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Mark Gamin, a Cleveland lawyer, likes cats and birds both. He likes books too, which made him the ideal reviewer for Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer. This is Mark’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Agonizing quandaries concerning invasive species are well-known to wildlife biologists. In Oregon, the Barred Owl is taking over Northern Spotted Owl territory and threatening that smaller bird’s survival.
Trevor Thomas has always had a passion for extreme sports, ranging from backcountry skiing to racing cars. Then suddenly, his entire world changed at age 35 when he learned that he had a rare autoimmune disease with no cure, leaving … Continue reading → The post Tennile + SPOT have given Trevor a new meaning to “lifesaving” appeared first on 4 The Love of Animals.
Issue Date: 2017-10-03. Author: Lance Tyson. Teaser: Most assumptions we make about millennials in the workplace are wrong. More important, anyone who wants to be managing a successful organization 10 years from now needs to figure out a way to harness the strengths of this generation, rather than pointing out the perceived deficiencies. Most assumptions we make about millennials in the workplace are wrong.
I dipped a bird recently – possibly a lifer. While crossing Gramos Mountain in northern Greece, a Dendrocopos woodpecker flew over the road and landed in a pine tree. First I noticed a red cap – a male, then striped flanks and pale-red undertail, but couldn’t see its wing because some part of the bird remained hidden by a branch at any given time. I had two possibilities, an uncommon Middle Spotted or scarce White-backed Woodpecker – which would have been a lifer for me.
ACT I. SCENE I. Iron Gates (Djerdap) national park, Serbia. Small canyon among wooded hills. Morning. Framed by red Permian sandstone, Eric Hyman is staring into the bare branches of a dead tree, or, to be more precise, into some fluttering t**s. Although the sun has risen, the cliffs around us are still deeply shadowed. The entire geological history of the region, from Palaeozoic to Cenozoic, is written in these exposed rock faces of the Boljetin Canyon.
How many species have I observed this year? The malicious eBird answers: only 186! Yuck! Yes, I know, I’ll reach 190, but 200? No way. Not with these prices of petrol. What have I missed? Hmm, Black-throated Diver (a.k.a. Arctic Loon), Lesser Black-backed Gull , Middle Spotted Woodpecker and Goldcrest should easily make 190, although the pecker is a bit uncertain.
The world’s biggest flying bird—the Sarus Crane , with a maximum of height of 6 feet/1.8 meters—has had a rough go of it. Due to habitat encroachment and environmental degradation in its traditional home base of Asia, the bird’s worldwide population has dropped to roughly 20,000 individuals, marking it as a Vulnerable species. But the International Crane Foundation—with the support of some Thai farmers—is slowly but steadily making headway toward restoring the crane in the wild.
The world’s biggest flying bird—the Sarus Crane , with a maximum of height of 6 feet/1.8 meters—has had a rough go of it. Due to habitat encroachment and environmental degradation in its traditional home base of Asia, the bird’s worldwide population has dropped to roughly 20,000 individuals, marking it as a Vulnerable species. But the International Crane Foundation—with the support of some Thai farmers—is slowly but steadily making headway toward restoring the crane in the wild.
Can you remember any birding movie before Schrodinger’s Cat? Probably not. For me, the only “birding” movie that I knew of were the Dogs of War (1980). If you are not familiar with the story, it’s about an Anglo-Irish mercenary, Jamie Shannon (played by Christopher Walken), hired to overthrow the regime in a fictional Western African country (it was actually filmed in Belize, Central America) and prior to the real thing, he was doing a reconnaissance trip posing as a “rare birds photographer”.
When my book “ Flyaway: How A Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings ” came out in 2009, one of my favorite reviews was by Corey Finger of 10,000 Birds. At that point I didn’t know about 10,000 Birds; I had been a wildlife rehabilitator and mother for years, with no time to surf the net for amazing birding sites. Corey is a birder, not a rehabber, but he understood what I was trying to convey – what makes rehabbers tick, and why we keep going, and why we need help.
The answer is: no. No hawk can carry off a 12-pound pet. No hawk can carry off a 3-pound pet. The largest hawk in North America weighs about four pounds, so leaving the ground carrying three – let alone twelve – would be aerodynamically (not to mention logically) impossible. That did not stop a New Jersey animal shelter from publishing this rabble-rousing flyer on Facebook, all written in alarming red capital letters: PARK RANGERS AND VET OFFICES ARE PUTTING OUT WARNINGS.
The Christmas Count season has begun! For us birders who partake, this is a big deal. You see, we don’t just go outside and randomly watch birds during a set day in December. The significant amount of time and effort associated with organizing the count, focusing on all birds in one given area, trying not to double or triple count that flock of waxwings flying around, and simply getting out of bed on a dark December night make Christmas Counts much more involved than a simple day of birdin
Birds know habitat. They don’t read treaties or draw maps or build walls and, as far as we can tell (since we can’t talk to birds, yet), they have no concept of political boundaries. So, if you are going to write a field guide on the birds of the countries south and east of Mexico–Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—it makes the utmost sense that you embrace the whole geographic area.
Who doesn’t love a good owl? There are few families of birds where despite a cosmopolitan distribution I’m always so pleased to see any species of the family. owls aren’t rare, but they are seldom easy. I can spend months in some locations without seeing a single one, in fact in 10 years in New Zealand although I hear them on a monthly basis I have seen them precisely 3, yes three, times.
This blog is written by writer, photographer, and animal advocate Ingrid Taylar. Years ago, I became a wildlife volunteer and advocate because of a cat who caught a bird. A sweet Mourning Dove , his crop stuffed with seeds from a feeder, struck gold when he landed atop a pile of millet and sunflower. Now, he lay frightened and ruffled in my hands, his tail tattered, his feathers damp from the maw of a cat named Puck.
