At 10,000 Birds, the most recent edition of I and the Bird this week has to do with Ibises:
You may not realize it when you look at those bizarre looking waders with the massive bills and the vacant expression, but you’re looking at a group of birds that has inspired humankind for literal centuries. There are only a few birds for whom their names have changed little since the dawn of the written alphabet itself, but ibis, named by the Greeks a few thousand years before, is one of them. Anyone with a passing interest in Egyptian mythology has seen the man with the ibis head, the god Thoth.
The Traveling Trinovid is on its way to the ABA's Camp Colorado with our friends David La Puma and Jeff Bouton of Leica.
We’ve made it to Colorado a day in advance of the ABA Young Birder camp, determined to try and find the majestic Prairie Falcon for both our new Product Specialist David La Puma and (possibly more importantly) Travis the Traveling Trinovid binocular. After a rendezvous at the Denver airport, Leica’s Jeff Bouton and David La Puma, and ABA’s Bill Stewart headed up to Red Rocks to see whether they could score.
What are the characteristics of a great birder? And how do you reach the pinnacle of the Global Birder Rankings? Seagull Steve of the irreverent Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds has the scoop:
BREAKING NEWS. Being the Number 7 birder in the United States, I am constantly besieged with questions about the Global Birder Ranking System (GBRS) that assigned me this lofty position in the first place. As I have mentioned before, GBRS is very secretive, and those of us considered to be Birding Giants are typically under various gag orders...we are able to acknowledge the existence of GBRS, but giving out details is not something we are typically free to do.
Nick Lund, of The Birdist, shares an interesting interview with our own Rick Wright on the proposed, and possibly pipe-dreamed, de-extinction of the Passenger Pigeon:
The birdosphere appears split between loving this idea and hating it. I love it. An extinct species back from the dead! Passenger Pigeons once again darkening the skies along the eastern seaboard! I think it would be a triumph for science, and an important step for humanity's relationship with nature. I will elaborate on why later on, but I want to hear your thoughts first. On Facebook, you commented that this whole pigeon business was "Short-sighted gimmickry." Why?
Lillian Stokes at the Stokes Birding Blog celebrates Columbids, with tips on feeding and hosting the flashy birds:
Doves are large birds (except for Common Ground-Doves) and feed mainly on the ground. So when choosing bird feeders, select feeders that have a platform or wide ledge so doves can land and comfortably eat. Doves will also feed on seeds that fall to the ground from bird feeders. The Stokes Select 3 in 1 Platform Feeder and red Platform Feeder are excellent feeders for doves.
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