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2016

Africa: Two more shadows in the spotlight, two of the most endangered carnivores of the sub-Saharan Africa are coming along the road, toward us: African Painted Dogs (Wild Dogs). I already have a history of searches for this species. We are observing a Dhole, also called Asiatic or Indian Wild Dog.

Wildlife 183

Wildlife Tigers Asia Europe 183

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2011

They have awesome bills that slice through the water in search of fish, they bark like small dogs, they have a cool color scheme. Black Skimmers are one of three species of skimmer in the world, all in the genus Rynchops. Here’s hoping that all three species will be around for a long time to come!

Niger 176

Niger New York Asia Fish 176

Critter News

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

The Brits are known for their animal rights activism, but there's been a rise in wildlife crime against all animals. Badgers are being caught for dog-baiting. A bird species is near extinction. I don't get it. Apparently they are seen as nuisances. Bats are being targeted.

Wildlife 100

Wildlife Badgers Animal Cruelty Cruelty 100

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

The Secrets Inside Your Dog’s Mind. Brian Hare, assistant professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, holds out a dog biscuit. See Pictures of Dogs Learning New Tricks. No one in the room–neither dog nor human–can tell which cup hides the biscuit. See a video on how dogs think like us.

Wolves 100

Wolves Fox Dogs Puppies 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2019

In the end, I truly did set out to reduce the number of birds that I feature here from 1302, my years total species, down to 10-12. While visiting the Kakadu National Park, I was able to photograph this Rainbow Bee eater right after it had caught a dragonfly. My favorite of the stay was this White-cheeked Bulbul.

2018 168

2018 Costa Rica South Africa New Zealand 168

Animal Person

APRIL 1, 2010

I think of "old speciesism" as analogous to racism and sexism in that it is exploitation based on species. Meanwhile, "new speciesism" is the notion that within a paradigm where rights are included for nonhuman animals, some are more deserving of rights than others for any of a variety of reasons (e.g.,

Speciesism 100

Speciesism Apes Advocacy Salamander 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2016

Once in a while, I hear these and other species in my tiny backyard, a piece of green space so small that I feel like I would be lying if I referred to it as a patch. While watching the orioles move in and out of the patchwork of foliage and white sky, another, much more quiet and sneaky species popped into view.

Costa Rica 135

Costa Rica Baltimore Illinois Honduras 135

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2013

Our trusting GPS took us through the dawn hours right to the lake where I had previously programmed some points that I wanted to visit from E-bird maps. Soon we had to decide to go left or right and the GPS had two points, one to the left, and one to the right, so we turned to the right and drove towards a school and then some houses.

Argentina 154

Argentina Rights Owls Abandon 154