10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

My friend Ian had purchased Richard ffrench’s classic A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad & Tobago just before we left, the third edition, hot off the presses. A little bit of research when I got home unraveled the ways of publishers here and in Great Britain. The bird guide question was a conundrum.

Trinidad 194

Trinidad Birds South America Research 194

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

Or, Pygmy leaf-folding frogs, Afrixalus brachycnemis, from Tanzania, tiny climbing frogs who lay their eggs in leaves and then fold the leaves over them for protection, sealing the nest with secretions. There is a large family of frogs, Bufonidae, that includes most of the warty, hoppy creatures we think of as toads.

Reptiles 184

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 184

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

Birders are always happy to see a turtle or tortoise, and there are times of the year when my social media feeds are sprinkled with photos of turtles beings removed from roads or crawling to land to lay eggs. Or that tortoises and terrapins are considered part of the turtle family. Lovich and Whit Gibbons.

Turtles 196

Turtles Tortoises Family Terrapins 196

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

Ackerman’s new book is about owls and owl research–the knowledge recently and currently being discovered through DNA analysis, new-tech tracking and monitoring, and old-fashioned fieldwork under the auspices of organizations like the Global Owl Project and the Owl Research Institute.

Owls 209

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 209

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family. Scope of Book.

North America 147

North America Sparrows America United States 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

And, in a very lovely section in the middle of the book, she describes the life cycle of the cahow, informing evocative passages about their nocturnal courtship and flight with recent research findings about how seabirds are able to function—eat, sleep, navigate home. Beacon Press, 2012. —————-.

Birds 167

Birds Rats Breeding 2012 167

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. The authors note that while the baby bluebirds are intentionally portrayed as caricatures, the subject birds are carefully researched.

Puerto Rico 232

Puerto Rico Parrots New York City 2013 232

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. Penguins are shown individually in groups, in dense colonies, within habitat (ice, rainforest, beach), swimming in the ocean, and doing things–nose to nose with an albatross, feeding a child, placing an egg on its foot, sliding down ice.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2022

“A reading of recent research shows that Australian birds are more likely than most to eat sweet foods, live in complex societies, lead long lives, attack other birds, and be intelligent and loud.” Generally, this is not a bird getting a lot of good press. ” (Tim Low, “Where Song Began”).

Birds 226

Birds Australia Ducks Mountain Goats 226

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

They are part of a family of New World Quail which includes Gambel’s, Mountain, Scaled and Montezuma Quail, as well as the Northern Bobwhite. In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June.

California 218

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 218

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

Like many odenate enthusiasts, I was excited when I heard that Dennis Paulson’s field guide, Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East , was finally being published by Princeton University Press. Within families, species are organized by genus. Dennis Paulson is a “real” zoologist; he received his Ph.D.

United States 231

United States Costa Rica Massachusetts North America 231

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Considering this adherence to scientific accuracy, it is intriguing that the authors have put aside a taxonomic form of organization and have instead opted for “a pragmatic field guide sequence… that groups bird families according to the broad biomes in which they are most likely to be encountered—marine, freshwater and terrestrial…” (p.2).

Australia 106

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 106