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).

Singapore 235

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 235

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2023

”, which by some remarkable coincidence is also the title of a paper on “Physical-Attractiveness Evaluations and Dating Preferences as a Function of One’s Own Attractiveness” (among humans, not Grey-capped Greenfinches). Of course, for the birds involved, this often leads to death.

Birds 211

Birds Blackbirds Indonesia Bhutan 211

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

I very much enjoyed the first section, which relates the history of the bird and its relationship with us, humans, from its discovery in 1851 up to the fateful Lake Mack fire and its aftermath in the 1980’s. Most of the chapters are in the first two sections; the future is a brief, open question.

Michigan 240

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 240

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2024

It seems a bit sad to me that a paper on the Eurasian Tree Sparrow and the House Sparrow has to justify the need for research on these species by arguing this benefits humans: “Sparrow species … live in a close association with people. The first bird I saw in Saigon was less exotic though – a Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

Vietnam 180

Vietnam Zebras Birds Sparrows 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

It is mostly a question of economics – raising just one is troublesome enough given the resources required to feed and educate the chick. Chongming Dongtan, where these photos were taken, is the wintering location of about 100 Hooded Cranes – about 1% of the global population.

Birds 130

Birds Iraq China Ireland 130