10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2012

This title basically means I get paid to watch birds (like the above Indigo Bunting I digiscoped with my iPhone and Swarovsksi Scope) before wind farms, solar panels and pipelines go under construction (or sometimes I get to id bird parts found post construction). ” So how does this happen?

Arkansas 212

Arkansas Science Farming Research 212

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Birding for the Curious: The Easiest Way for Anyone to Explore the Incredible World of Birds by Nate Swick brings birding back to its roots—a simple, joyous way to enjoy nature using our eyes, ears, hands (for sketching), and brain. There are now no excuses except a lack of curiosity. And, nobody wants to admit that.

North Carolina 263

North Carolina Birds North America Owls 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2024

Unfortunately, this makes it sound a bit more interesting for birding than it turned out for me – though admittedly, I spent less than a day there. And the area was recommended to me, so most likely my limited birding skills are to blame, rather than the birds themselves. ” That seems a bit unfair to me.

Eggs 246

Eggs Birds Japan Myanmar 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2019

When did birding become so intimately intertwined with technology? Obviously, those who seek the best views often aspire to the best optics, which we can all agree are modern miracles of science. But beyond space age gear and technical fabrics, birding also seems to demand a strong, unbroken connection to the internet.

2019 181

2019 Uganda Science Birds 181

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Birding tends to be an extremely freeform activity, demanding only we pursue our bliss to the best of our means and ability. This, the weekend of the Great Backyard Bird Count , is one of those times: tell us how you contributed to citizen science. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2013 171

2013 Science Ducks Birds 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2013

To all you hardy naturalists who have already logged Christmas Bird Count hours in service to citizen science, I salute you! Those of you willing to eschew creature comforts to tally birds across your ice-rimed count circles are my heroes. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend'

2013 174

2013 Shelters Science Birds 174

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2023

But then, birdwatching is boring most of the time, too – all the periods when there are no birds … As by now usual for me, the trip was done with Alpinebirding , which helped reduce the time spent not seeing any birds. Humans are not always bad for birds, only about 95% of the time.

Birds 204

Birds Science Humane Species 204

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

I truly do hope I am not tiring 10,000 Birds’ readers too much with my obsession with Michoacán’s ongoing drought, the disappearance of Lake Cuitzeo (Mexico’s 2nd largest lake, in normal years), and our own micro-endemic Black-polled Yellowthroat. But obsessed I am. Had I thrown a rock, I would undoubtedly have hit one.

Mexico 243

Mexico Investigation Science Experience 243

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2014

Many readers of 10,000 Birds are more than the casual birdwatcher…they are hopeless bird junkies. Truly depraved birding addicts. The question for the addict is, how does one keep birding fresh? Tired of birding the same polluted parks? Tired of birding the same polluted parks?

Birds 231

Birds Portland Oregon Wildlife 231

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2015

Birds are a subset of dinosaurs (See: Honey, I Shrunk the Dinosaurs. Prior to the extinction of all of the other dinosaurs, resulting from a cosmic impact event about 65 million years ago, the ancestors of modern birds were different from modern birds in many ways, but also similar in many ways. So how did beaks evolve?

Alligators 243

Alligators Chickens Research Reptiles 243

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2015

Science is fairly well established that yawning can spread like wildfire among groups of humans, as well as a few other mammals. New research suggests that the phenomenon of contagious yawning can also be seen in birds. In the other study, the birds—which seem to be great mimics of videos—were shown footage of budgies yawning.

Mammals 157

Mammals New York Science Birds 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

There was a time when I thought each bird species had its own individual song. Then I found out that there was this vocalization called a ‘call,’ so I thought each bird species had its own individual song (but just the males) and individual call. Bird communication is a complex and evolving science.

North America 279

North America Research Birds America 279

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

My life experience allows for a generally calm and balanced demeanor. I know for a fact that science is correct in stating that they don’t suck the milk of goats. Then again, science is definitely wrong in stating that goatsuckers have legs. You will clearly see a nice bird, but you will see no legs whatsoever.

Goats 220

Goats Indonesia Science Experience 220

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

There is GISS and there is Birding by Impression and they are not the same. GISS—general impression, size, shape—is intuitive, the result of an unconscious cognitive process derived from experience in the field. Experienced birders can identify birds using GISS; all birders can identify birds if they adopt the BBI approach.

New Jersey 180

New Jersey Birds Science New York City 180

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Birders derive “value” from birding. But does the value of a particular trip come from the number of birds seen, viewing a particular species, seeing an endangered species, catching a glimpse of a rarity, adding a lifer, or something else? How much do birders value a birding experience?

Oregon 200

Oregon Washington Chad Birds 200

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2012

How to Be a Better Birder is a very different kind of birding book, and, once you think about it, the perfect book to be written at this particular moment in the birding universe. But, think about it: how much has been written about the process of birding, the skills required to find birds and to learn about birds in the field?

New Jersey 259

New Jersey Science United States 2012 259

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. If you like cute birds, you will probably like the Black-and-yellow Broadbill. Homework assignment: Is the bird in this video a male or a female? Maybe the birds I saw were not real. You can see why here.

Sri Lanka 242

Sri Lanka Taiwan Birds Cats 242

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

In 2018, I read an article in Birding magazine by Jeff R. It was later re-published on the All About Birds website.) Manker’s thesis is that ornithology is an excellent gateway to students becoming science majors in college and, more broadly and longer-term, conservation-minded citizens. Think about it for a minute.

2018 264

2018 Agenda Science Massachusetts 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

I bring this up not to boast (well, not much) but because I think that this approach to wildlife travel is somewhat neglected in birding circles. Read most accounts of how birders see birds outside their patch and one way or another, they’re tourists. Volunteering provides a very different experience to tourism though.

