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. It encompasses movement and plumage and even smell. How do they know?

North America 279

North America Birds Research America 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

Or, Pygmy leaf-folding frogs, Afrixalus brachycnemis, from Tanzania, tiny climbing frogs who lay their eggs in leaves and then fold the leaves over them for protection, sealing the nest with secretions. This is what happens when you read a book like Frogs and Toads of the World , by Chris Mattison.

Reptiles 244

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 244

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 264

Dissection Birds Europe Eggs 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

So, when Redgannet asked me if I was interested in reviewing Phillipps’ Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo: Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan, Third Edition , by Quentin Phillipps and Karen Phillipps, a book he had acquired at Birdfair, I hesitated. Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species?

Brunei 233

Brunei Asia Birds China 233

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Her lively block prints adorn calendars, note cards, puzzles, and children’s books, very much in the popular tradition of beloved minimalist Charley Harper. It’s a fun book, offering ideas for projects and, most importantly for me, new ways to observe birds and their natural world.

Birds 201

Birds Eggs Laws Oregon 201

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

The section South Georgia Wildlife describes 65 species of birds, 20 species of sea mammals, nearly 60 species of insects, and more than 40 species of flowering and nonflowering plants. The book is entitled South Georgia, but it also covers nearby areas including the South Sandwich Islands, Shag and Clerke Rocks.)

Georgia 210

Georgia Penguins Wildlife Whales 210

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2014

Nearly wiped out by human heedlessness, development, and pesticide use, under the protection of the Endangered Species Act this handsome fish eagle has made a stunning comeback, rebounding in numbers and recolonizing areas where many thought they were gone forever. As an experiment, I also ran this book by a non-birding friend.

Bald Eagle 252

Bald Eagle Eagles Endangered Species Washington 252

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

While these birds are very much liked by Chinese birders, the species could unfortunately not be named the National Bird of China as the Latin species name of the bird is Grus Japonicus. Apparently, birds that are fast in exploring new things – bold birds – are better at rejecting parasitic eggs ( source ).

Eggs 263

Eggs Bald Eagle Birds Owls 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. For birders, it’s the extremely large book, shelved in a place where it can’t crush the field guides, used to research the history of a bird in their area. The resulting book, 616 pages in length, 6.4

Pennsylvania 258

Pennsylvania Breeding Sparrows Birds 258

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2018

It’s not often that we have the opportunity to glimpse the home life of albatrosses, nor of any seabird species. Where does the female Emperor Penguin go after she has produced that one egg and handed it over to the male for incubation? Technology to the rescue! What about incubation shifts?

Albatross 127

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 127

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

We can, of course, count wild, native, species. We can count vagrant species that made it to the area we are in under their own power. We can count introduced species that have met the criteria of the “Bird Police” for the area to which they are introduced. When we eat eggs we eat chicken eggs almost exclusively.

Chickens 248

Chickens Florida Feral Eating Eggs 248

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2024

Given that according to the HBW, the species prefers dense primary and secondary montane forests, the note that the bird also forages among kitchen waste (in the same HBW entry) seems somewhat incongruous. His obituary was published in Nature. Quite possibly, this laughingthrush is now locally extinct in Switzerland or at least in Basel.

Burma 246

Burma India Thailand Indonesia 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Even when writing my book with all ardent efforts to remain unbiased; the section on Sandpipers & Allies was by far the longest – surpassing mega-families like Thraupidae and Tyrannidae. Lesser Yellowlegs can easily be confused with the aforementioned species except when they are standing next to each other.

Fish 264

Fish Eggs Family Humane 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2022

The Oriental Scops Owl is possibly my favorite of all bird species (though I may have said that about other species as well) – so, here’s a post with just some photos of this owl taken this autumn migration season. ” According to this book, scops (?) It comes in two morphs – one greyish, one reddish.

Owls 162

Owls Eggs Woodpeckers Cats 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Once upon a time, back in the heady, innocent days of 2014, I reviewed a book called The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds. Of all the books I’ve ever had the honor of reviewing for this site, it was in some ways the most attuned to my own particular sensibility. The Mincing Mockingbird.

Lovebirds 154

Lovebirds 2014 Eggs Wildlife 154

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2024

It took me a moment to grab my passport and safely restore it to its place in my carefully organized travel pack because I could not help but stare at my name carelessly written into this large book that was halfway around the world from my home. However, I cannot stop thinking about my name written in that book.

Lesotho 246

Lesotho Sheep Groundhogs South Africa 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2021

.” His classes attracted diverse groups of students, often with little scientific background: “Students have to first pass biology, but most come in knowing next to nothing about birds except that they can fly, that they have feathers, and that they lay eggs.”. No publisher wants to publish a book that can’t be sold.

2018 264

2018 Agenda Science Massachusetts 264

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.

China 264

China Birds Pythons Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2016

As a boy growing up, I scoured every bird book I could get my hands on. Shrikes by the numbers: The family Laniidae is composed of 31 species of shrike, around the globe. The most common species here in North America is the Loggerhead Shrike , Laniidae ludovicianus which has 11 subspecies. Of those eleven, two, the L.i.

Butcher 174

Butcher North America Birds Mexico 174

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2015

On our first morning after breakfast, my group and the teens piled onto a boat and headed out to Eastern Egg Rock, once again the breeding ground for Atlantic Puffins (as well as a host of other seabirds) thanks to biologist Dr. Stephen Kress. There are over a million species of arthropods. What was it like?”

