Everyone knows that squirrels, at least North American squirrels, are very greedy.  They scarf up all the food that kind-hearted people put out for the birds and will do almost anything if the reward involves something yummy.  But is it possible that a squirrel can be too ambitious when it comes to feeding its face?  [...]

On a recent visit to the waterhole at Forest Park on a day when sunlight alternated with light rain the birding was relatively slow (meaning I only saw about ten species of wood-warbler in an hour). I was about to pack it up and head home as the sunlight-rain cycle was moving towards rain [...]

This past Sunday Andrew and I once again went looking for birds while the women did, well, women things I guess.  Because it was raining in most of southern California, well, pouring actually, proving Albert Hammond right (no, not the Hammond for which Hammond’s Flycatcher is named, but the Hammond who wrote the song that goes It never rains in [...]

The eastern Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) is either a boon for those who consider them cute and like to watch their antics or a bane to those who want just birds to sample their backyard suet and seeds. While at my parents’ house over Christmas I watched the many, many, Gray Squirrels congregating around [...]

A full day’s birding in the Adirondacks and along Lake Champlain on Tuesday with Will from The Nightjar was an absolute blast. We saw just over fifty species of bird and had a great time (and I added three birds to my New York State Big Year List). But this post isn’t about the birds; [...]

In addition to the birds I saw in Berlin’s Volkspark Hasenheide I also saw Eurasian Red Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris). These are not the tiny North American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) that I’m used to but bigger beasts with adorable ear tufts. I only saw a couple, and both were in the northwestern part [...]

Raccoons may not be of much interest to many North Americans (whose usual view is of an unwelcome furry tail scurrying away from an upturned garbage bin), but speaking as a Brit who only comes across them every so often I have to admit to being fascinated by these ring-tailed, bandit-masked, dextrous mammals. The only [...]

Long-tailed (or Crab-eating) Macaques are found in primary, secondary, coastal, mangrove, swamp, and riverine forests in Malaysia, Southern Indochina, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India’s Nicobar Islands. They live most successfully in disturbed habitats and on the periphery of forests and because the monkeys are tolerant of humans they can be found near villages. In [...]

I used the title of this post to see if I could emulate Mike and bring disappointed perverts to the pages of 10,000 Birds. Not that it is a dishonest title at all seeing as this post does feature a buck naked. It is just not exactly what probably 99% of Googlers are [...]

No, this isn’t a post about Skid Row…but rather a post about the plethora of young creatures out and about in the wide world for the first time. As I type this I can hear the flock of neighborhood House Sparrows chirping away in front of my apartment, a flock that enjoyed great success [...]

A short stroll this evening at Five Rivers was rewarded with some nice encounters with White-tailed Deer. The shots below were with a particularly cooperative doe that allowed me to close within fifteen feet of her.

This one was not cooperative at all, but I still like the result:

Have a great weekend…I’ll be back next [...]

This raccoon was raiding the feeders at Five Rivers the last time I was there, the same day I photographed a Painted Turtle.

About two minutes after I started observing him he climbed down, scratched around in the seed for awhile, and wandered off.  Then the birds came back.
Also, if anyone is wondering if Barn Owls use [...]

“Thousands of people who say they ‘love’ animals sit down once or twice a day to enjoy the flesh of creatures who have been utterly deprived of everything that could make their lives worth living and who endured the awful suffering and the terror of the abattoirs.” — Jane Goodall
 
“You have just dined, and however [...]

I see you, heh, on down on the scene.
I spotted a fox on the side of the road.

Foxy
You make me wanna get up and scream.
I nailed the brakes and put the car in reverse.

Foxy
Ah, baby listen now,
I rolled down the window and when she seemed hesitant, I talked in soothing tones.

I’ve [...]

On my way north on Route 9J, a bit south of Castleton-on-Hudson, I spotted a Wood Thrush just sitting on the other side of the road. After going past I pulled a quick three-point turn and went back hoping to get a good picture. I was surprised when the bird didn’t move at [...]

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, NairobiNovember 06 2006
 
I’ve been to Kenya many times over the last seventeen years, but - despite it being just 16km from the hotel - I’d never visited what crew familiarly call “The Elephant Orphanage” run by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on one edge of the nearby Nairobi National [...]

Grey-headed Flying Fox Pteropus poliocephalus
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, Australia
 
Grey-headed Flying Foxes can be seen around Sydney, in groups called camps. Flying fox camps can be made up of many thousands of bats hanging from the branches of trees - as some of the photos below show. The camps are often located in gullies of eucalypt [...]

I drove down to Bramley Frith Environmental Education Centre (Bramley Frith EEC) in Hampshire today with Toby Nowlan and his brother to have a look at a British mammal I shamefully knew virtually nothing about and had never seen - the Common or Hazel Dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius, a four inch, fuzzy-tailed, round-eyed bundle of golden [...]