10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

Ackerman’s new book is about owls and owl research–the knowledge recently and currently being discovered through DNA analysis, new-tech tracking and monitoring, and old-fashioned fieldwork under the auspices of organizations like the Global Owl Project and the Owl Research Institute.

Owls 209

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 209

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Here are ten titles (it could have been more) selected for their uniqueness, excellence in writing and research, and giftability. Lees and Gilroy delineate vagrancy status and trends for every bird family worldwide, highlighting examples, synthesizing research, and framing it all with their own thoughts and conclusions.

Sri Lanka 225

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

That was a wild cat, a wild Wildcat, the cat that lives in the wild because that is where it is from and where it belongs, at the southern end of its pan-African range that extended at one time well into Europe and Asia. Also, feral Cats on islands seem to be a serious problem, causing the extirpation of some indigenous species.

Feral Cats 254

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 254

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2014

Big news about a small bird broke earlier this month when bird researchers from several nations announced that the species formerly known as Spotted Wren-Babbler ( Spelaeornis formosus ) — a tiny, secretive bird of montane forests from the eastern Himalayas to southeast China — is not a Spelaeornis wren-babbler at all.

Family 269

Family Comoros Asia Birds 269

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2023

Which made the rest of the trip a bit of a waiting period for contracting covid … Apparently, the Large Niltava is Asia’s largest flycatcher. Even in China’s slightly more remote provinces, one is never far away from species with treacherously pornographic names such as Japanese Tit. End of side note).

China 147

China Hunting Birds illegal 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

He also believes that we are living in an era of incredible scientific research, one in which new genetic technology and findings from diverse scientific disciplines have turned assumptions upside down, opened up new lines of thought, and provided answers, or at least probable answers, to many of our questions about why birds do the things they do.

Science 213

Science Albatross Research Birds 213

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. So, writing a post about them is easy.

Woodpeckers 230

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 230

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

For birders, the Wolongshan area is like a poorer cousin of Balangshan – due to the lower elevation, the bird species here are more common and thus less interesting. Some Chinese Babax waste part of their lives feeding chicks of Large Hawk Cuckoos, which parasitize the babax species.

Hamburgers 207

Hamburgers Birds Science China 207

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds. Is all that material on Selkirk needed?

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

In its natural old-world range, the House Sparrow offers an interesting identification challenge and has vagrant potential since it is a polytypic species with a highly complex taxonomy. The genus Passer has several well-recognized and recognizable species in Europe, and still holds several enigmas.

Sparrows 215

Sparrows Italy Asia Austria 215

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2023

The Ashy Tailorbird is a good example of the different perspectives of describing a bird – while the English name focuses on the body of the bird, the Latin species name ruficeps refers to the rufous head. The split makes the bird one of the six species endemic to Sabah, Borneo ( source ), four of which I saw during my week at Sepilok.

Woodpeckers 207

Woodpeckers Birds Eggs India 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2023

Anyway, in case you are still reading, the main attraction at this hide is Lady Amherst’s Pheasant, which perversely is not featured in this post (it is treated in a separate one, thus grudgingly acknowledging the almost disgusting flamboyance of that species). This species tends to use plenty of hair gel to get the perfect wet look.

Birds 147

Birds Mammals St. Louis Monkeys 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

But first, not thinking of proper research, I made no difference between questions, nor were the mentioned destinations really visited or only dreamed about. Yet, the fact that tiny Panama is as popular as huge Brazil, with twice as many bird species, speaks volume for Brazil’s stage of ecotourism development. 8%: Brazil, Panama.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

For this reason, the species is evaluated as Vulnerable.” The Rufous-tailed Robin used to be called Swinhoe’s Robin but apparently, somebody decided that there were already too many bird species (6, according to the HBW) named after him. The Eurasian Hobby was another notable raptor of the month.

Birds 196

Birds China Eggs Owls 196

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2019

Perhaps you don’t know it yet, but with more than 1000 bird species, palm-fringed sandy beaches, developed tourism infrastructure, moderate prices and political stability, Thailand is a country you definitively want to visit. Among them are 20 endemics and near-endemics, and 58 vagrant species. And what do you need to pack?

Thailand 188

Thailand Zambia Birds Asia 188

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2016

The species, which migrates from the Russian Arctic to Southeast Asia, is down to about 200 breeding pairs in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching. First, wildlife officials in Louisiana announced the first successful wild Whooping Crane nest in that state since 1939. Now, it’s Spoon-billed Sandpipers’ turn.

Eggs 190

Eggs Louisiana Breeding Asia 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2022

In addition, it has over 450 bird species and more than 30 in-country endemics, of which it is possible to see every single species! In the Natural history chapter, Briggs says: “Sri Lanka is one of Asia’s most rewarding birdwatching destinations. Where to look for the birds?

Sri Lanka 147

Sri Lanka Ghana Uganda Eagles 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2022

In Europe, most of them winter south of the Sahara but an increasing share winters north of it – which sounds like an interesting research topic for people who, ahem, find such topics interesting. It is rumored that one of the researchers later became a software developer. No need to remind us all the time.

