10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?! Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?! Tomorrow, MARCH 15, 2011, is the deadline for public comment on a proposal to hunt sandhill cranes in Kentucky. Kentucky Dept.

2011

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2015

What wasn’t publicised at the time, but the scientist later both admitted and owned, is that the kingfisher was then killed and collected for scientific reasons. If you want to know why most scientists support collecting this piece in Science explains it better than I can. Featured image Drawer of Eriocnemis study skins.

Collecting

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

The potpourri covers some interesting bird related science of the last few weeks, and the promise is this: I’ll get to that other stuff soon, I promise! But in Iraq, and more exactly, Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan, they are supposed to be there (and are regularly hunted and eaten) and the fighting is not supposed to be there.

Science

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

What could motivate gunmen (I cannot call them hunters) in two states to deliberately kill North America’s tallest and most critically endangered bird? And I submit that it poses an unacceptable risk to whooping cranes to encourage hunting of the very populations of sandhill cranes that mingle with them. Another thing to consider.

2011

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2014

Aficionados of natural history writing should recognise the author as that of the Song of the Dodo , the popular science book about biogeography and conservation that to me rates as one the finest popular science books ever written. The disease had killed a tourist like ourselves. This lake is close to the cave.

Humane

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

The drongo perches above the flock, snatching insects that they disturb, and keeping an eye out for predators that might go unnoticed by its hunting flock-mates. The species is classified as Near Threatened for all the usual depressing reasons – pollution, drainage, hunting, and the collection of eggs and nestlings ( source ).

Sri Lanka

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. An adult (left) and subadult (right) White-backed Vulture with full crops after feeding on the remains of a Lion kill, Ndutu, Tanzania by Adam Riley.

Endangered Species

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

Others are being killed for use in traditional medicine. To put it in the language of science: “Males did not prefer conspecific females whenever they were given a choice of a larger heterospecific female” Bigger is always better? This can lead to birds being poisoned. If that sounds stupid, that is because it is.

Zimbabwe

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2012

The oft-told tale of its start in 1900 as an alternative to the “side-hunt” which was itself a long tradition in many families warms many a birder’s heart. What’s not to like about citizen science, conservation, and transforming a day of slaughter into a day of enjoying being outside watching birds?

Saudi Arabia

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. A foot deep by some accounts, it killed what life was left in the forest. We know what those large flocks were like.

Mauritius

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

Jennifer Ackerman points out in the introduction to What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds , that we don’t know much, but that very soon we may know a lot more. What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds is a joyous, fascinating read. They are also hunted.

Owls

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2024

For Daurian Redstarts, university campuses can also be crime scenes – one recent paper reports on a Daurian Redstart fledgling being attacked and killed by a magpie on the grounds of Hebei Normal University despite attempts by the female parent to defend the chick. At least as far as the male is concerned.

Birds

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

As it is critically endangered (there are only about 100 left), I think it can be forgiven for killing the occasional Pale Thrush (which is listed as Least Concern). Unfortunately, Hen Harriers die disproportionally near British Grouse moors – most likely killed illegally by people hunting grouse for sports ( source ).

Eggs