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If you know only a little bit about Charles Darwin, you know that he figured out Evolution via his study of the finches (and other birds) of the Galapagos. If you know a bit more than that about Darwin, you know that he totally messed up his collection of birds from the Galapagos Islands, and [...]

Think about the difference between birds and mammals. You’re a mammal, so you might be tempted to use yourself as an example mammal, but humans are actually kind of bad examples of mammals, so perhaps we’ll use a well studied hoofed animal instead. Elk. Think about the difference between a typical bird, say, your favorite [...]

Why is the Robin’s breast red? Why are any of the parts of any birds colorful? To make it easier for birders to identify them, of course! But seriously, Science has a more interesting set of answers, and some recently published research on European Robins helps to examine this question in some detail. There are [...]

One common feature of the relationship between early explorers and colonists and the birds of the New Worlds was the tendency of said explorers to name birds after familiar birds from back home (although of course there was the counter notion that the same species deserved a new name – I’m looking at you loons/divers). In some instances the names [...]

Penguins. The birds that wear tuxedos and star in major motion pictures. People call them “flightless birds” but they do in fact fly; They just do it underwater. They are almost totally restricted to the southern hemisphere (but some live very close to the equator). They eat only seafood, including fish, squid, krill and other [...]

Imagine you study history. You and your colleagues are experts on the history of France, Poland, Spain, all those European countries. And one of the things you do is to study old documents, and you have this old book, this very very old book, that chronicles the life and times of some historic people in [...]

Corey and I are always going on about how inextricably intertwined evolution is with birding. As a matter of fact, last time Corey overtly broached that topic, we experienced a surprising diversity of dissent. I believe, however, you’ll agree with Greg Laden when he asserts that birders need to more actively embrace evolution. He just sounds so [...]

Most of the time when we think of birds, we think of the things that make them birds, and not the things that make them dinosaurs. But that is because we often have the relationship between dinosaurs and birds reversed in our little primate minds; Much of what is bird-like is not exclusive to birds, [...]

To a birder, migration means that you can live in Minnesota, New York, Paris or Moscow and see exotic tropical birds such as Piranga olivacea and Icterus galbula on a regular basis without buying a plane ticket. The birds do the flying for you. Even if you don’t live in the summer range of a [...]

“They charm the females by instrumental music of the most varied kinds” And thus, Charles Darwin adapted the phrase “Instrumental Music,” previously used to mean humans with instruments making music, to name one of the most important “secondary sexual characters … diversified and conspicuous in birds” which, added to “all sorts of combs, wattles, protuberances, [...]

Birds in New Zealand are at their broadest defined by one of two categories, native or non-native. Non-natives abound, thanks to the determined efforts of the Victorians, who considered New Zealand’s bird fauna interesting but doomed and depauperate, and in general need of improving. These presumably well meaning gentlemen decided to release many dozens of [...]

At first glance the answer seems obvious: of course creationists can be birders!  Everyone can be a birder regardless of what it is that they believe.  So perhaps it would be better to phrase the question like this: “Can creationists possibly appreciate birds as much as non-creationists?”  And then the answer gets a bit murky, [...]

In January 10,000 Birds held a ‘Parrot Month’ theme (http://10000birds.com/tag/parrot-month), and I’m ashamed to admit one of the posts I didn’t get around to formatting – not because it wasn’t any good but because it was so long – was written by Nick Sly, erudite and learned author of the Biological Ramblings blog, who has [...]

February 12 is Darwin Day, the birthday of the brilliant author of On The Origin of Species. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, which nature lovers everywhere should celebrate joyously. The name of this humble website is based on a round number, a very round one indeed considering the shape of [...]