10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

And of eggs and nests and birds on nests. She does, and her narrative serves as a role model for how to write about birds simply and knowledgeably; informing birds’ family stories with scientific facts and research findings. Oops, the curmudgeon in me slipped.) And of birds courting and mating. Peregrine Falcon nests.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2014

Among birds the Egyptian Vulture uses rocks to crack Ostrich eggs, the New Caledonian Crow and Woodpecker Finch (one of several Darwin Finches of the Galapagos Islands), uses sticks to extract grubs from inside a branch. This is similar to the fact that all birds, even first time breeders within a species build identical nests.

Fish 163

Fish Woodpeckers Ostriches Eggs 163

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Pough “with illustrations in color of every species” by Don Eckelberry, Doubleday, 1946. The National Audubon Society Birds of North America covers all species seen in mainland United States, Canada and Baja California. The press material says it covers over 800 species, so you know I had to do a count.

North America 279

North America America Birds California Condor 279

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

JUNE 23, 2022

Hongbenghe is a very small village in Yunnan, right next to the border with Myanmar. I saw two Pitta species at Hongbenghe, both among the slightly less glamourous among the pitta family: The Blue-naped Pitta … … and the closely related Rusty-naped Pitta. “It is not deep enough yet!

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

Peripatetic ornithologist Nick Sly has long been a friend of the blog here and has contributed such classics as Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult and Forpus passerinus and the Ornithologists of Masaguaral. Please read and then vote for either Nick or Maria’s research! To win, we need your votes! Thanks for your support!

Panama 214

Panama Research Investigation Chickens 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

It’s the warbler that is often the last unchecked species on birders’ life lists and, whether you list or not, for most of us observing it is a once in a lifetime experience. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list. A nest wasn’t found until 1903, which set off a craze for Kirtland’s Warbler skins, nests, and eggs.

Michigan 234

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 234

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

A little bit of research when I got home unraveled the ways of publishers here and in Great Britain. First published in 1973 in association with the Asa Wright Center, the book focuses on species descriptions, with illustrations grouped together in plates positioned in the center of the book. The AOU has not accepted that split.

Trinidad 199

Trinidad Birds South America Research 199

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

He had stalked the nest for days, waiting for just the right time when she would be on the verge of fledging, then took her into his care. It was advisable to remove them at night, to keep them calm, to establish immediately a feeding board on which they would be fed chopped beef and egg to start, then fresh birds, rabbit or squirrel.

Falcons 184

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 184

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

In her free time she travels near and far to find birds to continue building her life list, though many of her favorites can still be found right in her own backyard. As we looked closer, we saw the Sooty Terns nesting right on the ground itself, calling back and forth to each other as they sat on their speckled eggs.

Birds 181

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

It didn’t occur to me till I started reading The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird that there was also a possible threat to the eagle herself: poachers, who steal raptor eggs and chicks. McWilliam realizes he’s dealing someone special, a career falcon egg-thief.

Falcons 216

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 216

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

So right now I’m feeling pretty good about Eurasian Collared-doves. With a hardiness that belies their delicate looks (but helps explain their phenomenal success), these pioneering pigeons are already sitting on eggs at at least one location in Montana. Especially of all the species that had been introduced to the US.

Montana 136

Montana 2011 New York Bahamas 136

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Ridgway himself had 23 species, 10 subspecies, and two genera of birds named for him, including Ridgway’s Hawk.) The team explored Nevada and Utah, with Ridgway collecting thousands of bird specimen, plus nests and eggs for the Smithsonian. That’s a photo of Ridgway’s office on the right, fifth floor of the South Tower.

Collecting 150

Collecting Illinois United States Science 150

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

It’s a unique bird, even its scientific name is wonderful, so it’s not surprising that Gerard Gorman, Woodpecker Expert Supreme, has written a book all about the species. I was surprised to learn that there are two Wryneck species in the Jynx genus: Eurasian Wryneck, Jynx torquilla, and Red-throated Wryneck, Jynx ruficollis.

Woodpeckers 240

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 240

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

In total, there are eight species of hornbills in Borneo – the best place to see them seems to be the Kinabatagan River area (also known as Sukau). Another paper reviews information on Oriental Pied Hornbills raiding the nests of various bird species in Singapore and even pet bird cages.

Rhinoceros 129

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 129

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

eBird states that “small white patch on throat is not obvious and difficult to see” And they use a photo that I submitted as main illustration, so they must be right. For this reason, the species is evaluated as Vulnerable.” It just looks stupid. The Eurasian Hobby was another notable raptor of the month.

Birds 202

Birds China Eggs Owls 202

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2022

In Europe, most of them winter south of the Sahara but an increasing share winters north of it – which sounds like an interesting research topic for people who, ahem, find such topics interesting. It is rumored that one of the researchers later became a software developer. No need to remind us all the time.

Cattle 147

Cattle Portugal Buffalo Humane 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2023

That comes at a price – the HBW describes the species as “stocky and fairly sluggish” and – with a critical undertone – continues to state that the species is “generally less agile in flight than are most flycatchers”. Why the Latin species name is cyaniventer (meaning having a dark blue belly) remains a mystery to me though.

China 147

China Hunting Birds illegal 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2024

When not climbing, he collected species, and thus a number of birds are named after him. While the Bornean Forktail looks quite similar to the White-crowned Forktail, it apparently is a separate species, making it another Borneo endemic. Of course, only chemists have a rough idea what that might mean. Leave the bad jokes to me, please.

