10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2021

If the avian realm had self-conscious, talking ambassadors, “spokebirds”, which species would partake in birding conferences? Some might even protest at being kept separate, raising their voices as they eye the main conference birds with hungry intent. The Rufous-naped Wren is a very animated, common species in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Belize Guatemala Protest 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2013

This raises an interesting question: Did these early birds have four wings, or three tails?). When we look at living species (A and B) that we know shared a common ancestor resembling one of them (A), we can guess that the features seen in A evolved in steps more or less linearly to eventually resemble the corresponding features seen in B.

Apes 254

Apes Humane Mammals Research 254

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2012

But how birds use these different senses, like the diversity in bill size and shape, varies almost as much from species to species. Whilst catfish have around 100,000 taste buds, rabbits around 17,000 and humans approximately 9,000, birds rarely exceed 100 of these receptors. The longest bird bill relative to body-size.

Mammals 261

Mammals Mozambique Birds Colombia 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2024

Somewhat strangely, the HBW calls it a “small grey to yellow babbler” – while the species indeed has some grey parts, that is not the color that sticks to mind when seeing or remembering the bird. I usually restrict my unfair jokes to humans. ” That seems a bit unfair to me.

Eggs 246

Eggs Birds Japan Myanmar 246

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I was fortunate to have been born and raised in Africa, and although I have traveled extensively around the world, it remains my home and in my blood. Approximately 2,300 bird species inhabit Africa, however as impressive as that sounds, much smaller South America boasts nearly 1,000 species more.

Papua New Guinea 255

Papua New Guinea Equatorial Guinea Madagascar Tanzania 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

Islands, with their high levels of endemism and specialization, are particularly fragile and vulnerable to human activity. Recent studies show that many island species went extinct before anyone managed to document their existence. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again. Most species go extinct.

Cuba 259

Cuba Parrots Columbus DC 259

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

There is something about a mature rainforest, for example, that cannot be replicated by any human. Humans have altered their habitat for hundreds of years, creating various new habitats that some aspects of nature have come to colonize. When out birding, I prefer completely wild habitat.

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2021

With that logic those trees, if left to grow, should produce something of use to at least one or two species of birds. It’s been some years since I’ve seen any Short-tailed Hawks as the entire valley is now overrun with concrete – but I’m trying my best to create some sort of oasis for any species.

Opossums 264

Opossums Barn Owls Reptiles Hunting 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area. Understated elegance is also something the White-browed Tit is rather good at.

China 250

China Mongolia Birds Russia 250

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it sometimes takes a “village” of rehabbers to save threatened wildlife. As a result of human interference, four Chimney Swift nestlings had to be rescued. For the next two and a half weeks Sue continued to raise them, along with four other swifts she had in care.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 230

Wildlife Rehabilitation Canada Wildlife South America 230

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Long ago I preached the idea that rapid climate change was more important (in a negaive way) than large climate change, and suggested that the Holocene was different from earlier time periods (and thus, for instance, humans invented agriculture and large areas of forest developed, etc.) because the Holocene had little rapid climate change.

Penguins 250

Penguins Birds Cooking Fish 250

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

For mankind to snatch away a species’ very existence is wrong on so many levels that I can’t begin to explain them. However, despite our best efforts to wipe them off the face of the earth, some of the more vulnerable species have managed to hang on. this species breeds. Here are some U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Albatross 253

Albatross Endangered Species Bald Eagle Alaska 253

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

The story of the White-winged Guan , in some ways resembles the re-discovery of some species thought to be extinct. The decades of storage in a museum came after it was regarded as an extinct species. After all, what was thought as its habitat was heavily deteriorated and converted to agriculture as the human population grew.

Collecting 270

Collecting Peru Neglecting Ecuador 270

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

The Majestic Wetlands: Within Shanghai’s boundaries lie several pristine wetland habitats that serve as vital sanctuaries for a plethora of bird species. This expansive marshland is home to rare and endangered species such as the charismatic Black-faced Spoonbill, Saunders’s Gull, and the elegant Oriental Stork.

China 240

China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 240

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Back in 2009, Tai Haku sent us a fascinating post exploring a question that ecologists worldwide grapple with: can the translocation of rare species into niches left empty by extinction be successful or justified? There are any number of concerns one could raise. How ecologically similar are the two species? It is extinct.

Puerto Rico 244

Puerto Rico Guam Virgin Islands Feral 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

For once, eBird gives a good description of the Asian Glossy Starling, calling it a “Fierce-looking, large songbird” As are humans, this species is fairly urbanized – it “sometimes enters urban areas to roost, e.g. in Singapore” (HBW). “Odd, me?”

Singapore 264

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

These large parrots are popular in the pet trade, and that’s a likely source of the population of this species on Trinidad. Somewhere in the distance, the faint call of a Grey-headed Kite echoed, marking the second species I recorded for the morning that I never previously had at that location (the first was Striped Cuckoo).

