10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2012

If we get close enough we might see a pink maw and slivers of white teeth, ready to take a prairie dog by the throat and choke the life out but also rather perversely adorable. Ferret 492 — a black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes — raises her head from a black-tailed prairie dog’s burrow, sniffs the April night.

Ferrets 167

Ferrets Prairie Dogs Coyotes Kittens 167

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2013

Ground squirrels, to those who are not used to them, are more curious beasts, caught in a taxonomic middle ground between the larger marmots and prairie dogs and their smaller chipmunk cousins. The chipmunks, well, they all are fairly chipmunk-esque: small, stripey, and shrill.

Chipmunks 178

Chipmunks Squirrels Rodents Montana 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Wood Duck ( Aix sponsa ) Female Incubating Eggs in a Nest Box “Many species of cavity-nesting birds have declined because of habitat reduction. The wood duck was very scarce in many portions of its range, at least in part, for the same reason and probably owes its present status to provision of nest boxes and protection from overhunting 1.”

North America 206

North America America Barn Owls Falcons 206

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2024

Late summer 2023 the lakes and ponds had been empty, presumably because the ducks and geese were moulting. Empty no more, the ponds were now brimming with ducks of all creeds and persuasions – it was spectacular. If there were such a thing as a Periodic Table of Ducks we went from hydrogen to uranium: every duck imaginable was there.

Denver 157

Denver Colorado Ducks Mules 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2019

Plumed Whistling-Duck – Dendrocygna eytoni. White-faced Whistling-Duck – Dendrocygna viduata. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck – Dendrocygna autumnalis. West Indian Whistling-Duck – Dendrocygna arborea. West Indian Whistling-Duck – Dendrocygna arborea. Wood Duck – Aix sponsa.

2018 113

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Sparrows 113