Puffins 277

Puffins Birds Groups West Virginia 277

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

ForestPuffin was targeting this species as it is very habitat dependent and, unbeknownst to me, such habitat exists within a big stone’s throw of my house. Second they are reliant on Horseshoe Vetch on which they lay their eggs and on which the caterpillars feed. The male is on the left.

Rabbits 178

Rabbits Ireland 2002 Sheep 178

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

The opening beautifully encapsulates the essence of the book. She doesn’t know the species till it emerges, almost dreamlike, from the heavy glare of the sun. Fox encounters 69 species, some singly, some in huge feeding or migrating flocks. We are all suckers for an albatross, at least in the United States.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa).

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Eggs Africa 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2015

Birdie books will obviously take precedence, but a well written, lavishly illustrated guide is a thing of beauty whatever the discipline. Although the guide describes species from a limited range, the importance of bees throughout the world cannot be overstated. A book mark was very useful to make the glossary quickly accessible.

Ireland 124

Ireland United States 2010 Game 124

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2022

” (quoted from Tim Low’s book “The Origin of Song”). Wikipedia seems not too impressed with the species, stating that “the brown honeyeater is a medium-small, plain grey-brown honeyeater” The Latin species name indistincta (indistinct, obscure) sounds similarly underwhelming.

Australia 147

Australia Parrots Birds Memphis 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2011

The most common species we see are the Stoke’s Sea Snake Astrotia stokesii , Dubois’ Sea Snake Aipysurus duboisii and the Olive Sea Snake Aipysurus laevis. Speaking of pregnant snakes, do sea snakes lay their eggs ashore like sea turtles or do they keep them internally until the young are ready to hatch/ be born, like some sharks?

Australia 199

Australia Sharks 2011 Deer 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2011

This happened to me recently on a birding trip, with somewhat egg-on-the-face results. We were driving up to northwestern Michigan from our homes in Ohio (me) and West ByGod Virginia (Geoff) in search of a bird species that would be a lifer for both of us: the Bohemian Waxwing. I was on a birding quest trip with my friend Geoff Heeter.

2011 244

2011 Michigan Birds Ohio 244

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Side note: Indeed, if you follow the titles of newly published books, you will see that there is a constant flow of “Reverse harem” publications. According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Jake’s favorite before-bedtime book when he was just a bit younger was Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, a picture book I had picked up at a nature center. By the middle of the book, Jake and his younger brother Zach would be chiming in, “I want my mommy,” and when Mama Owl finally return, they would rejoice along with the owlets.

Birds 258

Birds Switzerland Owls Lions 258

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2024

Taking inspiration from Matthiessen’s 1967 book (long out of print), which combined his natural history essays with species accounts by Ralph S. It is pointedly not an identification guide, though there is a lot of identification information in it, and it is not a coffee table book, though every page is illustrated.

North America 264

North America America 2006 Delaware 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Journeys With Penguins: Tracking the World’s Most Extreme Penguin is a different type of penguin book. Kooyman (co-author with Jim Mastro) spent decades studying Emperor Penguins and can be considered the world’s foremost expert on the species. Author Gerald L. Kooyman wanted to know what they did the rest of the year.

Penguins 234

Penguins Seals Leopards Mammals 234

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2024

Bird Day is a lovely, little jewel of a book. Hauber and artist Tony Angell fulfills this goal beautifully and was the factor that motivated me to review this book. The essays also touch on conservation, though less that the amount I would have assumed would be in a book that is part of an “Earth Day” series.

Barn Owls 244

Barn Owls Chicago Penguins New Zealand 244

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

trying to grasp the enormity of what had just happened, and reading this book, The Feathery Tribe: Robert Ridgway and the Modern Study of Birds by Daniel Lewis. Reading this book is, in addition to everything else, an exercise in getting to know the originals of many of our apostrophized birds.

Illinois 208

Illinois Collecting United States Alaska 208

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Steve, another member of our birding group, also had a field guide by Kenefick, Restall, and Hayes, but his was bordered in GREEN, had a slightly different title, and, to my extreme chagrin, was much more recent, showing the recently split Trinidad Motmot instead of the Blue-crowned Motmot on my book’s cover. I was confused.

Trinidad 248

Trinidad South America Birds 2011 248

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

Each species account includes common and scientific name, size and weight (all metric), and information boxes on Key Identification Features (including how to differentiate the species from similar creatures), Habitat in Kruger, Habits (nocturnal or crepuscular or diurnal, social or loner, feeding behavior) and Diet.

Rhinos 252

Rhinos Animal Mammals White Rhinos 252

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

At the very least appreciated for their hard-shell adaptation, the way they quietly survive in ponds, rivers, oceans, islands, forests, even, for a few species, deserts, and, if you are of a certain age, their cultural depiction as ninja warriors. Or that tortoises and terrapins are considered part of the turtle family.

Turtles 262

Turtles Tortoises Family Terrapins 262

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

It’s the warbler that is often the last unchecked species on birders’ life lists and, whether you list or not, for most of us observing it is a once in a lifetime experience. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list. A nest wasn’t found until 1903, which set off a craze for Kirtland’s Warbler skins, nests, and eggs.

Michigan 258

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 258