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Between Aug 2007 and July 2008, 8,147 sq kms of the Brazilian Amazon were cleared, an area more than twice the size of Rhode Island. Why? “Landowners often cut deeper into the forest to make room for cattle ranches and soybean farms.” Remove the carbon sinks and increase the amount of methane emitting cattle. Way […]

Do you want to win some Swarovski optics?  Of course you do!  Just enter Swarovski Optik’s Digiscoper of the Year competition by September 30 for your chance to win.

Though I feel for those who might be effected by the wind or rain of Tropical Storm Hanna, I can’t help but notice that the storm has a track that brings her up the east coast (past New York on Saturday night), possibly pushing southern seabirds north.  I know where I’ll be Sunday morning!

Time to get back to business, people! We’ve got a great edition of I and the Bird planned for this Thursday at Wrenaissance Reflections and need your contributions.  Send links and summaries to me or Wren (wrenaissance DOT woman AT gmail DOT com) by the end of the day  September 2.

No, it’s not an adult movie for birds, it’s a wonderful montage of birds (including hummingbirds) bathing, set to music, at El Polin Spring, near San Francisco.  Prasad, of Birds of Bayarea, made the gorgeous video (it’s at the end of this post). Enjoy!

BirdLife South Africa says time is running out for the Langebaan Lagoon - one of it’s most precious Ramsar sites, and part of the West Coast National Park and Saldanha Bay islands Important Bird Area (IBA). The lagoon can support more than 37,500 waterbirds in summer, of which 34,500 are waders, 93% of which are […]

Aren’t we lucky to have so many great carnivals to carry us through the weekend? I want to highlight Carnival of the Green #141! and Tangled Bank #112, but if you’re going to indulge in one blog carnival, be sure to enjoy the extremely eloquent and entertaining Carnival of the Elitist Bastards, Act I, Scene […]

The curlew found in the Netherlands in June is provoking heated discussion - especially now that the Texan Eskimo Curlew photos of 1962 are being analysed by today’s experts. If you’re not subscribed to the ID Frontiers listserve clicking here will take you to the Archives. Fascinating…

Our caption competition is rolling along nicely, but I must admit that 10,000 Birds readers are being surprisingly restrained when it comes to being ’snarky’ (as PJ put it at Life Under a Tin Roof Sky). Come on folks, have at me I say. Let rip. Go for it. It’s all for a good cause. […]

The daredevil divers at Deep Sea News have some really big nature blog news. Check out their wild video! Congrats, guys!

We all know that conservation can be tough work, but few of us will be denied input into EIAs, get arrested, suspended from our jobs, and required to get permission to leave town for trying protecting a colony of rare birds! Welcome to South Africa where some government officials appear to make up rules on […]

Today is the deadline for submissions to I and the Bird #82, hosted by Kathie of Sycamore Canyon. This edition has a bit of a theme so send your links and summaries to posts featuring beautiful bird photography or your philosophy of birds or birding to me or Kathie (kathiesbirds1 AT msn DOT com) by […]

Lillian and Don Stokes just posted a very helpful schedule of Fall Warbler Migration Timing for North American regions east and west. Believe it or not, fall migration has already begun for many wood-warblers!

Researchers have discovered a new species of forest robin in Gabon. Named for its distinctive olive back and rump Stiphrornis pyrrholaemus lives in dense forest and was discovered in the first in-depth study of rainforest biodiversity in this area of Central Africa. Details are at Science Daily.

Nils Olav, a King Penguin in the Edinburgh Zoo, has been knighted by a British Major General on behalf of Norway’s King Harald V.  Sir Nils, actually the third of a series of penguins of the same name, had previously achieved the rank of colonel-in-chief in the King’s Guard, for whom he serves as a […]

This week Dirk Kempthorne, the Bush nominated secretary of the Interior, announced devastating changes to the Endangered Species Act, signaling the end of protection for thousands of imperiled species.
The Center for Biological Diversity is rallying an immense surge of opposition to prevent these changes from taking effect. Please tell Secretary Kempthorne what you think of […]

The eighteenth edition of our favorite ecology blog carnival is at Seeds Aside and it’s for the birds, in a very good way.

Faansie Peacock’s superb book on the pipits of southern Africa is available again. In my original review I lauded this book to the skies and my (and everyone else’s opinion) hasn’t changed. There’s now a detailed website to support the book where you can place an order too. ‘Pipits of Southern Africa’ was great a […]

Japanese photographer/birder Nobuhiro Hashimoto has recently uploaded a series of stunning photos and video footage of a 1st summer Spotted/Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer seen in Japan this June. Along with the Spoon-billed Sandpiper this Endangered species is threatened by reclamation projects and habitat loss and is now one of Asia’s most threatened shorebirds.

A study is underway in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming to determine if a new bicycle path system under construction will have a detrimental effect on wildlife, including nesting Brewer’s Sparrows.  A video is available on Yahoo (but you have to watch a short commercial).