10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

Well, this time next week I’ll be winging my way to Cape Town via Auckland and Singapore (air transport is weird sometimes), so this is my last beat post of the year. It’s a species that has bedeviled and bewitched me over the years. Cave species obviously excluded, they can go extinct for all I care. A beaked whale.

Sharks 172

Sharks Leopards Whales Whaling 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Early starts are the rule when monitoring endagered species in Mkuze Game Reserve, in South Africa, but there’s a particular urgency to this morning’s start. The day before, the day I arrived, was a transport day, and that meant the pack hadn’t been seen in the afternoon. And Pippa, our biologist, was very concerned.

Wolves 189

Wolves Lions Dogs Vet 189

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

And you’ve posted a link to a petition to an airline to ask them to stop transporting trophies. Conservation is concerned about protecting populations, species, habitats, ecosystems. That conservation uses the death of the species it is trying to save is both paradoxical and not. And that lions are really cute.

Lions 207

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 207

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Rather than the usual dismal waiting area there were comfortable seats and drinks, and when our transports arrived, we were placed in two large four wheel drives rather than one, so that we wouldn’t feel cramped. This is the place, after all, that people see Sunda Clouded Leopards! It was here that the comfort began.

Lemurs 158

Lemurs Family Rhinoceros Fish 158