10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Originally a hunting term, the Big Five were the most dangerous and prized targets of the great white hunters on safari. However it is now one of the world’s rarest animals after decades of relentless hunting and poaching. The Black Rhino was also a widespread African denizen occurring throughout the continent, even into desert areas.

Buffalo 236

Buffalo Rhinoceros Leopards Elephants 236

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2023

One creature that doesn’t budge for the Nuthatch is the Brown Rat, and a pair of these rodents were demonstrating their agility by raiding the bird seed. It was a Barn Owl, or what country people around here still call the White Owl, hunting the water meadows at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

Barn Owls 244

Barn Owls Rats Japan Blackbirds 244

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2017

Loggerhead Shrikes are well known for their hunting skills, chasing down lizards, various insects, small rodents and even an occasional snake. It is not uncommon to find results of their skills, in the form of a lizard or other trophy, left on a cactus thorn or barbwire, there for a future meal.

Rodents 153

Rodents Hunting Rights Birds 153

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2011

Because Short-eared Owls are most active at dawn and dusk when they hunt fields and marshes for the rodents that sustain them it is difficult to get images of them in daylight.

Owls 145

Owls New York City Rodents New York 145

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2012

They’re the classic charismatic megafauna, and it’s not at all hard to see why they’ve worked their way into so much folklore and why the people of Europe have made so many efforts to conserve them in the face of industrialization, pesticide overuse, hunting, and other threats.

Spain 193

Spain Europe Rodents France 193

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

It is quite a sight to experience hundreds of Abdim’s Stork dropping out of the skies from seemingly thin air, to gorge on burnt or fleeing insects and rodents. Once the drier winter months approach they move northwards into East and West Africa where they are particularly attracted by bushfires.

Africa 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2015

Inserts in rodent poisons that assure the public they will not kill anything but the offending rats or mice pedal the same questionable claims as those of the snake oil salesmen of bygone days. We use toxins, pesticides, and herbicides in many ways, from dusting our pansies to increasing the yield of thousands of acres of crops.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 190

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Rescue Wildlife 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2014

European Red Foxes were brought into Australia in the 1850′s for recreational hunting and soon spread rapidly. We have seen them on remote beaches hunting shorebirds and taking their eggs and they have been responsible for much of the egg loss in breeding Pied Oystercatchers along the Broome coast.

Australia 157

Australia Species Feral Cats Feral 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2019

In birding, perhaps only the proverbial wild goose chase and snipe hunt rank below owling in terms of expected success. In the dead of winter, the woods before daybreak can be dark, cold, and unnervingly quiet place, and with the warming comforts of the compilation dinner many, many hours away, it’s not a place for the faint of heart. .

2017 152

2017 Owls Game Fowl 152

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2012

The quills of the “Saqu Ettair” Secretarybirds feed on small lizards, insects, rodents, birds eggs and, of course, snakes. Watching them hunt is fascinating. We stayed with the larger bird as it settled down to the serious business of hunting. Note the huge wings.

Botswana 248

Botswana Porcupines Eagles Hunting 248

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2011

Dirt hawking is a form of falconry that involves hunting rabbits and other small game with Harris Hawks (other hawk species also qualify). One of the primary reasons that these hawks make such excellent falconry birds is because they are one of only two raptor species (the other is the Galapagos Hawk ) that hunt cooperatively.

League Against Cruel Sports 270

League Against Cruel Sports Rabbits Falcons Hunting 270

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2012

Like several of my favorite NWRs, this one was established as a haven for migratory birds, most notably waterfowl, during the bad old days when uncontrolled hunting and habitat loss had put the future of even species we now think of as common in doubt. As a result, early migration season is an excellent time to visit.

Wildlife 184

Wildlife Montana Bald Eagle Geese 184

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2012

That for the latter nature went on without them, letting them observe, seems to be proved by the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a big difference in your chance of getting wounded by a small to medium forest mammal if you are hunting them or if you are gathering plant products.

Collecting 177

Collecting Birds Rodents Wounded 177

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

Pibarot has yet to begin collecting data through testing rodents and he says that a clinical trial in humans is hypothetical at this point - at least a decade of positive results and funding would have to be established first. The research at Laval University is still in the earliest stages.

Seals 100

Seals Medical Research Industry Research 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

I’ve observed nesting owls, fledgling owlets, owls eating small rodents, owls coughing up their pellets, a Great Horned Owl silently flying over me, a Great Gray Owl sitting regally still on a post as a boy walks up to him, a pair of Barking Owls duetting in early evening hours outside my northern Australian hut as I brushed my teeth.

Owls 244

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 244