10,000 Birds

First Aid for Birds

Rhea Alaudra — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:11:55 +0000

A few days ago I ducked into a little old bookshop and came out with a book about providing “First Aid for Birds” by July Rach and Gary A. Gallerstein. I wasn’t looking for anything specific – I just decided on a whim, when my eyes landed on the beautiful cover, that I’d give them permission to wander a little further. The book’s worn spine indicated that its previous owner hadn’t used it sparingly. I also wondered if it helped save a feathered friend on more than a couple of occasions. Did the bird live long enough to become the protagonist of a novel or a children’s book? The small notes and question marks scattered through the pages made it seem like someone had cultivated the gift of critical thinking. Brilliant, I thought. Now, this wasn’t a brand-new book. And even if it had the year 2026 stamped on the cover, I still wouldn’t feel qualified to judge whether the medical advice is spot-on, or assume any single resource holds the whole truth. Still, I found the material well structured, and I’ll share some of the questions it answers, without the answers themselves – because these may change. I think these are relevant for any bird owner or the accidental rescuer. The list is by no means exhaustive: What should a bird first aid kit contain? What constitutes an emergency? When should you call immediately? Call on the same day? Call the next day? Do you have the vet’s contact info (phone number and address)? What about the closest emergency hospital’s? Why might calling the vet before leaving home help? If the vet asks, can you answer basic questions right away? These would be typically related to: age, gender, cage, routine, medical history, etc. Are you familiar with common illnesses in birds and the early signs? The book was split into two parts: first aid and prevention, but for the purpose of this review we’ll only focus on the first part. All in all, I spent a pleasant afternoon in its company. By the time I realised the afternoon had slipped by, I was surprised by how many of the “random” facts stuck without trying. For starters, I learned that birds don’t have diaphragms, and they don’t sweat either – facts that sound strangely technical, but what does that concretely mean? That a bird should never have to worry about sweat marks at the disco after a wild dance, of course! Then, there was the reminder that birds are masters at hiding illness. A gradual loss of appetite might be easy to miss, unless one is watching closely – ideally by weighing the bird regularly – because by the time the problem is obvious, it may already be well underway. The book also managed to puncture several ideas that may seem harmless at first. Sharing beer with one’s lap chicken might feel like a “bonding” moment, but if the bird struggles to breathe afterward, it’s more likely due to the alcohol than the mad butterfly chase. Alcohol is extremely dangerous to birds, even in small amounts. Another example – rushing to the car without thinking through the basics (like putting one’s pet in its cage or a carrier) might make matters worse.The practical advice was coherently organised, sometimes summarised into a box on the side of the page. The sections on the emergency situations were split into four parts: signs, home treatment, veterinary treatment and prevention. The book even gave advice that may go against instinct: Do not clean the cage right away. It may provide important clues to help the vet determine the underlying issue. And if one ever sees a young bird that “seems” clumsy, one should know internal disease can also present this way. People owned by budgies may be well aware of the following: broken wing feather not dealt with properly could mean the bird could bleed out. I found myself thinking how careful one must be with dates and records. The bird’s hatch date matters, and will eventually come up – not necessarily because vets enjoy small talk. The “wait and see” approach can lead one into a trap: When respiratory distress strikes, a bird’s condition can worsen quickly. Different burns, it explained, aren’t all treated the same – first aid measures change depending on the type. And for birds who experience the “earthquake syndrome”, installing a small night light can prevent it from hurting itself. Another memorable aspect was that the entry point for bacteria following an attack could be an invisible (to the eye) scratch. Even if the bird appears alert, a life-threatening infection could rapidly develop. And the list could go on and on. Naturally, I wouldn’t like to replace professional veterinary advice or imply every case has a neat solution. I believe everyone is responsible for finding what works best for them, and building up a knowledge base that supports their birds’ health journey. My main aim is to help raise awareness about one of the most loving things one could do for one’s birds. Would you like to share something you’ve recently learned about caring for a pet – that would make your pet jump through the hoops with excitement? Something that, if it could speak, it would make it say: “My human is so caring!” Quotes from “First Aid for Birds”: “In order to notify your vet of the changes in pet’s routine, you need to know your pet’s routine.” “Your bird can sense your stress and this will just exacerbate its distress.” “Remember, any treatment offered at home will delay more specific treatment by your veterinarian.” The featured image is courtesy of My Pet Chicken.

