10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Not, as Linneaus thought, an ostrich, nor even, as later scientists concluded, a distant cousin of pigeons deserving of family rank, it was an honest-to-goodness pigeon, deeply embedded within the family Columbidae. The Dodo ( Raphus cucullatus ) — that towering icon of modern anthropogenic extinctions — was a pigeon.

Solomon Islands 277

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius 2006 277

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

I’ve subsequently managed to dive in some spectacular destinations, including Turneffe Atoll in Belize, the Great Astrolabe Reef in Fiji, the kelp forests of Monterey and the wreck of the President Coolidge in Vanuatu. Also present off the wall were the large predatory Kingfish.

New Zealand 183

New Zealand Belize Vanuatu Fiji 183

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

That larger clade is in turn sister to a clade containing the four remaining totipalmate bird families, which do still seem to be related, and which needed a new order name once pelicans were removed. But meanwhile, let’s look at the four avian families that comprise the brand new order Suliformes.

2011 153

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea California 153

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2014

The closest I came to exploring a cave was diving in a wreck in Vanuatu a few years ago, and while I found the experience nerve-wracking, a combination of sheer fascination and nitrogen narcosis (the effect while diving of compressed nitrogen acting like alcohol – particularly to the decision making processes) kept me sane.

Bats 154

Bats Vanuatu Birds Namibia 154