Now let us delve into each individual picture and see who did what right where.

Both images number one and number three were not only of the same species but of the same individual, and were taken less than a second apart.

The two images, of which the second was actually taken first, show a Downy Woodpecker diving off of one tree and then pulling up to land on another.  In addition to Jochen (who, by the way, initially thought the latter picture was a White-breasted Nuthatch), Adam Z managed to get the last picture correct, though, like Nate, he thought the first picture showed a Hairy Woodpecker.  Wren, of course, was just kidding with her guesses, but I think I should admit that no, I did not photograph any extinct species for this quiz, so Ivory-billed Woodpecker and Dusky Seaside Sparrow were not correct guesses.

This leaves us with only the second diabolical flying feeder bird image.  Everyone who guessed managed to get it correct (well, except for Wren, who thought it might be Bachman’s Warbler).

Of course, the bird is a Black-capped Chickadee.  Congrats to Nate who guessed it first and to Adam Z and Jochen who recognized Nate’s genius and stuck with his answer.

Thanks again to those who guessed.  And to those that did not guess, well, I understand your fear of the diabolicalness, but, really, you have nothing to fear…make sure to guess next time!

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Wildlife trade is now a huge business. The widely-quoted report we linked to last month stated that more than 35 million animals were legally exported from [south-east Asia] over the past decade - and that hundreds of millions more could have been taken illegally. Almost half of those traded were seahorses and more than 17 million were reptiles. About 1 million birds and 400,000 mammals were traded, along with 18 million pieces of coral.

I have little faith in CITES, the [generally feeble and trade-friendly] Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, as a conservation body but their figures tend to be reasonably accurate, and it estimates that global wildlife trade generates revenues of around US$6 billion a year and is the world’s third most profitable illicit trade, surpassed only by arms and drug smuggling.

Where birds are concerned the intermediaries in this trade are the bird markets, where protected species are traded openly - and the rarest of the rare are kept in backrooms or bought and sold over the internet.

If you’ve never seen photos of a bird market and have a rather cosy idea of what rows of well looked-after birds displayed in orderly cages might look like, you really ought to have a look at the post on Singapore’s BESG which features an ‘Opportunistic survey of the bird market in Bali, Indonesia’. Far from being anything like the (what might just be termed ‘respectable’, though it’s not a term I’d personally use) pet shops of Europe and North America these are actually desperately cruel, foul-smelling places where recently-captured, shy forest birds cower away from the crush of humans in sh*t encrusted cages that are piled on top of each of other and often left in full sunlight.

Mortality is high and the stress is enormous. And remember it’s to places like these lawless markets that wild-caught birds are being shipped before being flown overseas to those same pet shops in Europe and North America that present the ‘friendly face’ in the trafficking chain (assuming they survive their ‘trip to the market’ of course - up to 80% of tropical birds and reptiles, and 90% of fish, are thought to die during transportation).

Indonesia is just one element of the bird market problem of course. India’s bird markets are notoriously filthy, inhumane places and Thailand is now emerging as a major hub for illegally-traded animals. In that second report I referred to at the top of this page Action Asia reports that “between 2003 and 2005, US$165m-worth of illegally traded wildlife and plants was confiscated in Thailand - including more than 55,000 live animals”. Wildlife protection in Thailand is not at the top of the political agenda: if that much was confiscated, one can only imagine how many birds were traded out of places like Bangkok’s notorious Chatuchak without anyone noticing.

Supporters of the bird markets will often cite ‘culture’ as a defence for them, incidentally: many Asian people like to have a bird in their homes and bird-keeping is a deeply entrenched tradition. Surely, they will say, keeping a few birds is not a problem?

In fact - as these people well know - the problem is enormous and growing all the time, and has long moved away from a low-impact cultural tradition into something else entirely. Chris Shepherd of Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, is widely-quoted as saying that, “There’s lots of forest where there are just no big animals left…there are some forests where you don’t even hear birds.”

Apart from the booming illegal international trade in birds, according to a 2005 report Bird-keeping in Indonesia: conservation impacts, “Birds were found to be urban Indonesia’s most popular pet (kept by 21.8% of survey households) and we conservatively estimate that as many as 2.6 million birds are kept in the five cities sampled…Of bird-keeping households 60.2% kept wild-caught birds…We conclude that bird-keeping in Indonesia is at a scale that warrants a conservation intervention”.

