10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2012

The last weekend of December 2012 is the last weekend of the entire year. Since I didn’t keep a year list in 2012, I feel no pressure to beat the bushes for final ticks. How many of you plan, before turning the page on this eventful year, to try to pad your year list? How will you do it?

2012 174

2012 California Birds 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2012

Perhaps I’ll even see my First Phoebe of 2012. As is my wont, we’ll be celebrating a secular Easter replete with colored eggs, chocolate bunnies, and a fun family hike. Corey will be visiting his folks in upstate New York. Whatever your plans this weekend, make time to enjoy SkyWatch Friday.

2012 190

2012 Albatross New York Eggs 190

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2013

Back in January of last year I said in my list for the year that I’d be happy if I hit 300 birds in 2012. My final number for last year was 402 as it turns out. So I guess the question is “am I happy?” ” Well yes, I guess. But perhaps a better question would be “is that why I am happy?”

2012 157

2012 New Zealand Thailand Albatross 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2012

The Jackson Pollack-inspired effigy of the Chicken Inferno 2012! Whatever your plans this weekend, make time to enjoy SkyWatch Friday. Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend !

2012 174

2012 Michigan Chickens Birds 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2012

Early April is a special time for most, especially those of us in the Northern Hemisphere that love each emerging sign of spring. The month and this particular period is all the more auspicious for me and mine, as so many friends and families celebrate spring birthdays. Today happens to be mine, so send some cheer my way!

2012 240

2012 Eggs Hunting Woodpeckers 240

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2012

Now that late winter has eased into early spring, it seems owls are in the air. I’m hearing all kinds of owl howls, from Saw-whets at (where else?) Owl Woods and Short-eared Owls from New York to the Galapagos Islands. One birder known to many of us even had her life Barn Owl turn up in her backyard!

Barn Owls 234

Barn Owls 2012 Owls New York 234

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2012

Some weekends are sublime and others mundane. Obviously, we cannot survive one transcendent weekend after another, but this stretch of late winter seems to require more than the usual routine.

2012 234

2012 Eagles Birds Experiments 234

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

An interesting–or perhaps enervating–aspect of this time of year is how birding tends to run feast or famine. That is to say that, at least in the temperate regions, those of us who aren’t traveling somewhere special have to make do with the same old same old. Corey and I both pondered birds that are extremely ordinary for us.

2012 233

2012 Birds Experience Experiments 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2012

Tomorrow is the first day of June, yet the complaints have already started. Have you heard them yet? “Now that migration is over, all I can do is look for local breeders.” ” “I guess I’ll go to the beach… maybe I’ll see a shearwater or something.” ” “Summer (birding) sucks!”

2012 243

2012 Breeders Birds Breeding 243

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2012

I have a feeling that this summer is going to be weird. How else to interpret the sudden arrival of April showers (and temperatures) in June after already enjoying summer weather? If you’re experiencing the same wacky weather patterns, don’t fret… maybe this means we’ll get another migration!

Cape Verde 230

Cape Verde 2012 New York Birds 230

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2012

April didn’t deliver many of its vaunted showers in my area this year. I’d fear for May flowers if so many weren’t already in bloom. How is the season in your corner of the world? My best bird this weekend has to be the Hermit Thrush that’s been hanging around my backyard for the last week.

2012 226

2012 Birds Experience Experiments 226

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2012

The second weekend of April holds special meaning for citizens of the United States, and by special, I really mean dire. But like it or not, most of us have filed our tax returns. At last, we can turn to more important issues like earning enough money to pay next year’s taxes!

2012 226

2012 United States Fox New York 226

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2012

The month of June has passed, giving way to the first full month of summer in the northern hemisphere. Summer can be boring from a birding standpoint or it can be very, very interesting. How has yours been so far? Since Corey fled NYC this weekend, I took over his Atlantic coast shore patrol.

2012 224

2012 Birds Experience Experiments 224

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2012

Faith and Begorrah, I’ve made it through another St. Patty’s Day without ingesting corned beef, cabbage, or green beer! My liver lingers on in the same (sorry) state in which it entered the weekend. Can you say the same?

2012 222

2012 Jamaica New York Woodpeckers 222

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

Friends, birders, countrymen (and women)– lend me your ears. I come not to praise winter, but to bury it. Those of us occupying the boreal half of the planet can give Old Man Winter an exuberant sendoff this weekend, while you on the austral side can say so long to summer.

South Africa 232

South Africa 2012 Africa Birds 232

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Razorbills ( Alca torda ) have invaded the coastal waters of Florida on an unprecedented scale this December of 2012. To put this invasion into perspective, there were only 14 documented records of Razorbill for the entire state before December 2012.

Florida 244

Florida Cuba Bahamas 2012 244

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

House of Representatives continued its war on the environment, public health, and clean energy throughout 2012, cementing its record as the most anti-environmental House in our nation’s history. This is what happens when know-nothings elect morons who oppose science because it doesn’t fit into their insane worldview.

United States 224

United States 2012 Science Birds 224

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2012

September slips away and October is afoot. What fresh fascinations does this month have in store? My best bird this weekend was a spry little Red-breasted Nuthatch consorting with its larger White-breasted kin.

2012 212

2012 Sparrows Birds Experience 212

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2013

Hold not one, but two international photo contests, one in 2010 and one in 2012. The winners of the 2012 The World’s Rarest Birds International Photo Competition were announced April 3rd. The solution?

