10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Experiments in the field (the famed Asa Wright Nature Center veranda) involving Bananaquits and bananas came up with numbers ranging from 7 to 16, but a tanager always came along to interfere with Bananaquits’ noisy appreciation of their namesake fruit. Even during the breeding season the birds appear to be quite unwary of humans.

Trinidad 203

Trinidad Birds South America Research 203

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

Found throughout South America in ever-dwindling numbers these extremely beautiful birds – threatened by habitat destruction and collection for the wild bird trade – are often difficult to see and hard to find. The experience is one of the ornithological highlights in the world. That’s right – birds eating clay.

Peru 255

Peru Parrots 2011 Research Center 255

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

That seems like an abnormally high risk for a seabird that makes its living picking up small fish from the water’s surface, but Sooty Terns are some of the most abundant seabirds in the world and spend most of their lives on the open ocean between South America and Africa, so it seems to be working for them.

Birds 183

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 183

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

I got to see a beautiful female and owlet on a trip to a secret nest location near Howard Prairie Lake (human-made nest structures have enhanced local breeding for these huge owls whose nest success is boosted to 83% on artificial platforms vs. 66% at natural sites). The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY.

2014 195

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 195

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

For those of us with the great good fortune to bird in Latin America, or other less-studied biological regions, my experience suggests that we are much more likely to benefit from the new species created by such splits. I have never seen a “Brown-throated ” House Wren near human settlements.

San Diego 183

San Diego San Francisco Mexico Baltimore 183

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

So do parrots, some songbirds, humans, and a few other mammals. Humans don’t share merely a similar capacity for vocal learning with hummingbirds, we share share similar brain machinery , and that brain machinery is regulated by similar genes , genes not shared by hummingbirds’ closest relatives, nor by ours. Jarvis et al.

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2011

For native people, living in South America meant living with hummingbirds, and for Europeans, discovering South American meant discovering hummingbirds (and, tragically, exploiting South America meant exploiting hummingbirds, destroying hundreds of thousands for stuffed specimens and in futile attempts to keep them alive in captivity.)

South America 157

South America New York Alaska America 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Approximately 2,300 bird species inhabit Africa, however as impressive as that sounds, much smaller South America boasts nearly 1,000 species more. I cannot but admit that South America is the “bird continent” but as Peter Kaestner, one of the world’s top listers, so eloquently put it, Africa is nevertheless the “birding continent”.

Papua New Guinea 229

Papua New Guinea Madagascar Africa Equatorial Guinea 229

4 The Love Of Animals

JULY 3, 2010

ADI, which has previously rescued and relocated animals in Europe, South America and Africa have described it as one of the most complex logistical operation they have ever undertaken but say it will be worth all of the effort when the animals walk free. The ADI rescue operation was backed by Bob Barker.

ADI 100

ADI Animal Defenders International Bolivia Lions 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2015

To research this book, he traveled extensively to see as many woodpeckers as he could; this field experience was supplemented with museum research and consultations with other experts, plus a library of print material ranging from field guides to scientific papers.

Woodpeckers 250

Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 250