10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2024

With only a few exceptions, the core of the distribution of most steppe birds lies in Spain so the southeastern part of Portugal is the better area to visit. So why go to Portugal if Spain has the same birds? By the way, José took all bird photos for this post – obrigado Zé! The Alentejanos will do the rest.

Portugal 171

Portugal Pigs Spain Eagles 171

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2023

Dave Gosney’s Finding Birds Series covers mostly the Western Palearctic and describes birding in various regions of Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, etc., Based on a visit in spring 2014, this guide updates the previous Finding Birds in Greece.

Greece 216

Greece Bulgaria Macedonia Gambia 216

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2024

These big soaring birds avoid long sea crossings but even the 14 km of Strait of Gibraltar can be demanding. I have been following the local gulls with GPS tags and they spend most of their time in rubbish tips in Spain and Morocco. Having made it across the desert, they then travelled northwards towards the Strait of Gibraltar.

Morocco 189

Morocco Pandas Falcons Spain 189

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Fortunately, I share this preference with birds, which we found away from the lake, mostly in some semi-desert areas. “ Not the bird’s fault, I guess. Possibly my favorite bird on the whole Qinghai trip was this Mongolian Ground Jay – thanks a lot to Bella from Alpinebirding for finding it.

China 260

China Birds Austria ALA 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

If you’ve birded in Spain, possibly more than once, and are considering another Mediterranean country to quench your thirst, look to the east. Steve Dudley, a bird guide and author of the Lesvos birding guide, once told me: “Greece is THE premier birding location in Europe for me [and for yours truly as well].

Greece 268

Greece Spain India Europe 268

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2024

The days are longer and warmer, flowers fill the meadows, and the birds are back. True, most of our migrant breeding birds start to return in April, but in May even the late arrivals – Turtle Doves, Swifts, Spotted Flycatchers and Nightjars – finally appear. I haven’t seen a Nightjar, either, but I have heard several.

Greece 182

Greece Turtles Breeding Europe 182

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2024

I’ve been a regular visitor to the island of Cyprus for over 25 years, making around a dozen trips during this period, every one in search of birds. I made my most recent visit earlier this month, arriving with my three birding companions, Martin, Mike and Chris, on a warm spring evening.

Cyprus 235

Cyprus Breeders Falcons Hunters 235

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

But here is the truly tragic part: I was not birding during those years! These goods, purchased with Mexican silver, would then be transported overland through Mexico City, and shipped from Veracruz to Spain. These turkey-sized birds, named for their raucous calls, can muster an impressive level of volume.

Birds 169

Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 169

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2024

Curlews are birds of serious conservation concern in the UK, with numbers falling sharply this century. Curlews are long-lived birds, so their decline is not always apparent, with pairs returning annually to their favoured nesting area, despite not having fledged any chicks for years. Males have noticeably shorter beaks.)

Fox 219

Fox Finland Badgers Eggs 219

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

It was apparently all the way back in 2012, when I was first getting back into birding after a 30 year hiatus, that I took a sad little picture, with my sad little camera, of a cute little bird that seemed to not show up anywhere at all in my field guide. My birding buddies from the forum/chat include quite a few more biologists.

Birds 177

Birds Mexico California Spain 177

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2020

The annual parade of birds is happening and the feathered participants are dressed in their best breeding suits. Now is when we can venture into the closest park and see birds of the deep woods, species that breed far from town. It’s a living festival and for the birds, 2020 is no different. Spring migration!

Costa Rica 230

Costa Rica 2020 Spain Panama 230

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

Most serious bird photographers dislike taking pictures of birds wearing rings (or what on the other side of the Atlantic you call bands). I can sympathise, as a shiny new ring, clamped to a bird’s leg, rarely enhances its portrait. The information I received didn’t indicate the age of the bird.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Iceland Morocco Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2019

By the time this post is published, I will be on a short trip to Spain, though not principally for birding purposes. Bird names in Spanish have never been successfully standardized, so most serious birders here use either Latin or English to discuss their sightings. Some names reflect the bird’s appearance.

Chile 152

Chile Birds Mexico Spain 152

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2023

Superficially similar but unrelated to New World condors, it is huge, more pterodactyl-like than bird-like. But it’s a huge bird. miles from the overnight spot of my bird. Not wanting to see them going back to the UK, my birding time was rather limited. How the roaming birds find such places is not fully clear.

Bulgaria 264

Bulgaria McDonalds Eagles Serbia 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

There’s something wonderfully primeval about the Northern Bald Ibis: it has the look of a bird that really ought to be extinct. The fact that it’s not is quite surprising, as this curious bird has come very close to the brink. Sadly, they no longer breed in Algeria, while in Turkey no free-flying birds remain. (In

Morocco 240

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 240

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2022

Do birds use odors and a sense of smell to communicate with each other? The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent focuses on this last question, but you might find yourself fascinated by the first two, which come early in the book but linger on in the imagination as author Danielle J. ” (p.

Science 243

Science Research Birds Turkey 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2020

A month ago, I was helping fellow birders see their first Emerald Tanagers , their lifer Sunbittern , and wondering where Mary and I could go next, which birds we could chase during the upcoming weekends. As always, they remind me of “winter finches” from birding days back in western New York and southern Ontario.

Costa Rica 246

Costa Rica Birds Spain New York 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2015

What do you think makes for a good bird hide? I have asked myself that same question many times over the last six months, until last week, when I was involved in an opening ceremony of five new bird hides at the Palic Lake, by the town of Subotica in the very north of Serbia, along the border with Hungary (all photos are from that area).

Serbia 258

Serbia Birds Spain Hungary 258

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2024

I would be fascinating to know how many species of birds it was pointed at during its time with me, but it must have been well over 1,000. As a bird-tour leader, the scope was an essential part of my equipment, and I became pretty quick at getting it on to distant birds so that my clients could see them, too.