United States 229

United States 2012 2010 Birds 229

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2012

Tropical Kingbird is likely to be one of the last birds I see in 2012 and first I see in 2013. At any rate, I’ll let you know what the 2012 magic number is when I am back stateside in 2013. Not a hard bird to come by in Costa Rica. This confiding Central American bird was far away from its normal home, near Half Moon Bay, CA.

Costa Rica 211

Costa Rica 2012 2013 Family 211

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2012

For those in the northern hemisphere migration fever is upon us and employers who employ birders are wondering where everybody is. Have the birds really started moving where you live? Both Mike and I were on the road this weekend.

Chicago 208

Chicago 2012 Florida Birds 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

September has been flush with weekends this year, but all good months must come to an end. But worry not… regardless of weather conditions, this month goes out like a lion when it comes to birds on the move! This weekend, I’ll continue searching for local fall migrants, hopefully not in vain.

Lions 219

Lions 2012 Birds 219

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2012

Worried that wearing white after Labor Day might be lethal for penguins? Don’t be. Lindblad’s Naturalist David Stephens, who snapped this remarkable photo , sees this fashion trend on the rise: “While odd coloration may make fishing a bit more difficult, leucistic birds are regularly found breeding normally.”

Penguins 259

Penguins 2012 Fish Breeding 259

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2012

Some thrill to the feeling of spring in the air. Others crave something more primal such as love. Well, friends, can’t you feel it? Love is in the air… bird love ! We’ve been talking about it– often in rather graphic terms –all week.

2012 218

2012 Birds 218

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

I can’t wait to explore outer space at the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival from 25-30 January 2012! Well, if I don’t get to go to outer space and see space-birds what the heck am I doing from 25-30 January 2012? I really wonder what kinds of birds live at such low gravity.

Wildlife 229

Wildlife Florida 2012 Birds 229

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2012

Catherine Hamilton has been the first to get all three species correct in the last two diabolical wood-warbler quizzes. If she gets three in a row it will show she is the best birder in the world and Felonious Jive will suffer the sad misfortune of dropping to second place.

2012 194

2012 Suffering Species Birds 194

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2012

This month strikes me as the oddest April in my memory. Then again, April is always an odd month. Robert Frost certainly thought so… The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day. When the sun is out and the wind is still, You’re one month on in the middle of May.

2012 214

2012 New York Birds Rights 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2012

The risk of extinction for Amazonian birds has increased substantially: 07 June 2012 The risk of extinction has increased substantially for nearly 100 species of Amazonian birds, reveals the 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ update for birds released today by BirdLife International.

Parrots 253

Parrots 2012 Birds Humane 253

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2011

Come 20 January 2012 birders will have reason to be philatelists as well. That’s because the United States Postal Service will be releasing a set of five stamps, illustrated by Robert Giusti, featuring birds of prey. The five lucky birds are Northern Goshawk , Peregrine Falcon , Golden Eagle , Osprey , and Northern Harrier.

United States 232

United States 2012 Falcons Eagles 232

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2014

Environment groups were hard hit in the first round in 2012-13, but the net has since widened to snare social justice and poverty groups, among others. A special squad of 15 auditors has so far targeted some 52 charities, many of them critical of Conservative government policies. Politics Canada'

Canada 260

Canada 2012 Groups Birds 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2012

It is now, on 20 March 2012, spring! Take that, southern hemisphere! Here in New York it has felt like spring for, well, to be honest, most of the winter. Though lately, with temperatures clearing seventy degrees Fahrenheit and the sun beating down it has felt more like mid-May than the vernal equinox.

2012 247

2012 New York Sparrows Birds 247

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2012

Happy belated Father’s Day to everyone who observed it this weekend. Just to keep that sweet paternal vibe going, I’m going to award double points to anyone whose best bird of the weekend was seen in the company of a dad or by a dad with his child. Oh, you didn’t know we were keeping score?

Hungary 199

Hungary Miami 2012 Trinidad 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2012

Change is in the air, isn’t it? All around the world, satisfaction subsides as an inevitable restlessness sets in on a cellular level. If you’re able to resist the lure of migration, you can at least pull up a seat and watch the endless waves pursue their predestined bliss.

ALA 196

ALA 2012 Woodpeckers Eagles 196

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2011

The first day of January offers some of the most exciting birding of the year; for just a moment, every bird is new and ready to be plucked for the year list.

2012 196

2012 New York Birds Rights 196

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

With the arrival of May, we turn from bird love to migrant mania. Forget March Madness… this is when things get crazy for those in sync with the endless sojourns of countless species. Make the most of this special time!

2012 207

2012 Florida Birds Species 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2021

2012 – 15 March. And was it late or early? 2021 – 13 March. 2020 – 15 March. 2019 – 17 March. 2018 – 30 March. 2017 – 12 March. 2016 – 18 March. 2015 – 28 March. 2014 – 29 March. 2013 – 24 March. Enjoy spring! The post First Phoebe of 2021 appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

2019 264

2019 2017 2018 2020 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2013

Then… …on December 30th 2012, at Les-Baux-de-Provence in France, I finally nailed that little sucker. A search of more than 20 years. For a fleeting glimpse. Just to be fooled again. The famous south-facing cliff below the castle ruins. Famous for this one: The WALLCREEPER ! Vive la France!

France 220

France 2012 Birds 220