10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2012

Are humans a part of nature or a force (sometimes benevolent, more often destructive) that acts upon it? Madagascar: The Last Inheritor of Gondwana tries to walk the “all of the above” line, which is sometimes satisfying, sometimes disconcerting, and sometimes outright frustrating. It depends on perspective and context.

Madagascar 159

Madagascar Lemurs Humane Protection 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Paging through a fieldguide, it’s always with a sense of dismay and sadness that I come across reference to an extinct species. Madagascar, however, has had more than its fair share of extinct or lost species and Madagascar Pochard was firmly on this list. This bird was kept in captivity until it died a year later.

Madagascar 242

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 242

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

As usual, birds seem to like these off-the-way places best – eBird lists 337 species based on a little more than just 100 checklists. One very annoying aspect of the HBW is that in their search box, they seem to require you to put in exactly the one species name they think is the only acceptable one.

Birds 173

Birds Woodpeckers Kangaroos Madagascar 173

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I have thoroughly explored vast parts of the continent as well as neighboring Madagascar, in the process seeing over 2,000 birds on the continent and all but one Malagasy endemic. Approximately 2,300 bird species inhabit Africa, however as impressive as that sounds, much smaller South America boasts nearly 1,000 species more.

Papua New Guinea 225

Papua New Guinea Madagascar Africa Equatorial Guinea 225

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Bad developments indeed, particularly as the White-backed Vulture was found to be a good avian biomonitor species – if it does badly, most likely the environment as a whole will do badly, too. I could immediately tell them it was an Egyptian Goose – an invasive species in Germany but not at Kruger.

Elephants 147

Elephants Birds Congo Africa 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2014

It is also known for the 500 exotic species of animals and plants that now call the Sunshine State home. Exotic species are animals that did not historically occur in Florida. Most were introduced, meaning they were brought to Florida by humans. One such species is the familiar mallard (Anas platyrhynchos).

Florida 209

Florida Ducks New Zealand Feral 209

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

In fact, the Dodo belonged to a clade (sometimes called Raphini) of 15 remarkable, bizarre, intriguing island-adapted pigeons, some of which are still alive today, but eight of which have been hacked from the tree of life, driven to extinction by humans. The Dodo lived on Mauritius, an island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Solomon Islands 277

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 277