10,000 Birds
MARCH 26, 2012
Jason Kessler is back with the funniest birding movie of the year. Sh*t Birders Say delivers more laughs in 3 minutes than… well, actual birding! Even the credits are amusing. Take the test: if you laugh at least twice, you are definitely a birder. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaX7i1Q7-Rw a.
4 The Love Of Animals
MARCH 30, 2012
Have you ever wondered what a baby aardvark looks like? They are pretty cute if you ask us! And that nose! So unique! Busch Gardens welcomed its newest resident earlier this week: an adorable aardvark born Monday, March 26. The healthy baby weighs about 4.8 pounds and is expected to grow to more than 120 lbs. within its first year. It is currently living behind the scenes at Jambo Junction – located in the Nairobi area of the park – and is receiving care from members of the animal care team.
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Critter News
MARCH 29, 2012
California dairy farmers have an ad campaign that cows are just darn happy on their factory farms. PETA is not convinced. This article about the situation appears in the Merced Sun-Star which is from my home county of Merced!
Animal Ethics
MARCH 1, 2012
This blog had 3,026 visits during February, which is an average of 104.3 visits per day. A year ago, the average was 124.8.
Speaker: Steve Romanco
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10,000 Birds
MARCH 30, 2012
This is going to be a rave review. I like Julie Zickefoose’s art , her writing , her blog , her blog posts here on 10,000 Birds , and, of course, I like birds. So a book about birds by Julie Zickefoose, featuring her writing and art, some of which has been featured in different forms on her blog, is guaranteed to be a hit with me. How could it not be?
10,000 Birds
MARCH 20, 2012
Colombia is not only home to nearly 20% of all avian life on the planet but this birding mecca also accommodates an incredibly high percentage of highly sought after species. Nearly 80 species are endemic and found nowhere else in the world. Moreover, Colombia remains the best destination to see many species that are very tough to find elsewhere in South America.
Animal Rights Zone brings together the best content for animal advocates and activists from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 19, 2012
Buteo lineatus , the Red-shouldered Hawk , is a gorgeous bird. Before January I had come across the very red birds of the western United States and the “normal” birds in the eastern part of the country but when I first laid eyes on the pale form of Florida I felt like I was seeing a whole new bird. The pale Red-shouldered Hawks of Florida are, to use just one word, beautiful.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 16, 2012
When you spend a lot of time outdoors you get to see strange things happen. Birds are consumate improvisors and they are always open to the demands of the moment. So while they may have regular habits, weird things do occur and the field guide will only help you to a point… the rest is just watching. Here now, with brief captions, are some oddities.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 9, 2012
In North America there is really only one duck that could even come close to competing with the Wood Duck for the title of most fair, and the Harlequin Duck is just too much of a trollop to really compete. Wood Ducks are essentially in a class of their own and seeing a drake in good plumage is usually the highlight of any birding outing. When I heard that a pair of drakes were wintering in the pond at the south end of New York City’s Central Park and were rather confiding, well, how cou
10,000 Birds
MARCH 29, 2012
Like you, I’ve seen a lot of ducks in my life, but it wasn’t until 2006 that I first beheld the the wondrous waterfowl that I’d come to regard as my favorite duck, bar none – the White-cheeked Pintail. The White cheeked Pintail ( Anas bahamensis ), also known as the Bahama Pintail , is a dabbling duck that plies brackish waterways throughout its range.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 21, 2012
It’s tough to make out what species the baby bird is but it sure likes bluegrass. Lead singer Josh Williams managed to keep the song going and the crowd sure appreciated the unexpected guest star in this video shot almost a year ago at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival in North Carolina. If bluegrass isn’t your thing the fun starts at the minute-and-a-half mark of the video.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 20, 2012
The title of this post pretty much says it all. A couple of weeks ago I watched and photographed a young House Sparrow getting fed by its mother. I also watched, but failed to get pictures of, the same young bird being fed by two different male House Sparrows. These particular birds were in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, but the same story is taking place all over the world right now, as few species have successfully adapted to as many locations as the House Sparrow.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 31, 2012
I was thrilled to be seing warblers so early in March, until I remembered that Townsend’s Warblers can be seen along the west coast during the cold months. This didn’t detract from the pleasure of finding one of North America’s most strikingly marked wablers. A quick search in the archives here at 10,000 Birds found no mention of this beauty.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 31, 2012
Author Sherrida Woodley finds inspiration at the intersection of avians and extinction. The dearly departed Passenger Pigeon plays a pivotal role in her award-winning bio-thriller, Quick Fall of Light. The newest bird on the brink to capture her fertile imagination is the California Condor, on which she graciously shares her research and ruminations: Sometimes as a writer you recognize there’s been something overlooked in your midst—something quietly abiding.
