10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

’s bird family tree in a new tab and follow along as you read. This major radiation of water-adapted birds includes loons, penguins, and the remarkable tubenoses along with a variety of totipalmate and wading birds. ’s placement of foot-propelled loons as basal to the whole group and penguins and tubenoses as sister taxa.

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

I did that with Peacocks & Picathartes – Reflections on Africa’s birdlife (published by Penguin Random House South Africa ). The rest of the 216 pages long book is devoted to various African bird families and half a dozen individual species. When was the last time you chose a book by its covers?

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Madagascar 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They portray the nesting cycles of Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Robin, illustrating the various ways in which birds create families. Do they have families too and do they take care of them? Some of the chapters focus on a specific bird, most are about bird families like hawks, tanagers, wrens, etc.,

2020 264

2020 Birds Groups North America 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Not, as Linneaus thought, an ostrich, nor even, as later scientists concluded, a distant cousin of pigeons deserving of family rank, it was an honest-to-goodness pigeon, deeply embedded within the family Columbidae. For much more, see The history of the Dodo Raphus cucullatus and the penguin of Mauritius (PDF).

Solomon Islands 278

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 278

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

Itcher birds, migratory members of the tern family. Another question this raises has to do with migration itself. A fascinating exception to this, of course, are penguins. The idea was to see if those without magnets taped to their heads got less lost then those with the magnets. Specifically, Itcher Tern. Image source.

Research 199

Research Humane Compassion New York 199

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds. We tend to think of seabirds as mysterious long-winged creatures that spend their lives flying over oceans–phalaropes, noddies, skuas, jaegers, auks, tropicbirds, penguins, albatrosses, storm-petrels, petrels, shearwaters, diving-petrels, frigatebirds, gannets, and boobies.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Groups Family 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Last month woodpeckers, this month penguins. None fly, most are curious and social, which probably contributes to our cultural perception of penguins as one step away from human. King Penguins heading out to feed, Macquarie Island (beginning of book). The introductory Penguin Who’s Who introduces each species visually.

Penguins 207

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 207

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

This outstanding member of the wattlebird family is unique among songbirds in having different shaped beaks for each of the sexes. We’ll also keep our eyes open for several members of the New Zealand wren family. The forests around Wellington will let us clean up any North Island endemics we may have missed. Laughing Owl.

New Zealand 209

New Zealand Ducks Australia Mountain Goats 209