Birds 230

Birds Indonesia Breeding Charlotte 230

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

I’ve been fortunate to see two Penguin species in the wild (African and Galapagos) and have dreamed of seeing more–maybe even all!–especially The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.”

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

The title of the one just mentioned starts with “Intimacy across species boundaries” … The Spot-necked Babbler is “shy and social”, according to eBird, which sounds a bit like a contradiction to me. ”, in which the Red-whiskered Bulbul is named as one of the two most heavily targeted bird species.

China 147

China Vietnam Birds Monkeys 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

Basically, this species is so dimwitted, it doesn’t know how to survive. Because, Pink Pigeons are not capable of doing the tasks required to create and bring up children of the species. These endangered birds have trouble producing a fertilized egg and, even worse, they don’t even know how to build a nest so the egg survives?

Mauritius 102

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 102

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June. She will usually lay 12 to 17 eggs, averaging five per week 1 , before beginning incubation. Occasionally, larger clutches occur due to egg dumping by other females. www.youtube.com/watch?

California 224

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 224

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

It is the 100th Anniversary of the extinction of the species known as the Passenger Pigeon and writers are paying attention. Errol Fuller’s The Passenger Pigeon is a beautifully illustrated, elegantly written “celebration” of the passenger pigeon and the artists who illustrated and photographed the species. It is a hodgepodge.

2014 160

2014 Killing Michigan Kentucky 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2015

The species was in the news because some scientists had finally managed (or bothered – it’s much the same thing) to locate the population high in the mountains of the Solomon Islands, and catch and photograph one. Box after box of egg. Unsurprisingly the ones that most stick in the mind were the lost species.

Collecting 225

Collecting Solomon Islands New Zealand Fiji 225

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2013

Does the word define a species within country terms, regional terms etc? Is the term defined at the sub-species or full species level in terms of classification? The species must be listed as a separate, full species by both of the most widely used ornithological bird lists, Sibley/Monroe and Clements.

Birds 209

Birds South Africa South America Feral Cats 209

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

Although designed as a field guide, it is a hefty book, 376 pages long, covering 336 species. Many species are dimorphic, with females looking different from males. Many species also differ with age. And, there are some odonate species that include andromorphs, females which look like the males. Yes, 675 photographs.

United States 237

United States Costa Rica Massachusetts North America 237

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

The guide covers 747 breeding residents or regular migrants, 29 introduced species, and 160 vagrants, a total of 936 species. Honeyeaters are “active, noisy and pugnacious” and there are a lot of them–76 species–in Australia. Additional measurements are given for certain species, like penguins.)

Australia 108

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 108

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2011

Here’s some data from the famous research project of Manu, Peru, giving biomass in kilograms per hectare. The largest bird, forming the short bar on the right of the bird histogram, is a swan. But if you look at a bit of prairie in South Dakota during the dead of winter, you may see very few birds and a lot of bison.

Mammals 177

Mammals Rodents Birds Reptiles 177

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2012

As the reigning birder of the world, I feel it is only right to look a little deeper into the lives of birds here, and talk about something beyond the mundane nuances of plumage variations of freshly-molted Empidonax flycatchers and if migrant Warbling Vireos arrived 3 days earlier this year than last.

Albatross 197

Albatross Birds Lifestyle Raised 197

Animal Person

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Yet he spends time describing the miserable deaths of day-old male chicks and understands what happens in dairy production, and I assume he doesn't partake of anyone's eggs or milk. This is not a book about animal rights, and some might say Foer gets animal rights wrong as his only reference is PETA.

Factory Farm 100

Factory Farm Factory Farming Animal Vegan 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2023

The family has about 37 species, but that includes several fulvettas – only 21 of the species have “parrotbill” in their names (and frankly, the bills of fulvettas do not look like those of parrots at all). A paper on breeding of the species was actually researched right here at Wawushan.

Pandas 210

Pandas Birds Eggs China 210

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

We have avian beauty right in our European back yards as well, and need not seek cover when encountering birders from far-away shores. How do I know of their Gothic moods when they have hidden them so well in an egg-white shell of conformity? Jakob: whoa, you are perfectly right! Which is something birders had known all along.

2011 164

2011 Birds Deer Europe 164

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2015

These fossils are seen as proof that some dinosaurs brooded over its eggs. And, he places current research within a framework of paleontological history of intrigue, backstabbing, and name-calling feuds. (No, Like birds. Don’t let the university press imprint deceive you. There is a lot of science here to explain.

Mongolia 186

Mongolia Science Reptiles Indiana 186

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2019

And, I looked at my eBird list and realized I’ve seen nine species of Antpitta and one of Gnateater. Antpittas and Gnateaters covers 64 species in six genera and two families. (I The Species Accounts feature highly detailed text by Harold Greeley, distribution maps, and over 250 photographs by a number of photographers.

Research 144

Research Eggs South America Costa Rica 144

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 29, 2006

Researchers have also learned that the cancer-causing chemicals that form in beef as it cooks also tend to form in chicken. Never mind that the bulk of the fat in Starbucks's beverages comes from the milk -- yes, milk ! -- of another species. Unfortunately, switching from red meat to chicken does not help very much.

Animal 40

Animal Meat Cows District of Columbia 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2021

The holidays started early this year, with the first night of Hannukah coming right at the end of Thanksgiving weekend! Colombia is one of those countries that Dragan’s dreams are made of: it has 1,965 bird species – more than any other country in the world. Each image is accompanied by a page of prose detail on the bird (e.g.,

Birds 244

Birds Colombia Collecting Bald Eagle 244