Uganda 166

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 166

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2012

Knowledge is more likely to be shared via shared experience than the exchange of data, though both happen. But early in the process of learning about the Efe I made a foray into the literature available in the 1980s of orientation and navigation, and this included the literature on birds. Le-Qing Wu and J.

Compassion 236

Compassion Research Cooking Transported 236

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

Erika is a first year graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke. In her free time she travels near and far to find birds to continue building her life list, though many of her favorites can still be found right in her own backyard. Dry Tortugas National Park: Bird Banding Sooty Terns. Brown Noddy.

Florida 201

Florida Birds Groups North Carolina 201

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

The magnificent history and diversity of birds on Earth came into sharper focus this month with the publication of 28 new scientific papers in Science and other journals. One of the central papers, Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds (Jarvis et al. Open Jarvis et al.’s

Family 279

Family Parrots 2014 Birds 279

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2024

Bird Day is a lovely, little jewel of a book. The idea is to portray one bird for each hour of the day in words and art, presenting the diversity, beauty, and wonder of avian life. Angell’s black-and-white illustrations bring sparks of energy and visual clarity to the fascinating bird behaviors described by Huber.

Barn Owls 219

Barn Owls Chicago Penguins New Zealand 219

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

Last week a mystery bird from New Jersey rightly caused a fair bit of confusion among birders of the Garden State and beyond. The bird was a sparrow, that much was clear, but it didn’t seem to fit any of the easily boxes the other North American sparrows can be fairly easily sorted into. New Jersey mystery sparrow.

New Jersey 249

New Jersey North Carolina Sparrows Connecticut 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2014

Other bloggers were writing about birds and nature back in 2003, some even before then, and many of us found a communal spirit sparked by comments and crosslinks that carried into the world we wrote about. Remember the blog carnival craze? The great struggle then, as now, was reaching new readers and cultivating an engaged audience.

2003 264

2003 Reptiles 2000 2008 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2012

It is thought that the gray morph mimics a bird eating hawk. And, thus, they can learn that the Cuckoo is not really a bird-eating raptor. She has an advantage once the intended host birds are on to the other morph. Science 3 August 2012: 578–580 a. And thus, the second female morph has emerged in these Cuckoos.

Hungary 179

Hungary 2012 Science Eggs 179

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They looked out their windows and across their patios and up from their apartment terraces and saw–birds. This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives.

2020 264

2020 Birds North America Sparrows 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2015

There are many charismatic endangered birds that capture people’s hearts and imaginations: the colossal California Condor , the evocative Red-crowned Crane , and the adorable Spoon-billed Sandpiper come to mind. This is a short series that brings attention to these incredible birds, and my various adventures to try and see them.

California Condor 227

California Condor Ecuador Blackbirds Parrots 227

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

The chapter titles of Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds represent both ends of the spectrum: “A World Full of Poisons,” “Malaria,” “Forest Intruders,” “Lead Shock,” “Shot.” Conservation. It’s not easy.

California Condor 166

California Condor Falcons California Coyotes 166

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 17, 2017

With only a few weeks left before we turn the page on 2017, birders around the world have been burning their proverbial candles at both ends to observe as many birds as possible. Did you partake in any Christmas Bird Count excitement this weekend? Sign me up for a Memorial Day Bird Count any year! How about you?

2017 124

2017 Science Birds Experience 124

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2016

New Year’s resolutions from birding friends are starting to trickle in as I write this review. It is the last day of 2015, time to select the bird of the year past and set goals for the bright open future, when everything is new again. The process is called “Wide-angle birding: Be the bird, see the bird.”.

Birds 190

Birds Groups 2015 North America 190

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2011

It has been almost six months since we introduced the Beat Writer concept to 10,000 Birds. Since then there have been some major changes here at the ol’ blog and we thought it was time to update everyone as to where we are at with this grand experiment in group bird blogging. Greg’s beat is Bird Evolutionary Biology.

Science 155

Science Minnesota Monkeys Humane 155

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Louisiana is a magical place to bird. At the same time I was ogling Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Upland Sandpipers, Marybeth Lima was also birding Louisiana. Chapter Two is a potpourri of stories about nemesis birds, birding by ear, birding for science, under the rubric of birding ‘for the love of it.’

Louisiana 264

Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2014

Few people can imagine (or even take seriously) the life of a birding guide at a lodge in the tropics, so I thought it would be a nice exercise to outline what an average day for me was like at Cristalino Lodge. While setting up my scope, I immediately start to call out birds. “ Scarlet Macaws to the left about 300 feet out.”

Otters 160

Otters Parrots Birds Brazil 160

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Zamorano University may be regarded as one of the crown jewels of Latin American higher education, particularly in the areas of agriculture, environmental management, and food science, but this idyllic campus excels for more reasons than simply academics. Add bins and coffee, shake well, and you have the recipe for bird watching nirvana!

Honduras 160

Honduras Birds Kentucky 2018 160

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Empire Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are the largest living penguin species, almost four feet tall (taller when they stretch), and the least likely to be seen on birding or nature trips. They are excellent science writers, patiently explaining the physiological processes involved in deep diving in penguins, seals, and human.

Penguins 186

Penguins Seals Leopards Mammals 186

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

They also remind me why I love birding in Michoacán. I would love to know how the order spread across these regions, since that spread must have involved either crossing oceans or the frigid regions that these birds avoid. Both are large, stocky birds, with a large head and long, squared-off tail. Those are good numbers.

Mexico 218

Mexico Indonesia Arizona North America 218