10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It’s very hard to organize the many ways in which human beings relate to avian beings into comprehensible text. We worship birds, we hunt birds, we protect birds, and, yes, we eat birds. We politically worship them, but at the same time we’ve severely decreased the numbers of many species by hunting and habitat loss.

Birds 204

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 204

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

If there are human fishing activities then all the better – Marabous will gather in numbers around fishermen’s docks and fish markets, in fact anywhere where fish are cleaned and scraps disposed of, allowing these intelligent birds to obtain a free meal. They are also attracted by fires and can gather in thousands.

Africa 232

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 232

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

Another item they feed on is hunting edible bird nest swiftlets, which are quite common in edible swiftlet houses in Sabah, Malaysia ( source ). The first attempt in hunting was made by the male hornbill which was seen snapping at a passing swiftlet, but was unsuccessful.

Rhinoceros 124

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 124

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2023

Shockingly, the Ashy-throated Parrotbill apparently is a species heavily hunted for bird fighting in Guizhou Province, China ( source ). If being hunted by evil humans was not enough, Ashy-throated Parrotbills are also hosts of the parasitic Common Cuckoo. Shame on the researchers. Maybe they just want to deter some birders.

Eggs 163

Eggs China Birds Mammals 163

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

It describes how, when a veterinary drug used in India killed the vast majority of Indian vultures, the human death rate in affected locations increased by about 4% as the vultures were no longer around to feed on animal carcasses and the sanitation thus worsened substantially.

Los Angeles 175

Los Angeles Birds Woodpeckers Owls 175

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2013

My post last week where I defended game hunting as a conservation tool has, unaccountably, encountered a certain amount of push back. Who would have thought that a post defending hunting game in general would have not been universally acclaimed? I will address two of them in the new year, namely, “Is hunting moral at all?”

Tigers 169

Tigers Hunting Game Protection 169

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

.” The website www.jwcpheasants.com seems to endorse polygamy for this species despite this being illegal in the USA for other animals such as humans. The species is also hunted for local consumption in Meghalaya (India), according to the HBW. The site states that in captivity, “two hens can be paired with one male.”

Burma 180

Burma Birds Vietnam Laos 180

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2024

.” Blue-bearded Bee-eaters seem to have a pretty clever hunting strategy. Of course, the same applies to pizza services for humans. Atherton (1797-1827), a naturalist (whatever that means exactly) and a member of the British Army in India. They provoke honeybee colonies, which then fly out and attack the bird.

Squirrels 136

Squirrels Birds China Bears 136

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2023

Anyway, one of the babblers of Sepilok is the Bornean Black-capped Babbler – the result of a split of the Black-capped Babbler (well, at least from a human perspective – the birds themselves are probably quite nonchalant about it).

Woodpeckers 197

Woodpeckers Birds Eggs India 197