10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

After securing our passage, I patiently waited for this once-in-a-lifetime experience to a place we have never been and lacked any knowledge of, we were in for a complete surprise. These have been used by meteorologists, technicians, and researchers who spend about 13 months on the island at a time researching a variety of sciences.

South Africa 261

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. Jennifer Ackerman points out in the introduction to What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds , that we don’t know much, but that very soon we may know a lot more. But what do we know beyond these commonly seen and heard behaviors?

Owls 199

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 199

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

There was a time when I thought each bird species had its own individual song. Then I found out that there was this vocalization called a ‘call,’ so I thought each bird species had its own individual song (but just the males) and individual call. Bird communication is a complex and evolving science.

North America 278

North America Research Birds Groups 278

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Starlings, they’ll dutifully explain, are ruthless invasives that have been responsible for the serious declines of several beloved native species, like the Red-headed Woodpecker ( Melanerpes erythrocephalus ) and the Eastern Bluebird ( Sialia sialis ). Good birding and happy drinking! Arrowood Farm Brewery: Starling Brett Farmhouse Ale.

Farming 178

Farming New York Breeding Unwanted 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

This would have allowed you to summarize your experience in sentences such as “A total of 98 boluses regurgitated by 52 chicks aged 1 day to 11 days after hatching form the sample and are shown to contain 323 food items.” It concludes that human activity influences the breeding activity of the lapwing. How efficient.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

Written in a friendly, inclusive style quietly grounded in science, How to Know the Birds is an excellent addition to the growing list of birding essay books by talented birder/writers like Pete Dunne and Kenn Kaufman. ’ It’s a gentle (maybe even sneaky–in a good way?)

Birds 114

Birds North America Breeding America 114

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2013

This was the local name meaning “ugly” used for these primates by the people of the Gonder area in northern Ethiopia when the German naturalist Rüppell “discovered” this species for science in the 1830’s. they are the most terrestrial primate after humans. A harem male grooms one of his females. Photo by Adam Riley.

Ethiopia 159

Ethiopia Primates Mammals Fur 159

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

I don’t really know – from my own experience with school bullies or from Jack London’s novels? Those bears live in the wild and are not used to humans. Cactus finch, Geospiza species. Galapagos cactus finch, Geospiza species. How did I know that? The most interesting and least likely possibility is, I knew it by instinct.

Animal 114

Animal Bears Stray Dog Blackbirds 114

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

There’s a little hint of white in the malar and throat too, which would seem to be a problem for the species Black- chinned Sparrow. Identification of abnormal birds such as this one is not an exact science, but this one seems to break down as one half White-throated Sparrow and one half Dark-eyed Junco.

New Jersey 213

New Jersey North Carolina Sparrows Connecticut 213

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2011

You’d think, then, that applying science to philosophy by studying the evolutionary underpinnings of thought and behavior across species would be right up my alley. I love grappling with big ideas, but dislike the tendency to extrapolate endless sky-bridges of thought and constantly redefine terms.

Morals 107

Morals Animal Humane Research 107

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It’s very hard to organize the many ways in which human beings relate to avian beings into comprehensible text. Additional back of the book material includes a Glossary, Biographical Details, a Select Bibliography, Notes, Credits, an Index to Species and a General Index. Eagles are national symbols of the U.S.,

Birds 204

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 204

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2014

The citizen science aspect is a big hit with many users, and eBirding areas with little existing data can be fun as well. Flycatcher Jen of I Used To Hate Birds has amassed close to 160 species in the last two years just walking and biking around Portland, Oregon, which is a number that deserves a toast if you ask me.

Birds 195

Birds Portland Oregon 2015 195

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2023

On a positive note, in one study , when small swaths of dense bamboo were cut and cleared for an unrelated study, these were utilized by small insectivorous species including the Golden Bush Robin for foraging. Humans are not always bad for birds, only about 95% of the time. One is the White-throated Redstart.

Birds 160

Birds Science Humane Species 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

More than 150 bird species are known to have become extinct over the past 500 years, and many more are estimated to have been driven to extinction before they became known to science. The Gray Crowned-Crane is a new addition to the list of the world’s Endangered species, creeping up a category from Vulnerable.

Endangered Species 182

Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 182

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Kooyman (co-author with Jim Mastro) spent decades studying Emperor Penguins and can be considered the world’s foremost expert on the species. Empire Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are the largest living penguin species, almost four feet tall (taller when they stretch), and the least likely to be seen on birding or nature trips.

