You are browsing the archives of Christmas.

(All respectable publications should have their holiday traditions. This evergreen post, first written in 2004, has become a 10,000 Birds staple. Merry Christmas!) Everybody knows the Christmas carol, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Easily the most endless song this side of “99 Bottles of Beer,” this old chestnut has simultaneously delighted and horrified holiday celebrants [...]

It’s that time of year when a young man’s thoughts turn to tropical seabirds like the Christmas Shearwater… wait, that doesn’t work! In fact, if you were looking for a bird that represented the spirit and traditions of Christmas, this elegant, compact and dark shearwater would hardly be the first thing that comes to mind. [...]

Word has reached us that Santa Claus, also known as Kris Kringle, has been killed in a horrific mid-air collision between his fast-moving sleigh and a flock of night-flying Canada Geese.  The collision, which occurred over New York City shortly after midnight local time, forced the magical sleigh down in a marshy area of the [...]

This is is the most magical time of the year, one filled with holiday cheer, festive celebrations, and… surveys of winter avifauna? That’s right! For the American birding community, the holiday season heralds more than blinking lights, tree trimming, and rampant consumerism. It’s also time for the Christmas Bird Count, which explains why we’re republishing [...]

So Christmas is here. Hanukah is here. Kwanzaa is here. No matter whether or what you worship, you undoubtedly have some festivities to indulge in this weekend. You may even have a Christmas Bird Count scheduled. Whatever it is you have planned, do try to burn off some of those holiday calories by getting outside. [...]

As always when I am in the car, while Daisy and I drove to my folks’ house in Saugerties, NY, to join family for the Christmas holiday, I paid careful attention to any and all bird life I could see. I did not, however, expect to have yet another encounter with what is now by [...]