10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2024

These species are not only beautiful or charming, but have a personal resonance for me. It turns out this species is very difficult to see — everywhere except in my territory, since to date I have now seen it 64 times within an hour of Morelia. I could not test this theory in 2024, as by that month the lake had disappeared.

Squirrels 246

Squirrels Mexico Kansas South America 246

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

I strained to see them, could only see an occasional booby escape our bow, watch some of the hundreds of Wedge-tailed and Pink-footed Shearwaters zip by and hold on as our boat tested its speed. As we approached and drew nearly alongside the small seabirds, we also tested the limits of our optics, our balance, and our focus.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Conservationists at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have been using remote controlled drones to watch the nests of endangered breeds and monitor the progress of reintroduced species. Over time, it’s these physiological changes that can disrupt animals’ breeding or rearing habits.

Idaho 214

Idaho Bears Protection Birds 214

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. To show how adaptive this species is, the following photograph was sent to me by one of my readers and I use it with her permission.

Hunters 206

Hunters Hunting North America Game 206

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2013

Now nearing 50 and duly lost in a mid-life crisis, Dragan Simic took to birding rather late – only half a lifetime ago, after successfully testing his inadequate skills in other life threatening activities, such as rock climbing and vertical caving. Steve answers: Bonelli’s Eagle ! Garraf Natural Park.

Spain 253

Spain Terrapins Europe Eagles 253

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2011

There are quite a few species of duck that nest in cavities. They breed in ponds and small lakes where they dive for insect larvae and amphipods and are are almost exclusively monogamous, keeping the same mate for several years 1. I only saw a few females at Manzanita Lake this year, maybe because we were there so late in the season.

Ducks 172

Ducks North America California Breeding 172

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2013

And so, these goats ate the flora of the island: unique species of Indian paintbrush and woodland star, bushmallow and wirelettuce and morning glory. No wait, they were, but they had experienced so much genetic drift and selective pressure that they now constituted a unique breed in their own right.

Goats 177

Goats Bald Eagle Fox Feral 177

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2024

Secondly, much of the appeal is that this is a bird we don’t see in the UK very often, for Waxwings are an irruptive species, and in most years only a few ever reach our shores from their breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Scandinavia. At the time I was writing about cars, so I recall we travelled in a road-test Porsche.

Finland 246

Finland Estonia Bears Ireland 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2015

The feature distinguishes birds from other species; All birds have them, no other species do. Beaks vary across different kinds of birds, and this great diversity in beaks is part of the great diversity of the 10,000+ species of birds that exist today; Beaks thus facilitated the diversification of birds. Here’s the thing.

Alligators 257

Alligators Chickens Reptiles Birds 257

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

The book is divided into three parts: “Introduction,” “Avifaunal Overview,” and “Species Accounts.” The authors’ detailed delineation of problems with the accuracy of NYC breeding bird surveys or with the limits of historical writings may test a reader’s patience. Most birders will go straight to the “Species Accounts.”

New York City 192

New York City New York Birds Breeding 192

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

The Kerkini Lake National Park is my favourite birding area in the whole of the Balkans and while I’ve been here in April and again (migration), September (migration), October (coffee break), December and January (wintering), this was my first time in the breeding season, in May. But nowadays, they, too, breed here, about 20 pairs this year.

Greece 203

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 203

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2013

For the most part the Black-footed Albatross is an all-American bird, with 97% of their population breeding in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (in the District of Hawaii), and a few others breeding in islands owned by Mexico and Japan. I was lucky to work with the species on Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals.

Albatross 157

Albatross Hawaii North America California 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2014

I was chatting with Gordon about this and we discussed how drones could be a safer way to get photos of birds or document birds for breeding surveys, but he was quick to point out, “You and I already have an idea of what a safe distance would be to test that out with an active bald eagle nest. What if the bird attacks?

Bald Eagle 231

Bald Eagle Mississippi Eagles Ducks 231

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. New World Vultures.

California Condor 224

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 224

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2015

I was still telling the truth when I mentioned the four subspecies, species, taxa, forms, you name it, of the Great Egret: modesta (Asia), alba (Europe, Asia), egretta (Americas) and melanorhynchos (Africa). alba : yellow in non-breeding season (usually less bright than egretta ), entirely black in breeding season. This is easy.

North America 188

North America Europe America Asia 188

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 214

North America El Salvador America Nicaragua 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2015

Most likely, all individuals of a given species have very similar genes guiding very similar developmental processes, but produce different results because the plasticity itself is selected for. But, if you capture wild birds (to make them pets) then breed them through one generation and they get out, they are bad at avoiding predators.

Birds 158

Birds Research Pets Hunters 158

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2022

According to Tim Low (in “Where Song began”), “so easy were they to breed that by 1859 they cost less to buy in London than in Sydney.” ” Funny how the difficulty of breeding a species can be illustrated in simple monetary terms. We even had some chicks – not that this was a big achievement.

Australia 147

Australia Birds Sheep Zebras 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

to the ongoing conservation of breeding Lesser Flamingos at Kimberley’s Kamfers Dam to the Albatross Task Force, which works with fishermen to find solutions to seabird bycatch (birds caught in fishermen’s nets). We observed far fewer Lesser Flamingos, a near-threatened species. And then there were the Flamingos.