Cattle 147

Cattle Portugal Buffalo Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Just last year, 5 new bird species and 5 new subspecies were discovered in a few short weeks of fieldwork on the islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka. In recent years Indonesia has been competing with the Andes as the region giving rise to the biggest number of undescribed bird species (naturally, all of them endemics).

Indonesia 264

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

These bark-burrowing beetles, which apparently hitched a ride in cargo shipments from their native Asia, have been starving the ash trees of eastern and midwestern North America to death for a dozen years now. … Here at 10,000 Birds 20 July – 26 July is Invasive Species Week.

Woodpeckers 273

Woodpeckers Illinois Science Chicago 273

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2020

The speaker turned out to be Tim Laman, and the topic was the incredible research he and Ed Scholes had spent years doing on birds of paradise in New Guinea. The introductory material is organized and written clearly, giving both background on the bird families and an explanation of how species-level is organized in the next two sections.

Guinea 262

Guinea Birds Papua New Guinea Family 262

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

I saw two Pitta species at Hongbenghe, both among the slightly less glamourous among the pitta family: The Blue-naped Pitta … … and the closely related Rusty-naped Pitta. It seems that this is another species for which the standard phrase of scientists anywhere, “more research needed”, applies.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2015

For a long time it was treated as a subspecies of the ubiquitous Black Kite, a species of scavenging bird of prey much hated by my grandfather (they used to steal food from troops during the war, if memory serves). A valuable lesson in looking twice at the ubiquitous species. And as you can see, they are pretty good looking too.

South Africa 160

South Africa Africa Botswana Wolves 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2021

These characteristics (well, not the pagoda, I guess) make it an interesting location for birdwatching in Shanghai, with some species that are difficult to find elsewhere. Presumably, the species is not too proud of its crest (HBW: “short, pointed crest usually depressed and not visible”). I swear it wasn’t me.

China 160

China Hawaii Asia Hunting 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2022

Not bad given that the 5 families in the inner circle of the laughingthrush family have a combined number of about 68 species. ” Fortunately, most of these researchers could be taken off their antidepressants after proper sound recording was invented. 36, if my counting is right and there has been no very recent split or lump.

San Diego 205

San Diego Malaysia China Zoos 205

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong. The paper is by leading researchers F. Keith Barker, Kevin J.

Sparrows 251

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 251

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2024

Not only is the book reproduction cleaner and the colors brighter, it is slightly cropped so that the bird jumps off the page at you, but also cropping out the species name. As I said before, the book plates utilize the species names used in the original books and drawings.

Australia 186

Australia Birds Europe Collecting 186

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Admittedly, I might be tempted to compare Temminck’s, Buettikofer’s, Horsfield’s, Abbott’s, or Vanderbilt’s Babblers to Audubon’s, Townsend’s, Kirtland’s and MacGillivray’s Warblers by pointing out that dull scientists went to Asia while more colourful personalities went West.

Vietnam 159

Vietnam Timor Myanmar Asia 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2015

Recent research however has shown it to be more closely linked to Ardea -herons. 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. Just so you know.

Asia 178

Asia Europe Germany Breeding 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2019

With 600+ bird species and a two-week trip with possibly a 250 species-list (the best sites are in the northwest and west of the country), my answer is a definitive “yes”. 600 distribution maps, the “Birds of Cambodia” covers 629 species recorded in the country to date. A holiday in Cambodia? In 1400 illustrations and c.

Cambodia 148

Cambodia Birds 2001 Groups 148

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2021

Here are some of the questions that were running through my mind as I read Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl : (a) Is ornithological research always this dangerous? (b) He wanted to do research that would have a conservation impact. Slaght provides funding from research grants.

Owls 134

Owls Russia Fish Research 134

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2018

So many species that change eye color or leg color as they age. Gulls of the World: A Photographic Field Guide is a successor, or companion, as the author terms it, to Klaus Malling Olsen’s classic guide, Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America (Helm, 2004*). So many birds of white and gray touched with black.

2004 149

2004 North America America Europe 149

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 used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2022

and in Asia, and his photos and articles have been published in many publications, including Birding and Birdwatcher’s Digest. Yellow-breasted Chat and Olive Warbler are listed in a section on “Similar Non-warbler Species”, but are given similar descriptive coverage as the “true” warblers, though not as extensive. But, then, aha!

United States 213

United States North America Species 2013 213

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago covers 1,417 species, 601 endemics, 98 vagrants, 8 introduced and 18 undescribed species. The archipelago consists of 17,000 islands stretching out over 2500 miles along the Equator with a varied history of avian research and study, most on the under- or not-studied side. Co-author Frank E.

Indonesia 125

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 125

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

There is much to enjoy and appreciate here and I only wish I could have tested out some of these species accounts in pelagic waters before writing about them (sadly, the 10,000 Birds pelagic to Antarctica was canceled this year). SCOPE & SPECIES ORGANIZATION. It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Groups Family 279

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Starting in the mid-1990s, there was a “where to watch birds in…” series of five site guides written by Nigel Wheatley and covering South America (1994), Africa (1995), Asia (1996), Europe & Russia (2000) and Central America & the Caribbean (2001). Species accounts for all 2,792 bird species. Well, I have to agree.

Africa 169

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 169