Birding blog trip reports usually are rousing stories of success against incredible odds, or at the very least spectacular failures that make the reader laugh. The fact is that we seldom write about the more mundane everyday failure of plans and circumstances. I’m not talking about dips of mega-rarities or disasters where camping grounds are washed away or cars break down [...]

With the release of the widely anticipated Avengers film this week and the latest Batman film set to hit later this year, I thought it might be fun to look at some comic books for a change. You see, everyone knows the bats, wolverines, spiders and cats get their turn as well known superheroes, but what about [...]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most popular American poet during the nineteenth century though as the years have passed his star has dimmed in comparison to other poets of the period. Many see his work as derivative of the European poets, unoriginal, and suitable only for children. His most famous work today is probably “Paul Revere’s [...]

1. The votes are in, and Red-naped Sapsucker is the winner and my proud new nemesis, although Gray-crowned Rosy Finch also made a strong showing. Congrats to Red-naped Sapsucker, and thanks to all who voted and shared their own nemesis stories. He’d like to thank his mom, his agent, and of course the Birding Academy. [...]

Manhattan, April 2010 In the busiest and most developed borough of New York City, Manhattan, which is what most tourists think of when they think of New York City (if they are thinking at all), the signs of spring are sometimes subtle, but most are, like much of Manhattan, in your face.  How, for example, [...]

It’s tough to make out what species the baby bird is but it sure likes bluegrass. Lead singer Josh Williams managed to keep the song going and the crowd sure appreciated the unexpected guest star in this video shot almost a year ago at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival in North Carolina. If bluegrass isn’t [...]

Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” is a marvel of modernist poetry. It is only 246 words long, divided into thirteen sections, each labeled with the corresponding Roman numeral, and a surface reading will show that it is about, not surprisingly, thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird. Reading deeper, though, will [...]

My apologies, 10,000 Birds folk, for missing my December post on the 18th. There was this little thing called Christmas, and I was shut in a recording studio all that week (and for weeks after) with The Rain Crows, making a CD. Plumb forgot about blogging, I did. Forgot about my own blog; forgot about [...]

Come 20 January 2012 birders will have reason to be philatelists as well. That’s because the United States Postal Service will be releasing a set of five stamps, illustrated by Robert Giusti, featuring birds of prey. The five lucky birds are Northern Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon, Golden Eagle, Osprey, and Northern Harrier. Check them out below! [...]

Time for some poetry! What can I say about Roebuck Bay… The pindan cliffs, the miles of sea A seabed full of history. What can I say about Roebuck Bay… The tide is in and the fishermen stand The hermit crabs are crossing the sand What can I say about Roebuck Bay… The tide goes [...]

I’ve spent most of my time since Thanksgiving trying to get my semester wrapped up, which means I’ve spent quite a bit more time looking at birds in the works of James Joyce than birds in real life. Many people don’t realize that Joyce was very into birds, using them as a symbol of artistic [...]

[Editor's Note: This is a bonus post from Jochen about a topic not usually covered on 10,000 Birds. And if you agree with his crackpot theories we would like you to step slowly into the waiting straitjacket and await the folks who will be taking you away.] High fog may be dull, but it is not [...]

Back in 2007, DK Publishing produced what I still consider the consummate birding coffee table book.   If you haven’t seen it, BIRD: The Definitive Visual Guide is simply stunning. But that’s not what this post is about. To help promote this book, we ran a series of giveaways, one of which was a call for [...]

Luisa Elena Betancourt is an artist with a MFA from Washington State University which she got through the Fulbright program in 1992. She contacted Corey to ask permission to use a Masked Trogon image from the blog for an art show and Corey agreed provided she would write a post for 10,000 Birds about how [...]

It is not every day that one gets a chance to be a world record holder.  But such was the magic of the 2011 Midwest Birding Symposium that each and every attendee that bothered to show up on Saturday night, 17 September 2011, had the chance to get into the record books.  For that fateful [...]

The moment birders everywhere have been waiting for is almost here.  No, it is not an epic morning of birding full of a host of life birds but the theatrical release of The Big Year, the movie about competitive birding based on the book by Mark Obmascik.  It will star Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and [...]

“Purple Martins” first appeared in print in Carl Sandburg’s 1920 collection of poems, Smoke and Steel, published six years after he rose to prominence following the publication of some of his poems in the famed Poetry magazine.  Though one thinks automatically of Chicago when one thinks of Sandburg if one thinks of anything at all [...]

My friend Lorraine is awesome.  Her nickname is Fabulous Lorraine.  She’s not really a birder, but having been friends with me she knows that they are there, watches some (Red-bellied Woodpeckers are her favorite) and will even drink shade-grown coffee because she knows it’s good for migratory birds. Photo courtesy Kimm Schroeder She also has [...]

It’s hot.  Really hot. Sticky hot.  Painfully hot. Fried-egg-on-a-sidewalk hot.  Hate-the-sun hot. Disgustingly hot. Wander-the-apartment-in-just-underwear hot.  In other words, it is once again summer in New York City.  Like last year I am doing my best to stay cool and thought I would try to help all of you wonderful readers do the same.  Sit [...]

(This joke has apparently been making the rounds for years, but just came my way. I hope it goes without saying that we don’t wish to offend anyone. But I wonder how many readers would have answered this question correctly…) Mick, from Dublin, appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and towards the end of [...]