10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

You’d think that dressing in green to hide from predators inside a dense rainforest is as a strategy as plain as day, yet only a surprisingly limited number of bird species on Borneo have ventured down that evolutionary road. Interestingly, the females are more varied between the species and are far more readily identified.

Indonesia

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2024

This seems like a strange – but welcome – turn of events after having failed to see this species several times in the region. It initially ran off, but then adopted a different strategy by crouching on the ground and relying on its camouflage, its big eyes looking up at me.

New Zealand

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2012

SUPER STARLINGS Tanzania plays host to a wide variety of Starlings, over twenty species in fact. Singularly beautiful as individuals but glared at by many a birder for their stubborn survival streak which can play havoc with the delicate nesting strategies of pre-established locals. I could watch scenes like this all day.

Tanzania

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2014

I had taken the short drive to the park to search for a family of American Dippers sighted near the visitor center by a fellow birder a few days before. I didn’t know what species of woodpecker it was, but I knew it was just in the clearing on the other side of the road. It was July of 2012. It was a cool 48 degrees. Version 1.0.

Woodpeckers

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

The Edwards’s Pheasant is a rather smart blue-black member of the pheasant family and it may be on the edge of extinction. It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; this category is reserved for only the most threatened species in the world.

Vietnam

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

The species that manage to colonize these islands evolve in competition with relatively few other species, developing survival strategies based on interdependence, co-evolution, and mutualism rather than adapting to deal with a broad range of predators and competitors. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again.

Cuba

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Starvation and predators make it hard to grow up, and birds have evolved a lot of strategies to give (at least some of) their chicks the best chance in life. One strategy that varies among birds (and other animals) is the number of offspring. Seabirds are one group of birds that go for the latter strategy.

Eggs

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2022

.): The Amazing Lives of Migratory Birds (“Author Scott Weidensaul talks about the millions of birds flying unseen over our heads in the night sky, how the bar-tailed godwit can fly more than a week over water without stopping, and how new tracking technology may help with strategies to keep them alive. Living on Earth ( PRX , 2020, 14 min.):

Zoos

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Because when we look at the birds that make up the family Sulidae – not just the tropical boobies, but their burly temperate-zone cousins the gannets as well – we see a pretty incredible group of birds. And what is that foraging strategy? Nazca Booby, by Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela. Red-footed Booby, by Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela.

Birds

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Both the male and female of the species have a bright red crown. Most Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of up to a dozen or more individuals. Acorn Woodpeckers are the only species to store individual nuts in holes drilled in granaries. Click on photos for full sized images.

Woodpeckers

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

En route they will be “birding in nearly every country in mainland North and South America,” and, as they say on their excellent blog , “Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way. Bicolored Antbird.

San Diego

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2013

As bad as a cold, wet, and windy Memorial Day Weekend is for people it is even worse for birds, especially species that rely upon flying insects for sustenance. So while the rest of my family slept in I nipped out to the park this morning to see how the swallows were doing. Strong wind and lots of rain has only added to the misery.

Suffering

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2013

It is one of three species of ani ( Groove-billed and Greater Anis are the other two) and together form a unique branch in the cuckoo family. In addition to having a communal nesting strategy, anis also spend a significant amount of time allopreening, huddling together, and sunning themselves together on exposed branches.

Florida

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

This species are long living and so the population appears to be sustainable at this stage despite the predation. The Pied Oystercatchers are actually incredibly predictable when it comes to the dates that they lay eggs, the locations that they choose and the various strategies that each pair use in order to protect their young.

Breeding

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2013

But, you know, job, family, and all the other responsibilities of being a social animal means that, at best, I get out onto the East Pond once a week to see what shorebirds are stopping over on their way to their wintering grounds. That said, I might have made an embarrassing call involving those species once or twice.

Jamaica

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

Well, they weren’t so much of a flock as they were a group of birds all following their own foraging strategy in the same area. Later in the season more species show up. Black-necked Stilt is one of those species that needs no explanation for their common name. No, make that two Lucy’s Warblers !

Las Vegas

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

Even so, he still knew many species and always yearned to learn about the wildlife he encountered. Groups them by family too and by their shape” His extra long arm extended and passed me that precious book. The remaining four species are the most grouse-like of the bunch. “Check it out!”

Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

The Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching offers two types of information: Species Accounts–descriptions of 112 birds within 15 families as they appear over and on the water, and Where to Watch, brief descriptions of 47 sites on the North American eastern coast and interior recommended for seawatching. No rails or gallinules.

Ducks

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

In China, wherever there is one real tourist attraction (like the Great Wall), the local strategy seems to be to add some fake attractions – replicas of palaces or tombs, amusement parks, shopping centers – in order to maximize the income from tourists. But the starting point has to be a real attraction, not a fake one.

