10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. Watson’s style is dry and highly informative, the kind I would expect of, let’s say, a colonial army officer with a penchant for natural history.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

Even more than warbler, shorebird, and sparrow identification, this is a field that tests our endurance (gull watching is too often done in bitter cold, windy conditions), patience (even getting one good photo can take hours as you try to separate the ‘interesting gull’ from the flock), observational skills (so many plumages!)

North America 213

North America El Salvador America Nicaragua 213

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

Some of the first solid research pointing to a magnetic sense of some sort in birds was being produced at that time, and there were even people testing humans for a similar ability. They can use this form of sensory input to navigate, integrating this information with other data to determine and adjust migration routes as adults.

Compassion 219

Compassion Humane Research Egypt 219

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

The vast majority of the 10,000+ living species of birds are passerines, and the vast majority of those have a similar system of breeding: Mom and dad bird make a nest and share parental responsibilities roughly equally, if not identically. In the latter, three or more adult individuals contribute to the raising of offspring.

Breeders 229

Breeders Breeding Science Raised 229

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Her writing is based on keen observation of animal and human behavior, and she likes to interweave solid natural history information with larger philosophical themes to challenge and inspire the reader. Ohio has tracked two families of their state-endangered breeding sandhill cranes and found them to have wintered over in Tennessee in 2010.

2011 262

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 262

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

There is much to enjoy and appreciate here and I only wish I could have tested out some of these species accounts in pelagic waters before writing about them (sadly, the 10,000 Birds pelagic to Antarctica was canceled this year). Back then species information was divided into three parts: plates, text descriptions, and distribution maps.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Family Groups 279