10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2024

In what might nowadays be regarded as a slightly weird scientific practice, after meeting naturalist Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt, he married Messerschmidt’s widow after his death and got notes from Messerschmidt’s Siberia travels from her that had not been handed over to the Imperial Academy of Sciences.

Eagles 130

Eagles Sea Lions Bears Russia 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

This bit of science is a nice final counterpoint to an account that has emphasized art, history, and literature. Fuller has not preached about the evils of the human practices that killed and dislocated the Passenger Pigeon; he hasn’t moaned and groaned or sentimentalized. It wasn’t just the mass killings in so many ways.

2014 160

2014 Killing Michigan Kentucky 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

So, one might surmise, it’s OK if they get shot by hunters thinking they’re sandhill cranes? What could motivate gunmen (I cannot call them hunters) in two states to deliberately kill North America’s tallest and most critically endangered bird? Do all hunters realize that? Speculation is useless in acts of vandalism.

2011 242

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 242