10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2013

Podicipediformes, aka Grebes, are freshwater diving duckish birds that are not ducks. That of course is true of many birds.) Like many birds, Grebes are mainly preyed on by other birds, but also, because Grebes liv in and on and near (mostly) fresh water, they are also preyed on by the smaller carnivores such as ferrets.

2010 201

2010 South America 2011 Argentina 201

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

The islands of the Caribbean are home to 176 species of endemic birds unevenly distributed across the region. Fortunately for this species (and people like me who wish to see them) this level of awareness has resulted in protection for both the bird and its habitat, which in turn has led to some increases in its population.

Grenada 130

Grenada Parrots Trinidad 2010 130

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Colorado is unique in many respects, so it comes as no surprise that its residents went in a different direction when selecting their state bird. Unlike many other official birds, the Lark Bunting is not a year-round resident. Lark Buntings are prairie birds, and breed in open meadow, sagebrush, and plains.

Colorado 101

Colorado Legislature North America New Mexico 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2015

New York, I can say with certainty that you have chosen the perfect bird to represent your state. Though it took you until 1970 to designate your state bird – the last in the United States to do so – the Eastern Bluebird is beautiful, has a distinctive song, and is a great example of an environmental success story.

New York 160

New York New York City United States Birds 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2015

You know a bird is beautiful when Robert Tory Peterson describes it as a “ sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.” ” New Hampshire must have thought the same, for they voted the Purple Finch the state bird in 1957. The Purple Finch officially became the state bird on April 25th.

New Hampshire 150

New Hampshire United States Birds 2010 150

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

Happy New Year, 10,000 Birds readers and writers! Everyone is looking back on their best birds of 2019, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at a book that looks back a little further: Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City , by P. The Bronx also has a special place in birding history.

New York City 149

New York City New York Birds Breeding 149

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2015

After spending the weekend along the South Carolina coast, I can say with confidence that I saw dozens and dozens of South Carolina’s state bird: both the original and the current version. Though South Carolina first chose the Northern Mockingbird as its state bird, in 1948 the general assembly changed its mind.

South Carolina 157

South Carolina Legislature United States Birds 157

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2015

The Calliope Hummingbird is the smallest North American breeding bird 1. The males arrive on breeding grounds before the females and, according to their range map, they probably breed here in Shasta County. I haven’t seen a female yet this year either but here is a photo of one I took back in April of 2010.

North America 215

North America 2010 Breeding Research 215

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2014

Here’s what we knew about the Painted Bunting up until about 2010: 1. There are two Painted Bunting populations, one that breeds along the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Florida and one that breeds in the interior United States and northern Mexico from southeastern New Mexico to western Mississippi.

Mississippi 269

Mississippi Mexico Alabama North Carolina 269

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2016

Many states choose their representative bird based on common, native birds spending part or all of the year within the states’ borders. South Dakota went a different way, designating the Ring-necked Pheasant as the state bird in 1943. In Hawaii, they are found as high as 11,000 feet !

South Dakota 100

South Dakota Hawaii United States North America 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

Birds know habitat. They don’t read treaties or draw maps or build walls and, as far as we can tell (since we can’t talk to birds, yet), they have no concept of political boundaries. Robert Gallardo’s self-published Guide to the Birds of Honduras came out in 2015, and is the first bird field guide dedicated to that country.

El Salvador 232

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 232

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

On that glorious day, I observed ten critically endangered birds, representing 8% of their Costa Rican, or 2% of their global population!! In my previous post , I dealt with Rancho Naturalista Lodge itself and birding within their private reserve. 2010; Macaw Recovery Network 2019). But, let’s start at the beginning.

Costa Rica 233

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

Queens, New York, May 2010 At one time there was an airport in northern Queens called Flushing Airport. Unfortunately, developers are hungrily eying the 70-acre parcel despite some local opposition and the fact that it is a wetland that provides excellent habitat to a variety of birds (to say nothing of mammals, insects, etc).

New York City 153

New York City New York Birds Homelessness 153

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2023

Flight Paths is a splendid but risky title for a book about bird migration. It could easily be mistaken for a book about aviation or space navigation or even a flight simulator game if you don’t read the long, adjective-filled subtitle: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration.

Science 186

Science Illinois Investigation Research 186

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2015

A rare bird is one we don’t see very often. However, that doesn’t mean that the bird species in question is necessarily endangered. None of these are rare in their normal haunts but seeing them in Costa Rica would be a major birding event. Oh, how that would be a nice year bird.

Costa Rica 161

Costa Rica Birds Panama Sparrows 161

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

Like so many trips this one is more about the journey than the destination which brings us to why they have a guest post (hopefully the first of several) on 10,000 Birds. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”

South America 183

South America San Diego Mexico America 183

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2015

I’ve seen Forster’s Terns and Common Terns , but one particular species was fast becoming a nemesis bird: the Black Tern. Black Tern in Breeding Plumage. Black Terns do not breed or over-winter in Florida, they merely migrate through on their way to Central and South America. Black Tern in Non-Breeding Plumage.

Breeding 160

Breeding South America Florida Protection 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2015

Another species of Python, the African Python ( Python sebae ) has established a small population in the 2,877-acre Bird Drive Area (BDA) in South Florida. State and Federal Agencies feared that if these two large constrictor snakes are allowed to breed they would produce a hybrid super-python. Photo Credit: US Geological Survey.

Pythons 180

Pythons Florida Mammals Reptiles 180

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2016

I want to alert you to a recent study (from April) that looks at the plight of bird populations under conditions of climate change in Europe and North America. The study looked at common birds, and used data divided by either state (in the US) or country (in Europe). Stephens et al. Stephens, Philip, et al. 352:6281(84-87).

