10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

With binoculars around my neck, I am leaving home, wondering which will be the first species on my year list. Obviously, I am talking of Feral Pigeons (also called city, town or street pigeons). The scientific name of the Feral Pigeon is Columba livia domestica and that last world tells the story. New Year’s Day 2014.

Feral 257

Feral Meat Species Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2014

Perhaps our outrage at invasive species can be a bit hypocritical at times. Listers are quick to put aside their condemnation of invasive species once they attain that coveted status of exotic: not native, not fully naturalized, but established well enough to be countable by the prevailing authority. That’s where we come in.

Species 160

Species Feral Cats Feral Miami 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

For once, eBird gives a good description of the Asian Glossy Starling, calling it a “Fierce-looking, large songbird” As are humans, this species is fairly urbanized – it “sometimes enters urban areas to roost, e.g. in Singapore” (HBW). “Odd, me?”

Singapore 227

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 227

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2020

Kasia Rinkai Park on Tokyo Bay will host the slalom canoeing events for the upcoming (correct at time of writing) Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020. As I looked again with my binoculars, I noticed a feral cat close to where the bird had been and presumed that this must have been what put the bird to flight.

Feral Cats 164

Feral Cats Japan Feral 2020 164

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2019

But come spring, an even luckier few may even find a fellow survivor of their own kind with whom to start a family, unwittingly causing contentious debates among birders about the countability of established feral populations in the process. What’s in a name?

North America 113

North America Vermont America Farming 113

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

Yes, winter has done it again : here in Heidelberg, we are subjected to the painful games of Mr. Grey, trapped under his cloudy sheets and denied the warmth of the sun or the privilege of seeing colours on birds. Now, some species don’t require the sun as they always look the same. We are bound to suffer.

Germany 174

Germany Feral Ducks Game 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Walking along a dirt track next to a prairie, my friend and I were on the look-out for different sparrow species when a large bird suddenly darted into the clearing. Rattlesnakes are fair game, as are other reptiles, scorpions, frogs, birds, and insects. I saw my first real Greater Roadrunner on a cold winter day in the Southwest.

New Mexico 101

New Mexico Mexico Coyotes Rattlesnake 101