If you read our earlier post , you know that the national tourism office of Peru is giving away a 7-day bird watching adventure for two in Peru, home to over 1,700 species of bird. After two days in the Amazon rainforest, you (assuming you’re the Grand Prize winner) will fly to Cusco, and make your way to your home for the next two nights, the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel.
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For two blog posts now, we’ve been telling you about how you could win an amazing, 7-day bird watching trip for two to Peru. The Grand Prize not only includes roundtrip flights from anywhere in the US on LATAM Airlines, but also accommodations at three fascinating Inkaterra properties. Assuming you’re the Grand Prize winner, your trip to Peru wraps up with two days in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
Little things, you may have heard, mean a lot. L.M. Montgomery wrote that it’s dreadful what little things lead people to misunderstand each other. That observation hits home this week, but I stand with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who pointed out that the little things are infinitely the most important, not just in solving mysteries but also in our daily lives.
The people at the Peru national tourist office are giving you the chance to win a 7-day birdwatching adventure for two in Peru. Your trip will take you from the Amazon rainforest into the peaks of the Andes—with plenty of opportunities to take in Peru’s over 1,700 species of bird (the second most of any country) along the way. During your trip, you’ll stay at three spectacular properties run by Inkaterra.
Dear readers of 10,000 Birds, I have a small favor to ask of you. It will take you less than a minute, cost you nothing, and make me very happy. Please, please, please head over and sign this petition to restore the feeders to Forest Park. For some unknown bureaucratic reason the New York City Parks Department decided to take down the feeders and not allow them to be restored.
Are all birds created equal? I bet a Common Raven would tell you otherwise, and so would a lot of birders. Blasphemy say ye? Just ask yourself if you feel like giving the same value to a ratty looking Rock Pigeon as a candy-colored Jambu Fruit-Dove. Nothing against the Rocky Pigeon but let’s be honest, if a breeding plumaged Blackburnian Warbler hops into view, It’s pretty easy to forget about that pigeon, Warbling Vireo , or even a Pine Warbler when you can treat the good old retina
There are two types of birders that everyone hates – a s and stringers. Which is worse, I don’t know. But everyone has dealt with their share of a s, for a s are a fact of life. Today, we are here to talk about stringers. Some stringers are inexperienced observers, and some have done it for decades and have no excuse for their birdcrimes.
By the time this post publishes, I’ll be on an airplane heading back to the United States following a truly remarkable two week visit to Uganda as part of a group of western birders visiting there to promote the inaugural African Birding Expo. In the days leading up to the Expo we’ve been touring the small East African nation, primarily visiting the big national parks in the south and west of the country looking for birds and other amazing wildlife.
I’m on a fortnightly schedule here now, but I’m submitting a quick story in my off week in the light of recent events. Not that event, I don’t feel like posting five hundred lines of increasingly incoherent swearing, but the 7.5 earthquake that struck South Island just after midnight on Monday morning. That event also had me swearing a lot this week, especially when it struck.
I recently wrote a short story here on 10,000 Birds about one of our endemic species, the Belding’s Yellowthroat , Geothlypis belding beldingi. and its status on the Threatened Species List. Todos Santo, an ocean side village, is a 56 mile trip, west across the Baja to the Pacific Ocean side. At the edge of the ocean, and town, there is a brackish water lagoon, and this is where our story plays out.
Finding Shelter is an amazing documentary about an English family who found themselves unexpectedly rescuing street animals in Bulgaria. The film shares how the family has shared love and compassion for the homeless animals in their town. It’s not just … Continue reading → The post Finding Shelter appeared first on 4 The Love of Animals.
In the wild and wonderful animal kingdom, being born with a birth defect, or receiving a maiming injury is most certainly going to be fatal, and usually pretty quickly. Being born without a foot, for a bird, would certainly qualify as this type of ailment. In the long run, feeding and sleeping, are all things that would be effected to the point where quality of life, and life expectancy would be dramatically altered.
With so much information on the Internet about how to raise an orphaned wild bird, how do you decide which advice to follow? If you are reading this, odds are you mean well and you want to help. I have been a wild bird rehabilitator for 26 years, and you have my gratitude and admiration for your willingness to provide aid to a helpless creature. But nearly all the feeding advice on the internet is wrong.
With so much information on the Internet about how to raise an orphaned wild bird, how do you decide which advice to follow? If you are reading this, odds are you mean well and you want to help. I have been a wild bird rehabilitator for 26 years, and you have my gratitude and admiration for your willingness to provide aid to a helpless creature. But nearly all the feeding advice on the internet is wrong.
Since we first launched the Wildlife Conservation Stamp Project, we’ve made our case to thousands of birders and photographers. We’ve worked to change the dialogue around the Duck Stamp in public discussions and meetings, and we’ve reached out to Refuge officials and conservation officers to argue for the viability of this concept. As with anything new and in contrast to the existing model, it takes time to plant the seeds of change.
Blackbirds, as a family, often have those simple descriptive names that are easy to mock ( Yellow-rumped Warbler , ugh) until a non-birder comes describing such a species to you and asking for an ID. Then you bless the folk wisdom that gave the Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird , and even the Rusty Blackbird their names.
It’s a bang-up breeding year for super-endangered birds! First, wildlife officials in Louisiana announced the first successful wild Whooping Crane nest in that state since 1939. Now, it’s Spoon-billed Sandpipers’ turn. The species, which migrates from the Russian Arctic to Southeast Asia, is down to about 200 breeding pairs in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching.
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