10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2020

How, to humans, is “behavior” separate from the bird itself? For example, ritualistic displays of aggression and appeasement, of coming to the brink and then backing off, are common in humans and, probably, all animals. Again, both these behaviors seem quite human — or maybe our equivalents seem quite avian.

Bald Eagle 264

Bald Eagle Puffins 2001 Boston 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2020

In any case, the minivets do not care either way … Apparently, the Ryukyu Minivet was originally endemic to the Ryukyu Islands but has spread to other islands of Japan, possibly due to the decline of the Ashy Minivet, which may be a bit less inclined to use human-modified habitat. Not a good policy in this world. Start with the male.

China 277

China Japan 2020 2019 277

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2011

Rather than risk the chick’s imprinting on humans, the team cleverly thought to pair their two charges. but I’m certainly impressed with and grateful for SeaWorld’s commitment to animal rescue (and adorable freaking photos, used with permission of course!)

Rescue 223

Rescue Vet Compassion Science 223

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2011

We humans have a very deep and powerful urge to assemble individual data points into some sort of larger construct — to label and categorize them and understand how they relate to other things we know. Of course, none of this solves the taxonomy and systematics problems we face with the modern-day Hoatzin.

South America 256

South America Africa America Namibia 256

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2012

The water this Northern Pintail is in has human poo in it, which completely ruins the experience of seeing this bird. The first place I started birding a lot was a sewage treatment plant…I still equate the smell of human waste with great birds. Oh wait, it doesn’t. Radio Road, Redwood Shores, CA.

San Francisco 254

San Francisco North Dakota Oakland Birds 254

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2014

Of course, in real life this cannot be so simple as good news. It’s natural that the geese will take their fill of the smorgasbord human activity has laid in front of them. At the same time, philosophically, only a handful of ecologists would throw up their hands and say we must let nature take its course here.

Geese 237

Geese Montana Breeding Pelicans 237

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2021

And it prohibits human infrastructure, e.g. , roads, buildings, dams, and pipelines, etc. Of course, as places that are largely “untrammeled by man,” wilderness areas also have birds ( 591 species according to one study ) for birders willing to leave roads and infrastructure behind.

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Puerto Rico Alaska Protection Montana 298

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2020

And lots of birds, of course. After all, no human contact need be involved. It was sitting on a marina walkway, so it was clearly acclimated to human presence.). But every Monday, when my weekend work peak has passed, I literally head for the hills, and recharge my batteries with a healthy dose of total solitude.

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Battery Humane Groups Experiments 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

This can mean some interesting birding, if you can bear the Shanghai heat … Of course, the egrets and herons described in my last post are still around. And of course there are passerines, some which spent the summer at Nanhui, some just returning from their breeding grounds elsewhere. Some cuckoo species. Tiger Shrike.

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Tigers Cattle Breeding Bears 256

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2020

As we humans are animals, like birds are, it often seems to make more sense to me to assume that their and our drivers are similar, not different. Of course, we humans tend to give slightly elevated terms to our motives – but that does not generally mean that they are really different from those of other animals.

China 264

China Barn Owls Laos Myanmar 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2015

In German, if you are a rodent and you are smaller than – say – a human hand, you’re a mouse. required. ” Now, it doesn’t take much to notice a “mouse gradation year”: of course you’ll simply see them, much more frequently than in non-gradational years. No “gophers” etc.

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Fox Rodents Gophers Germany 187

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

There is something about a mature rainforest, for example, that cannot be replicated by any human. Humans have altered their habitat for hundreds of years, creating various new habitats that some aspects of nature have come to colonize. There are of course, many other birds which feed on flying insects, such as jacamars and trogons.

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Trinidad Abandon Abandonment Abandoning 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2022

Last week we talked about the human “snowbird” migration, in which thousands of northerners flock south to the Sun Belt of the United States to escape the frozen wasteland their home states and provinces will turn into from about November through March or later.

Madagascar 259

Madagascar United States New York America 259

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2012

Luckily for them, even though they nest on the ground, they usually breed far from human habitation, under heavy vegetative cover. Of course this leaves him free to preen. The Green-winged Teal ( Anas crecca carolinensis ) is North America’s smallest dabbling duck and taken by hunters second only to the Mallard.

Ducks 224

Ducks North America Hunters California 224

10,000 Birds

JULY 14, 2012

Of course, this week will largely focus on the adorableness that baby birds bring. But, just like with human babies, you have to admit that sometimes you anticipate fawning over a baby bird and instead nearly end up retching instead. Can you handle the cuteness?

Birds 238

Birds Eggs Humane Experiments 238

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 14, 2022

Of course, a land of beefeaters needs butchers. In fact, the family name Lanius derives from a Latin word for “butcher”, though the “butcherbird” was a butcher long before humans even developed the language to describe these activities.

2019 264

2019 Butcher Livestock 2006 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2012

Though spring migration is only just starting to ramp up there, of course I had to visit the Ramble. The Magic Hedge in Chicago, of course. Not only was it pleasure, it was now that most dignified of activities, Research. Plum Beach in Brooklyn. And my favorite, the iconic Ramble itself. Those pesky metaphors cropping up everywhere.

Chicago 235

Chicago Litter Louisiana Montana 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2014

It’s what you expect, of course, but you don’t really expect them to walk around on the manicured lawns like miniature American Robins. There are Double-crested Comorants , of course, but it’s not Florida unless you have Anhingas bellied up to the shoreline drying their wings like absurdly proportioned chickens.

