An era of phenomenal photographic field guides is dawning, its golden rays finally extending all the way to the blue-water beaches of the Caribbean islands. Only last year, I declared Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele to be the finest field guide to the entire region.  Visitors to Jamaica would still do well to purchase that excellent reference [...]

Lucky bird blogger that I am, I was invited to attend a screening of Ghost Bird , a documentary film about the search for (and controversy surrounding) the alleged rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker , which will be playing at 7 PM nightly from 28th April to 4th May at the Anthology Film Archives in New York [...]

The review formerly hosted on this site has been deleted.  For your convenience, we have gathered five other reviews of the Sony Walkman NWZ-A815.  Sorry for any inconvenience and here’s hoping you find the information for which you are looking. Trusted Reviews IT Reviews Digital Versus Computer Active Stuff TV Again, sorry for any inconvenience!

Dale Forbes, with whom I was lucky enough to travel to Kazakhstan this past May (that’s him in the sunset picture in the linked post), now works directly for Swarovski Optik.  As part of his job duties he has a series of videos up on YouTube in which he gives digiscoping tips (I know, I [...]

Though you’d never know it from the way most teens turn their noses up at anything related to nature, kids love birds. Young children in particular love birds, though in an undifferentiated way that bears little resemblance to the obsession evinced by more mature birders. My budding naturalists Mason and Ivy love, to my alternating [...]

Like many people the world over I’ve wanted to visit the Galapagos Islands ever since I knew they existed.  Whether this desire is because of the influence of the islands on Darwin and his theory of evolution, the numerous documentaries about them, the fact that Kurt Vonnegut based a novel there, their distance from everything [...]

Rarely can an author crack my list of favorites with just a single work but somehow, Lyanda Lynn Haupt did. More than 3 years ago, I reviewed her fabulous narrative of Charles Darwin’s explorations of the Americas, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent. I’ve thought often of that book since then, savoring the memory of [...]

I am a firm believer that birders should invest in two categories of field guide: those they will need and those they want to need. New guides and references for the areas you reliably visit increase your knowledge, which is a worthy endeavor indeed. But guides to parts of the world you’ve never yet visited, [...]

Can you ever really know someone through just her blog? I mean, I’ve been blog friends with Dr. Bronwen Scott for years as the pseudonymous author of A Snail’s Eye View. Long have I enjoyed her clever observations of Australian avifauna, ecosystems, and, of course, mollusks. But, though I jumped at the chance to review [...]

In the arena of North American avian field guides, illustrated guides have reigned supreme. However, if one could imagine an arms race between illustrated guides and photographed ones, it is safe to say that the latter have taken huge strides in recent years in closing the gap. Sure, everyone loves The Sibley Guide to Birds [...]

Back in September 2004, I reviewed what has remained my favorite instructional birding video of all time, Watching Warblers by filmmakers Michael Male and Judy Fieth. This extravaganza of eastern North American wood-warblers included a preview of its sequel, Watching Warblers WEST. Unfortunately, Male and Fieth hadn’t concluded production of that video in 2004. It [...]

Anyone who has ever visited the Greater or Lesser Antilles can attest that the 564 fantastic bird species known to appear in the West Indies deserve a high-quality field guide. The current consensus is that the finest field guide to the exotic archipelagos of the Caribbean is Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele. [...]

Birds inspire people.  Whether one is inspired to go out and buy a bag of bird seed to attract birds to one’s backyard or chase a reported rarity to increase one’s life list isn’t what matters.  No, what matters is that it is birds that drive one to such acts.  In Bright Wings: An Illustrated [...]

I’ve been conferring recently with a friend who runs an eco-lodge about the prospect of upgrading the onsite optics array; in essence, she’s looking for a spotting scope. Anytime the conversation turns to optics, my thoughts turn of course to Swarovski Optik, the purveyors of the cutting-edge quality glass I use in the field. However, [...]

When MyBinocularHarness contacted us at 10,000 Birds about reviewing their binocular harness I was skeptical.  I always thought that those who wear a binocular harness looked a bit dorky and weren’t helping birders overcome the not-so-flattering view that many have of our pastime.  But I was volunteered to review the harness and several days later [...]

I’ve already written about how much I like The Sibley Guide to Trees. The Sibley Guide to Birds is pretty phenomenal too, as is every other volume in Sibley’s series of guides and reference books. The massive respect I have for David Allen Sibley made my opportunity to interview him regarding his newest publication a [...]

I’ve been on record for years as endorsing David Allen Sibley’s masterwork, The Sibley Guide to Birds as the first and foremost reference guide for anyone at all who looks at North American birds. Whether you consider yourself a bird watcher or not, you’ll never regret having this book on hand. But does Sibley’s preeminence [...]

Shorebird season is upon us once again and with the waves of undifferentiated brown and gray birds arrives yet another resource by which to tell them apart. Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Photographic Guide by Richard Chandler is an excellent addition to any shorebirder’s library. With only 217 species worldwide, shorebirds are [...]

How does one end up with a Great Blue Heron in one’s bathroom?  Or spending hard-earned cash on medication for a Wild Turkey with a “nasty wet rasp” coming from her chest?  Or chasing an American Goldfinch that refuses to leave a flight cage even though there is nothing wrong with him any more?  Easy, [...]

Summer really is quiet. I loved Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds, the biography of Phoebe Snetsinger written by Olivia Gentile and thought you would too. After giving Life List a glowing review, I announced a giveaway that straddled both 10,000 Birds and the Nature Blog Network. So we had [...]