10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

There is a fantastic paper just out in Science : “Sustained miniaturization and anatomoical innovation in the dinosaurian anceestors of birds” by Michael Lee, Andrea Cau, Darren Naishe and Gareth Dyke. The paper that just came out in science has the following spectacular conclusion. Science , 345 (6196 ), 562–566.

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Camels Whaling Whales Apes 258

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2015

I was told when I first started blogging here at 10,000 Birds that I was never to use the short form, “10K.” ” But here I’m using it because someone ELSE used it … the Bird 10K project is an effort to do the whole DNA thing they do on groups of species on the whole mess of 10K (or more) birds.

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Birds Groups Investigation Research 260

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! But he really appreciated the Surf Scoters he saw at Shinnecock Inlet out in Suffolk County on Long Island on Saturday so he chose that species. Winter has come early and often to Western NY. How about you?

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2013 Shelters Science Birds 217

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 19, 2011

I know at 10,000 Birds, we’re not only supposed to wow you with blog articles, but we’re also supposed show you some awesome photos. It’s not an exact science, but it’s to get an idea of general usage and to see how the habitat can be managed in a better way for migratory feeding.

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Mississippi Ducks Minnesota Science 252

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

Peripatetic ornithologist Nick Sly has long been a friend of the blog here and has contributed such classics as Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult and Forpus passerinus and the Ornithologists of Masaguaral. This kind of detailed genetic and developmental work has traditionally relied on model species in the lab (aka chickens).

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Panama Chickens Investigation Research 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2023

It is kind of unappealing to see blog posts with highly specific and rather boring-sounding titles such as this one. On a positive note, in one study , when small swaths of dense bamboo were cut and cleared for an unrelated study, these were utilized by small insectivorous species including the Golden Bush Robin for foraging.

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Birds Science Humane Species 241

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2012

Britain might have had new species to add to it’s list, then again maybe it didn’t. The internet, don’t forget the internet, HTML, blog formats, photo upload, RSS Feeds, which browser, broadband speeds ( does anyone ever get what is promised?),

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Morocco Birds Science Tagged 250

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

Why tediously write blog posts when ChatGPT can do it for me? So, I asked ChatGPT: “Please write a 500-word blog post about birding in Shanghai in the style of Kai Pflug for the website 10,000 birds” This is the result: Greetings, fellow birding enthusiasts!

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China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 240

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2024

Somewhat strangely, the HBW calls it a “small grey to yellow babbler” – while the species indeed has some grey parts, that is not the color that sticks to mind when seeing or remembering the bird. Plus the sibia apparently plays an important role in the pollination of one endangered rhododendron species ( source ).

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Eggs Birds Japan Myanmar 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2012

Sure, the AOU has the final say in whats a species, whats not, yadda yadda yadda… but who tells them what to say? I’ve been sciencing really hard lately. After all, there are some epic splits coming your way… what do you think about new species of storm-petrel and murrelet that can be found in the United States?

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San Diego Mississippi Mexico Malaysia 212

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Hugh Powell is a science editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Eight days with 20 of the world’s top birding guides looking for some 1,000 species and three dozen endemics. You can see as many hummingbird species as the folks at Magee Marsh are seeing warbler species—during 25 minutes on a Sunday afternoon.

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Peru South America Birds Kenya 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Nate Swick is a contributor to 10,000 Birds, American Birding Association (ABA) blog editor and event leader, and environmental educator. He is a current member of the North Carolina Bird Records Committee and an eBird coordinator for North Carolina. Most of these photos are by photographers associated with the USFWS and Wisconsin Dept.

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North Carolina Birds North America Owls 263

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

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China Birds Pythons Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2013

When I look at all these changes condensed into one mesmerizing blog post, the differences seem staggering. Email lists, blogs, websites, forums, Facebook groups, and of course eBird (see below) has completely revolutionized the way birders get their business handled. Let’s get to it then. 2) The internet has changed everything.

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San Diego California Condor California Bald Eagle 227

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Not too many highlights, not too many species … hard to say whether this is just the usual nostalgia for a better but probably nonexistent past or a real phenomenon. This species is listed as vulnerable – similar to the Yellow-breasted Buntings, it is trapped on a large scale. Humans, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

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Birds Japan Germany Ducks 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2012

Lago de Yojoa, Honduras, February 2009 Let’s say that you are a serious birder on your first trip to the neotropics and are hoping to see as many species as possible. We watched Purple Gallinules , Pied-billed Grebes , several species of swallow, Great-tailed Grackles , and every other bird that crossed our paths.

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Honduras Birds 2009 North America 240

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 17, 2017

I have to admit that I abstained from the CBC this year, prizing personal comfort over citizen science. Anyway, two species of nuthatch are visible from my toasty warm kitchen, so let’s give this weekend’s honors to White-breasted Nuthatch. Did you partake in any Christmas Bird Count excitement this weekend? How about you?

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2017 Science Birds Experiments 124

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

Before my trip to Washington the only species of puffin I had ever seen in the wild was the puffin of the Atlantic Ocean, the appropriately named Atlantic Puffin. The first obstacle was getting to the general range of the species, which is the west coast from northern California to Alaska and across to Russia.* I love puffins.

