10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

Most days, that seemingly random place is right at home. Some call them trash, tours might not visit, but they can host more than the expected and common species. Some such vegetated spots can also attract oddball birds, species that wander to find a home in urban circumstances. This image is from a different site.

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Costa Rica Sparrows Birds Rodents 259

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2021

and 180 bird species ( Ferruginous Duck , Black Woodpecker ; Icterine , Eastern Olivaceous and Barred Warblers ) recorded so far. In June 2021, the Mayor of Belgrade announced that Beljarica will finally become officially protected. It is a spacious floodplain between the River Danube and the levee, 2.1 mi, to the Vrbovski turnoff.

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Farming Birds Fish Boars 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Similarly, the Alpine Leaf Warbler is one of the more attractive species in an otherwise almost indistinguishable family of identical leaf warblers. (“But the difference in wing bars, Kai!”). If you think you have already seen enough photos of Elliot’s Laughingthrush, you may not be the right reader for this blog.

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Birds North Korea China Woodpeckers 247

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2019

In addition to spotting exciting new species in Florida, including the rare Snail Kite, travel across the country brought me into contact with birds in Oregon, California, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, and more. With my new job, I feel privileged to work towards protecting vulnerable species each and very day.

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Bald Eagle Alabama Kansas Florida 151

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Could scientists use weather radar data to track the spread of avian influenza, and thereby help poultry growers protect their flocks? This lucky youngster from Massachusetts has almost 300 ticks, but just added his favorite— a Great Gray Owl his supportive family drove hundreds of miles to glimpse.

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Massachusetts Eggs Falcons Rights 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular. Curassows are such stately birds.

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Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 221

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds. So, when British natural history writer Jon Dunn (not to be confused with U.S.

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Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

What I feel right now is joy at their return. What my previous experience had not prepared me for, was that this summer I would see many of those species for the first time all at once. It was not easy to get photos, both because the cloud cover was dense, and because I was protecting my camera from water damage.

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Mexico Nashville Virginia Shelters 175

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2017

The grass is green, the wildflowers are spectacular and now we have numerous species of dragonfly to enjoy as the season starts to change. The Masked Lapwing is one of the noisiest shorebirds in the north, especially when they are protecting a nest or young. Masked Lapwing protecting a nest. Masked Lapwing on a nest.

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Breeding Eggs Protection Cows 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2021

But I felt that photos of Mexican species wouldn’t make much sense to west-coast Americans, so I added some descriptions of the birds and how I saw them. Then, I discovered 10,000 Birds, and it didn’t take me too long to figure out that I was already doing something very much like what is done every week right here.

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Costa Rica Birds Mexico illegal 150

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

“Gamebirds” to some, cool, cryptic understory birds to the birding people, grouse crouch protected as unfettered winds sway the top of the tall prairie grass. Even so, he still knew many species and always yearned to learn about the wildlife he encountered. The remaining four species are the most grouse-like of the bunch.

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Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

Tell me, what happens if we rip away hunting when hunting protects more wildlife land in Africa than national parks? Although lip service was paid to the fact that lions are endangered and a lion was poached, the language of anger was the language of animals rights. And that lions are really cute. Ah, you’ve blocked me.

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Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2017

The number of bird species to be found, falls dramatically, but we can always rely on our impressive populations of Herons, egrets and even a few rails to keep our birding juices flowing. Our local Reddish Egrets are a popular species for many of my out of town guests.

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Mexico Birds Protection Dogs 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

Hongbenghe is a very small village in Yunnan, right next to the border with Myanmar. 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. I have written about the hornbills of this area before.

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Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2019

The shearwater’s common name is “Cory’s” because Cory was the first to realize that it was a species in its own right and publish. He refused, saying, “I do not protect birds. Do we really want a bird to be named after a man who was proud of killing birds instead of protecting them?

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Boston Killing Protection Collecting 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

I’m happy to say that Laura Erickson and Marie Read have written a book, Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds , that is not too cute and that does not anthropomorphize. Some chapters focus on one species (Yellow Warbler), some on several related species (Chickadees and Nuthatches).

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Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

MAY 29, 2019

It was impossible to show you all my favorite Tierra Caliente species in one post, so I only shared those that are mostly seen in the drier area a couple of miles south of the town and river. However, some of Paso Ancho’s most beautiful species are to be seen right along that river. Then it got an upgrade.

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Squirrels Birds Mexico 2013 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2021

The holidays started early this year, with the first night of Hannukah coming right at the end of Thanksgiving weekend! Colombia is one of those countries that Dragan’s dreams are made of: it has 1,965 bird species – more than any other country in the world. Each image is accompanied by a page of prose detail on the bird (e.g.,

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Birds Colombia Collecting Bald Eagle 245

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. The guide covers 1,433 species, the number of birds documented at the end of 2014, the cutoff point for the book.

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Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2011

The species is fairly widespread in the Western Pacific, ranging from New Zealand to Japan, and contrary to its name it isn’t actually a true snapper (family Lutjanidae), but is instead a member of the porgy and sea bream family (Sparidae). Its a powerful demonstration of the potential of marine protected areas.