South Africa 255

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 255

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2014

That kicked off our One-Eyed Project – we fly and test all one-eyed raptors, and it continues to this day.”. “I’ve But lets see … I’d say one of my most memorable releases is that of a Purple Martin , a species of special concern in California. Last year he came back to our area with a female.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 252

Wildlife Rehabilitation Ohio Tulsa West Virginia 252

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2019

“So, for a relatively small contribution to habitat preservation, or captive breeding programs, or some minor climate change mitigation…” here a small covey of oil executives rustled and began to puff up, “really quite small, by your standards, you too could have a longspur. .” “The Blue-eyed Ground Dove.”

Branding 200

Branding Falcons California Condor Broker 200

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

Even if you don’t live in the summer range of a particular species, you may have opportunities to observe it while it passes through, especailly if you live in an active flyway, like I happen to. Because the ancestor of this species of bird migrated, and the migratory adaptation and all that entails were passed on.

Compassion 235

Compassion Humane Research Egypt 235

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Understanding a pointed finger may seem easy, but consider this: while humans and canines can do it naturally, no other known species in the animal kingdom can. It’s no coincidence that the two species that pass Hare’s pointing test also share a profound cross-species bond.

Wolves 100

Wolves Fox Dogs Apes 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

I tried to get a better idea of what exactly the definition of cuckoo-dove is but am still not very clear about it – Wikipedia only offers the rather formal definition “any of several species of bird in the genera Macropygia , Reinwardtoena, and Turacoena of the pigeon family.” But I may well be wrong.

Geese 147

Geese Birds Fish Sparrows 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

The male Bar-tailed Godwit are the first to show us breeding plumage and then the Red Knot and Curlew Sandpipers have two beautiful reds-red wine rather than cranberry juice! Here is a little test-there are 6 species of shorebird in the photo-can you identify them? Breeding colour becomes rather obvious!

2011 150

2011 Australia Deer China 150

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

I had a beautifull view on 5 horned grebe here (one in breeding plumage), in Ann Arbor Michigan, for the 3 seconds it lasted, until I heard a huge “CRRACK&# , and I fell through the ice. On Sunday at Kissena Park I saw five species of sparrows. And my first Killdeer of year! I see why people sometimes call them gray ghosts.

2011 167

2011 New York Deer Philadelphia 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

Greater Adjutants are huge birds that were once widespread across much of Southeast Asia; today there are two small breeding populations in India and Cambodia. Finally, deciding that a duck that required 250 acres of land to breed probably did not welcome intruders, we tiptoed out of the swamp. 3) Greater Adjutant. 6) Garganey.

2016 135

2016 India Ducks Costa Rica 135

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Though most people don't think about it this way, when you choose to eat animals or wear animals or use products that were tested on animals or have animal byproducts in them, you are choosing harm. You are choosing domination and enslavement and forced breeding and unnecessary slaughter. You are choosing violence.

Vegan 100

Vegan Factory Farming Factory Farm Slaughtered 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

Interestingly, these juveniles look more similar to another species, the Pale-billed Parrotbill, than the adult babblers – and they sometimes are part of the same flock. Then we are both hopeless … Anyway, the paper tests whether small roads in a forest are a hindrance to birds – are they reluctant to cross?

Burma 242

Burma Vietnam Birds Laos 242

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. There are variations on that theme, of course. They looked at fairy-wrens and cuckoos.

Breeders 244

Breeders Breeding Science Raised 244

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

In light of spring’s recent arrival, do you ever find yourself wondering how some species are able to withstand freezing, wintery days and yet still thrive in summer’s heat? Juncos breed in much of the U.S. This kind of detailed genetic and developmental work has traditionally relied on model species in the lab (aka chickens).

Panama 248

Panama Chickens Investigation Research 248

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2014

The photo above is a breeding-plumaged Myrtle Warbler by Kelly Colgan Azar. So what does all this mean — if anything — for how the birds are split or lumped at the species level? So Toews et al. Audubon’s Warbler ( Setophaga (coronata) auduboni ) in British Columbia cc-by winnu.

United States 266

United States 2011 Guatemala North America 266

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Hunting sandhill cranes in Kentucky is a bad idea from a public relations standpoint, considering the growing cadre of birders and nature enthusiasts for whom cranes are a touchstone species. Initiating a hunting season on a large, charismatic species like a crane is no way to resuscitate hunting.

2011 263

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2022

This is a rather photographer-friendly species, staying on the same branch for quite a while and even returning to it after catching some insects – you can see this on video here and here. Azure-winged Magpies fail to pass the mirror test, a test commonly used to determine self-recognition. But then, who can be sure?

Finland 147

Finland Birds McDonalds Israel 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2012

When it comes to breeding, Yellow-rumped Warblers are a good example of what many people regard as a “regular” bird. Male and female Yellow-rumps pair up on their breeding grounds, share duties in raising chicks, then politely part ways when fall migration comes.

Albatross 236

Albatross Lifestyle Birds Raised 236

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2012

Bill Schmoker , Nikon Birding ProStaff member, and I spent a day in the field testing the new Nikon EDG VR Fieldscope. Ultimately, this species can look drastically different in their molting phases, but this bird should prove to be a male. I, among some others, would beg to differ. However difficult they are to see!

Denver 170

Denver Ducks New Jersey United States 170