10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

Osborn, a passionate field biologist who participates to the core of her being three re-introduction projects aimed at saving three very different, endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala)*, and California Condor. She crafts her prose with a visual immediacy that bring you directly into her experience.

California Condor 207

California Condor Falcons California Birds 207

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Starlings, they’ll dutifully explain, are ruthless invasives that have been responsible for the serious declines of several beloved native species, like the Red-headed Woodpecker ( Melanerpes erythrocephalus ) and the Eastern Bluebird ( Sialia sialis ). Good birding and happy drinking! Arrowood Farm Brewery: Starling Brett Farmhouse Ale.

Farming 212

Farming New York Breeding Unwanted 212

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species. As it turned out, these were not the only bad photos to help me flesh out my 2022 year list that day (species 201-211, on February 12th). But previous experience with Ejido Triquillo taught me that another species might turn up during the spring.

Mexico 207

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 207

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.” Very little is known about this enigmatic species.

South America 202

South America San Diego Mexico America 202

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them. Then, I learned that over 400 species of birds have been identified in and around these islands. With a bit of luck the Texas Gulf just might have several of our favorite hummingbird species. Maybe I’ll see you there!

Texas 199

Texas North America Alaska America 199

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In this first installment, I will focus on my impressions and experiences in the highlands portion of our tour. Before finally connecting to the South American continent about three million years ago, Central America consisted of a series of volcanic islands. the species suffering most from deforestation).

Honduras 238

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 238

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

The Durango Highway is arguably one of North America’s great birding roads due to the great variety of habitats, the spectacular mountain scenery of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the numerous Mexican endemics one can target. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains.

Mexico 213

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 213

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

A nice bird for sure, a bird with an evocative name and one that would be a lifer for many birders from North America, but not the bird we had hoped it to be. Pelagic waters being a sort of unexplored unique goldmine with potential to produce sea wanderers from far and away, some of those other birds could also be rare species.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

How to Know the Birds talks about 200 commonly found birds in North America (including one extinct bird, the Passenger Pigeon) in 200 brief essays, each exactly one page long. Each essay is entitled with the “big idea,” subtitled with the name of the bird species (common name and scientific name), and numbered.

Birds 116

Birds North America Breeding America 116

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. It is the first bird field guide to every country of Central America (plus the islands governed by those countries).

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

One of my favorite things about Central America are the bird feeders. They are species that breed in the US and then spend the winter in Central and South America, eating what’s avialable–especially fruit. Fruit is something that migratory birds could eat and worth trying in your yard in North America.

Nigeria 252

Nigeria Birds Belize South America 252

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2015

Conversely, parts of the world that have traditionally been quite dry may experience more rainfall. That said, there are many species we should be extremely concerned about. Here’s a peek at what our avifauna, here in North America, may be in for… Yes, I am aware this isn’t a bird…but hear me out.

North America 239

North America Birds San Francisco Suffering 239

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

Audubon Associate Naturalist, have led this tour many times, through tornados, droughts, questionable restaurants, and, sadly, the advent of fracking, and every one of my friends who has participated over the years has raved about the experience and the birds (in fact, one member of our group was on his third or fourth trip, I lost count).

North Dakota 158

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 158

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2011

Anyone who has gone bird watching in North America, however, knows another kind of phoebe, a bold little genus that turns up with remarkable frequency from the arctic circle to the equator. In fact, this is one species that seems to thrive in the face of rampant development. with its eastern cousin. with its eastern cousin.

Argentina 237

Argentina United States North America America 237

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2014

For one, they are remarkably diverse with a little over 380 species spread over every continent except Europe (only introduced) and Antarctica. Brazil, in particular, is the country with the largest number of parrot species in the world with approximately 84 species. Parrots captivate me more than any other bird family.

Parrots 170

Parrots Brazil Mauritius Dominica 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Storks are typically viewed as wetland species and whilst some storks are restricted to aquatic habitats, others are not. Like the Adjutants in Asia and Jabiru of the Americas, the Marabou is our bare-headed scavenging stork.

Africa 249

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 249

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

What species is shown? Though wood-warblers, the mostly brightly colored birds of the family Parulidae, are only found in the New World we felt that birders the world over would be pleased to see a plethora of posts about these striking and sought after species. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

United States 156

United States South America 2011 2012 156

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2015

But, I did take many photos, and used the book, in spurts during the trip and more closely afterward, to identify three seabird species, two expected (Sooty and Black-vented Shearwaters) and one a surprise. It does not include near-shore, coastal species, like Brown Pelican, Elegant Tern, and Harbor Seal.