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10,000 Birds
MARCH 2, 2012
Marabou Storks are ugly/lovely. They have character. They are unmistakeable. I won’t expend too much energy trying to describe them… I’ll just let the pictures do the heavy lifting this week. Marabou Storks are gigantic. Twelve feet tall at the shoulder! OK it’s more like five feet from head to toe, but they do have wingspans that approach 10 feet, which is getting into Andean Condor territory.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 22, 2012
The most mystical birds we all long to see and know well are most often the most difficult to find. It is part of their biology that makes not only plumage, but behavior, cryptic. These adaptations for avoiding predators has allowed most species of owls to flourish in their own habitat albeit, with reclusive habits. Finding an owl excites the unexcitable and even the most seasoned birders.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 20, 2012
Whoo-hoo! It is now, on 20 March 2012, spring! Take that, southern hemisphere! Here in New York it has felt like spring for, well, to be honest, most of the winter. Though lately, with temperatures clearing seventy degrees Fahrenheit and the sun beating down it has felt more like mid-May than the vernal equinox. Whatever, regardless, it is definitely my favorite season now and the birds sure seem to know it.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 18, 2012
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, March 2010 Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus is a much-maligned and persecuted creature. Like cormorants and shags the world over they are hated by fishermen who blame them for decimating fish populations. Their rather unkempt appearance at a distance does not make them a favorite of those who like their birds to be aesthetically pleasing and they look rather goofy when they stand with wings outstretched in the sun to dry.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 27, 2012
Pico Bonito, Honduras, March 2009 On our way to the lovely Lodge at Pico Bonito on the edge of Pico Bonito National Park in northern Honduras, Robert Gallardo, the organizer of the Mesoamerican Birding Festival and the post-festival familiarity trip that I am currently experiencing, let us all know that a Great Potoo ( Nyctibius grandis ) had been roosting along the side of the entrance road.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 25, 2012
As a native New Yorker, I’ve seen my share of squirrels. Our standard Sciuridae is the Eastern Gray Squirrel ( Sciuridae carolinensis ) and while most of these rambunctious rodents are indeed gray, they sometimes come in other flavors. The Bronx was beset by hordes of Black Squirrels , melanistic members of this common species. So black squirrels have never been a surprise to me.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 24, 2012
The most common owls in the world are also in the Galapagos Islands and are considered subspecies that only occur in Galapagos, so one could almost say they are endemic subspecies. The Barn Owl subspecies is the Tyto alba punctatissima and can be found on Isabela, Santa Cruz, Fernandida, Santiago, San Cristobal, Pinta, and maybe also in Floreana. On the main Islands of Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, and Isabela it is found near the garbage dumps where food (rodents) is plentiful.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 30, 2012
If you see shorebirds on a coastal beach in North America they are most likely Sanderlings ( Calidris alba ). If they are running back and forth as the waves ebb and flow they are almost assuredly Sanderlings. They are the “clockwork toy” birds according to Sibley , “The Bird That Plays Tag with the Waves” according to Pete Dunne , and The Shorebird Guide points out that Sanderlings are “probably the most widespread shorebird in the world.” They appear on a
10,000 Birds
MARCH 30, 2012
Last week Corey wrote about appreciating our local birds before the migrants arrive and it made me reflect on how easily we look past the familiar as we seek out new experiences. I’ve been meaning to start a series addressing the wonders of the common and familiar. Hopefully it can illustrate how the world unfolds before us if we decide to take a little time, look more deeply, more completely.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 25, 2012
At the end of a half-morning’s birding I stopped at the south end of the Cross Bay Bridge, just north of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York. It is a spot known for nearly tame Pale-bellied Brant * and roosting gulls, and once in a while something really good appears. I figured I would pull into the parking lot, scan the bay, and then be on my way.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 13, 2012
“ There is, perhaps, no better place in the world for birds than this country. Even in the tropics there are few birds that excel some of our own in elegance and beauty of plumage and we have an unusually large number of species considering the smallness of the area they inhabit. ” (Woodward brothers, “Natal Birds”, 1899) The mighty Drakensberg Mountains run along the western boundary of KwaZulu-Natal province.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 29, 2012
Upland Sandpipers are one of the coolest and most awkward-looking of our continent’s birds. See, it’s not so scary! Photographed at Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge, MT. Birders are a timid bunch. They are scared of all sorts of things. The thought of identifying certain groups of birds can incapacitate them. They are fearful of flycatchers.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 19, 2012
Residents of the Americas may find this hard to believe, but the ubiquitous, adaptable House Sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) is declining in its native lands. We should all be concerned about this, if not out of love for this prosaic passerine then because the sparrow may very well be a signal species for more encompassing environmental threats. World Sparrow Day is celebrated annually on March 20th to raise awareness across the globe about the decline of the House Sparrow and how it impacts all o
10,000 Birds
MARCH 24, 2012
Now is the time to take one last look at the birds that have gotten us through the winter. Both the birds that stick around all year and those that visit from more northern climes are soon to be overshadowed by those feckless feathered fops from the south. I know I will be carefully tracking the arrivals and getting excited about them but, like Nate, it is unlikely that I will notice when I see my last Dark-eyed Junco before it disappears to head back to its breeding grounds.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 11, 2012
It’s March and most birders over here are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first spring migrants from whichever far-flung corner they’ve been wintering. In the meantime one of our earliest migrants and most familiar species is bobbing it’s tail northwards by the thousand. Many of ‘our’ British Pied Wagtails never reach far-flung corners, in the winter months they are one of our hardiest species, often one of the few passerines to be found on a beach walk whe
10,000 Birds
MARCH 22, 2012
Maybe the proposition isn’t that simple, but you can vote to allocate $40,000 from National Geographic Germany to Fundación ProAves to support conservation of the practically extinct Fuertes’s Parrot. Yes, rhinos, red pandas, chamois, and other charismatic creatures also deserve help, but this is a birding site so you know which way we’re voting!
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