The Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus is an unassuming thrush to look at.  Guttatus is Latin for “speckled” and the Hermit Thrush is certainly speckled on white below, with a brown back, a wagging rufous tail, pink legs and white eye ring.  It is not the only Catharus thrush with spots and it is horribly disappointing [...]

This coming week, 22-28 April, will be Bird Love Week on 10,000 Birds! And while we are sure that all of you love birds that is not the kind of bird love we are talking about for Bird Love Week. Come back on Sunday to see what Bird Love Week is all about!

They can fly on air but only in the water? Want an explanation? Check it out here!

Steve Howell has done a great four-part series on subspecies on the ABA Blog. Check it out! Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Actually, the Belted Kingfisher did catch the crayfish – it just couldn’t hold on. Great shots on Fotoportmann.

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, NY, April 2010 Everyone knows that New York City is an extremely expensive place to live.  If one is lucky enough to find a place that one likes one must often pay in rent per month what would easily be a mortgage payment in a more sane part of the [...]

Lady, believed to be the oldest living Osprey in the United Kingdom, has laid her 62nd egg. It is her 22nd year nesting at the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes reserve in Perthshire. Hat-tip to Redgannet.

April, while not as exciting a migratory month as May is in the northeastern United States, is still a great time of year to see migrating birds. Wood-warblers, those brightly-colored attention-whores of spring, have most birders swooning, but their numbers don’t really pick up until May. Sparrows, on the other hand, seem to make the [...]

As migration proceeds in fits and starts I find myself torn between wanting to find as many birds as I can on each birding outing and wanting to take my time with each species that I haven’t seen since they left for fairer climes back in the fall. It is a conundrum and one that [...]

If the captain of the cruise ship had there would be two Panamanian fisherman still alive today. Hat-tip to Nate.

The pine barrens of New Jersey look rather plain and boring if you only see them while driving past on the Garden State Parkway or New Jersey Turnpike. There is sandy soil, lots of pine trees, and not much else. But when you get out and explore on foot the variety of life in the [...]

Copan, Honduras, February 2009 A word of warning: this is going to be a rather long post so go grab a snack and make yourself comfortable before you start reading.  Normally, the birding I did on the morning of February 28, 2009, would be enough to fill up a week’s worth of posts but seeing [...]

Oklahoma is weird.

I can’t find any more information about it but apparently a penguin bit Newt Gingrich. Good times! What is up with penguins and political statements this year?

I am so sick of the feral cat colonies that infest so many locations that I like to bird. And while I am sick of the cat colonies I am even more sick of the deluded people who believe that by feeding feral cats they are somehow helping them. Outdoor cats live short, ugly, violent [...]

Forest Park, Queens, New York, April 2008 On Thursday, a day that I didn’t have to be at work until noon, I, of course, got up early and took a stroll through Forest Park. Well, I didn’t really so much as take a stroll through Forest Park as I took a stroll to the water [...]

We here at 10,000 Birds have long wanted to include the best in bird bloggers and feel that we have largely accomplished that goal. Our Beat Writers are awesome! But we would like to add a new Beat Writer on a specific beat – that of Bird Topography. We are looking for a Beat Writer [...]

New research has added some more insights, as well as giving clues that may be used to make better helmets for humans.

The Great Blue Heron nest camera at Cornell’s Sapsucker Woods had essentially been the typical nest camera. Bird lays eggs, sits on eggs, etc. That changed in the early morning hours when a Great Horned Owl decided that, well, watch for yourself! Wow!

The Adirondack Mountains of New York State, March 2007 Daisy and I took advantage of her spring break and one of my precious vacation days to spend the day birding in the Adirondacks. Normally students on spring break wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from the bright tropical sun in some place like Cancun. Not [...]