The 10,000 Birds Clinic
We’re very fortunate here at 10,000 Birds that our blog attracts a good number of visitors - over 320,000 in the last six months up to May 2009 - and very grateful too (no-one likes to get really excited about a project only to find that no-one else gives a damn of course). We’re also fortunate that an increasing number of visitors think that it’s worth asking us to help out with, for example, identification queries, what do with a “baby bird” they’ve just found, or which field-guide they should use on a visit to eg the UK. It seems to us that at the very least it means that our enthusiasm and genuine love for birds is recognised, and - even - that some people out there in the blogosphere feel we might actually be pretty good at what we do!
We’ve been answering readers’ emails on pretty much an ad hoc basis for many months - a question comes in to one of us, we pass it around and one of us answers if we can, and one of us apologises if we can’t. That, though, seems to be missing a good opportunity to do what we really enjoy: spreading bird-related information, involving our visitors, and building an online community (aim for the sky eh?).
Why not instead, we thought, create a more open way of doing things, and actually promote the fact that, hey, we love to help and we’re proud that you think we can? While we’re doing that why not also ask a couple of colleagues if they’d like to join an informal “panel” and really ensure that our knowledge base is spread as wide as possible? Now we’re talking…
The 10,000 Birds Clinic:
What we’ve decided to do then is this:
- Set up what we’re calling the “10,000 Birds Clinic” and use the by-line “Got a question about bird ID, birding best practices, or hotspots across six continents? Ask 10,000 Birds!“
- It doesn’t stop there. We’ve also asked Nial Moores (my brother, but also the founder of conservation organisation Birds Korea and an expert in East Asian birds) and Jochen Roeder (well-known for his quirky Bell Tower Birding blog, but also an extremely knowledgeable and well-travelled birder) to join Mike, Corey, and myself on the firing line.
- And if our ‘panel’ can’t answer the question (and we’re not so arrogant or stupid that we think we know everything by any means) - well, it’ll be online and we can open it up to the greatest knowledge-base I know of: our readers - and has a more genuinely insightful, friendly, helpful, experienced bunch of birders and naturalists ever been available for the general good before?
Okay, I’m exaggerating a little, but I’m serious too, so please consider this an open invitation to join in.
So, there you go. Send in your queries, we’ll do our very best to give you the benefit of our combined experience, and if we’re not certain we can give you the best and most accurate information you could wish for we’ll open your question up to everyone who drops into 10,000 Birds to see if they can help. Oh, and while the cost of gas is going through the roof, house-prices teeter on the edge, and utility bills dig ever deeper into what’s left of your savings are we going to start charging for this service: of course we’re not.
Getting a question to us:
So, how do you get your question/query/inquiry/problem et al in to the 10,000 Birds Clinic?
It couldn’t be easier. You can either use the “Share your Thoughts” boxes below, but if you’d prefer you can mail me, Charlie, at charlie10000birds - AT - gmail.com and I’ll paste your question under my own email address.
It would be a great help if you could tell us roughly where you live (we don’t need an address, but it helps us to know if you’re in the US, UK, or Asia for example).
Identifying Photographs:
We’re more than happy to try to ID a photo for you, but as this isn’t set up as a forum (we don’t have time to act as moderators unfortunately as we all have full-time jobs too) if you’ve taken a photo of a bird you’d like us to identify you need to email it to me at charlie10000birds - AT - gmail.com. It doesn’t really matter what size it is, but if you can please try to ’shrink’ the file size down to a reasonable size before sending it.
You’ve mailed us…now what?:
The rest of the process will then kick smoothly into action, and your answer will be delivered - gift-wrapped and tied with a bow - within a day or two. Okay perhaps not, but we’ll do our best anyway and that’s a promise…please bear in mind though we’re birders trying to help other birders, not professionals doing this full-time - thanks!
