10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2012

Plumb forgot about blogging, I did. Forgot about my own blog; forgot about my kids (just ask them). Songbird rehabilitation, unlike the vastly more popular raptor rehab, mostly involves raising orphans. There’s a lot of science in the book, but there’s also magic. Baby hummers, not so much.

Boston 252

Boston Raised Rats Turkey 252

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2012

Even the lyrics of the song echo the art and science of hawk watching, “Link by link, making the connections…”) Chapters are strategically illustrated with David Sibley’s drawings. David also writes Sibley Guides , a blog in which he talks about natural history subjects. These are not just drawings of hawks per se.

North America 260

North America Bald Eagle Eagles Tail Banding 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

My friend Vickie Henderson , who has some serious long-range vision, looked at the science behind Tennessee’s crane hunting proposal and found it badly wanting. Letters from Eden (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) will soon be followed by a memoir about the birds she has raised, healed, studied and followed throughout her life.

2011 244

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 244

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Letters from Eden (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) will soon be followed by a memoir about the birds she has raised, healed, studied and followed throughout her life. From July 1 2008-June 30 2009 Ducks Unlimited raised 200.4 She illustrates her books and magazine articles with her own sketches and watercolor paintings. I overlooked the date.

2011 263

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 263

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

In one simple blog post, it is impossible to address even the most basic questions about bird migration. Another question this raises has to do with migration itself. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1046 (1), 282-293 DOI: 10.1196/annals.1343.026 But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Why migrate? 2 PIERSMA, T.,

Compassion 249

Compassion Humane Research Egypt 249

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

They are also raised commercially for meat and eggs, as described in that beacon of ornithological knowledge, the World’s Poultry Science Journal. Sounds a bit like inbreeding to me, but the bird I saw had only one head, so it should be ok. They can also learn phonetic categories ( source ). Not this one though.

Birds 271

Birds China Eggs Owls 271

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. Fortunately, they are quite common in Shanghai.

Iraq 130

Iraq Birds China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2022

And of course, what you see in the background of these two photos is a Bronze Mannikin , giving me what is perhaps one of the best links in the personal history of my bird blog writing (low standards, admittedly). It is one of the largest flying birds in the world and seems to be capable of social learning ( source ).

South Africa 147

South Africa Africa Birds Fish 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2015

Let us know in the comments what your Best Bird of the Year for 2015 was as well and, if you have a link to a blog post, photos, or whatever else you want to share make sure to include it. At least she contributed to science… My Best Bird of the Year was a Snowy Plover , which I first spotted along the Florida Panhandle.

2015 190

2015 Costa Rica Birds Sparrows 190

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 17, 2013

Many, many things happened in the area of bird science this year, so this review can not be comprehensive. I’ve organized them by date (month/day) of the approximate reporting or blogging time of the item of interest, which does not necessarily reflect the actual date of occurrence.

Science 242

Science 2013 Elephants Ducks 242

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

In contrast, the females need to make sure not to get duped into raising actual cuckoos – the buntings are a targeted host species ( source ). But then, maybe not – it seems to be the nature of science that the more you know, the more you want to know. So much for this post’s pseudo-philosophical thought.

Eggs 264

Eggs Birds Bangladesh China 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

After returning once more from Nanhui and almost admiring the extent of ongoing destruction there, what better song to start this blog post than with excerpts from the song “Give up” by The Burning Hell? But it is all for science, I hear them say. Once I am moderately successful, I often find such photos quite pleasing.

China 147

China Birds Eggs Breeding 147