Penguins 151

Penguins Seals Leopards Research 151

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

The experience is one of the ornithological highlights in the world. The field site I am assigned to is located in one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and home to a particularly rich avifauna that numbers well over 500 species. That’s right – birds eating clay. Scarlet Macaws.

Peru 254

Peru Parrots 2011 Research Center 254

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

What I didn’t know was how this relationship actually works: the mechanics of Red Knot migration, the reduced digestive systems necessary for their long flighta, the need to fatten up quickly so they can fly to the Arctic and breed, how they compete with other shorebirds and gulls and, it turns out, humans, for horseshoe crab eggs.

Delaware 176

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 176

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

Erika is a first year graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke. The island contains 80,000 breeding Sooty Terns, in addition to 4,500 breeding Brown Noddies and another 100 breeding pairs of the huge Magnificent Frigatebirds, not to mention pelicans, herons, Black Skimmers , other tern species, and so much more.

Birds 173

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 173

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

The fields near the Tiaozini mudflats look very much like a lunar landscape, but this does not seem to keep a number of species from breeding there, sometimes directly on dirt roads. The fourth species apparently breeding on these fields is Grey-headed Lapwing. I guess looking elegant during sex is difficult for most humans, too.

Birds 204

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 204

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 175

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 175

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

For this reason, the species is evaluated as Vulnerable.” The Rufous-tailed Robin used to be called Swinhoe’s Robin but apparently, somebody decided that there were already too many bird species (6, according to the HBW) named after him. The Eurasian Hobby was another notable raptor of the month.

Birds 190

Birds China Eggs Owls 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives. His field guides are known for images that simultaneously portray notable field marks and also the ‘personality’ of a bird species.

2020 262

2020 Birds Groups North America 262

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. Don’t these birds care about propagating their species? Or any of the other female Pink Pigeons (there are 8!)? I know, that’s harsh.

Mauritius 101

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

The magnificent history and diversity of birds on Earth came into sharper focus this month with the publication of 28 new scientific papers in Science and other journals. processed the entire genomes of 48 bird species and compared nearly 42 million base pairs of DNA (Hackett et al. American Flamingo photo by Dick Culbert).

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

For birders, the Wolongshan area is like a poorer cousin of Balangshan – due to the lower elevation, the bird species here are more common and thus less interesting. Some Chinese Babax waste part of their lives feeding chicks of Large Hawk Cuckoos, which parasitize the babax species.

Hamburgers 197

Hamburgers Birds Science China 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2011

I was never expected to do anything remotely human ever again…in fact, after several weeks of being unable to respond to any stimulus at all, I recall hearing friends and family members speak openly about my fate. Quiz 2 Hint: There are two (2) species in this photograph. I was left completely blind and crippled.

Inhumane 178

Inhumane United States Science Birds 178

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2024

Personally, I wish the species the best of luck in this endeavor. (Of However, the fact that there are 30 subspecies seems to indicate that the species has a slightly overblown estimation of its own importance. This species has a relatively large number of calls – 12, to be specific, compared to the average of 7.6

Birds 179

Birds Research Science Europe 179

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2011

Earlier attempts to spread the risk around had failed, so Don and his team applied science to the problem, spending several months studying the birds in the wild in order to work out how to care for them and to decide what type of habitat to release them into. Today the species is secure on a large number of islands and reserves.

Species 217

Species New Zealand Rats Endangered Species 217

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Darwin Day is February 12th, and for an early celebration I thought I’d take a look at a book that rethinks the way Darwin, and we, think about evolution—a very specific part of evolution, the way beautiful features and behavior have developed amongst birds and, by extension, amongst humans.

Ducks 100

Ducks Research Animal Stud 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 9, 2009

When I saw the Live Science article about dogs being as smart as 2-year-old kids I knew that if there were any talk of ranking, my beloved greyhounds would be at the less-desirable end of the list (not from personal experience, but from reputation), and I also knew that there would be a whiff of speciesism.

Greyhounds 100

Greyhounds Dogs Speciesism Ethics 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

None fly, most are curious and social, which probably contributes to our cultural perception of penguins as one step away from human. Every section is excellent, Going from back to front, the Species Natural History section is where to go for answers to all your questions about penguins and then some.

Penguins 191

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 191