Sculptures: Birds in the House

David T — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 15:59:00 +0000

I am a failed artist. At the age of 18 my ambition was to become a bird artist and illustrator, I came as close to my dream as to be interviewed for a place at art school. I had always enjoyed drawing, and was quite good at it. However, note the word quite. Looking back, I don’t think I had sufficient talent to make a career of it, and I never tried, simply because I became friends with a young man called Tim Greenwood. Tim had far more artistic talent than I did, and he went on to make a living as a wildlife artist. I soon realised that I would struggle to produce work that was anything anywhere near as good as Tim’s, so I gave up the pencils and paint. I have hardly drawn since. Instead I turned to writing, a sensible decision as it became the foundation of my career. However, I’ve always retained a strong interest in wildlife art, and have been a modest collector for all my adult life. At first my interest was largely in paintings, but over the years I’ve acquired a number of what I call bird sculptures, but what other people may call models (or even, heaven forbid, toys). It’s a varied collection, and there’s nothing very valuable, but it does give me a great deal of pleasure. I am, I admit, a sad case. It’s not enough looking at birds when I’m out in the countryside, I want to enjoy them in my home, too. A Channel-billed Toucan from Costa Rica. It is carved in balsa wood One of the first pieces I acquired was a life-sized sculpture of a Chanel-billed Toucan, bought on a birding trip to Costa Rica. It had been made by a resident guide at one of the lodges I was staying at. I can’t remember how much I paid for it, but I remember having to act quickly as one of my clients on the holiday I was leading also fancied it. Fortunately I beat him to it and didn’t become involved in a bidding war, as his pockets were certainly a lot deeper than mine. Bringing it home wasn’t a problem, as it’s carved from balsa wood so is remarkably light. It reminds me of happy times birding in this wonderful central-American country. Kynsna Loerie, by The Feathers Gallery, South Africa Another reminder of an overseas trip, this time to South Africa, is a wooden sculpture of a Kynsna Loerie, a handsome bird that I have watched in the forests of Knysna in the Western Cape. It is a product of the Feathers Gallery, which was based in Knysna but has now, I believe, closed. The gallery produced a varied assortment of hand-carved and hand-painted stylised birds produced in large limited editions by local artists. Birds from the Feathers Gallery are highly decorative and invite you to touch them, adding a textual dimension to their appeal. Golden Plover (above) and Curlew Collecting decoy ducks is big business in North America, where original decoys can sell for huge sums of money. I haven’t any proper decoys, but I do have several carved and painted birds made in a decoy style. My Curlew and Golden Plover are both simple and elegant, and capture the very essence of the birds they depict. Both were bought many years ago at the British Bird Fair, which always has an artists’ marquee. They were modestly priced, and neither is signed. It was at the Bird Fair where I bought the Teal (below), which is perhaps the closest I have to a decoy, though I’ve never checked to see if it floats. A life-size Eurasian Green-winged Teal, with an 8th-scale Teal by Val Bennet My Val Bennet duck flock. (Left to right) Smew, Goosander, Tufted Duck. Eider, European Green-winged Teal, European Wigeon, Pintail One thing is certain: my flock of one-eighth-scale ducks, produced by wildlife artist Val Bennet (1923-2013), won’t float. Val was born on 14th February, St Valentine’s Day, so was christened Valentine. I got to know him well, and had the pleasure of staying with him in South Wales, where he lived, and watching him work in his studio. Val’s ducks are foundry-cast bronzes. He hand painted each one meticulously with enamel paints. As you can see, he knew his subjects well, and each duck is a perfect miniature. I have just seven species of ducks in my collection, but Val produced models of many more. Only a few species defeated him – the shaggy crest of the Red-breasted Merganser, for example, didn’t lend itself to modelling in bronze. A Great Northern Diver (Common Loon) by Val Bennet After working on ducks for many years, Val thought that he would try his hand at divers (or loons, if you are American). He sought my advice, and I managed to find a selection of photographs of Great Northern Divers for him to work from (this was long before the Internet). He produced the magnificent diver you see here, which he gave me as thanks for my help. I believe that he produced very few of these divers, as painting was them was such a tedious business (all those spots). My diver is a treasured possession. Red-legged Partridge from Spain, Good enough to fool a spaniel? In complete contrast to my miniature ducks is my life-size Red-legged Partridge. This is a Spanish-made sculpture of one of the most typical of Spanish birds, and is made from dried agave leaves on a wire frame – it’s very light. A Madrid-based company called Coool markets a variety of birds made with the this material, ranging from a Greater Flamingo to a delightful Hoopoe with its crest raised. They are inexpensive (my partridge is priced at £43) and great fun. Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers (detail) Every year the Society of Wildlife Artists holds an exhibition of its members’ work in the Mall Galleries in London. It’s a great exhibition and always hosts a wide variety...

