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).
Animal Person
OCTOBER 14, 2011
I'm constantly asked about the details of Baby Sky's life. Where does she get her protein? How are her bones going to grow without cow's milk? You mean she's never eaten bacon? Are you a communist? At Baby Sky's 15 month checkup she landed at about the 75th percentile for height and weight. She comes from small stock, so I do see that decreasing a bit.
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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.
10,000 Birds
JUNE 16, 2011
Most of the time when we think of birds, we think of the things that make them birds, and not the things that make them dinosaurs. But that is because we often have the relationship between dinosaurs and birds reversed in our little primate minds; Much of what is bird-like is not exclusive to birds, but rather, to a larger group of dinosaurs. Birds have taken these particular traits in novel directions, but these traits existed independently of all the birdiness we usually attribute to our feath
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 24, 2011
The Common Raven , sometimes called the Northern Raven , is an amazing bird. Largest of the passerines, or perching birds, it has long been noticed, loved, and reviled for its size, its smarts, its je ne sais quoi. The raven makes an appearance in essentially every mythology that sprung up in its range from Christianity to the tales of trickster gods common among indigenous Americans of the Pacific Norhwest.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 24, 2011
The typical woodpecker, with its coloration of black, white, and red, is ingrained into our brains as birders. We all have our familiar species and we all know our local woodpeckers well enough that a quick glimpse is often all we need to identify them. Because many of our common woodpeckers are such a regular sight we rarely end up taking more than that quick glimpse.
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10,000 Birds
AUGUST 18, 2011
Imagine you study history. You and your colleagues are experts on the history of France, Poland, Spain, all those European countries. And one of the things you do is to study old documents, and you have this old book, this very very old book, that chronicles the life and times of some historic people in some historic period, but you don’t know exactly when it is from or where it was written.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 1, 2011
Bald Eagle image is by Francois Portmann and is used with permission You know, I’ve been thinking about this whole dustup over hunting cranes in Tennessee and now Kentucky. And my thinking has come around 180 degrees from where it was. I get it now, I really do. I think it’s time to hunt Sandhill Cranes. And while we’re at it, I think it’s time to open a limited season on Bald Eagles.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 13, 2011
Scientists at The Center for Conservation Biology have announced that Machi, a Whimbrel that they have tracked via a satellite transmitter for over two years and 44,000 kilometers (27,000 miles) was gunned down on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe (French West Indies). This is a bird that flew over 3,400 miles in one flight from Brazil to South Carolina, an amazing bird that is representative of every other Whimbrel.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 14, 2011
Luisa Elena Betencourt is an artist with a MFA from Washington State University which she got through the Fulbright program in 1992. She contacted Corey to ask permission to use a Masked Trogon image from the blog for an art show and Corey agreed provided she would write a post for 10,000 Birds about how she is inspired by birds and nature. Luisa is currently preparing a show that will open on 10 February 2011 at Agora Gallery in Chelsea, New York.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 11, 2011
Timothy Barksdale is a birder, Prairie Chicken documentarian , and wildlife videographer well-known for his stunning Adventures with Birdman. He’s got a different view on how bird watchers should respond to The Big Year than the one Corey recently expressed here. We’re pleased to share his thoughtful perspective and plea for your consideration… Dear Friends and Lovers of Birds, On Friday, October 14th, to my knowledge, the first feature film with the subject being Birding ever
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 9, 2011
Jeff Gordon is now just over one year into his reign as the President of the American Birding Association. We here at 10,000 Birds thought the first anniversary of his ascension to the throne would be a good time to ask him some questions about etiquette, the state of the ABA, and a variety of other topics. Having now met Jeff twice at recent birding events and even having had the opportunity to bird with him I can say that he is a nice and thoughtful guy, a good birder, and exactly what the AB
10,000 Birds
JUNE 21, 2011
In this post, I shall elaborate on what bird poop is. I’ll stick to the basics and keep it simple, because all I know are the simple basics. However, I will still include typical scientific poop slang, words like excretion, defecation, feces and the like. So here’s a fair warning: if this isn’t your thing … heck, this is poop week.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 12, 2011
I may have to buy a smartphone : For more than a year, Berres (and his graduate students, of course) have been testing and improving the fruit of that inspiration: WeBIRD, the Wisconsin Electronic Bird Identification Resource Database. Like music-identification apps Shazam and MusicID, WeBIRD allows anyone with a smartphone and a mysterious bird nearby to record the bird’s call, submit it wirelessly to a server and (after a few seconds) receive a positive ID on the species of bird tweeting away
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10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 14, 2011
Feeding birds is generally regarded as a harmless past-time, a wholesome way for people to share nature and enjoy wildlife with the family. However, more and more news stories are popping up this year of communities cracking down on bird feeding. Sometimes people find themselves the victims of ill-informed home owners associations that have a phobic view of wildlife.
10,000 Birds
JUNE 3, 2011
The quote “ What Is So Rare As A Day In June? &# may be familiar to most readers (the sentiment certainly is!) but its source is fairly obscure. This line is but a snippet from the most famous work of the poet James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), a member of the gaggle of authors sometimes called the Fireside Poets or the Schoolroom Poets. Some of his more famous colleagues in this group include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
10,000 Birds
MAY 4, 2011
Short answer: The woodpecker is most likely not crazy and noshing on the house is not what the woodpecker has in mind. Woodpeckers could be pecking on homes for a variety of reasons, all of which can drive a non birder a bit batty. Talk about pesky, a Northern Flicker like the bird above liked to peck foam off of the space shuttle. Yikes! So, why do woodpeckers peck on human made structures?