Trinidad 263

Trinidad Birds Parrots Falcons 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Second, reading about birds courting and parenting brings out the tendency to identify, which leads directly to anthropomorphism, the tendency to assign birds human emotions and thoughts. Think of birds too much as humans and you lose the specialness that makes them birds. Some people love books like that. Yellow Warbler fledgling.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2013

It turns out bis were raised specifically to be included in burial ceremonies as we know from the preponderance of ibis filled mummies at archeological sites in the area, and according to Mediterranean legend, the Southern Bald Ibis was the first bird released by Noah after the biblical flood. No wonder ibis are so beloved.

North America 250

North America Charlotte Birds Miami 250

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2011

So, why do woodpeckers peck on human made structures? There are several species of birds we enjoy for their songs-- American Robins, Carolina Wrens, Wood Thrushes and maybe even Red-winged Blackbirds. Talk about pesky, a Northern Flicker like the bird above liked to peck foam off of the space shuttle.

Woodpeckers 262

Woodpeckers Owls Blackbirds Raised 262

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Less than 1% of all species exhibit role some type of role reversal where males do what females typically do. All chicks never know their mothers, most are raised by their father, but some never know neither and are raised by an unrelated foster father. Mating systems and parental care patterns can be odd among birds.

South America 190

South America Eggs Raised America 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 260

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 260

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2011

There are three species of waterfowl that birders in most of the eastern United States are going to encounter on almost any birding outing that includes a pond, lake, or other body of water – The Usual Waterfowl. They are almost unavoidable in their ubiquity, able to adapt to almost any urban or suburban environment humans can concoct.

Canada 165

Canada Geese United States Abandon 165

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 264

Dissection Birds Europe Eggs 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Originally, I was going to highlight one of the species endemic to the islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean; but once I typed in “Lesser Antillean”, six species popped up. Interestingly, this species has been split into two distinct subspecies, one for each of the islands on which it is found.

Puerto Rico 203

Puerto Rico Grenada Barbados Trinidad 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2013

The general public is out and about, birds and animals are raising their young, and human/wildlife interaction is at its peak. Why is there no state or federal money available to care for federally protected species? It’s August, and first on the menu is: Fried Rehabber. Summer is high season.

Wildlife 255

Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Oklahoma Michigan 255

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2013

This was the local name meaning “ugly” used for these primates by the people of the Gonder area in northern Ethiopia when the German naturalist Rüppell “discovered” this species for science in the 1830’s. they are the most terrestrial primate after humans. Gelada communications include intense staring with raised eyebrows.

Ethiopia 197

Ethiopia Primates Mammals Fur 197

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

The species is said to have never been common, a description I’ve always thought is applied too liberally to long-gone species almost as a convenient declaration of helplessness or shrug of the shoulders toss off in the face of its eventual demise. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again. John Bachman.

South Carolina 233

South Carolina Cuba Missouri Mississippi 233

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

China 264

China Birds Pythons Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2024

The festival headquarters is located on the southwest side of Mission Bay, overlooking a marina with nearby Black-crowned Night Herons and frequently plays host to several falcon species, and a short walk to the San Diego River. Granted, it is a large county spanning many different habitats, but San Diego County garners 515 species.

San Diego 246

San Diego Sea Lions Lions Birds 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2012

Primarily, Lapwings are an Old World family with over 20 species including Australasia’s Masked Lapwing , Asia’s Yellow-wattled Lapwing and the Red-wattled Lapwing of the Middle East. Masked Lapwing Africa is the spiritual home of the Vanellus family, boasting as many as 14 species including the abundant Crowned Lapwing.

Brazil 182

Brazil Protection Africa Family 182

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2013

There aren’t many solutions proferred—the article is really about consciousness-raising—but it’s well worth a read. Fearing that a natural disaster, introduced species, or disease could wipe this fragile population out, the U.S. Thanks to a little human intervention, the future looks much brighter for Millerbirds.

Cambodia 185

Cambodia Slaughter Slaughtered Cyprus 185

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2024

And now we get to the part of the post in which I briefly and unscientifically mention a few research papers on the species to have a reason to post a few more of my photos. However, some swans claim that the views are much better in the highland habitat, and others are not that keen on raising chicks anyway.

China 246

China Iceland Whales Whaling 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2015

They are typically easy places to reach, easy to get about in, safe, and serve as a natural primer for many of the species you’re going to be seeing on a trip. This Cape Francolin was raising a family less than a hundred metres from the main gate. Here is where botanical gardens are your friend.

Africa 245

Africa South Africa Mongoose Birds 245

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2011

European Storks are majestic, they’re graceful and stately and all of the positively connotated adjectives that are applied to birds to which humans have a long and pleasant history rooted deep in our western cultural heritage. In fact, there’s hardly a bird in the world that has such a venerated relationship with us.

Pedigree 193

Pedigree North America South Carolina Brazil 193

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2012

They reside there at the top of a small mountain sanctuary as mythical as my first remembrances of ancient thunderbirds, living, mating, and raising young. Condors, like all New World vultures, can disturb the human psyche. My first view of them was at a distance. Of course, there are those things to consider.

California Condor 262

California Condor California Idaho Utah 262

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2022

Every place has its common birds, the species that do very well in a given habitat. As we like to say, these are species that are “hard to miss”, birds that, if you are watching, will be seen. In most places, the number of birds makes it a challenge to pick just one signature species, Costa Rica included.

Costa Rica 147

Costa Rica San Jose Asia Geese 147