10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

At the snowy Danube riverbank, we are waiting for geese to come to their roost inside the mostly submerged island. A shot or two coming from the opposite bank, but they do not sound like geese shooting – more like boar hunting. A goose hunt sounds like a WWII battle. warns me of two locally rare Bean Geese.

Geese 173

Geese Boars Hunting Serbia 173

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2015

Nenes are attractive geese, though they were named for their soft calls rather than their looks. Unlike other geese, Nenes prefer walking to swimming. Like other geese than evolved in Hawaii but went extinct, the Nene is an herbivore. Still, these geese face significant population threats.

Hawaii 156

Hawaii Feral Cats Mongoose Geese 156

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

A Great Egret , a few Pygmy Cormorants and, by the middle of the Danube, about a hundred Greylag Geese. Two hundred yards further, the first Common Goldeneye and Smew started to appear and, while counting Smew and geese, a Great Bittern took flight from one stand of reeds to another, right in front of us.

Geese 143

Geese Serbia Ukraine Estonia 143

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

The causes were the usual reasons for island extinction—deforestation by both humans and invasive plants that crowded out native plants, hunting, and invasive rats, mongoose, monkeys, and, of course, feral cats. They have a hard enough time with Canada Geese. We know what those large flocks were like.

Mauritius 101

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 101

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2012

The grassy areas were also patrolled by Laughing Kookaburras , which engaged in the typical watch and wait hunting methods of the kingfisher family, and the engaging Willie Wagtail. Rounding off the waterbirds were Australian Pelicans, Eurasian Coots , the iconic Black Swans and feral geese.

New Zealand 171

New Zealand Ducks Australia Japan 171