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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 [...]

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 [...]

A whole ten days ago - or about thirty posts in ‘10,000 Birds’ time - we asked for your help supporting a friend of mine, ex-pat Brit birder/ID expert Richard Crossley, secure a TV deal for a programme he is aiming to make. Many of you responded (thanks) by filling in an online survey, and [...]

So far in Puerto Rico Month we’ve looked at some of the island’s wonderful endemic birds (eg the Puerto Rican Tody and Adelaide’s Warbler), its endemic frogs, reviewed Mark Oberle’s wonderful field-guide, the Caribbean’s very own Tai Haku has asked what could fill the gap left by DeBooy’s Rail, and Mike has re-posted three short [...]

The 3rd edition of Avistar-Itaú BBA Photo Contest is designed to stimulate the documentation and conservation of Brazilian birds. It is an Avistar-O ECO initiative, sponsored by Itaú BBA Bank and those excellent folk at Swarovski Optik as Avistar Optic Partner
The subject of the contest is “Brazilian Birds.” It is open to amateur as well [...]

When I was having dinner with the highly-entertaining YC Wee and KC Tsang (doyens and co-founders of the Bird Ecology Study Group) in Singapore earlier this month, I was asked a casual question that at first sight seemed rather clear-cut: “as a ’serious’ birder do you think that birders who go birding with cameras but [...]

The photo we posted in this week’s SkyWatch of a flying American White Pelican has gone down very well, and as the photo was actually one of a series of four I took I thought I would post the others as well (and hopefully not over-egg the pudding in the process).

I took these [...]

After the fun-filled factory tour and roundtable discussion at Swarovski headquarters the whole bird-blogging bunch of us headed out to Beavertail State Park for some light birding.  Some of us, including me, tried our hand at digiscoping with equipment provided by Swarovski.  While it was rather easy to get images, getting good images is a [...]

A couple of days ago I posted a short trip report on a visit I made to one of my favourite spots on earth - Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve in South Africa. Writing the post reminded me of just how many birds I’ve seen at this one small site, and I thought I might put a [...]

The bane of all (or nearly all?) bird photographers is blurring, where the pin-sharp, award-winning image you see in the viewfinder morphs somehow into a smeared mess fit only for the Recycle Bin. While it’s true that some shots benefit from a bit of creative blurring - I remember seeing a lovely shot of [...]

Am I ever opening a can of worms with this post or what? Buying a camera is often such a matter of personal taste, but let’s put that to one side, dive straight in, and say that the most important questions to ask when buying a camera for nature photography is not “Will this one [...]

Men, as many of you will know, are curious animals. For example, we know we are at least an inch taller or a stone lighter than the most accurate measuring-devices say we are; we don’t need to use a map to get anywhere because we just know the route already; and we seem to [...]

I’ve been very fortunate in the four years I’ve been blogging to have received a fair few comments congratulating me on the photographs I’ve taken. I’m very grateful of course, but I have to say that given the opportunities I get from travelling the world with my airline job I’d be a poor photographer indeed [...]

I’ve been mailed quite a few times asking me which camera I use and whether I’m happy with it. The answer is that I use a Canon 20D with a 100-400mm L lens and yes I am), and after owning it for fourteen months I thought it was about time I reviewed it…[NB - [...]

Many birders, present company included, give the impression that only uncommon birds matter to us, the rarer the better. Yet, while we are admittedly excited by exotic avifauna, often willing to go to great lengths to view the unusual or unexpected, these are not the species that sustain our passion. More than likely, a birder [...]