Estonia 220

Estonia Poland India Pelicans 220

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

The next morning, through Yellowhammers and Eurasian Skylarks singing all around me, I went birding. Yes, yes, I know, not countable – it’s not a bird. Chamois is an agile goat-antelope with short hooked horns, found in mountainous areas of Europe from Spain to the Caucasus. Never mind, it’s not a bird.

Serbia 264

Serbia Bears Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2023

And since I suspect there may be others out there who, like I, feel something of a personal connection with 10,000 Birds’ regular writers, I feel the need to explain my absence. Now, all of this should not have kept me from seeing, and reporting on, some cool Mediterranean birds. In fact, I have not formally gone birding, at all.

Mexico 206

Mexico Morocco Cuba Jordan 206

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2023

These small macaws don’t show their namesake red bellies often, but with yellow faces and blue flight feathers they are still flashy little birds. From Port of Spain, the journey can take approximately three hours. Birds are of course, plentiful here.

Trinidad 167

Trinidad Protest Protesting Protesters 167

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 242

Dissection Birds Research Europe 242

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2021

The southwest peninsula of Trinidad is unfortunately rarely birded by visiting birders. Let’s just say that the journey from the capital city, Port of Spain, to the said peninsula could easily run into 2.5 Bonus points if you figured out that the out-of-focus bird here is a Solitary Sandpiper. Such is birding.

Sea Turtles 271

Sea Turtles Bats Turtles Trinidad 271

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Back in July, my fellow 10,000 Birds contributor Dragan wrote a delightful piece about birding Lake Kerkini in spring. I first visited Kerkini and this bird-rich region of northern Greece 15 years ago, and have been returning regularly ever since. My photograph below is of a captive bird).

Greece 230

Greece Pelicans Geese Buffalo 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2019

In April of this year, I had the crazy idea of submitting this article to 10,000 Birds for their consideration. Since I will still be enjoying my last couple of days in Spain on this week’s deadline, I thought it might be the moment to share it with all of you. Three birds, in real time. That must be a primo stick!

Giraffes 201

Giraffes Spain Abandon Abandoning 201

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2013

This story will puzzle those who still assume my ability to fix a broken wing means I can always identify the bird from which it is drooping. Amazingly, it even had a bird rehabilitation center associated with it. Don’t you have to get up at the crack of dawn to see birds?”. We’re walking through the Bird Park.”.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 178

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Spain France 178

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

10,000 Birds is running a series of articles by and about tour guides, tour companies, eco-lodges, and other birding travel organizations. We want to help the birding tourism industry come back strong from the COVID pandemic. In Ecuador, there are 1.600+ species of birds. She has a very broad knowledge of species.

Ecuador 198

Ecuador Spain Experience Experiments 198

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

Memorable encounters with Mammals: Part I Most birdwatchers enjoy seeing mammals, but the trouble with mammals is that they tend to be much more challenging to see than birds. I remember the guide on my first Kenyan birding safari remarking that “birding groups always see far more mammals than those who come just to see animals.

Fur 207

Fur Bulgaria Otters Estonia 207

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2021

For the record, I’m of the opinion that most wines are best enjoyed within a few years of bottling, especially with the more affordable, everyday wines we tend to see here at Birds and Booze. It’s heartening to see the birds are still alive in this painting – not often the case in Netherlandish still lifes of the period.

2013 149

2013 Belgium Spain Ducks 149

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2011

“City dwelling birds have larger brains relative to their body size, according to scientists.&# So says the lead in this BBC News article , which references a recent study done by researchers from the Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala, Sweden and the Donana Biological Station, Seville, Spain.

Sweden 150

Sweden Spain Birds Research 150

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2020

But like Spain, its only neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal is cut off from the rest of Europe by the steep, natural border formed by the Pyrenees. Good birding and happy drinking! The post Casa Santos Lima: Valcatrina – Vinho Regional Alentejano (2015) appeared first on 10,000 Birds. Stay healthy, everyone.

2015 161

2015 Portugal France Europe 161

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2016

And what a bird I have for you today. As well as the population found in East Asia, another smaller population also occurred in the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain and Portugal. Was it natural, or were the birds in Spain an introduced population. Oh that birds like it were more widely distributed in Europe today!

Spain 106

Spain Portugal Asia Japan 106

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2015

However, the European or Western Swamphen (and boy, do I wish they find a nicer name once the split is accepted) is entirely confined to a small area of the WP, as it currently ranges very patchily from NW Africa and Spain to the Italian island of Sardinia. ” Birds Europe Purple Swamphen rails Spain' You just live in it.”

Spain 157

Spain Hunters Africa Hunting 157

Reddit Animals

AUGUST 4, 2022

So I was hiking in Southern Spain (Andalusia in the Malaga province) and came across this really bizarre nest up in the fir tree. It seems to be made out of palms, and MOST bizarrely, it was leaking water? I’ve tried some googling but haven’t found anything so maybe someone here knows?

Spain 52

Spain Birds Animal 52

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2014

He lives at the west end of Lake Ontario which, twelve months of the year, is a very rich and varied place for birds. So he spends as much time as he can in the field and whenever possible he chases lifelong birding dreams in foreign lands. You can and should read about Peter’s daily adventures at My Bird of the Day.

Spain 175

Spain Ostriches Africa Canada 175

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2012

As soon as I knew that I was heading to Spain, my mind jumped to Lammergeyers. Of course, Spain is home to other vultures. That is to say, they look like the vultures I used to see on nature programs, those iconic shots of birds squabbling over a deceased wildebeast or zebra. Then I sent him a picture to explain my excitement.

Wildebeasts 221

Wildebeasts Spain Turkey ALA 221