10,000 Birds
APRIL 4, 2011
Every child who has ever seen a cartoon featuring Wile E Coyote and Road Runner has to have wondered if poor Wile E ever had a fair shot at catching the Road Runner. According to Mark Lockwood’s Basic Texas Birds: A Field Guide , with or without Wile. E. Coyote chasing it, a Greater Roadrunner can reach speeds of 20 MPH (32 KPH) while a Coyote can reach speeds of up to 43 MPH (69 KPH).
4 The Love Of Animals
APRIL 14, 2011
Just a month after Busch Gardens took in a cheetah cub whose mother wasn’t caring for it, the park’s animal care team has identified the perfect four-legged friend for the 8-week-old cat: a 16-week old female yellow Labrador puppy. The two were first introduced over the weekend and have been spending supervised play times together each day. Eventually, the pair will live together and even travel together, helping the park’s education team teaching the public about the plight of cheetahs in the w
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Animal Person
APRIL 5, 2011
Being featured on ARZone's worldwide Live Guest Chat has reinvigorated my thinking about a couple of topics ( here 's the transcript). And then I read the "OMG!!!!!OED!!!!!LOL!!!!!" in today's New York Times, and I couldn't resist posting. A couple of years ago I wrote about whether it's a good use of my time to be a purist about the term "animal rights" when most of the world doesn't have the same understanding of the term as I do.
Critter News
APRIL 4, 2011
From the Petition Site. please visit and sign. The Ministry of the Environment is in the process of amending the Japanese animal protection law. The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums (JAZA) has proposed that the Ministry exempt JAZA's members from the current requirement to register as animal handlers with local authorities. If JAZA member zoos and aquariums (89 zoos and 67 aquariums) are not registered as animal handlers under the Act, there is no other Japanese law that would oversee
Animal Ethics
APRIL 26, 2011
If I lunched on a pigeon, I should think myself immoral. If you do so, I must in honesty say I think you immoral. But I don’t think my cat immoral. I think him amoral. The whole dimension of morality doesn’t apply to him, or scarcely applies to him. ( Brigid Brophy , " The Darwinist's Dilemma ," Critical Society [winter 2009/10]: 15-22, at 18 [first published in 1979]) Note from KBJ: I commend this essay to your attention.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 5, 2011
My 8-year old daughter got interested in birds from a VERY early stage. By age 2 she could identify over 10 species of birds in our Johannesburg, South Africa, yard by call alone. And perhaps 20 others by sight. Her natural talent was astounding and surprising. Astounding because she picked up birding before she could speak and surprising because this ability was definitely not inherited from anyone in my family, myself included.
Animal Rights Zone brings together the best content for animal advocates and activists from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 20, 2011
What is up with all the frickin’ Wild Turkeys out there? They are running amok! This is the time of year when I tend to see turkeys dead on the side of the road. News stories of turkeys causing car accidents abound around the US right now. Where I live, a man driving on his way to work in a southwestern Twin Cities suburb slammed into a turkey (follow the link and check out the photos of his car and face–yikes).
10,000 Birds
APRIL 11, 2011
Not all bird species are equally spectacular. Just as we malign the little brown jobs nature churns out with such fiendish facility, we exalt the birds that bring something new and unusual to the table. And although every hummingbird is a special snowflake, some of these nectar jockeys exceed their charismatic kin through some remarkable feature or behavior.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 1, 2011
We here at 10,000 Birds are VERY pleased to announce that we have procured a place on a two-week, all-inclusive birding tour of Thailand for January of next year that will be guided by field guide authors David Allen Sibley and Richard Crossley and American Birding Association President Jeff Gordon! Rather then take the trip ourselves we figured that we would share it with one lucky reader who wins a little competition we have cooked up.* Just imagine looking at a Spoon-billed Sandpiper with t
10,000 Birds
APRIL 18, 2011
Seth Ausubel is one of the best birders in Queens, New York, and Corey is ever-so-thankful that Seth does not use eBird because that way Corey can pretend that he is the top lister in the borough. Seth is generous with his knowledge, and, knowing this, Corey cajoled him into providing this post about one of the many avian mysteries of New York City.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 6, 2011
I work part time for the National Park Service (although, we’ll see what happens this weekend if there’s a federal government shutdown) and our visitor center is located in the Science Museum of Minnesota. Last week, I noticed a familiar site as I passed the museum’s fleet of vehicles. An American Robin was perched on the side of one of the Science Museum vans.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 8, 2011
The national bird of Costa Rica is the Clay-colored Thrush , perhaps my favorite decision for a national bird of any country’s. The Yigüirro , as it is called in Costa Rica, was declared Costa Rica’s national bird on 3 January 1977. But why choose the Yigüirro at all in a country teeming with iconic and flashy birds like macaws, motmots, toucans, and tanagers?
10,000 Birds
APRIL 25, 2011
When the word “phoebe&# comes up, most people automatically think of things like the outermost of Saturn’s known satellites, the Greek Titan-goddess of the moon, or the most fascinating and complex character from that happily departed sitcom, Friends. Anyone who has gone bird watching in North America, however, knows another kind of phoebe, a bold little genus that turns up with remarkable frequency from the arctic circle to the equator.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 26, 2011
In perhaps the ultimate expression of everything that is wrong with American culture, a 19-year-old man in a Humvee intentionally ran over ducklings in a McDonald’s parking lot in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dillon Pearce faces up to four years in prison after being charged with a felony. My money is on him getting off with community service. a.
