10,000 Birds
JUNE 29, 2011
The Gods of Birding, being both capricious and wrathful, decided to punish my insolence by washing up an Emperor Penguin on the coasts of the island upon which I make my home. Which brings us back to the Emperor Penguin. Besides, it’s an Emperor Penguin. This was not initially a problem for me. But the thing was news.
10,000 Birds
JULY 4, 2023
The species are taxonomically divided into two families: Tytonidae, Barn-Owls, and Strigidae, Owls, encompassed in one order, Strigiformes. What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds by Jennifer Ackerman Penguin Press, June 2023 352 pages; illus. This is a great summer read.
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10,000 Birds
MAY 17, 2019
One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing penguins for the first time. Of course, I’ve seen live penguins in zoos before, but these were real, honest-to-goodness (and countable!) members of the family Spheniscidae. Photo by the author – and not taken at a zoo.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 1, 2020
I should add that the Big Owls taking over NYC social and even hard print media, dominating conversations with my nonbirder friends and family, are not the only owls in the five boroughs, but like a musical, the closer you are to Broadway, the closer you are to fame and fortune (and maybe even a higher quality rodent for dinner, who knows?).
10,000 Birds
MARCH 12, 2011
While it’s no longer possible to see this regal macaw soar gracefully through the Brazilian skies, to be able to worship them—even from afar at one of the conservatories or zoos—would be a dream, at last, come true. I worked with a pair of motmots at a US zoo and fell in love with their vibrant colors and unique tails.
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. ” A Nicobar Pigeon bathes at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington © David J.
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. They are software mascots, cartoon characters, animated film dancers, children’s book heroes, zoo celebrities, and documentary film stars.
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