China

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

They are two strikingly different strategies, both of which seem to working well this spring, as everywhere one turns there is new life on the Tundra. Here they are a common breeding bird, one of our two species that migrate from here to Europe and then south. They are born nearly naked, with the odd tuft of down, blind, and helpless.

Eggs

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

It’s my fantasy and it’s yours: Quit the job, say good-bye to the family, and bird. And, to give his dream year a little more oomph, he created a grand once-in-a-lifetime goal: to track down and see every pitta species in the world in one year. Gooddie describes his quest in terms of a contest of wills and strategy.

Hunters

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Illustrated by Chandler’s mainly excellent photos, the book shows about 180 species, or some 80 % of the total. Basically, it is an overview of the world’s 226 shorebird (in Europe: wader) species (following the IOC checklist), proceeded by essays on their plumages and behavior. What is it, then? Have you ever heard of it?

Botswana

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

As the tide drops the birds all move forward to bathe and feed and the Pied Oystercatcher family becomes more visible. Pied Oystercatcher family with two chicks. Thankfully the shorebirds soon returned to the same beach and the Pied Oystercatcher family were a lot less obvious. Pied Oystercatchers on the move.

Breeding

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

Nice. ((** all names have been changed to protect identities and have been substituted with (almost) randomly chosen substitutes suitable for a family of Alpine Accentors.)) small families putting less pressure on the adult members of the family). all Alpine Accetor photos digiscoped (c) Dale Forbes. Davies et al.

2011

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

When you monitor a species of birds over many years you learn a lot from your observations and you soon become aware of the fact that some birds are just better at parenting than others. Each pair has a strategy and sometimes it is successful and sometimes it is not. Family of five-adult Pied Oystercatchers on the right.

Eggs

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2020

Chicago is a good place for birds: on eBird, Cook County, Illinois has nearly 400 species and more than 275,000 checklists. I hope that my work helps to show some of the nuance, but also helps point to some strategies. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using eBird data and how does it impact researchers using eBird?

Chicago

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

The latter is half the size of the Grey, but with its stout beak and prominent eyes shows a distinct family likeness. Note the family likeness to the Grey Plover, with big head and large eyes Brancaster is always a reliable site for Black-tailed Godwits, but when I first arrived there were none to be seen. A Ringed Plover.

Geese

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa).

Ostriches

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

Ackerman surrounds each individual story with background facts and studies on other birds who mimic, play, parasitize nests, engage in complex cognitive routines, parent in unusual ways–presenting a complex mosaic of avian behaviors amongst bird families and the scientific histories of trying to understand them.

Science

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2022

However, I rarely get to travel with family or friends who share my obsession. My recent brief trip to California made this strategy especially easy. I had planned to follow this strategy, while adding just one longer birding trip during our five-day stay. Anytime I travel, I do what it takes to get in some birding.

San Francisco

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

As mentioned in many other posts on this blog, the avifauna of Trinidad & Tobago consists of several species and family groups occurring very interestingly, in threes. Short-tailed Nighthawk (above and below) Overall, this species seems to be poorly known, which is understandable given its habits. Well, kind of.

Trinidad

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

This lucky youngster from Massachusetts has almost 300 ticks, but just added his favorite— a Great Gray Owl his supportive family drove hundreds of miles to glimpse. contemplating the pretty blue eggs are American Robins are soon to lay is a good coping strategy.). And as a ferocious storm bears down on much of the northern U.S.,

Massachusetts

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2022

I was surprised that this species is named for its vocalization – which sounds like laughter. For example, the Diamond Dove is the world’s second-smallest species of the columbidae order ( source ). The Latin species name haematonotus (“blood-backed”) sounds a bit more exciting but not necessarily more accurate.

Australia

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2017

I was given my first real field guide to the birds of Europe by my parents, a guide beyond the species found at backyard feeders and city ponds. It was during these long evening sessions that I allowed my mind to wander to far-away destinations, making plans and coming up with strategies on how to see them all with a minimum amount of trips.

Kazakhstan

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2024

Taking inspiration from Matthiessen’s 1967 book (long out of print), which combined his natural history essays with species accounts by Ralph S. Species Profile, Black-necked Stilt, p. 57; © 2024 by Pete Dunne and Kevin T.

North America

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. It turns out that the two strategies may be related.

Breeders

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Marybeth learns as she birds, embraces listing goals as a means of engaging with community, unabashedly enjoys a little competition, struggles to balance her absolute joy in birding with unexpected, life-and-death family obligations. Adventures of a Louisiana Birder: One Year, Two Wings, Three Hundred Species. by Marybeth Lima.

Louisiana