Getting involved:
And where might you go if you want to browse the questions, answers, or combined “Don’t Knows” of the Clinic? Simply go to the top of the sidebar, click on “Pages” and scroll down to “10,000 Birds Clinic”, or click on the “10,000 Birds Clinic” link in the sidebar. We’d love this page to become more interactive - so please don’t think we wouldn’t welcome your expertise and help as well as your questions because we most definitely would!
So how does that all sound eh? Not too shabby if you ask me (which, come to think of it, some of you may be doing anytime soon…)
Like to meet the Panel before you trust them to answer your questions?
Of course you would…
Mike Bergin: Mike lives in New York and is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but what he really aspires to be is a naturalist. Besides founding 10,000 Birds and I and the Bird, Mike is an enthusiastic ‘coder’, designing our current incarnation - and has also created a number of other entertaining sites and resources such as Nature Blog Network and Best Birding Tours.
Charlie Moores: Charlie lives in the UK, works for an airline, and has birded all over the world for more than twenty years. He wants to be a writer, and thinks no-one would believe his life could be so charmed if he didn’t take photos of as many of the birds he sees as possible. Blogging with 10,000 Birds fits his aims, needs, and insecurities perfectly. Really - do birders get much more fortunate than this?
Corey Finger: Corey is a lifelong upstate New Yorker who recently took the plunge and moved to the city. He’s only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list and broke the magical 300 barrier in New York State in 2007 by birding whenever he wasn’t working as a union representative. He lives near Forest Park in Queens with Daisy and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B.
Jochen Roeder: Despite currently birding mostly from behind a newborn’s stroller, Jochen still remembers what a lot of birds look like as he has covered almost all of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Namibia and South Africa. He has lived in the US (twice) but is now back in Germany, from where he says he’s happy to join the panel and “cause even more confusion by adding the little knowledge I can muster”.
Nial Moores: Director of conservation organisation Birds Korea, Nial has lived and worked in both Japan and (currently) South Korea, is a renowned tour-leader and is an acknowledged expert on the region’s birds (especially its endangered shorebirds which he is particularly passionate about). He also knows a lot about Radiohead - which may or may not come in useful…
Quite obviously if we kept all the questions and answers in the “Share your Thoughts” fields below we’d end up (hopefully) with a page stretching from one end of the blogosphere to the next. What we’ll do, therefore, is clear the comments every month, re-post them in a “round-up Post”, and create a dated link to them. We can keep this simple process going until the sands of time run out (or until someone else develops a software programme way more sophisticated that everyone uses instead - whichever is sooner!).
So, if you’d like to know what’s been asked and answered over the weeks and months, check the list below and follow the links to avian enlightenment…
- Round-up #1: April 2008:
US backyard birds ID? - Capacity of Mallard’s night vision? - Middle-east bird ID? - Unidentified feeder birds - Sparrow facing eviction
- Round-up #2: May 2008:
What happens to eggshells? - Have I just seen a Partridge? - Websites for birding trip to Peru? - Please ID raptor on YouTube video - ID two Brazilian birds? - ID Papago Park, AZ bird - Book on Yellow-billed Magpie? - ID of seed-eating bird (USA) - ID Bird coming to feeder Valparaiso, IN (USA) - Is this a House Sparrow? - Mystery bird, Louisiana - Sanctuaries in Garret Mt Reservation? - Is this a Mourning Dove? (USA) - Orange-coloured feeder bird? (USA) - Which banding agency? (USA) - Help needed for single Canada Goose - Rogue Eagles? (USA) - IDs please, Brazil - Hummingbird ID please (USA) - Mystery bird on Kauai, Hawaii - Farmland bird ID (USA) - Odd hooting sound (USA)