Dolphins 162

Dolphins Whales Whaling Porpoises 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2011

We will have posts on a variety of individual species of wood-warblers, wood-warbler taxonomy, searches for difficult-to-find wood-warblers, and a host of other topics. Many other non-migratory wood-warbler species are living their lives across the neotropics, doing their best to survive and pass on their genes.

United States 200

United States South America Cooking Family 200

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

The sighting was easily the best I have ever had of the species, and it was in and out of view for about twenty minutes, foraging in small circuits but always coming back to the stand of thick brush where I had first spotted it. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

Tigers 160

Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 160

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. And a mere 120 bird species would be a good reason not to take Polynesia as an option. So, the perfect country to move to needs to have at least twice as many species as Serbia.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2014

The featured image above shows a female incubating eggs from my first resident breeding pair back in 2007. Violet-green Swallows will nest solitarily or in colonies and in my experience seem much more mellow than other swallow species. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. Click on photos for full sized images.

Eggs 166

Eggs North America 2007 Woodpeckers 166

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2016

All species are from the ABA area, and all groups must meet at least one of these criteria: (1) the group “represented a good opportunity to build core birding skills,” (2) the authors thought it was a group that needed “a refreshed treatment,” (3) the authors were intrigued by the group and wanted to present it using their unique format.

Birds 190

Birds Groups 2015 North America 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

The dichotomous republic of Trinidad and Tobago may be something of a cipher to anyone unfamiliar with the point where the Caribbean ends and South America begins. And then there are the birds… Green-backed or Amazonian White-tailed Trogon Asa Wright Nature Centre is most renowned for its resident breeding colony of unearthly Oilbirds.

Trinidad 250

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 250

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2015

That’s how important the lifer experience is and I suspect most other birders who started out young feel the same. Costa Rica has more than 900 birds on the country list but the small size of the territory and easy access to good habitat eventually results in sightings of most resident species. My lifer Arctic Tern !

Costa Rica 150

Costa Rica Birds Pennsylvania North America 150

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Most of these birds are small, finch-like species with thick, conical bills for cracking seeds or eating insects. Odd little grassquits singing from power lines in South America’s great cities. ” For these reasons, it is perhaps no surprise that bird bills have played a prominent role in their classification. (PDF:

2003 235

2003 Sparrows Family South America 235

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY. I also blogged about that dreamy day.

2014 209

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 209

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

That summer of 1938, when he was ten years old, Cade read of two brothers, Frank and John Craighead, who wrote of their experiences with falcons in National Geographic. ” By 1970 the man who championed Peregrines had convinced Cornell University to build a Hawk Barn for captive breeding of these birds.

Falcons 202

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 202

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Experiments in the field (the famed Asa Wright Nature Center veranda) involving Bananaquits and bananas came up with numbers ranging from 7 to 16, but a tanager always came along to interfere with Bananaquits’ noisy appreciation of their namesake fruit. Even during the breeding season the birds appear to be quite unwary of humans.

Trinidad 218

Trinidad Birds South America Research 218

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 221

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 221

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

The park is home to not one, not two, but large three colonies of breeding seabirds: the Brown Noddy , Magnificent Frigatebird , and Sooty Tern. No, that was not a typo, the Sooty Terns fly non-stop for an average of five years before they return to the Dry Tortugas to breed. Lots and lots of birds. Each took merely a minute or two.

Birds 194

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 194

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

Getting to know the subtleties in differences between closely related species takes years of dedication and practice. Thirdly, many species of shorebirds display such vast differences in their summer and winter plumages that it is always interesting to note how some birds in the same flock are in contrasting stages of plumage.

Florida 213

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 213

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2023

What are the best field guides for birds in North America? Birders often venture into various habitats, such as forests, wetlands, grasslands, or coastal areas, to encounter different bird species. The primary objective of birding is to identify bird species based on their physical characteristics, behavior, and vocalizations.

United States 147

United States North America Birds America 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

A lovely looking and distinctive sounding bird (so they say, I sadly have not seen one…yet), the Kirtland’s Warbler can only be found during its breeding season in Jack Pine forests 5 to 20 years old in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list.

Michigan 250

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 250

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

Over 3,200 photographs have been used, most showing species in their habitats. There is also text, distribution maps, a dark red bar “warning” about similar looking rare species, and conservation symbols. plus a chapter on “Vagrant landbirds from North America.” The design focuses attention on the photographs.

Ireland 160

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2018

He brings to this book an academic background in biology and horticulture and, more importantly, decades of experience developing strategies for the best backyard bird feeding practices. There is also a major section on 180 bird species that is 123 pages long, about 1/3 of the book. The latter appear to be suburban apartments.

Birds 187

Birds New York City Squirrels New York 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Gannets and Boobies (Sulidae) Black-and-white gannets breed on the cold, rocky coasts of the northern and southern oceans.

2011 159

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 159