10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2015

You see, the Great (White) Heron/Egret is a polytypic species with four subspecies: alba in Europe, egretta in the Americas, melanorhynchos in Africa, and modesta in Asia and Oceania. But we’re far from done with the confusion. The data for splitting off modesta is pretty compelling, but the rest are still in limbo.

Asia 180

Asia Europe Germany Breeding 180

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I live in the southeast of Europe, for a while lived in the south of Africa and also have extensively birded western and central India. Which leaves only East Africa. South Africa (755 / 842).

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2012

Sadly, I have never seen a Red-throated Wryneck , which is only to be expected for a bird found only in sub-Saharan Africa, considering that I have not yet set foot on that continent. Eurasian Wrynecks are found breeding across the temperate zones of Europe and Asia.

Hungary 173

Hungary Asia Woodpeckers Africa 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2011

The Black Stork ( Ciconia nigra ) has a very wide distribution in the Old World, ranging from Spain (an isolated population) and northern France through central and eastern Europe all across northern and central Asia to the Pacific coast of Russia and China.

Germany 151

Germany Asia China Russia 151

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2013

Purple Herons Ardea purpurea are an old world element of the Ardeidae and range widely throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of Europe and central Asia. Within Europe, they are mostly found in the South (around the Mediterranean), and the East.

Germany 154

Germany Asia Europe Africa 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2012

Great Reed Warblers breed across huge chunks of Europe and Asia and winter across large swaths of southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. If that makes any sense at all.)

Hungary 160

Hungary Asia Europe Africa 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

The Rose-ringed Parakeet naturally occurs in two isolated areas: a thin strip across Africa just south of the Sahara, and south Asia where it is mostly found in India with smaller ranges in adjacent countries. and the White Storks are also wild and countable despite breeding at the zoo.

Germany 246

Germany Netherlands Zoos Geese 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

Sure, this is normal occurrence across much of Europe and southwest Asia but this particular tale comes from out on the east end of New York’s Long Island, in the town of Medford, where this happened to an unsuspecting non-birder, Celeste Rovner. That’s a lot more fun than a bird that sneaked out of the zoo, isn’t it?

New York 167

New York Hungary Zoos Asia 167

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

It breeds in a broad and not quite coherent band from Iceland in the west through central Europe and southern Scandinavia all the way to eastern Russia, wintering in Africa, parts of India, and Southeast Asia to Australia.

Germany 176

Germany Russia Iceland India 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

The Cattle Egret is native to Africa, where it is a familiar sight among herds of large mammals. In the east, this species can be found along the east coast of Africa, the Nile Valley,and into parts of the middle east and India and southeast Asia. There are two main subspecies, the nominate B. ibis and the eastern B.

Cattle 170

Cattle South Korea Suriname Seychelles 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers. This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. Carmine bee-eaters occur throughout most of Subsaharan Africa, and many populations migrate widely post breeding.

Africa 264

Africa South Africa Gabon Uganda 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2012

The family Picathartidae consists of two very unusual birds; White-necked or Yellow-headed Picathartes , endemic to the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa; and Gray-necked or Red-headed , restricted to Lower Guinea forests of Central Africa. They are also believed to be related to the Rail-Babbler of Tropical Asia.

Sierra Leone 269

Sierra Leone Ghana Cameroon Equatorial Guinea 269

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

I got to see a beautiful female and owlet on a trip to a secret nest location near Howard Prairie Lake (human-made nest structures have enhanced local breeding for these huge owls whose nest success is boosted to 83% on artificial platforms vs. 66% at natural sites). I also blogged about that dreamy day. Travel is good for the birding soul.

2014 190

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 190

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Come September most of the summer seabird people had left, but there were a small number of seabirds still breeding and so I stayed behind for three years to continue their monitoring and do the migrant landbird surveys, as well as the Great White Shark surveys. It was astonishing, like a game drive in the savannah of Africa.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

The Hoopoe Lark has only just recently been found to be breeding on the island of Sal, but just on the outskirts of the southernmost town of Santa Maria, it has found the perfect environment in the Dunas de Santa Maria. Alaemon alaudipes boavistae is considered to be the westernmost extreme of the cline that runs extends as far as Asia.

Cape Verde 160

Cape Verde Pakistan Afghanistan Senegal 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2013

If you are a migratory bird in Europe and western Asia, this is your sweet spot. It all seems like such a charmed life … until you have to fly down to Africa for the winter. The population of Millerbirds on Laysan has doubled , and breeding seems to be going well.

Cambodia 143

Cambodia Slaughter Slaughtered Cyprus 143

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2012

In India and Southeast Asia, White-breasted Waterhens produce gangly, vacant-eyed horrors that would do well as a prop in any of the darker Harry Potter films. It is a universally acknowledged truth that anything that comes from Africa, anything, has an intrinsic beauty that transcends mere superficial appearance.

India 171

India Asia Africa Mexico 171

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

Despite filling very similar garbage disposal related niches, the vultures in North America and the vultures in Eurasia/Africa are really not that closely related. In the 70s, with the survival of the species in jeopardy, the entire wild population was captured and brought into a captive breeding program in southern California.

California Condor 183

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 183

Animal Person

MARCH 27, 2009

Henican writes: The truth of the matter, of course, is that most city kids will never have the chance to visit the wilds of Africa and Asia, assuming there are any wilds left in the decades to come. And without their well-run breeding programs, many exotic species really could soon disappear from Earth for good.