The trade in birds is going on at levels well below the radar of most international conservation organisations, often by poorly educated peddlers who operate without the cover of ‘licences’ or outside the criminal gangs who now run much of the world’s illicit bird trade.

The net result is the same though: millions of birds being bought and sold by traders that neither care for them, understand them, or see them as anything but a cash resource. There are plenty of reports online, and - for example - a typical one one from Dhaka’s ‘Daily Star’ in 2008 quotes one Moktar Hossain, a ‘roaming pet vendor who was seen with cages full of green munias and parrots’ telling the newspaper’s correspondent that he was not aware if his birds were wild or were bred in captivity as he purchased them from another trader, and that “Birds are birds, does it really matter if they are wild or not wild because everyone likes them for what they really are.”

If I was feeling extremely generous I could - perhaps - understand why Mr Hossain thinks like he does. His overview of the world’s bird populations is possibly limited, and his understanding of the part he plays in the emptying of Asia’s forests is probably less important to him than feeding his family. But surely well-read, internet savvy European and North Americans don’t have those excuses? How can we possibly claim to NOT know that Asia’s forests are being emptied of their birds?

Trade only exists where there are customers. And from reports online many of those customers are living in large houses in affluent suburbs throughout the western world. We might think that we’re far removed from the stinking, fetid bird markets of south-east Asia, but if we buy ‘exotic’ birds or don’t discourage our friends and families (wherever they might live) from buying them, we’re very much the end-users in a chain that starts in a forest in Asia and ends up right in our own homes.

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Sad as the gradual decline of the pheasant in New York State might be the loss of this gorgeous non-native species is more than offset by the near-miraculous return and spread of the Wild Turkey, a bird that many thought had gobbled its last in the Empire State.  But I digress.  This post, after all, is supposed to be about the amazingly beautiful and confiding Ring-necked Pheasant that I digiscoped over a five-minute period recently.  I really have nothing more to add other than the picture.  Enjoy!

Isn’t this pheasant pleasant?  I sure thought so…

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Exciting birds seem to be moving into my airspace so I hope to encounter some of them this weekend. Look for me at Owl Woods! Corey will be stalking signs of spring at a local park in Queens. No doubt, he’ll also be visiting the raven’s nest at least once. Charlie is involved in affairs best left unmentioned.

Whatever your plans this weekend, make time to enjoy SkyWatch Friday. Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend!

Clouds wreath a volcanic cone inside Ecuador’s amazing Pululuhua crater

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Tuesday was a bright and sunny day and I convinced Daisy that the best thing to do in the afternoon would be to take Desi for a walk to the purported nest site.  I left my camera home because I doubted there would be anything worth taking pictures of but I did bring my binoculars, you know, just in case.  It was a gorgeous day for a walk and we enjoyed our stroll in the sunshine.  We arrived at the given location and I had just leaned over the stroller to adjust Desi’s hat when Daisy said, “That’s a raven!”

Sure enough, the large black bird flying over was a raven, and, as if to confirm its identity, it uttered some deep, guttural croaks, a sound that crows never make.  A second raven then flew to the nest and landed and stayed put as if it were incubating.  Holy cow, a raven’s nest in Queens!  And my camera was home!

No worries.  Daisy let me out of the house again this morning and, after a detour to Forest Park to fill the feeders I headed back to the nest site where a raven was again on the nest.

But wait, you say, that could be any kind of black bird.  How do we know it is not a crow?  Well, first off, don’t you trust me?  Of course not, and you have every right to be skeptical.  After all, an extraordinary claim, like a raven’s nest in Queens, requires extraordinary evidence.  And, just as I was taking my camera off of my scope to get some wide shots, the second raven flew in making a croaking noise unlike any I had ever heard a raven make before.  Before it even landed the bird on the nest took off and the second raven landed next to the nest.

That image is cropped in an attempt to keep the location of the nest site relatively hidden.  And, of course, I quickly put the camera back on the scope to get better shots of the bird, just to remove any possible doubts as to what species is on the nest.

The bird did some arranging with its beak, almost as if it was maybe turning over eggs (?) but quickly settled in and sat.  It did not leave the spot for the fifteen minutes I stayed and watched.

I can’t wait to see if the nesting is successful: be sure to check back here for updates!

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2009 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds