10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2015

The long, sharp, and barbed thorns discourage rats and other small mammals from climbing the cacti to reach the eggs and chicks. If small mammal predators are a worry for a mother hummingbird, the tall vertical wall and rushing water at the bottom of it would nearly ensure that no mammal can reach the nest.

Mammals 175

Mammals Eggs Rats Peru 175

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

New Zealand has been the recipient of a higher than average number of introduced species, in particular a range of mammals from elk to mice. This is quite a big deal for an island group that had no mammals save bats for millions of years. Take a project to remove rats from the Californian island of Anacapa (in the Channel Islands).

Animal Rights 266

Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 266

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2013

Normally I feed vultures, as well as hawks and owls, defrosted mice and rats. My mammal-rehabber friends give me their unfortunates, as well. He ate through my remaining supply of rats and mice, as well as all my pinkies (hairless, day-old rodents, easily digestible and good for starvation cases). Did I have an answer for him.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 201

Wildlife Rehabilitation Rodents Mice Rats 201

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2016

The relevant numbers involving cats, the people that cherish them, and the birds (and small mammals and reptiles) that they kill are all too large to mean much; you might as well use the funny word “gazillions.” Infected rats, for example, no longer shun cat urine but find it an aphrodiasic.

Feral Cats 262

Feral Cats Cats Tnr Feral 262

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

The island was mostly forested through its history and never had introduced browsing mammals, meaning it had an intact flora. Little Barrier had rats at one point, so it may have re-colonised, or may be still recovering from the rats.

New Zealand 143

New Zealand Rats Cooking 2003 143

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2018

The disappearance of vultures has allowed other species such as rat and [stray] dog populations to grow. A vulture’s metabolism is a true “dead-end” for pathogens, but dogs and rats become carriers of the pathogens. Oddly, I saw no rats, only a mongoose or two and a few stray dogs.

India 136

India Stray Dog Cows Rats 136

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2012

The number of individual birds and mammals alone that are affected by these factors are countless; and when you consider fish, reptiles and amphibians, it is hard to comprehend the magnitude of life that gets wiped out around the world (and certainly including the U.S.) There is nothing abstract or controversial about this.

Animal Rights Movement 214

Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Wildlife 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2017

As you drive along you see plenty of mole rats too, if you like mammals. And the biggest staris also a mammal, the Ethiopian Wolf. Larger endemics like Wattled Ibis and Thick-billed Ravens are found here too, but can also easily be found in less inhospitable climes. Rouget’s Rail. So very bold!

Ethiopia 100

Ethiopia Mammals South America Rats 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2011

The data here are from the site of Manaus: All animals: 200 Mammals: 8.4 This is also because mammals are large. Comparing mammals, birds, and reptiles, for instance, what is the distribution and range of sizes? The top histogram is mammals, the bottom one birds. Amphibian’s and Reptiles: 3.4 This is not a surprise.

Mammals 177

Mammals Rodents Birds Reptiles 177

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2012

I’ve been a fan of this particular peculiar Australian mammal my entire life, and more than any bird I wanted to see it here. As it got darker we found a Bush Thick-knee foraging in the grounds (their calls at night were quite something), and then began to find mammals.

Possums 172

Possums Guinea Marsupials Rats 172

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

The descriptions of the territory’s birds, seals, whales, introduced mammals, invertebrates, and plants are written within the framework of the conversationist, so it is more than a field guide, it is a record of endangered wildlife and the efforts being made to protect it.

Georgia 174

Georgia Penguins Wildlife Whales 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2021

I’ve numbered these chapter descriptions because just rereading them feels overwhelming and I need some structure (the chapters in the book are interspersed with the case study chapters described above).

Cyprus 257

Cyprus Slaughter Slaughtered Research 257

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2016

I went into a cage of young Great Horned Owls one night carrying thawed rats,” said Linda Hufford. “I When I threw my arms out for balance it apparently set off a life-like movement of rats, which one of the GHOs couldn’t resist. Most of mine are small mammals,” said Denise Hunter.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 173

Wildlife Rehabilitation Wounded Wildlife Opossums 173

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2015

If however you are a larger “mouse”-like rodent you are a rat. In German, if you are a rodent and you are smaller than – say – a human hand, you’re a mouse. You’re not a vole or a gerbil. No “gophers” etc.

Fox 164

Fox Rodents Gophers Germany 164

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There were no mammals, little game, and not many birds either. Secondly, New Zealand had already experienced on wave of extinction due to the introduction or rats and human hunting. Part of the world they wanted to transport was natural. The Eurasian Blackbird was not found in new Zealand before man, but it is now.

New Zealand 162

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

The year before I only got one, the shrike-tits (Falcunculidae), although if you include mammals also I finally got my lifer wombat (Vombatidae) too. The Long-tailed Broadbill , the last one I got, was particularly satisfying, and was my bird of the year last year.

Family 163

Family Wombats Uganda Fiji 163

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

In addition to longtails and rats, Wingate battles developers (of course), a rare Snowy Owl that kills 5% of the cahow population (Wingate shoots the owl, to the dismay of many), and the U.S. A particularly good type of fertilizer, for example, drastically increased the population of crabs, spoiling Bermuda’s golf courses.

Birds 170

Birds Rats Breeding 2012 170

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2012

That for the latter nature went on without them, letting them observe, seems to be proved by the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a big difference in your chance of getting wounded by a small to medium forest mammal if you are hunting them or if you are gathering plant products. Which keep eating rat poison. But I digress.

Birds 170

Birds Collecting Rodents Wounded 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2011

Why, then, shouldn’t other animals (chiefly mammals, although Peterson discusses birds to a limited extent as well) living in other groups get similar benefits from similar behaviors specifically adapted to their own circumstance? And perhaps, too, they would be least interesting to Peterson’s intended audience.

Morals 112

Morals Animal Humane Research 112

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Guam Rail Gallirallus owstoni. Photo copyright The Smithsonian’s National Zoo, taken from the Guam Rail page. .

Puerto Rico 192

Puerto Rico Guam Virgin Islands Feral 192

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2012

And one final treat was a Musky Rat-kangaroo , the smallest member of the macropod (kangaroo and wallaby) suborder, no bigger than a guinea-pig. They are also apparently one of the easiest mammals to see in the forests of the Tableland. Oddly for small macropods you’ll find them out and about in the day.

Kangaroos 161

Kangaroos Guinea Pigs Turkey Guinea 161

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

At the same time, the last remaining larger mammals and birds are being blasted by hunters to supply the insatiable demand for bushmeat, a market that in Ghana alone is estimated to generate revenues of up to US$350 million per annum. The rare Rufous Fishing Owl was one of the many species seen by the group here.

Ghana 196

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 196