Species Spotlight: Grackle

Kai Pflug — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

This is another profile of a bird that was new to me during my first proper birding trip in North America, though it is probably terribly familiar—and rather boring—to readers in the US. I suggest you skip this post and wait until I talk about Asian birds again. eBird describes the Grackle as a lanky, fierce-looking, glossy blackbird—I particularly like the “fierce-looking,” which makes it rather interesting to me. It is not often that I feel a bird is trying to hypnotize me. I was somewhat puzzled by the listing of the Grackle as Near Threatened, given that at the same time it is described as one of the most common species on the North American continent by the HBW. A lazy question to ChatGPT yielded a plausible explanation: “common” describes the present, while “Near Threatened” reflects the expected future. In other words, while the Grackle is still one of the most abundant birds in many places, its population has been declining steadily for decades, with reductions of around 60–70% over the last 50 years or so. Likely reasons for this decline include agricultural intensification (loss of breeding habitat), loss of wetlands, expanded pesticide use, and even past grackle control programs, since grackles were once considered agricultural pests. Which may be why the collective noun for grackles is a “plague,” as in “a plague of grackles” (source). On the other hand, other scientific papers suggest that grackles may actually benefit from climate change by extending their range northwards (source). So a species can be declining overall while simultaneously expanding into new areas. Confusing. Grackles pursue different reproductive strategies depending on clutch size (source). Females laying small clutches (2–4 eggs) do not increase egg size with laying sequence and start incubation only after the last egg is laid. Such parents usually raise the entire brood. Females laying larger clutches (5–6 eggs) increase egg size with laying sequence and begin incubation before the clutch is complete. In these cases, few pairs succeed in raising the entire brood. Late-hatching young benefit from larger eggs but are disadvantaged by hatching order, since older siblings are fed first and grow faster. The youngest chicks are kept alive as long as possible but tend to starve if food becomes scarce. So, grackles face a trade-off familiar from human societies: is it better to have a small number of offspring and invest heavily in each, or to have a larger family and spread resources more thinly? In affluent societies, the first pattern generally dominates; historically, larger families have been more common in poorer societies. Grackles have the good fortune of not being heavily parasitized by cowbirds. They are apparently close to the upper size limit for successful brood parasitism: although cowbird chicks hatch earlier than grackle chicks, they grow more slowly and usually fail in grackle nests. Interestingly, grackles are not very good at recognizing cowbird eggs—probably because there has been little evolutionary pressure to improve this skill. Cowbirds, in turn, seem to have largely learned that grackle nests are poor targets, given the low probability of successful fledging (source: HBW). Finally, would you do research on whether chicks can move in and out of sunlight? Some ornithologists did, resulting in a paper titled Shade Seeking by Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) Nestlings at the Scale of the Nanoclimate. They found that nestlings move in and out of the sun depending on which parts of the nest are shaded. The finding is entirely sensible—but calling it “nanoclimate” somehow makes it sound much more impressive. Then again, the paper appears in the Journal of Thermal Biology, where such terminology probably comes with the territory.

7 Birds Not to Use as Role Models

Kai Pflug — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Evolution produces successful behaviour. This should not be confused with good advice. Common Cuckoo — Avoid responsibility The Common Cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving the hosts to incubate the egg and raise the chick, frequently at considerable cost to their own offspring. It is an impressive system, particularly from the cuckoo’s point of view. Magnificent Frigatebird — Steal from colleagues Magnificent Frigatebirds sometimes harass other seabirds until they drop or regurgitate their food, which the frigatebirds then take. Biologists call this kleptoparasitism, presumably because stealing lunch from your colleagues sounds insufficiently scientific. Bowerbird — Concentrate entirely on appearances Male bowerbirds build and decorate elaborate structures to impress females, sometimes carefully arranging objects according to colour, size and other aesthetic criteria. Substance is important, but some species seem to have concluded that arranging blue objects is close enough. Killdeer — Fake an injury when things get difficult When a predator approaches its nest or chicks, a Killdeer may perform a broken-wing display, dragging one wing and appearing injured to lure the threat away. Once the predator has been led far enough from the nest, the supposedly injured bird suddenly recovers and flies away. This approach is probably less effective in most office environments. Shoebill — Stand motionless and look hostile Shoebills hunt by standing almost completely motionless for long periods, waiting for suitable prey to come within reach. Their enormous bills and permanently disapproving expressions make this look less like patience and more like a deliberate technique. Adélie Penguin — Steal building materials from your neighbours Adélie Penguins build nests from stones, a valuable commodity in a large breeding colony. Rather than finding their own, some penguins steal stones from neighbouring nests, sometimes while the owner is briefly distracted. Home improvement is much cheaper when your neighbours have already bought the materials. Vulture — Wait for someone else to fail Many vultures survive largely or entirely by eating carrion. This is ecologically valuable, highly efficient and, from a human career perspective, perhaps not the attitude you want from a mentor or colleague. Photo: Himalayan Vulture, Ruoergai area, China, July 2021

