Anyone who has browsed around our site has probably noticed the bright badges promoting Bird Top 100 and Fatbirder 500. These sites, called toplists or topsites, are designed to rank members based on pageviews or other metrics. The badges themselves record site stats for the toplists while at the same time advertising them to new readers and prospective members. Rather elegant, really.

10,000 Birds does receive readers daily from these toplists, although not very many. Still, I took notice when Bird Top 100 was down for a few weeks and missed the 1 or 2 international visitors that came through every day. Rather than drink myself into a stupor like I usually do when dealing with blog frustration, I wondered if I might be able to construct my own toplist, one that might better serve sites like mine. You see, other birding toplists put blogs together with forums, static resource sites, merchant sites, photography sites, and even pet bird sites. Blogs are special. We deserve our own toplist, don’t we? And ours shouldn’t isolate birding blogs from our natural (pardon the pun) allies exploring topics like invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, flora, fungus, and ecosystems of every kind, right? That’s right…

Nature Blog NetworkNature Blog Network

Presenting the Nature Blog Network, the toplist for the nature blog community. A site like this has the potential to be a phenomenal resource for readers and publishers alike in identifying the very best nature blogs on the net. If you write about birds, bugs, plants, herps, hiking, mollusks, mushrooms, ecosystems, or any other natural topic, adding your blog to this toplist is the perfect way to reach new readers interested in exactly what you have to offer. As a bonus, you’ll get to see where your site falls amongst those of your respected peers. And, in true blogging fashion, it’s FREE!

A network is only as good, in terms of both quality and representation, as its members. We already know how superb nature blogs are as a rule so what I’m counting on is an outstanding turnout. Please check out the new Nature Blog Network, browse the other members, heck… click on the ads if you’d like. But if you have a blog that touches on any aspect of nature, don’t leave until you join. Also, be sure to let me know what you think. Oh, one last thing… please tell your friends!

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.