Advertisement
Navigated 360° tours, like YourVRTours, advance pipelines by engaging clients further along the sales funnel. These immersive experiences provide comprehensive property insights, increasing buyer intent and readiness. By embracing navigated tours, agents can optimize property exposure, better qualify leads, and streamline the sales process. Stay ahead in the ever-evolving real estate landscape with innovative technology that elevates buyer journeys and progresses pipelines more effectively.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 16, 2011
I learned a new word today and am anxious to show it off and share it with the world. A FOLIVORE is an animal that eats leaves. With their high cellulose content and often raised levels of toxins drawn from the ground, mature leaves can be very difficult to digest so a folivore needs specialised equipment and adapted behaviour to be able to live off them.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 27, 2011
According to Birds of North America Online , the Great-tailed Grackle’s ( Quiscalus mexicanus ) breeding range has been expanding northward for several years. I must say that I agree with their assessment because we have been seeing more of them in northern California every year. Some fellow Audubon members recently spotted several male and female Great-tailed Grackles on a trip to Clover Creek Preserve in Redding, California.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 26, 2011
In spring, crows and ravens get jealous of all the attention that wood-warblers receive from birders. Sometimes the jealousy overwhelms their big corvid brains and they come up with crazy schemes to win the attention that they believe they deserve. For example, Fish Crows will actually swoop in and eat warblers you are trying to watch. Don’t believe me?
10,000 Birds
APRIL 24, 2011
It is not uncommon to see Agile Wallabies Macropus agilis around the Broome area and everyone avoids driving on dusk or dawn as much as possible when they are most active. We often see their footprints on the beaches around Roebuck Bay and we have on occasion seen them close to the sea. The male Agile Wallaby weighs in at about 27 kg and the female at about 15 kg.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 29, 2011
The national bird of Estonia is the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica. Of course, in Estonia the bird is not called Barn Swallow. In Estonian the term is Suitsupääsukese which, when translated by Google, comes out as Smoke Swallow.* According to a report by sixth-graders at the International School of Estonia Suitsupääsukese was chosen as the national bird “because of a campaign conducted by ornithologists at the beginning of the sixties.&# The campaign probably had to do with the fact th
10,000 Birds
APRIL 13, 2011
A sad reminder of what is ultimately behind the birds you find in cages: birds being taken from the wild and subjected to horrible stress and, often, death. Even birds that were bred in captivity are still not domesticated, have wild instincts, and are not meant to live in cages. a.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 21, 2011
Steve Walter is a New York nature photographer, birder, and long-time member of the New York City Butterfly Club. Readers of 10,000 Birds who pay attention will remember him from when he showed Patrick and me some really cool damselflies out in Suffolk County. This blog post is written by Steve and by writing it he risks inciting the wrath of a horde of North American birders.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 23, 2011
Most birdwatchers that visit Ecuador for the first time concentrate in the north-east and west slopes near the capital Quito. The diversity in these slopes plus the high altitude land give a unique taste of the Tropical Andes hotspot which is considered the highest biodiversity place on earth. On a recent scouting trip to southern Ecuador I came across some amazing birdwatching areas and birds that are commonly visited by those looking for a more complete exploration of Ecuador.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 16, 2011
Boykin Spring. Jasper Fish Hatchery. Marvin Dies. Sabine Woods. High Island. Boy Scout Woods. Smith Oaks. Bolivar Flats. Rollover Pass. The Galveston ferry. Sea Rim State Park. Any of these bodacious Upper Texas Coast bird watching destinations deserve hours if not days in order to be fully appreciated. To visit them all should be the work of weeks.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 21, 2011
Debbie Wortland is an inspiration and a reminder that citizen-scientists can make significant contributions, even with an endangered species. Her obsession (her word) with Swift Parrots Lathamus discolor , a species that breeds in Tasmania and migrates each year to Australia and is listed as Endangered by BirdLife International, led to some interesting observations and now a 25-minute DVD, Swift Parrots of Muckleford. a.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 15, 2011
The national bird of Latvia is the White Wagtail which, it being Latvia, they call Balta Cielava.* It was affirmed as the national bird in May of 1960 by the International Council for Bird Preservation while they were meeting in Tokyo.** I have been unable to determine why or how that organization had anything to do with the national bird of Latvia – one would not think that the Latvian people would need the affirmation of an international group for their national bird!
10,000 Birds
APRIL 29, 2011
SeaWorld and similar attractions that serve up cetacean entertainment to the masses don’t do that much for me. However, many of the professionals who work at places like these exhibit enormous compassion for animals. Two recent non-marine examples both include Sandhill Cranes. First, an adult Sandhill Crane with a rubber gasket around his bill was brought to SeaWorld Orlando.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 5, 2011
Cats should not be allowed outdoors. Period. Especially when the domesticated feline is an extra from The Matrix. Yes, there will be those who will think that the mockingbird had it coming but what the mockingbird was doing was defending its territory, which likely included a nest with young, from what it judged (obviously correctly) was a threat.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 8, 2011
Bird races, as anyone who’s competed in one knows, can be big fun. The addition of a competitive component adds a thrilling edge of urgency to the normally relaxed act of chasing birds. Even sitting around watching birds can be charged with adrenaline when team pride is on the line. Of course, the fun of a bird race increases exponentially by the quality and quantity of the species that might be seen.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 27, 2011
Last week I introduced the Great Frigatebird , one of five species of man-o-war bird. I got rather carried away showing all the plumages you can see around a breeding colony, which means I had to split my post on the species into two. Here I’ll finish off what I started, looking at the lives of these amazing birds, using the pictures I took working on Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 18, 2011
This spring has been rather lousy so far. Like, really lousy. Like, really cold, really wet, really windy, and almost completely lacking in days off work. Of course, that is just my perspective and I have been known to think that birds that don’t show up until May are late if they aren’t here by mid-April. Also, I somehow doubt that whether I am stuck at work or not really influences how everyone else experiences spring but this is my blog post so I can use whatever criteria I wa
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
279 
Let's personalize your content