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 16, 2011
I travel for birding. A lot. I’m about to head out to the Hula Valley Bird Festival and as I’m packing, I thought I would share with you some essentials I think any birder should plan to have in their suitcase–no matter where they are visiting. I’ve never regretted any of these items being in my suitcase. I’ve also learned a thing or two from optics reps on how to pack expensive binoculars, spotting scopes and cameras.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 21, 2011
A friend of a friend named Daryl Cavallaro took this stunning shot of a Merlin snagging a snack recently at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Bonus points to anyone who can identify the dragonfly. The photo is copyrighted to Daryl and, no, you can’t use it without permission. Merlin with dragonfly by Daryl Cavallaro (click for a bigger version) … a.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 1, 2011
After dipping on an extremely rare bird twice in two days I decided to further punish myself yesterday morning by once again braving New York City traffic on the trip from Forest Hills in Queens to Brooklyn’s famed Coney Island. To add an extra level of difficulty I brought Desi along with me for the twitch, both because he needed to get some fresh air and because an array of social service agencies look askance at anyone who leaves a twenty-month-old home alone.
10,000 Birds
JULY 31, 2011
Common Terns nest in colonies. The sheer number of birds packed together offer some protection to both the adult birds at the most vulnerable point in their lives and to the young. Any predator that shows up will be dive-bombed by a host of terns all defending their own nest and offspring but collectively protecting the colony. A young tern that can not yet fly is thus well-advised to stay within the friendly confines of its native colony under the protective shield of adult supervision.
10,000 Birds
JULY 24, 2011
We are very fortunate here in Broome to have such great beaches for cycling. Some people just use the wide open space for exercise, but it is great to load up your bike and cycle in search of birdlife. Only the resident shorebirds remain during these winter months, but there are also Brown Boobys diving for fish close to shore at the moment and we rarely see them during the rest of the year.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 30, 2011
I enjoy digiscoping–using a digital camera with my spotting scope to get photos of birds. It’s changed quite a bit over the years. Originally digiscoping started as a way to simply get a documentation or souvenir photo of a bird using point and shoot pocket cameras with scopes or binoculars. The cameras were inexpensive compared to single lens reflex cameras (SLRs), they weren’t too heavy in the field and got decent shots.
10,000 Birds
JULY 17, 2011
As you’ll remember, Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources unanimously passed its sandhill crane hunting proposal. All eight hunters on the commission think it’s a good idea to shoot cranes in Kentucky. The proposal now goes to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for final approval or denial. The public comment period on the Kentucky sandhill crane hunting proposal ends AUGUST 1 2011.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 2, 2011
Besides the avian attributes of flight, feathers and laying eggs, potoos are quite possibly the most unbird-like birds in the world. Sometimes called “Poor-me-ones&# on account of their haunting calls, these bizarre denizens of the night come in 7 different flavors from the family Nyctibiidae within the order Caprimulgiformes. 10,000 Birds writers have previously featured 2 of the 7 species (Renato’s post on Rufous Potoo and Corey’s post on Great Potoo ) and now you’ll m
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 18, 2011
If you have never been to Hawk Mountain , Pennsylvania during fall migration I would strongly recommend a visit. We have just returned from hosting this past weekend’s inaugural Extreme Raptor Weekend and Hawk Mountain was one of our chosen partner venues. Besides the presence of several noted birding personalities, interesting seminars and phenomenal prize give-aways, the real stars of the show were undoubtably the birds.
10,000 Birds
JULY 17, 2011
Back when we used to run the 10,000 Birds ID Clinic (as opposed to just answering lots of e-mails about bird identification!), we received an inquiry about a bird “about the size of a small duck, much bigger than a jay… a crest similar to a jay or a roadrunner and it has a remarkably long neck.&# The querent included many other details about location, coloration, and what not but once I heard about that neck, one bird sprung immediately to mind… Green Heron !
10,000 Birds
MAY 21, 2011
As part of my effort to keep concerned wildlife enthusiasts informed about the proposal to hunt Eastern Flyway sandhill cranes, it is my duty to tell you that there’s another vote coming up. This time, it’s the full commission– nine members of the Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources—who will get together on June 3, 2011, to vote on whether to open season on Sandhill Cranes in Kentucky.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 11, 2011
Bogota Sunangel or not, Rogitama Private Nature Reserve, about 3 hours drive north of Bogota, is a true success story. Founded by Roberto Chavarro and his family in the early eighties, this little reserve has been dropped slap-bang into the birding spotlight by the recent claims of the rediscovery of the Bogota Sunangel Heliangelus zusii , a species that is known from one record – a skin from 1909!
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 6, 2011
The image that made me look hardest in this year’s Digiscoper of the Year 2011 competition was that of a Little Owl ( Athene noctua ) by Mario Cea taken at night ! Digiscoping is normally hard enough during the day and action shots with good light are doubly tough, but this was the first time I had ever seen anything like this: action at night. 2nd place Digiscoper of the Year 2011 by Mario Cea For a while now, friends and I have been playing with little flash setups to see what was possib
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