Demotivational Posters for birds (XLIII)

Kai Pflug — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Birds have survived for millions of years without demotivational posters. Then again, many species have gone extinct during that time. Coincidence? To be safe, here are four more posters in our series.

Source

So many questions …

Leslie Kinrys — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:00:06 +0000

There is something about birders in the field that attracts non-birders. They see us with our bins and that is all they need to start asking questions. I try to be a birding ambassador, so I usually answer them. But, it is hard to be pulled away from looking at an interesting bird. Below are some of the most common questions/comments I get. What are you looking at? Usually, someone stops and tries to see what has me fascinated with the tree tops or a bush. We have those birds here ?!? This is a common question at a raptor watch. People are amazed when I tell them that Bald Eagles fly over our watch site on the Toronto lakefront. Sometimes, I tell them to look up because there goes an eagle right now. I saw a (pick your colour) bird. What was that? I throw out a few bird names and that seems to satisfy most people. To go with the question above, people whistle or make sounds, then ask what does that. Many times, I tell them it’s a rodent or bug, which they don’t believe. Sometimes, someone will get me to come look at a bird. When I identify it for them, they ask if I am sure it’s that bird. (It leaves me wondering why they asked an expert if they don’t want to accept the answer.) Are you a bird guide? Do you lead walks? I tell them to look online for the local bird club (e.g., Toronto Ornithological Club). These clubs offer free walks, open to all. In Florida, I get asked if I’ve seen any alligators. Most places I visit have at least one, so I can make these people happy by pointing them out. Here is my favourite comment, overheard by me, when two women were talking: “Ask the birder. They know everything.” It is nice to be appreciated! Note: Cartoon of Northern Cardinal at top of column generated by Google Gemini.

Ask a Birder: Why birding rather than fishing (or another outdoor hobby)?

Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

We asked several of our writers the same questions. Here are the answers to the one above. — Even if I wasn’t a vegetarian, fishing wouldn’t be my thing because it is too boring. Birding, in turn, can easily be combined with hiking (Peter Hinow) — I’ve always enjoyed outdoor pursuits, including shooting and hunting (on horseback), while I played tennis quite seriously until my knees cried enough. However, you can still watch birds while doing whatever else you are doing in the countryside. On more than one occasion, I’ve had a game of tennis interrupted by pausing to watch a hunting Barn Owl next to the court. Woodcocks are secretive birds seldom seen by birdwatchers. Once, while watching a pack of hounds draw a wood, I saw more than a dozen Woodcocks flushed in just a few minutes. Nobody would ever have guessed that such a small wood held so many Woodcocks (David Tomlinson). — There is probably a natural hunter in me – for books, for records, for birds – but not a killer. And I very much like the combination of outdoor (the actual birding) and indoor activity – preparing for a birding trip, editing photos, writing about birds (Kai Pflug) — I did both from a young age, even to the point of owning a seagoing fishing boat with my dad and brother. It’s very time-consuming, and when time became a scarce commodity, something had to give. I focused on birding, and my brother played golf (Peter Penning). — I used to fish for a while when I was a child, too. My son is an avid angler—so we complement each other very well. I earn money from birdwatching, and he feeds the family, as he often says (Rolf Nessing). — It lacks the kill factor. I come from a hunting/fishing background. Yet, I always found that the magic of the hunt is completely destroyed by the kill. With birding, the excitement of being on the hunt continues for as long as you are outside (Jochen Roeder). — Fishing is just so boring that I honestly couldn’t think of anything worse to do. I think if I were forced to go fishing I’d just be watching or listening to the birds… leave fishing to the experts like the Kingfishers and Herons (John Hague). — Growing up on a small island, I spent much of my teenage years on the beach, so fishing should have been the obvious choice. But I never had the patience to sit there waiting for a fish that clearly had other plans. With birding, I still do plenty of waiting, but at least I can walk around while pretending I know where the birds are (Fitzroy Rampersand). — There is something about birdsong that makes people feel happy—and calm. It’s the reason that birdsong is piped into so many public places! I love birding because of the song—It’s amazing to realize we are getting something for free that reduces our stress and increases our happiness, and all we have to do is stop and listen (Susan Wroble). — That is a great question and I do not know why this obsession versus fishing or knitting? It just happened. It was like switch was tripped one day because of a question I had about that bird. For me now there is life before birding and life with birding (Mary Alice Hayward). — My parents introduced me to both, but birds won out. I’ve also had bird feeders at every home since I was tall enough to refill them. At some point, watching birds stopped being a hobby and simply became part of who I am (Kelly Isley). — There’s something so charming about showing up quietly in nature to admire a bird without disturbing it! (Rhea Alaudra) Photo: Barn Owl, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China

