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The first day of January offers some of the most exciting birding of the year; for just a moment, every bird is new and ready to be plucked for the year list. Too bad New Year’s Day has to directly follow New Year’s Eve… many a promising year of birding has to be postponed a [...]

How are the holidays treating you? One hopes that the wheel of karma turns in your favor during this time of festivity and giving. One also hopes you’re seeing excellent birds! Everyone who lives in Rochester, NY knows about the million crows roosting within the city limits. The skies over every neighborhood stream with murder [...]

Like it or not, the holiday season is here. Merry happy whatever it is you celebrate! And lest you overlook avifauna in the midst of your caroling and carousing, remember that the Christmas season and birds go together like latkes and sour cream (at least in my household!) Not only do we have the birds [...]

If you’re reading this, you’ve survived what may have been a very busy weekend of shopping, prepping, and partying. Hopefully you didn’t overextend yourself… the holiday season is just now beginning! I can’t recall a less birdy weekend than the one I just had. My only avian observation of note is how much easier the [...]

‘Tis, as the say, the season to be jolly. So why am I so harried and anxious? Must be because I haven’t finished my holiday shopping… it may be fair to say I haven’t even started it yet! Luckily for those of us who love birds, ’tis also the season for Christmas Bird Counts. Here’s [...]

Is it better, to paraphrase that ragged old aphorism, to have birded and dipped than never to have birded at all? What if you just don’t see anything special? I didn’t go after any particular bird this weekend, which is good since I hardly saw any. The woods were quiet, so we focused on geocaching [...]

December owns an outsize reputation among months due to its status as the Northern Hemisphere’s gateway to winter, though hosting Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, and sundry other holidays doesn’t hurt either! Ironically, as climates change and seasons shift, this month just doesn’t seem as cold as it used to be. Nonetheless, those old December poems [...]

Don’t you just love sharing your best bird of the weekend with people that actually appreciate exciting sightings? Precious few are fortunate enough to work in an office where avian observations are swapped around the water cooler. For those of us who are not in that chosen .0001% (Occupy ABA, anyone?), here’s the place to [...]

Now that American Thanksgiving has passed, we in the States can join the rest of the world in turning our full attention to the upcoming Yule celebration. The impending season of giving can trigger intense anxiety punctuated by bouts of conspicuous consumerism, but you don’t need to succumb to rampant materialism. Why don’t you take [...]

Welcome to online retail heaven (or online retail hell if that’s the way you’re wired.) We hope everyone who celebrated the American observance of Thanksgiving enjoyed a delicious holiday. And to all of you, Happy Cyber Monday! You’ll find 10,000 Birds a pleasingly merchandise-light site, at least for the time being. What we’re selling right [...]

I know of no other day of the year when a larger percentage of Americans are likely to be eating the same foods, unless Halloween candy or Independence Day barbecue counts. Too many of us focus on the turkey, but bird watchers know that Meleagris gallopavo means so much more than a meal, no matter how [...]

November is normally a pretty dull month compared to some of the more extreme periods in our calendar year. The action doesn’t really heat up until right about now as we begin six or eight months of holiday preparation and celebration. I’ve enjoyed November so far, but have doubts about whether I’m ready for the [...]

We’re heading into the third weekend of November, which every year (so far) is followed by the fourth weekend of November. If you live in the United States, the fourth weekend of November is the only time of year your relatives might be interested in your ornithological information about Meleagris gallopavo, so be sure to [...]

Last week, I mentioned how odd the weather has been around here. By odd, of course, I mean absolutely lovely. I know these patterns are atypical for western New York. I’m still curious about what my fellow naturalists have noticed: has the weather been odd by you? How so? Enough phenology… let’s get down to [...]

How highly do you value a three-day weekend? For me, time of year exerts a significant impact on the worth of extra days off. Plus I work all the time, so I don’t really get a weekend! But this is about you, right? Does a three-day weekend in late fall mean as much to you [...]

The odd climate patterns lately have conspired with my already suspect grasp of phenology to completely baffle my sense of season. As I’m sure you’ve heard me mention once or twice, winter comes early–very early–to western New York. Yet we’ve barely seen a flake of frost so far. Even more peculiar, I think our foliage [...]

November has arrived, which means many of us in the United States are trying to figure out where we’ll be taking our turkey dinners towards the end of the month. Congrats to my neighbors to the north for already getting Thanksgiving out of the way and not making the holiday all about Meleagris gallopavo. If [...]

Happy Halloween! See how I assume you celebrate Halloween no matter where in the world you live? Must be the way you’re dressed… The best bird of my weekend was Tufted Titmouse, which has become more prominent here as we approach winter. I forgot how much bigger these birds are than the other species like [...]

The shadow of Halloween is falling over the United States as we speak, foreboding haunted hijinks for celebrants, especially the junior set. Have you ever seen anyone birding in costume or even done it yourself? Wearing camo while busting the ghosts of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers doesn’t count, but otherwise we’d all love to hear stories and see [...]

In the United States, so much seems to be happening towards the end of October. Not only is baseball hitting the very apex of what excitement it arouses, but the storylines in the National Football League are just beginning to manifest in reality rather than in the empty space between commentators. Kids can’t help but [...]