North America 115

North America Europe America United States 115

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2014

Tambunan was the bookend to my trip to Borneo, it was the first destination I birded and the last. As must see birding destinations go, its hardly the most user friendly location that you can go birding. Road birding. After the eagles, birds started coming thick and fast. Mountain Serpent-eagle taken later in trip.

Birds 160

Birds Eagles Asia Species 160

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

Birds of Kruger National Park covers the 259 species most frequently seen in the park, about half of the total number of birds documented there. Regular readers of 10,000 Birds may remember Jochen’s posts about keeping taxonomy out of field guides. It sounds simple, but I wonder how it works in practice.

Ecuador 171

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 171

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Photo: This area holds 3 to 4 breeding pairs of White-tailed Eagles , which represents the biggest density per square mile anywhere in the country. Wigeons are only migrants and not a breeding species in Serbia and August is a bit too early for any longer distance duck movements. Photographed by Szekeres Levente. and one ad.).

Serbia 165

Serbia Protection Eagles Ducks 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2014

Gujarat, December 2010. CR being the highest category in the Red List , if I want to see some of those birds, I better hurry! CR being the highest category in the Red List , if I want to see some of those birds, I better hurry! Locals being vegetarians, why are there no birds? Did I counted some pile of dirt as a bird?

India 245

India Sudan Ukraine Camels 245

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2012

Few experiences birding get me more excited than adding a new bird to my Queens list. My latest addition, a Parasitic Jaeger off the coast, finally got me to my 289th bird, well over a year since I got my 279th. The first time I did this I accidentally added twelve birds to my list before reviewing it.

Connecticut 171

Connecticut 2011 2012 Jamaica 171

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2012

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, NY, April 2010 Everyone knows that New York City is an extremely expensive place to live. Of course, there are more birds than boxes and this is where the raving psycho part of things come in as challengers that lack a nest box try to drive off whichever bird has possession.

New York City 170

New York City New York Jamaica 2010 170

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2014

I have followed the breeding activity of the Pied Oystercatchers in Broome along Cable Beach since July 2000 when I found the first nest site and the birds have continued to use the same territories, though there have been some partner changes. Birding Australia Broome oystercatcher' Hermit Crab in lid.

2007 168

2007 Eggs 2014 2002 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Corey was lucky enough to meet Carlos while birding in Ecuador , where Carlos was dragooned into accompanying the horde of Queens birders for the day, an encounter that somehow didn’t turn him off of all things New York. If you have been out birding in southeast Florida there is a good chance that you have run into him in the field.

Miami 161

Miami Florida Birds Pelicans 161

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Egg harvesting to sell as food was intensive then, with thousands taken annually from the breeding colonies in Chile. Despite the long history of impacts and steady population decline, the Andean Flamingo has been declared endangered as recent as September 2010.

Chile 154

Chile Endangered Species Eggs Argentina 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2013

In short, the accepted view used to be that a small breeding population of Egyptian Vultures inhabited Southern Africa, but has vanished facing the spread of towns, roads and farms. It was not the first note I have published, but was the only one about a bird I have never laid my eyes upon!

Sudan 224

Sudan Macedonia Botswana Serbia 224

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. And, the birds are awesome. Ringer Anhingas and darters , cormorants and shags , frigatebirds , gannets and boobies , pelicans , and the tropicbirds all share a characteristic found in no other living bird: Their feet are totipalmate.

2011 152

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 152

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2012

On this final day of 2012 it is time, just like it was on the final days of 2010 and 2011 , to share your Best Birds of the Year. Well, actually, your Best Bird of the Year will only be shared here if you took the time to respond to the post in which we here at 10,000 Birds shared our Best Birds of the Year.

2012 133

2012 Ghana Ireland Birds 133

Critter News

AUGUST 22, 2010

The Spoon-billed Sandpiper, one of the world's most threatened birds, is rapidly heading towards extinction because young birds are being targeted for human consumption. In 2000, around 1,000 breeding pairs were known, but by 2009, the number had plummeted to just 120-220 pairs, a decline of 88%. Really sad.

Species 100

Species Myanmar Endangered Species Russia 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago? The bird guide question was a conundrum.

Trinidad 194

Trinidad Birds South America Research 194

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2016

Though barely 20 acres, the park serves as permanent, breeding, or migratory habitat for nearly 200 birds species, as well as Osprey nests and a Great Blue Heron rookery. Despite its small size, it behaves like a raptor, going after small mammals, insects, other birds, and lizards.

Florida 100

Florida Mammals 2010 Mexico 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2014

The Yellow-rumped Warbler ( Setophaga coronata ) complex is one of the most abundant and widespread representatives of the New World warbler family in North America, present in many parts of the United States even through the winter months, when the birds feed on small fruits and other foods, including sap. So Toews et al.

United States 233

United States 2011 Guatemala North America 233

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2016

Terry Townsend’s website, www.birdingbeijing.com is the prime resource for anyone planning a trip to the city with intent to bird and Terry offers guiding services. They were targeting the Jankowski’s Bunting , but would obviously look at other birds along the way. I had a spare day which coincided with the weekend.

Asia 102

Asia Campaign 2010 Suffering 102

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2018

As you know, I started to bird from a canoe, exploring the Danube backwaters in Belgrade, Serbia. When inundated, in spring, it is exciting to paddle through the trees, yet birds that often forage on the ground will be pushed away. Perhaps the best example of such habitats may be the Central Beljarica floodplain hotspot.

Beavers 119

Beavers Serbia Eagles Hungary 119