Florida 205

Florida Alligators Birds United States 205

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2011

Of course, Desi chose Sunday to first awaken extremely early, at 5 AM, and then refuse to go back to sleep until 7 AM. The gull didn’t lower itself to paying attention to what we lowly humans were doing. What will be the ultimate decision of the New York State Avian Records Committee?

New York 260

New York New York City Dogs Humane 260

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2011

Of course, it should not be hard to find birds angry with Matthew Gonshaw of London, a pig in human form, who was recently jailed for six months after admitting to “ten charges of theft and possession of rare eggs.” …and some seriously pissed off birds.

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Pigs Eggs Humane Birds 170

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2021

We humans need protection from thorns, while for birds, thorns often provide protection. Of course, the sparrows can’t have the thorn forest entirely to themselves. In a thorn forest, as in some other situations, protection can be vital. But, the birds! Protection, for birds, can be a very different thing than it is for us.

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Sparrows Birds Virginia Protection 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2021

The bird guides have not worked for over a year now, and of course being a young industry, most of the bird guides had invested in other alternative businesses. Improving human livelihoods with alternative means of survival will keep the wildlife and habitats safe.

Uganda 264

Uganda Rwanda Wildlife Reserve Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2021

Even if the birds could speak like humans, their instincts would still come into constant play. No, you wouldn’t be allowed to count those avian ambassadors but human attendees would benefit from interaction and insights coming straight from the birds. There would also be drama!

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Belize Guatemala Protest 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2015

The Gulf Stream lies between 20-40 miles off the North Carolina coast, and to the unpracticed eye it looks scarcely different that the expanse of blue water it courses through. A place where we humans can travel to in hopes of seeing things we may never expect to see from shore.

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North Carolina Mammals Breeding Fish 232

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

It was the Slate-colored form, of course. I’ve always held that we need to see cities as habitats and work to embrace and enhance them, if we are to have any chance at all of maintaining the human connection with nature. Yesterday I saw a Dark-eyed Junco while I was walking my dog.

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Montana 2014 New York Sparrows 236

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2011

Beyond natural events, bird-life that requires fresh water takes advantage of the water that we provide due to human habitation. Broome Poo Ponds maintain the golf course greens as well as keep a lot of Plumed Whistling-Ducks happy! This may be a simple dripping tap, but one of the biggest attractions in Australia is the Poo Ponds.

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Feral Animals Australia Ducks Feral 231

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2015

They are hit by cars on roadways, and face the scariest danger of all: errant golf balls on courses where they like to feed. Despite their population increases, Nenes will probably need human help to survive far into the future, and they remain the world’s rarest goose.

Hawaii 207

Hawaii Feral Cats Mongoose Geese 207

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

Blame human intervention in the form of breeding programs so that there would be more to hunt. Of course, I have reported both birds and when I hear where they came from I will share the information. Birders tend to ignore them, non-birders tend to loathe them, and few defend or admire them. That is really a shame. I named it Stumpy.

Geese 162

Geese Canada New York City Birds 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2024

Central Mexico has, of course, its own trash birds. This is a species that has very much learned to cohabit with humans, causing its population to explode into new areas. I would certainly have to include the all-beige Inca Dove as a regional trash bird, and European House Sparrows are to be found wherever humans are present.

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Portland Mexico Humane Sparrows 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2021

Interestingly, these heronries frequently seem to be near highway exits – either because these relatively ugly places are less likely to be disturbed by humans, or because this shortens the commute of those birds working in downtown offices. Of course, looking stylish in black and white is easy. I am afraid I think it is failing.

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Birds Farming Alaska Breeding 254

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Somewhat confusingly, its Latin species name is boulboul – a word that stands for nightingale but of course is also the name of a large bird family, the bulbuls. The Blue Whistling Thrush is of course named for its whistling – you can hear it here. The male Grey-winged Blackbird is similarly attractive.

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Horses Family Blackbirds Species 270

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2013

Perhaps it is the striking beauty of these brilliant blue birds, or perhaps it is the unique human connection we have developed with them through the monitoring of nest boxes. Throughout the course of their recovery, bluebirds effectively became ambassadors for many of the other 84 cavity nesting birds of North America.

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Idaho North America America Science 248

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Feel free to insert your own French joke here (though of course in the US, restaurants now serve Freedom Frogs rather than French Frogs). Apparently, some bird photographers think that any human artifacts shown on a bird photo immediately spoil the whole photo. This included recording a total of 77,760 minutes of video.

China 264

China Birds Pythons Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2011

The introduction gives both a simple overview of how birds use their feathers as well as brief idea of how humans have been fascinated by feathers since prehistory. The two strands are well woven together both in the introduction and throughout the rest of the book.

Reptiles 245

Reptiles Bats Eggs Humane 245

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2013

There is only one documented case of a human ever catching rabies from a Little Brown Bat , though it did occur just last year.*. Of course, people should always avoid handling known rabies vectors. We worried about neither rabies nor vampirism. ……… Mammals bats Oakland Lake Queens'

Bats 168

Bats Oakland Mammals North America 168

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

According to Wikipedia, these birds are good at multitasking, being “in some parts of its range … known as a symbol of luck, longevity, and fidelity” As in humans, “the social implications of dancing [among the cranes] are complex in meaning” ( source ). If everybody did this, the result would be chaos.

Eggs 263

Eggs Bald Eagle Birds Owls 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2011

Shortly after I arrived I got word of the Gray-hooded Gull at Coney Island, and of course I went after it right away. Both gull and mockingbird are so in place in this unwilderness, so seemingly at home dealing with noise and human bustle.

New York City 162

New York City Bald Eagle New York Birds 162