- Round-up #3: June 2008: Which pipit is this? (India) - ‘Scissor-tailed’ bird nesting in porch (USA) - Crested bird at Barton Creek (USA) - Odd Duck with ‘pink tissue’ (USA) - Unusual bird carving (USA) - Brown headed bird ID? (USA) - Is this a Mockingbird? (USA) - Is this a Bullock’s Oriole? (USA) - Is this a Bell’s Vireo? (USA) - Juvenile cowbird? (USA) - What owl is this? (Brazil) - What bird is this? (west USA) - What bird is this? (east USA) - What bird is this? (east USA) - Hovering bird ID? (Bahamas) - What bird sings all night? (USA) - What bird have I just seen? (USA) - How can I help a baby bird? (USA) - What baby bird is this? (France) - What bird have I just seen? (USA) - What ducks are these? (USA) - Birds in Istanbul ID help please? (India)
- Round-up #4: July 2008:
Unidentified bird (USA) - “Speckled” bird ID (USA) - Dark gray bird ID (USA) - Unidentified bird (USA) - Sparrow-like bird ID (USA) - Bird tattoo question (Australia) - Aggressive yardbirds (USA) - Unidentified birds (USA) - Unidentified duck (USA) - Juvenile Cliff Swallows (USA) - Hybrid duck? (USA) - Black ‘parrots’? (Brazil) - Unidentified birds on thistle feeder (USA) - Feeding a ‘baby flycatcher’? (USA) - Bird ID needed (USA) - Costa Rican bird ID please (USA) - Nesting birds in chimney flue (USA) - Texas raptor ID (USA) - Strange Duck (USA) - Mallard hybrid? (USA) - Birding guide needed in Nairobi (UK) - Unusual garden bird (UK)
- Round-up #5: August/September 2008:
Dead Bird ID (New Brunswick) - Is this a myna? (UK) - Is it worth taking binoculars to France? (USA) - Mystery quail in Utah (USA) - ID please (Canada) - Mystery Bird (USA) - Strange ‘crested’ duck (USA) - Gull ID (USA) - ‘Turquoise’ bird ID (Kuwait) - Flock of birds (USA)
Hi Charlie.
I am so anxious to identify this bird and can’t find a photo of it anywhere or a description that seems to fit - it may be that I don’t know the proper terminology. The bird is approximately 11″ - it is brown patterned, very beautiful color but what’s most unusual is that it has this thick perfectly even mohawk type feather cap sitting on its head. They don’t even look like feathers because it’s so even and dense. .The bird is long and slender. I have seen it twice but haven’t been able to be fast enough to photo with my cell. This bird does not appear to have white in its’ coloring however I’ve only seen it on the ground. Quite beautiful. I don’t have a more detailed description because I’ve only seen it twice.
Hi Lauren
As odd as it sounds your birds sounds like a Roadrunner - a type of terrestrial cuckoo which is only found (in the US anyway) in the southern deserts. We have a gallery posted at http://10000birds.com/greater-roadrunner.htm/
Have a look and let me know what you think. Florida is full of all sorts of escaped/exotic species so I suppose anything could theoretically turn up…
Charlie
Hi, I found your site in the middle of the night. Whenever I can not sleep I am doing a bird search. Since Spring I have had a most interesting birdie visitor whom I have now named “tweety-heart”. He (I have no real idea) began tapping at my bedroom window when I returned home from a surgery. He use to arrive at 5AM and now usualy arrives around 8AM and continues off and on throughout the day. I’m 50 and have never seen such a bird. He has a bright orange beak that comes together equally, no overlapping. He’s mainly brownish with a red “thumbprint” mark on top of his head. His outer wings have a marking of red and when he flies at my window his under wings are reddish orange. The red on top of his head, now shows a small crest. I live in the USA, East coast, state of Connecticut. I have lived in Vermont, Massachusettes also and have never seen a bird like this. I currently have photos I will get developed soon. He has a gentle “tweet”. I can assure you he is NOT a cardinal. That was everyones guess, although I assure them he is not. Any ideas? Oh, his tail feathers are narrow at the body and fan out. He is not pecking at bugs and I just tell everybody he’s knocking to come inside. Any thoughts on that without pictures? lol TY for any help you can give me. Sincerely, Donna
Hi Donna
Thanks for your mail.