Not Quite the Bocas Trip I Had Planned

Fitzroy Rampersad — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Bocas del Toro was not quite the trip I had planned. I went hoping to add a few birds to my life list, spend some time photographing Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs and, seeing nesting sea turtles. As it turned out, not all of those went according to plan. The birds came first as usual, though not in the numbers and variety I had been lead to believe. Red-lored Parrot Every morning began with a noisy flock of Red-lored Parrots perched in a tree beside the lodge. They made sure I was awake early enough to go birding, whether I was ready or not. Unlike the alarm on my phone, they did not come with a snooze button. The birding was slower than I had expected. Birds were around, but finding and photographing them required more effort than usual. The cloudy and rainy weather did not help. Still, the trip produced three lifers: A Masked Tityra, Green Ibis and Montezuma Oropendola. Masked Tityra The Masked Tityra was the first of the three. It stayed long enough for a photograph, although not long enough for me to become too confident. It’s behaviour suggested that it was probably nesting in a tall palm tree, but I could not be sure. Montezuma Oropendola I saw several Montezuma Oropendolas during the trip. Their size, long tails and unusual calls made them difficult to overlook. They stayed high in the trees and seemed determined never to sit anywhere useful for a decent photograph. I had hoped to see one in Bocas, so finding quite a few was a welcome surprise. [ Green Ibis This Green Ibis was perched high above me, looking more like the Grim Reaper than an ibis. It remained there watching me for some time, I decided not to ask what it was waiting for and quickly left the area. Other birds included Scarlet-rumped Tanagers, Variable Seedeaters, Hummingbirds and Black-cheeked Woodpeckers. The male Scarlet-rumped Tanager as seen in the feature photo of this post, provided some much-needed colour during a fairly grey week. Variable Seedeater Variable Seedeaters were easier to find, although they did not always make photography easy. They had an irritating habit of sitting behind the one branch I did not need in the photograph. Roadside Hawk, bored by the days birding. Roadside Hawks appeared regularly, usually perched exactly where their name suggested. Even this one seemed to have become bored with the birding. Birds, however, were only part of the reason I had travelled to Bocas del Toro. I had also planned to spend time studying and photographing Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs with a resident biologist. I had seen these frogs before, but this time I wanted to learn more about their behaviour and photograph them properly. The lodge had a resident biologist who specialised in these frogs, which was one of the reasons I chose to stay there. Soon after I arrived, however, I learnt that she had fallen ill and would be unable to conduct the planned sessions. That news was pretty disappointing. Without her knowledge of the area, the frog part of the trip never really got started. I still searched whenever I had the opportunity, but the frogs were not interested in helping. Instead, I kept finding red crabs. They were colourful, cooperative and easy to photograph. They were not what I had travelled to Bocas to see, but after a while I stopped arguing with them. The final part of the trip involved a guided night walk along Bluff Beach, as it was turtle nesting season. Hawksbill Turtle returning to the ocean after nesting on the shore We saw a Hawksbill Turtle, listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, making her way up the beach. It was the first time I had witnessed the complete nesting process. After she had laid her eggs, covered the nest and started back towards the ocean I took a few photographs. Once she was back in the ocean, we erased her tracks so they would not draw attention to the nest. The birding had been slower than expected, and my planned frog sessions had disappeared before they began. But I still returned home with three lifers, although the photographs were less than impressive, and the memory of watching an endangered Hawksbill Turtle nest. As birders we are always, or should always, be concerned with conservation, and on this occasion I felt good about doing a bit for the turtles.