10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It’s relatively easy to classify birds into family groups based on physical characteristics. It’s very hard to organize the many ways in which human beings relate to avian beings into comprehensible text. We view them as our enemies when they eat our crops and as an extension of our family when we see them at our feeders.

Birds 218

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 218

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2019

Their populations, plus those of other species that ‘wore’ the coveted long, colorful feathers used for women’s fashionable hats, were being dangerously depleted by hunters intent on feeding the millinery industry. The Pankhursts and their organization were not interested in saving birds; they saw the SPB mission as a distraction.

Industry 120

Industry Virginia Portland Campaign 120

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2012

One of the things that struck me at once about this topography is how much more organic it seemed than that of the mountains. The cottonwoods in the river bottoms echo the branching antlers of the elk that bugle among them each falls (abundant, but never enough so for Montana’s voracious hunters.)

Wildlife 187

Wildlife Ferrets Montana Prairie Dogs 187

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Originally a hunting term, the Big Five were the most dangerous and prized targets of the great white hunters on safari. They are called Antlions due to ants being one of their main prey items and “lion” referring to hunter or destroyer. This hulking massive bovid has caught many a wanderer unawares, often with fatal consequences.

Buffalo 207

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

It’s my fantasy and it’s yours: Quit the job, say good-bye to the family, and bird. Each chapter of The Jewel Hunter reads like a mini-travel novel. If you want to travel the world birding and drinking beer, The Jewel Hunter is a must-buy. The Jewel Hunter belongs to a singular niche, the Big Year/Big Lifelist book.

Hunters 196

Hunters Sri Lanka Asia Solomon Islands 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

It will take dedicated, sustained effort by many organizations and individuals but if any bird is worth the effort it is the gorgeous national bird of Honduras. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B. Some of the birds are actually descendants of the ones seized.

Honduras 152

Honduras 2011 Deer Birds 152

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Nationwide, wildlife watchers now outspend hunters 6 to 1. Of the Central Flyway states, Nebraska alone holds out in protecting the cranes, having proven by its longstanding Festival of the Cranes in Kearney that a crane is worth infinitely more alive and purring in the sky with its family than thudding, broken and bleeding, into a cornfield.

2011 250

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. I hope by this time you have settled on a bird family for your avian obsession. (I

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

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? It gives one to wonder why this designation was made.

2011 243

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 243

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2011

Giving organisms standard names allowed precise communication across cultures and languages. No doubt dozens of descriptive, evocative, and hilarious handles for birds, some perhaps restricted to a single valley or even to one family, have been lost. But it sounds so much more sophisticated to say Ouzel.

Hunters 183

Hunters Falcons Ducks Montana 183

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Published, by Mack’s nonprofit organization, it also serves as an example of successful alternative publishing in the birding world. Another great birding adventure book is The Jewel Hunter by Chris Gooddie (Princeton Univ. I think of The Jewel Hunter often when I travel to foreign countries, wishing I could do it like Goodie did.

Papua New Guinea 185

Papua New Guinea 2014 Penguins Birds 185

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

Itcher birds, migratory members of the tern family. Since I was mapping-in human ‘territories’ or home ranges, and trying to figure out how tropical hunter-gatherers found their way around the landscape, the mechanisms of migration were interesting to me. (It Specifically, Itcher Tern. Image source.

Research 196

Research Humane Compassion New York 196

Animal Ethics

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

The ability to feel pain is not an obviously plausible way of morally distinguishing microorganisms from other organisms. The question can be raised: Why should these organisms be killed and others not be killed? The very name “vegetarian” suggests that these individuals eat plants, which are living organisms. Why wouldn’t they?

Morals 40

Morals Vegetarian Meat Killing 40

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

Also, the company “pushes the limits on predictive insights, delivering the highest quality intelligence to help organizations make better risk decisions and improve the health and safety of the entire planet’s cyber ecosystem.” Like this bird family b. If you want to signal to your environment that you a.

Birds 130

Birds Iraq China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

Incidents like this one, led by far-right militant, anti-government extremists, should be a concern of all Americans, especially birders, hunters, environmentalists, conservationists, and anyone else concerned with keeping public lands public. This concern of losing our public lands is actually something birders and hunters have in common.

Hunters 132

Hunters Utah Extremist Agenda 132

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Lacking, as I do, a birding reputation that would make people part with cash for my time I’ll have to go for the rarity hunters and put together an itinerary of highlights that can’t be missed. This outstanding member of the wattlebird family is unique among songbirds in having different shaped beaks for each of the sexes.

New Zealand 205

New Zealand Ducks Australia Mountain Goats 205

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

The organization is the same as The Crossley Guide: Raptors (PUP, 2013): photographic plates and brief text in the first half and extensive “Written Accounts” in the second half. This is how, I think, the “Crossley technique” works best—coverage of specific bird families that pose identification challenges to birders at all levels of skill.

Ducks 121

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 121