10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

If you remember that the first edition of Sibley was published with “National Audubon Society” on the cover, raise your hand. The photographs are from VIREO, the ornithological image collection associated with the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, which licenses bird photographs to many guides and reference books.

North America 278

North America America Birds California Condor 278

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

This is more than eBird reports–a checklist generated from the citizen science database lists only 1,413 species. Jon Fjeldså’s contributions include many of the ducks, yellow-finches, and many other families where his images of Birds of the High Andes could be used. Clearly, this is an under-birded country. .

Bolivia 171

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

The magnificent history and diversity of birds on Earth came into sharper focus this month with the publication of 28 new scientific papers in Science and other journals. ’s bird family tree in a new tab and follow along as you read. American Flamingo photo by Dick Culbert). In 2008, Nick Sly published a review of Hackett et al.

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

The famous Verreaux family who made several expeditions into the province through the 1820’s and 1830’s procuring specimens for rich collectors. Gurney’s Sugarbird was discovered by the Verreaux family and named after wealthy English banker and amateur naturalist John Gurney from Norwich. Image by Hugh Chittenden.

Mozambique 185

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 185

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2011

There are currently 10 species of Treecreepers that form the family Certhiidae, nine in the genus Certhia and an additional oddball in another genus, Salpornis. David Sibley (yeah, the one ) recently raised the question visiting birders (particularly from Germany, not so much from the UK – I am told!) I’ll explain.

North America 145

North America Europe Asia America 145

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

If you have always wondered what the minimum anesthetic concentration for isoflurane and sevoflurane for the Crested Serpent-eagle is, science has an answer. Another member of the magpie family, the White-winged Magpie , makes do with far fewer colors. Apparently, if exposed to sunlight, the green of the magpie plumage may turn blue.

China 224

China Birds Pythons Eagles 224

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives. They portray the nesting cycles of Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Robin, illustrating the various ways in which birds create families.

2020 263

2020 Birds Groups North America 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

But Mars’s character is less about being an eagle and more about the fact that he was stolen from his nest, raised in captivity, and now considers almost all of mankind – except Luna – to be his enemy. It was when Hélène says to Ned, “And when the stakes were the highest, you raised an eagle on your glove.”.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 253

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 253

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

I tried to get a better idea of what exactly the definition of cuckoo-dove is but am still not very clear about it – Wikipedia only offers the rather formal definition “any of several species of bird in the genera Macropygia , Reinwardtoena, and Turacoena of the pigeon family.” But I may well be wrong.

Birds 147

Birds Geese Fish Industry 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

In the former, a female lays her fertilized egg in the nest of another species, in the hopes that her offspring will be raised by the unwitting hosts. In the latter, three or more adult individuals contribute to the raising of offspring. Science (New York, N.Y.), doi:10.1126/science.1240039. Somveille, M., Heinsohn, R.,

Breeders 198

Breeders Breeding Birds Groups 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

A few families have a small number of eggs in the clutches, like gulls or cormorants. The species readily takes to nesting in small artificial boxes, and the scientists of PRBO Conservation Science have over 450 such boxes scattered across the island to monitor the species. So why do it?

Eggs 164

Eggs Puffins Breeding Raised 164

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2011

Between staying warm/cool, finding food, avoiding predators, migrating thousands of miles every year, finding mates, raising chicks and doing all this at the mercy of the elements, it makes sense that they have more brainpower than just simple instinct to run on. I believe in science. Science, for many years, has done no better.

Emotional 202

Emotional Science Birds Mammals 202

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

My friend Vickie Henderson , who has some serious long-range vision, looked at the science behind Tennessee’s crane hunting proposal and found it badly wanting. Letters from Eden (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) will soon be followed by a memoir about the birds she has raised, healed, studied and followed throughout her life.

2011 241

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 241

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

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. From July 1 2008-June 30 2009 Ducks Unlimited raised 200.4

2011 243

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 243

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

Itcher birds, migratory members of the tern family. Another question this raises has to do with migration itself. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1046 (1), 282-293 DOI: 10.1196/annals.1343.026 The idea was to see if those without magnets taped to their heads got less lost then those with the magnets. Image source.

Research 190

Research Humane Compassion New York 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

It is mostly a question of economics – raising just one is troublesome enough given the resources required to feed and educate the chick. Like this bird family b. Chongming Dongtan, where these photos were taken, is the wintering location of about 100 Hooded Cranes – about 1% of the global population. Like bad jokes and c.

Birds 130

Birds Iraq China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2015

This of course raises questions of what happens when all of the inland nesting grounds of all the loons becomes covered with glacial ice during ice ages, then later, the ice melts and the lakes return. At least she contributed to science… My Best Bird of the Year was a Snowy Plover , which I first spotted along the Florida Panhandle.

2015 183

2015 Costa Rica Birds Sparrows 183

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Science and Conservation , the second section, presents two-page summaries of the diverse research being done around the world about penguins. Raised in the Galapagos, she’s been exposed to penguins her whole life. That’s a lot of books about a bird family that cannot fly. It is not an essential purchase.

Penguins 196

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 196

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2022

And I found this one because he was singing his heart out quite persistently, which certainly suggests a bird that wants to settle down and raise a family. Here is my reasoning: One sighting could indicate a vagrant bird, which is very, very cool, but not really significant for science. But they kind of are, down here.

Mexico 216

Mexico 2018 Ducks Breeding 216

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

I have written about the interesting sex life of these jacanas a few times already (short version: female mates with male, lays a bunch of eggs for him to incubate and raise the chicks, leaves him, finds another male, repeat). But it is all for science, I hear them say. One puzzle solved. I can see their point.

Birds 147

Birds China Eggs Breeding 147