10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
Many species build nests of sticks or mud or spit on human-made structures , or in houses we’ve constructed specifically for their use. The family is global in its distribution, with 83 species of around 19 genera. That’s probably why they’ve endeared themselves to human culture over the centuries.
10,000 Birds
JANUARY 4, 2012
Western Screech-Owl ( Megascops kennicottii ) photos by Larry Jordan It’s been an interesting winter in my neck of the woods. Birders in Northern California have been treated to rare sightings of several species, sending avid twitchers from all over the west in our direction.
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10,000 Birds
MAY 8, 2013
The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. New World Vultures.
10,000 Birds
JULY 18, 2013
It’s clear that ibis have been part of human civilization for as long as there has been civilization of which to be part. The group has a worldwide distribution; 28 species living and two additional extinct. It draws a more or less firm line between those species in the Old World and those in the New, however.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 9, 2011
I briefly entertained the idea that I had found a rare species never before seen in New York but quickly came to my senses and realized that I was dealing with a leucistic individual. Leucism “is a condition characterized by reduced pigmentation in animals and humans.&# I for one missed it. Do you think it is the female?
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 19, 2011
juvenile Parasitic Jaeger by Larry Jordan Jochen enjoyed a plover : My Best Bird of the Year is a White-tailed Lapwing I “twitched” in Germany in June. This year I watched them from the day they arrived , until two chicks successfully hatched, the northernmost breeding record for the species.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 8, 2020
An op-ed in the Washington Post by Gabriel Foley and Jordan Rutter is a fine summary of the arguments, and there is a good background article at Birdwatching magazine. The species was named after John P. I suspect there is little opposition to changing the names of species with particularly sordid namesakes.
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