Circus Animals 100

Circus Animals New York City Elephants Zoos 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

With a trip to South Africa on the horizon at the time, I thought I could handle it. Kinabalu (at 13,455 feet the highest peak in southeast Asia), and human development that has resulted in freshwater rice fields, secondary forest, and oil palm plantations, this means that Borneo offers an incredibly high degree of biodiversity.

Brunei 175

Brunei Birds Asia China 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2016

Its a Eurasian bird, migrating from Africa and south Asia every spring. But before we get into the search I’d like to touch briefly on the bird itself. I’d only ever seen Garganey once before, way back in 2009 in Kazakhstan. We asked and word was the bird was seen.

New York 100

New York Bald Eagle New York City Kazakhstan 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

This shearwater is a Mediterranean endemic, breeding from Sardinia and Corsica to the Adriatic and the Aegean. I asked if the butterfly stood a chance of returning to the shore, to find out that it is a long range migrant, braving the winds of the North Atlantic while traveling all the way from Africa to Iceland!

Greece 236

Greece Malta Croatia Birds 236

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2011

reduce traffic casualties amongst Badgers , get the White-tailed Eagle back as a breeding bird, increase the number of protected plant species etc.). Any plans for further afield (USA, Asia, Africa)? so far you have focussed on European nature.

Badgers 145

Badgers Ethics Africa Spain 145

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa). While the species is listed as Least Concern, there are some papers suggesting it may not be as common as assumed, at least in South Africa. Ostriches originated in Asia.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Ringer Gannets and Boobies (Sulidae) Black-and-white gannets breed on the cold, rocky coasts of the northern and southern oceans. They can soar for hours, or plunge and twist after another bird with spectacular power and flair.

2011 153

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 153

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

There are a lot of other large Galliforme birds around the world, and before the Spanish were busy conquering the New World, one of these, from Central Asia most likely, was already being imported as a food product and as live birds into Europe. This is where they got their name.

Turkey 204

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 204

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2020

For example, I have birded 4 continents, Europe, Southern Africa, South Asia and Central America and have seen 200-300 species in every region, yet, due to overlapping, they do not even sum up to a 10% of all bird species! And there may be two thousand and quite possibly fewer birders who fit the aforementioned positions.

Family 294

Family Birds South America Breeding 294

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2013

However Africa has more long tailed species than any other region, and this blog post celebrates a few of these fabulous birds. Africa’s impressive Long-tailed Widowbird by Adam Riley. A male Long-tailed Widowbird in heavy flapping display flight low over the grassland in South Africa by Adam Riley. Widowbirds.

Papua New Guinea 241

Papua New Guinea South Africa Africa Zimbabwe 241

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

What the Owl Knows is organized into nine chapters: introduction, adaptation (including vision and flight), research and researchers, vocalization, courtship and breeding, roosting and migration, cognition, and two chapters on owls and humans–captive owls (not zoos, educational owls) and owls in our cultural history.

Owls 214

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 16, 2018

The subspecies of Peregrine Falcon that we believe to be visiting Broome would normally breed in the Eurasian Arctic and migrate to South Asia and Africa. It is quite probable that Falco peregrinus calidus visits Australia more often that is observed due to the observations often being brief and fast.

Falcons 113

Falcons Australia 2016 Investigation 113

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2015

I was still telling the truth when I mentioned the four subspecies, species, taxa, forms, you name it, of the Great Egret: modesta (Asia), alba (Europe, Asia), egretta (Americas) and melanorhynchos (Africa). alba : yellow in non-breeding season (usually less bright than egretta ), entirely black in breeding season.

North America 171

North America Europe America Asia 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

Oriental Pied Hornbills are common enough and probably the most likely hornbill to be seen in many parts of SE Asia, but seeing them at such close quarters and seemingly so relaxed is unusual. Oriental Pied Hornbills by Redgannet. Though Clare K. no longer regularly blogs here on 10,000 Birds he shared his Best Bird of the Year anyway!

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2020

Being a European birder, I find it particularly interesting to discover which of “my birds” extend their ranges through Asia all the way into this Pacific island country, and it is especially fascinating to see the diversity of stilts, woodcocks and snipes as one goes further east. What I don’t like?

Japan 226

Japan Asia Birds 2000 226

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2019

Since Craig Robson’s “Birds of Thailand” (2002) is taxonomically outdated, the choice was Robson’s “Birds of South-East Asia” (the updated second, 2014 edition of the 2001 classic). Yet, if you already have Robson’s “Birds of South-East Asia” – taxonomy aside, do you need this book? Or tertiary. Or who cares. Yes, you do.

Thailand 191

Thailand Zambia Birds Asia 191

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

They also migrate to and from the High Arctic, crossing the Atlantic to Europe, but they keep going, down across the Mediterranean into Africa. This tiny passerine winters in Africa, places like Tanzania, Nigeria, Somalia. Birds Africa Arctic Canada migration Northern Wheatear' From the Tundra to the African Steppes.

Africa 198

Africa Somalia North America Nigeria 198

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2013

There is a Linnet at Kissena Corridor Park in Queens, and though I bird this park regularly, the Linnet, a bird regularly found in Europe, Asia, and North Africa and also named in a sweet song by Stephen Sondheim (Green Finch and Linnet Bird from Sweeny Todd) has eluded me. I needed a book showing a Linnet. I studied it.

Ireland 171

Ireland 2013 Breeders Ducks 171