10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Of course this is nonsense, and they are clearly close to swifts, but with a hind toe that lets them perch like a swallow, they sit outside the family as well, in their own, rarely thought about, family. There are four species in the family, ranging from India to the Solomon Islands. Whiskered Treeswift.

Solomon Islands 166

Solomon Islands Singapore India Family 166

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. Solomon Islanders say that the species was driven to extinction by cats and dogs introduced by Europeans.

Solomon Islands 275

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 275

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2017

Like if a chickadee calls while a family member is making his or her wedding vows, the covert birder won’t even blink. It’s more like clandestine or covert birdwatching, constant spies of all things avian although certain circumstances can reveal our true intentions. That usually happens when we are confronted with the unusual.

Costa Rica 168

Costa Rica Solomon Islands Wisconsin Farming 168

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. Black-faced Pitta is found only on one of the Solomon Islands (northwest of Australia). It’s what I dream of every Monday morning. British birder Chris Gooddie, my new birding hero, not only dreamed the fantasy, he lived it.

Hunters 192

Hunters Sri Lanka Asia Solomon Islands 192

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

Dipping for fish An extinct endemic form of pelican in New Zealand would have represented another family lost, like the odd form of owlet-nightjar and New Zealand’s lost members of the hawk and eagle family. But it seems the story wasn’t so clear cut.

New Zealand 179

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 179