10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

I know for a fact that science is correct in stating that they don’t suck the milk of goats. Well, because I have seen many a goat’s udder, and not once did I notice a nightjar attached to it. Here is a further series of images from another typical day-roost of the species: roof-tops. They don’t, and I know it.

Goats 248

Goats Indonesia Science Experience 248

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2021

Given that it is hard to mention one of my favorite bands, the Mountain Goats, in a birding blog, these photos of blue sheep are probably the best opportunity I will ever get. According to the HBW, based on strong morphological, ecological, and genetic differences, this is likely to be a distinct species altogether. Blue Sheep.

Sheep 264

Sheep Mountain Goats Gazelles Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2012

New Zealand has one of the direst records of extinction is modern times, second on really to Hawaii in terms of bird species lost. The initial solution was translocation, but there were a limited amount of islands on which you could place species without mammals being a problem, and they were only very small islands.

New Zealand 210

New Zealand Rats Mammals Possums 210

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2014

It’s bad enough to be an invasive species — the term shows a major fall in public esteem from the days when acclimatization was the rage. But as a descriptor, ‘invasive species’ doesn’t have a patch on ‘noxious weed’ Call something a noxious weed and there’s no doubt where you stand on it.

Montana 187

Montana Goats Sheep Species 187

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.

Africa 266

Africa Gabon Uganda South Africa 266

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2013

Heading out of Ecclesdown Road on the second day of my trip, I had nailed all of my targets save four species ( Caribbean Dove , Yellow-billed Parrot , Jamaican Owl , and Stolid Flycatcher ). Streamertail is a spectacular and abundant endemic species of Jamaica, locally known as the Doctorbird. .

Jamaica 190

Jamaica 2013 Parrots Bahamas 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

After writing this last sentence, I looked up the species in the HBW and found the sentence “Song poorly documented” in the appropriate section, while with regard to calls, the description is that “call is a two-note raspy nasal ‘ryeeh-reh’”. In New Zealand, the Spotted Dove is an introduced species.

Mountain Goats 147

Mountain Goats Singapore Giraffes Birds 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2014

This past weekend the listservs, Facebook, text services, Twitter, word-of-mouth, weather radar, the calendar, and the entrails of a sacrificial goat all indicated that migration was happening. I spent as much time as I could out and about in the parks of Queens and enjoyed every single second, spotting twenty-two species of wood-warblers.

New York City 172

New York City New York Kentucky Abandon 172

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2018

In talking to the local guides, and Rangers, they all agreed that they had not been seeing too many species around in the last couple of weeks. The Rocky Mountain Goats were the same thing, saw them, got a shot, but from 800 yards away, it really isn’t much to write home about. Little Big Year species – 888.

Wyoming 154

Wyoming Wolves Grizzly Bear Mountain Goats 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2017

The notion of sly birding reminds me of being a lone birding kid and noting my lifer Prairie Warbler during a grade school walk-a-thon at Goat Island. To this day, I can’t help but wonder what else was using the woods of Goat Island on that wet September, 1984 morning? At least, that’s how I see it.

Costa Rica 145

Costa Rica 2017 Woodpeckers Parrots 145

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

More than 150 bird species are known to have become extinct over the past 500 years, and many more are estimated to have been driven to extinction before they became known to science. The Gray Crowned-Crane is a new addition to the list of the world’s Endangered species, creeping up a category from Vulnerable.

Endangered Species 238

Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 238

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2014

In Australia we definitely have our fair share of invasive species and the main problem is that we are such a huge land mass with such a small population. The population of Australia is concentrated mainly around the city areas along the coast and many invasive species have been able to spread with ease.

Australia 157

Australia Species Feral Cats Feral 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Greater Rheas, a species the Germans call Nandu, are very popular in Germany and frequently kept in zoos as well as private enclosures. It is not unusual to drive by a farm building and see a bunch of Greater Rheas on the farm’s fenced-in pasture next to sheep or goats. Birding Birds Germany Invasive Species Week South America'

Germany 263

Germany 2000 South America Birds 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

New Zealand 185

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 185

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

Chamois is an agile goat-antelope with short hooked horns, found in mountainous areas of Europe from Spain to the Caucasus. There are more than 1100 plant species, the most valuable being the 76 endemics. Other species include Roe Deer (also spotted), Wildcat , European Pine Marten and Otter.

