So here we are, we bird bloggers, four years after the inaugural I and the Bird (well, four years and one month…we seem to have forgotten to celebrate on time).  Four years is a long time in the real world: in the blogosphere it is an eternity!  Like many of the folks who contributed a [...]

When we put out the call for the first 10,000 Birds Summer Intern, many of you assumed by my usual flippancy that we were less than serious about the idea. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The three of us are eager to impart some of the lessons we’ve learned during our tenure as [...]

Pity the plight of the blogger! Blogging, particularly nature blogging, is a tough business. The challenge of standing out among the countless other blogs in your niche can be daunting. Even if you do develop a following, you’ll have to contend with stagnant readership, limited comments, technical troubles, and content doldrums. The truth is that [...]

Assuming my flight wasn’t brought down by bird strike, I probably just started my program at the scintillating ScienceOnline09 science blogging conference. I’ve been given the honor of moderating a session entitled Blog carnivals: why you should participate. The short summary of this session is as follows: What is a blog carnival? A hub, an [...]

Steve Moore of BirdwatchRadio informs me that I’ve just made history as the first guest to show up on two programs in succession. Some might imagine that I’ve earned that honor by having so much of value to say while others will argue that I just never shut up. You be the judge! My last [...]

Christopher from Picus Blog tagged me with the six random things meme awhile back and I have been very lazy in actually doing it.  And then I figured I could be lazier still by making Mike and Charlie each give me two random things and leave myself with one-third of the things to come up [...]

Though 2008 was a great year for 10,000 Birds things in 2009 are looking even better.  Because, in addition to all of our normal birding and blogging something happened at the end of 2008 that was simply so cool, so amazing, and so exciting that it has taken until now for 10,000 Birds to pick [...]

Seeing as this is the last month of a pretty great year here at 10,000 Birds, I thought I would celebrate December of 2008 by trying to write the month in review in verse.  This might really suck but it might be good too…but before I get into that I’d like to wish everyone a [...]

Though my ABA life list is up to 435 birds and my international list somewhat north of that (I’ve really got to get that sorted out) there are still dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of birds, I really, really want to see.  And now that Dakota has tagged me with a meme that requires [...]

Stevie Wonder delivers a dire warning in his classic, Superstition: When you believe in things that you don’t understand, then you suffer. What happens when you blog with things you don’t understand? Think about it… of the millions and millions of bloggers out there, how many can get under the hood and perform tasks more [...]

November of 2008 will go down in history as the month that the American people regained their sanity and elected a President of whom we need not be ashamed.  A minor footnote to some future history might also mention how great a month 10,000 Birds had in terms of traffic: it was our best month [...]

October is over and though this post is being posted just short of midnight on Halloween there is no need to be afraid…10,000 Birds will keep publishing in November and beyond and bring you all the birds you need (even if somehow, and this should make you afraid, John McCain wins the presidency).  What a [...]

Blogging is just like everything else in this wild world… if you work at it long enough and surround yourself with talented individuals, you’re bound to earn some level of respect. 10,000 Birds has been most fortunate in that regard.  We’ve been showered with links, spots on people’s blogrolls, heck, we were even declared one [...]

September, when passerine migration in the northern hemisphere goes into full swing, when listers try desperately to pick up the migrants they missed on their way north on their way south, and when cool nights means one has to put blankets back on the bed, has been a marvelous month for 10,000 Birds.  Not only [...]

August in the Northern Hemisphere, as the days shorten and the first chilly nights occur, is a transitional month.  The beginning of August is still summer with shorebirds being the only birds on the move and any birding expedition is slowed by heat and biting bugs.  At the end of the month kids enjoy the last [...]

Charlie, Corey, and I have been so busy of late that we completely overlooked the fifth blogaversary of 10,000 Birds. Can you believe that this blog is already five years old? Believe it.  On 8/12/2003, I started 10,000 Birds as a way to combine twin interests in birding and blogging. On 8/13/2003, having appeased the [...]

July.  Summer heat and sweat.  Breeding birds go silent and migration hardly exists until the end of the month when shorebirds start to move.  It is a time to savor air conditioning, cold beer, and vacations.  It is not a great time to bird, well, unless you are some kind of sadist.  Nonetheless, we 10,000 [...]

For the upcoming 3rd anniversary edition of I and the Bird, we’re asking a rather direct, if not altogether awkward question: Why are you still bird blogging? Did that touch a nerve? We’d rather it got your wheels spinning or, better yet, those blogging juices flowing! After all, most bloggers leap at the opportunity to [...]

After the frenzy of birding that accompanies May migration June seems sleepy.  Most birds have arrived on their breeding grounds and the flood of migrants slows to a trickle and then virtually stops.  June, at least in New York, is time to search out breeding birds, check out bugs, and try to stay cool.  Mike [...]

The new-look 10,000 Birds may not be so new anymore but there are still plenty of fun features to explore. I’m particularly enamored of our comments section, or at least with its potential. You see, some of us get cool postage stamp portraits next to our comments… …while most others get a faceless image… Seems [...]