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Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 227

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Utility,” co-authored with Brian Sullivan, Michael O’Brien, Chris Wood, Ian Lewington, and Richard Crossley ( Birding , November 2009) proposed a standard avian species order for field guides, apart from the ever-changing AOS taxonomic order. Species are useful handles (p. 16, below).”

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North America Birds 2012 America 189

Critter News

AUGUST 24, 2011

I'm reposting what I wrote as I rarely do any original writing for this blog anymore. Please note the vast generalizations here, but, in the areas of religion, at least orthodox religion and there are varying levels of how fundamental you want to go, there is only one species with a soul and that is the human.

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Humane Rights Stray Dog Stray 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

Erika is a first year graduate student studying Ecosystem Science and Conservation at Duke. She has contributed many pieces to 10,000 Birds and writes about her birding adventures on her blog, newbirder.tumblr.com. Now, I don’t want anyone in the blogging audience to be alarmed.

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Florida Birds Groups Breeding 237

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2016

Darren Naish, in his great blog at Scientific American (Which, if you’re not ready, why aren’t you reading it?) It’s Critically Endangered, and that’s about as bad as it gets before a species is lost. I’ll be tipping my cash to a worthwhile project in Peru, and I hope you will too.

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Peru Madagascar Campaign Species 189

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. The guide covers 1,433 species, the number of birds documented at the end of 2014, the cutoff point for the book.

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Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers. This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). That means that.

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Birds South Korea Japan Abandoning 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

Like the other species of seabird on the island they are the subject of long term studies by PRBO Conservation Science (formerly Point Reyes Bird Observatory), and in order to get good data sets large numbers of birds are banded each year (around 800 per year). well pretty much roll around in the stuff.

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Breeding Stray Seals Whaling 241

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2014

White-bellied Parrot was one of many target species at either of the canopy towers. ” At first light, many of the larger canopy species commute and call from the canopy: parrots, cotingas, guans, and toucans. Time for conversation, discussion about culture, cuisine, science, or politics, and the sightings of that morning.

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Otters Parrots Birds Brazil 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2023

Such an embarrassingly populist title of a blog post should obviously be followed by some dry facts. There are 17 different species of them, a few of them endangered, particularly some island endemics. Fear not, science has an answer: about 1.16 How to distinguish the two species, as they look somewhat similar?

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Japan China Guinea Germany 130

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

Written in a friendly, inclusive style quietly grounded in science, How to Know the Birds is an excellent addition to the growing list of birding essay books by talented birder/writers like Pete Dunne and Kenn Kaufman.

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North America Birds Prairie Dogs Barn Owls 138

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

It’s Macaulay Library contains a wealth of photos and audio recordings for approximately 10,000 species. It allows users to submit photos and recordings and provides detailed information on bird species, including sightings, distribution, identification tips, photos, and recordings. It offers a bird academy and much much more.

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UCLA Los Angeles North America 2003 138

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

More than 150 bird species are known to have become extinct over the past 500 years, and many more are estimated to have been driven to extinction before they became known to science. The Gray Crowned-Crane is a new addition to the list of the world’s Endangered species, creeping up a category from Vulnerable.

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Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 238

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2021

For more Bahama Nuthatch information and links, check his blog, [link]. In 2021, the American Ornithological Society announced that it has now classified the Bahama Nuthatch as a distinct species, Sitta insularis. One is a species altogether new to science — a nuthatch discovered on Grand Bahama Island.”

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Bahamas Philadelphia 2004 United States 344

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2013

I was intrigued to read this piece over at the ABA Blog. One the one hand, science is awesome. It seemed like a Rubicon for birding in general, and citizen science in particular, if you now need specialized recording equipment to even know what you’re seeing. But that’s not the fault of the science.

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Science Humane Research Birds 235

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2023

Flight Paths traces the history of migratory research in nine chapters, starting with the earliest attempts to track birds, bird banding/ringing (which she traces back to Audubon), and ending with ‘community science’ projects such as Breeding Bird Surveys and eBird. THIS IMAGE NOT IN THE BOOK. Schulman, 2023.

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Science Illinois Investigation 2006 260

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2012

The new edition adds 11 species, birds such as Zone-tailed Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, and California Condor that are only seen in specific areas of North America. Individual species accounts follow, featuring a description of the hawk’s range, a little of its history in North America, sections on Identification and In Flight.

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North America Bald Eagle Eagles Tail Banding 260

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. Strangely, there do not seem to be many papers on this species. In one paper , you can find fascinating sentences such as “The new species is most similar to D. My cats refuse to even try Fiery Minivets.

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Sri Lanka Taiwan Birds Cats 246

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2012

Plumb forgot about blogging, I did. Forgot about my own blog; forgot about my kids (just ask them). The book has 25 chapters, each one treating a different species of bird. There’s a lot of science in the book, but there’s also magic. And now I’m a day late on my January post, eek! The big new book.

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Boston Raised Rats Turkey 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2011

By joining the staff and walking through these hallowed cyberhalls, I will have, in effect, elevated 10,000 Birds to the status of the indisputable Greatest Birding Blog In The World…and who wouldn’t want to write for that? Quiz 2 Hint: There are two (2) species in this photograph. There you have it birders.

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Inhumane United States Science Birds 242