Bears 264

Bears Serbia Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

They all went extinct since 1500 and they are only eight of the nearly two hundred species that have blinked out since then. Sure, we try not to introduce snakes, rats, cats, goats, pigs, and a host of other creatures to isolated islands. The eight species above still exist. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again.

Mauritius 209

Mauritius Djibouti Guam Goats 209

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa). Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Yellow-billed Stork.

Ethiopia 255

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Cattle 255

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

It’s the warbler that is often the last unchecked species on birders’ life lists and, whether you list or not, for most of us observing it is a once in a lifetime experience. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list. The warbler is on the road to being delisted from the Endangered Species List.

Michigan 258

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 258

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2013

In my native Serbia, these birds are so ill numbered that they were even deleted from the huntable species list with an explanation: “there is no surviving population of huntable size”. I am driving through mostly bare, rocky ground, kept that way by herds of domestic goats, which also cross the road as they like.

Greece 247

Greece Serbia Goats Europe 247

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

We nature lovers, celebrants of life in all its exquisite multiformity, feel more keenly than most the loss of even the most undifferentiated species. And some of the extinctions were of small animals, like the many dwarf goats and elephants in the Mediterranean. Australia’s extinct and threatened bird species. What a horror!

Marsupials 227

Marsupials Costa Rica Elephants Cuba 227

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

The story of the cahow, a “Lazurus species” that was thought to be extinct for over 300 years and then discovered to be breeding on a tiny remote island in Bermuda, is part of modern birding legend. Wingate decided that the birds needed Bermuda’s ecology as it was 300 years ago, and he was going to create it for them.

Rats 226

Rats Breeding Birds 2012 226

Critter News

DECEMBER 12, 2009

The Calgary Zoo is again under scrutiny as details emerged Friday about how a capybara, a species of giant South American rodent, died after becoming caught in a hydraulic door last weekend as it was being moved from one area to another. The fatality is one in a string of animal deaths in recent years.

Zoos 100

Zoos Animal Welfare Welfare Elephants 100

Critter News

JUNE 20, 2010

A huge spiral-horned goat got trapped in a toy rope and choked. Instead, it brought a new bat species into the exact place in the year 2009 — twenty-five of those creatures also passed away. A hippo passed away following a long, horrible transfer from another zoo.

Zoos 100

Zoos Animal Abuse Bats Goats 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2015

All on Goat Island, the special place that separates the cataracts into the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls, and the place where I began my birding. I don’t have a Goat Island in Costa Rica but I do have plenty of places where I can see hundreds of bird species. In fall, it’s the same quiet, stealthy stuff.

Costa Rica 242

Costa Rica Goats South America Turkey 242

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2020

are up next, with a wonderful Australian species: It is very hard to choose a Best Bird of the Year any year. The male of this species has a royal blue throat, a white chest and rump, and a long v-shaped tail with intermittent white patches that makes it looks like part of it are floating in space. Clare (and Grant!) How cool is that?

2020 264

2020 Birds Costa Rica Germany 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

And of course you’ll be keen to keep an eye open for Mantell’s Moa , one of ten species you should see on your tour. This species, the smallest, is endemic to North Island and should be fairly common in the wet lowland forests. Like many of its relatives, this species was also flightless.

New Zealand 251

New Zealand Ducks Mountain Goats Australia 251

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2022

Gisela Kaplan has written a book about the species, and how they seem unperturbed by humans: “It’s one of their most successful defense strategies. ” The Australasian Swamphen used to think of itself as a subspecies of the Purple Swamphen but then started a self-improvement program and ended up as a full species.

Australia 264

Australia Birds Mountain Goats Ducks 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2013

There has been a great deal of talk these days about “reviving” extinct species. Setting aside the feasibility of extracting DNA from specimens and fossils, and finding a suitable similar species to donate an egg, there is much debate on whether we should bring back those species we’ve lost. Should it be?

Feral Cats 252

Feral Cats Eggs Cats Feral 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2022

While the species favors forested hills at moderate elevations ( source ), there are no hills at all here at Nanhui, so maybe these individuals are outcasts or just eccentrics. Chestnut-winged Cuckoo: This could be your host species! In the HBW, there are about 40 species with the word “plain” in the species name.

Birds 259

Birds Sparrows Mountain Goats Protection 259