I know this isn’t the answer you want to hear, but I can only think that what you’re seeing is a Northern Cardinal - but a female, not a male. Your description is absolutely spot-on for a female Cardinal and unless you can get a photo that shows something else entirely (and I’ve really tried to think of something else it could be) I can’t imagine what else your new friend could be.
Have a look the images at http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=female+northern+cardinal&gbv=2&aq=0&oq=female+northern and see what you think.
All the best
Charlie
Your website has to be one of the coolest and most informative websites about birds that I have come across….!! Great “Summer project” ..LOL!
I came across your website while doing a Google search trying to identify the sound of a bird I had heard at 1:00 AM in the middle of the night in Eastern Massachusetts Jan 21, 2010…. And it made a repetitive “cooing” sound over and over at a rapid rate…..from high up in a tree.. (?)
Thanks for lots of fun….in the middle of the night.
Ken
Hello Charlie,
I live on property which borders a small pond with wetlands nearby…and for 5 years we had been feeding a pair of Mute Swans (We live in Eastern Massachusetts) and we had named them “Will & Grace”…LOL! Over the years, they had clutches of as many as 10…and since we were feeding them on a daily basis using cracked corn and waterfowl feed…they became quite used to us and in fact…..if I did not feed them “on time” Willie would walk up to our front door (glass) and wait until I came with food….!! We watched over the young just as much as their mother, Grace did…!!
One Spring, I noticed that Gracie’s 10 young had disappeared after just two weeks…and after speaking with knowledgeable people, was told that Snapping turtles feed on the young and just pull them underwater…So I purchased a turtle trap and started cleaning out the pond…!! One Snapper was so huge that it almost destroyed the trap trying to escape….!!! And after those five years…they just no longer appeared in the Spring… (?) I had searched on-line for info about life span and breeding habits… My question is…..Could they have come to the end of their normal life span…?
Thanks,
Ken
Hi Ken
Thanks for your mail and the lovely photos which I’ve taken the liberty of adding to your post.
As regards your question. Mute Swans are long-lived - according to Campbell & Lack’s “Dictionary of Birds” (1985) they can live over 20 years. The closely-related and smaller Bewick’s/Tundra Swan can live even longer - a old bird called ‘Winterling’ returned to Slimbridge WWT (here in the UK) in Dec 2009 and is now 27 years old!
I can only speculate what might have happened to Will and Grace (great names!): as we don’t know how old they were when they first arrived they may have died of old age; they may (hopefully) have simply moved to another lake after losing their cygnets; they may have been taken by predators or hunters, or collided with power lines (or one may have been killed forcing the other to look for a new mate); they may even have fallen foul of programmes to eradicate non-native bird species - plans were announced once to reduce the population of North American Mute Swans by 85% (http://www.savethemuteswans.com/index.htm) and I think some States still remove them.
As I say hopefully the swans have just (perhaps temporarily) moved to new quarters, but life for a large bird in our world is very dangerous and it may well be that though they could have lived much longer (?) I’m afraid it is possible that they could be dead.
Hi Charlie - found your name & address while trying to identify the bird shown in the attached photo (sorry for the poor quality). As you can tell by the date, this bird was sighted over a year ago on Playa Las Lajas, Chiriqui, Republic of Panama - had never seen one before or since. It was alone and believe it was injured, but still mobile. Have checked the bird guides for Panama and Costa Rica and could find nothing resembling it. Are we looking at a lost traveler? Can you help? Thanks, Stan & Linda
Hi Stan
Thanks for your mail.
I can help (I’m glad to say). This is an adult Brown Booby Sula leucogaster, one of the gannets. It’s actually the commonest species of booby off Panama, but it’s not usual to see one sat on a beach like this (I’ve never seen one sat on a beach anyway). They’re usually seen sailing on stiff wings off the coast hunting for fish. It may indeed have been unwell, but I’m afraid there’s no way I can say for certain.
All the best
Charlie
Thanks, Charlie - this is one of those duh! moments… this bird is the first shown on the first plate of the Birds of CR.
