Those who have followed 10,000 Birds for awhile might remember my post about what is perhaps the bird that I most want to see, Atlantisia rogersii, otherwise known as the Inaccessible Island Rail. Andrew Evans, writing on his blog, Digital Nomad, has told the tale of his encounter with that very bird. Darn that Andrew [...]

Go read Nate’s well written and thought out post. Now.

If you’re bored and want to list them in the comments please feel free. But I can’t believe how light a sentence this guy was given.

No, not really. Sites rehabilitated after mining are not attracting as many birds as before the areas were mined.

Then you better have $75,000! That is the minimum amount the complete set of The Birds of Europe, produced between 1832 and 1837, is expected to fetch at auction. Wow!

You’d think it would be a no-brainer but sadly hunters are resistant to a lead-bullet ban. Over a hundred organizations have again petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to ban lead in hunting – a move opposed by many hunting groups. At issue is that millions of birds each year end up eating the lead and [...]

Duncan let me know about this fascinating article from The New York Times Magazine about the changing ecology – and population – of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans which was, of course, devastated by Hurricane Katrina seven years ago. The bird connection? Just read through to the end.

March Madness has such a grip on the United States that even birders are thinking in terms of seeded tournaments.  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has been running a fierce competition pitting one beloved North American species against another. Their March Migration Madness has reached the Airborne 8 Bracket and all you have to do [...]

Scientists have wondered why the outstandingly adaptable Ethiopian Bush-crow (Zavattariornis stresemanni) refused to expand outside of its postage stamp-sized range. Apparently, these quasi-corvids are too cool for school and like it that way.

The data seems mixed. Jim McCormac has a good rundown and some theories.

Maybe the proposition isn’t that simple, but you can vote to allocate $40,000 from National Geographic Germany to Fundación ProAves to support conservation of the practically extinct Fuertes’s Parrot. Yes, rhinos, red pandas, chamois, and other charismatic creatures also deserve help, but this is a birding site so you know which way we’re voting!

Facebook has turned out to be a fertile platform for engagement, interaction, and even in some cases amusement (you know who you are) among the world’s birders.  Gunnar Engblom just made it easier to join the conversation with the new World Birding & Conservation Facebook list. Want to follow many of the biggest birding and bird [...]

Sure, it’s a made-up bird, but as Seagull Steve says, “But wouldn’t this be an awesome bird? … Not only is this a concretely epic dream-bird (essentially, an avian unicorn), but the dream was followed by actually lifering Vermilion and Fork-tailed Flycatchers the very next day. What does it mean?” Good question! What does it mean?

Residents of the Americas may find this hard to believe, but the ubiquitous, adaptable House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) is declining in its native lands. We should all be concerned about this, if not out of love for this prosaic passerine then because the sparrow may very well be a signal species for more encompassing environmental [...]

The Metropolitan Transit Authority, the agency in New York City that is in charge of the subway system, among other things, has installed a soundtrack of “distress and predator calls” in the Roosevelt Island subway stop, hoping that the audio will drive pigeons and their feathers and droppings away from the station. It won’t work. [...]

There is a great article about Passenger Pigeons by Bill Loomis in The Detroit News today. It is well worth a read.

You leave it hanging out to dry until the young fledge. Seriously.

Our buddy Kirk Mona AKA The Twin Cities Naturalist delivers a truly compelling time lapse video of a Common Raven stripping fur from a dead coyote.  Kirk even explains with his characteristic perspicacity what the corpse-robbing corvid is up to. Learn something cool today and check out this post!

The ABA Bird of the Year for 2012 will not be Green Heron. I’m not allowed to say what it is until 20 March but, really, does it matter if it isn’t the finest of North America’s avifauna?

Interesting results from a study in Canada’s Algonquin Provincial Park. But is it just me or is the constant characterization of the Ovenbirds as “choosing” to produce more males weird? The original paper does not have that language.