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New Zealand Goats Fish Protection 156

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

This is a protected area that includes the Los Cusingos Bird refuge, where we were guided by Andres Chinchilla, a young man who as a child ran around the farm where his family worked, and was to become this incredible bird refuge. His years of experience in this area were quite obvious as we found 62 species in one morning.

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Costa Rica San Jose Chinchillas Family 191

Critter News

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Do whales deserve constitutional protection against slavery? Before the ruling, PETA’s attorney Jeffrey Kerr told HuffPost that the animal rights group’s argument was based on the belief that “slavery doesn’t depend upon the species of the slave, any more than it depends upon the race, gender or ethnicity of the slave.

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PETA San Diego Whales Whaling 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

If a list also shows the status for each species, birders on their way to Costa Rica would realize that they shouldn’t really expect vireos with white eyes nor blue heads (but would hopefully know that they should very much report those species on eBird so local birders can chase them!). Not every list has Great Tinamou on it.

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Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 202

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

In the end, I ended up with 9 species, 4 of which were new to the list, the Black-crowned Sparrow Lark, White-checked Bulbo, House Crow , and the Indian Silverbill. We have been dragging him thru every bird spot possible, so he could go to Scotland to see where his family is from. Scotland Species: 94. Wish me luck!

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Qatar Sparrows South Africa Africa 118

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2015

There are few places in the United States where simply driving around can leave you with a list of 30+ species, many of them large and spectacular. It’s a family vacation, sure, but there’s always time for birding and in Florida, the birding often finds you. I’ve spent the last week in southwest Florida.

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Owls Florida Tenant United States 208

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

We already had South Africa, Zambia and Uganda under our belts, but my clients’ request for the next year came right out of the blue: Ghana! Blue-moustached Bee-eater is rainforest species occurring in just a few scattered sites in Ghana, it was previously considered a subspecies of Blue-headed Bee-eater. What makes Ghana so special?

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Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 196

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2016

One raft of 20+ Mallards swims by the bank, right in front of jackals, careless like if they were just two sheep! After the Common Starling , my second bird of the morning becomes the largest eagle of Europe, the White-tailed Eagle , this one with a fairly white tail, yet still dark beak, that I estimate to be in its 3rd calendar year.

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Serbia Sheep Birds Eagles 134

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

When you monitor a species of birds over many years you learn a lot from your observations and you soon become aware of the fact that some birds are just better at parenting than others. Family of five Pied Oystercatchers- quite well disguised-also in the header photo! Family of five-adult Pied Oystercatchers on the right.

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Eggs Raised Breeding Family 165

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2013

Two days ago I went on Facebook and queried some of my exhausted compatriots: if you could have one wish right now – anything in the world – what would it be? “I Why is there no state or federal money available to care for federally protected species? Let me ponder it while I’m picking up two gulls and an egret.”.

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Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Oklahoma New York 250

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa). Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Yellow-billed Stork.

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Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 247

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2011

Costa Rica enjoys an international reputation as an iconic birding location, bursting with epic Neotropical species and breathtaking natural attractions. Zamora Estate protects acres of unspoiled habitat within one of the fastest growing sections of San Jose, a holding that has sustained four generations of the Zamora family.

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Costa Rica San Jose Sanctuary Protection 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Private property holders with prairie/agricultural land can potentially make a big difference in maintaining and recovering populations of many of these charismatic species. If birders are willing to spend so much money in the pursuit of birds, it seems some would be willing to spend some on protecting them as well…right?

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United States Protection Endangered Species North America 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Navarro’s exceptional drawings illustrate the species accounts. Forty-eight species. Compare, for example, the species account illustration of the Cuban Trogon with the photo that opens up the introductory chapter. The luxury of space means that each species can be shown from various angles and in distinctive poses.

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Cuba Birds United States 2000 236

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

The conservation need is urgent: great attention has rightly been paid to Brazil’s Amazonian rainforest but not enough resources have gone to the Pantanal and the Cerrado, of which only 4% and 5%, respectively, are protected.

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Brazil Wildlife 2011 Birds 208

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2016

But, as with many avian families, the more you look, the more complicated it gets. And, the whole question of subspecies, which in the Northeast tends to focus on the Cackling Goose, but which I’m sure is a topic of fascination with other waterfowl species in all other parts of the world. There are the females, so many so brown.

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North America Asia Europe America 157

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

And unlike the protection of cormorants, which was perceived as a problem, protection of pelicans was welcomed by the local communities. Asian water buffaloes were brought to Greece by Ottoman Turks centuries ago and by now, they have developed into a separate race, the Greek buffalo, which is protected as an old domestic breed.

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Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 198

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2017

The cactus are not the only things down here that are protected in this manner. When it comes to a one stop shopping for food and shelter, no other plant is as widely used as the Cardon Cactus family. Members of the genus Pachycereus , there are a couple of species which are quite prevalent here on the southern Baja.

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Elephants Woodpeckers Squirrels Shelters 107