Thanks for the info. Cheers! Stan
Hi there! My dad has some tricky owls he would love some insight on… Here’s his photos and info on them - . Thanks, we love your site! -Mariana
Hi
My daughter is going to school in the San Francisco area and has a group of geese that flew into the pond behind her apartment in Dublin California.
They are very noisy but friendly. I have looked into a variety of books and cannot find the species and home territory.
I suspect they are a hybrid of Chinese domestic geese and Canada geese.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Ron
I’m almost certain that these are what is known as Chinese Geese, a domestic form of the Swan Goose from Asia, rather than hybrids with Canada Geese - they look ‘pure’ to me but without DNA testing no-one can be 100% sure of course.
There are a lot of these Chinese Geese flying around North America, and they do sometimes just turn up somewhere and stay. They are VERY noisy indeed aren’t they - the Chinese used them as ‘guard dogs’ in temples etc for that very reason.
The original goose species these are descended from are now quite rare and confined mainly to China and Korea.
Have a look at this page on a UK website for more info - http://www.ashtonwaterfowl.net/chinese_geese.htm
Hope that helps
Charlie
Hi Charlie,
For the past few days, 2 wild turkeys have made themselves at home in my yard…. Two beautiful healthy birds with irridescent plumage and I think that both are females… I had a lot of cracked corn so I spilled a bucketful out on the grass…thinking that they would dive for it….!! Now I know why dumb people are called..”TURKEYS”….!! They ignored it looking for whatever it is that they normally eat….!!
The reason I am writing today..is that I also have 2 kitties…and they were in the house. The front door of my home has a full glass and the 2 turkeys had their beaks against the glass looking in for over 5 minutes..(I thought they might wanna buy the house!) and on the other side of the door were my 2 kitties……THEY WERE “NOSE” to “BEAK” FOR THOSE 5 MINUTES…!!! Was it curiosity….???? I was in stitches…just watching this whole thing play out…!!
Ken
Hello my name is carolina i recently found a cape white-eye that was wounded and i have it my house his wing seems bad how can i take care of it while its in my house and when should i let him go?
Hi Carolina
Sadly small birds rarely recover from wing injuries without proper medical care. There may be infection which can soon kill a small bird, and if the wing is broken it usually won’t heal properly without help from a vet. That of course is very expensive. I’m sorry to sound so uncaring: I would really love to be able to say that all will be well with this little bird but I don’t think you’ll be able to let it go at all. I hope I’m wrong but it’s likely that the bird will survive a short time but die from dehydration, shock, or infection unless you can take it to an expert. I wish you the best of luck anyway, and thankyou for taking the time to care enough to ask for advice.
All the best
Charlie
Hi Charlie
I noticed your name on the 10,000 Birds site and wondered if you could identify the attached bird pics. 2010-259a was taken in Salalah Oman and 2010-389a in Dubai. I would be most grateful if you are able to identify them so I can add them to my collection.
Regards
Brian Fletcher
Hi Brian
Happy to help. Your top bird is a female Tristram’s Starling (or Tristram’s Grackle as it used to be commonly known) and the other is a Laughing or Palm Dove (both names are more or less interchangeable it seems to me). Let me know if I can help with any other ID problems.
All the best
Charlie
Hi Charlie
Many thanks for the information. Any chance of identifying these. I think I know the lower one but your confirmation would be good. Both were taken in Muscat.
Regards
Brian
Hi again Brian
Sure thing: your upper bird is a Whimbrel and the lower is a Common Sandpiper (was that the identification you were expecting?). Both migrate through the Gulf in good numbers so would be expected there.
All the best
I live in the north east, ny area, and want to know why am I seeing robins in at my feeders? They arren’t feeding there, just scaring finches,cardnial, so on, away.
1st time blogger
Hi I have a strange query - I am doing a crossword and am looking for the name of a West Indian bird which consists of 3 two letter words - possibly “do do do” - is there such a bird? Any help you may be able to give would be appreciated. By the way I live in South Africa.