10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.” But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. The full-length species accounts are not repeated.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. I’m wondering as I write if you are shaking your head, uneasy that all these FACTS will interfere with your love of observing owls, an experience that easily borders on the mystical for some of us. But what do we know beyond these commonly seen and heard behaviors?

Owls 220

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 220

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2019

Getting to actually see four species, in the last two weeks, and to hear two more is almost unheard of in my experience. Last week, a good friend, Dan Weisz gave me a tip on the location of a family of Burrowing Owls that were extremely easy to access. It all started in getting to photograph the Northern Pygmy-owls in Madera Canyon.

Owls 157

Owls Arizona Tucson South Africa 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

So, it sometimes comes to South Africa to relax and enjoy relative anonymity. While hoopoes are in their own family, DNA studies suggest that the hoopoe diverged from hornbills, and the wood-hoopoes and scimitarbills from the hoopoe. Of course, the second explanation makes a lot more sense. USD) net profit per month.”

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Penguins are also bellweathers of climate change; dwellers of remote areas you’ve (probably) never heard of; creatures who have developed unique, innovative ways of adapting to the harsh environments where they breed and rear chicks and the water environments in which they feed and swim.

Penguins 205

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 205

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 271

Sierra Leone Ghana Cameroon Equatorial Guinea 271

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

The Kerkini Lake National Park is my favourite birding area in the whole of the Balkans and while I’ve been here in April and again (migration), September (migration), October (coffee break), December and January (wintering), this was my first time in the breeding season, in May. But nowadays, they, too, breed here, about 20 pairs this year.

Greece 198

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 198

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

I don’t think I’ve ever done a post on my home patch of Cape Town, South Africa. So much so that the two species are placed within their own family, Chaetopidae. Breeding groups typically occupy territories of around 8 hectares and consist of a breeding pair and one or two helpers.

South Africa 248

South Africa Penguins Birds Africa 248

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

I had spent several holidays with my family in the USA in the 1980′s and then worked in Maine during the summer of 1985-beware the poison ivy and the snapping turtles! We have never been to South Africa, but it is a lovely book to look at and dream! Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

South Africa 159

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

Growing up within an hour of one of the world’s premier shorebird destinations -- West Coast National Park in South Africa -- helped for sure. Filming the plovers of Estero Lagoon Plovers are a significant part of the shorebird family, comprising 66 species worldwide. Firstly, shorebirds present a significant ID challenge.

Florida 196

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. That larger clade is in turn sister to a clade containing the four remaining totipalmate bird families, which do still seem to be related, and which needed a new order name once pelicans were removed.

2011 154

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 154

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

Hornbills are spectacular under any circumstances, but when a pair lands in a bush beside you at eye-level and begin mutual preening , it makes for a spectacular experience. I was attending the 3rd Global Bird-watching Conference in Gujarat and suddenly surrounded not just be species that were completely new, but entire families of birds.

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

It was a heart-pounding scene straight out of Jurassic Park, an odd experience for a laid-back pursuit like birding. Secretive, silent and undetectable outside of its breeding season, found only in the U.S. I wrote about the experience here. Adam Riley chose a bird that is near and dear to Mike Bergin’s heart.

2012 153

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 153

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

The book is produced by WILDGuides, Ltd, the excellent book company responsible for over a dozen photographic guides on Britain’s natural life ranging from dragonflies to plant galls as well as books on Africa, Australia and other areas we all want to visit, and was published this summer by Princeton University Press.

Ireland 148

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 148