10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

But, sometimes an appreciation of birds and birding requires more than a reference book with images of birds and facts about their identifying field marks. There are large avian handbooks and small ‘how-to bird’ guides, and quite a few excellent books of both types have been published.

Birds 115

Birds North America Breeding America 115

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

One of these days, Jeopardy will feature a category called “Field Guides” and the first clue will be: “This landlocked South American country finally got its own bird field guide in 2016, but it wasn’t available in the United State until 2019.” Bolivia doesn’t come up much in discussions of birding travel.

Bolivia 176

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 176

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2015

I was birding one of my favorite places yesterday, Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Palm Beach County, Florida, and, as generally happens, people were asking me about the birds they were admiring. Small), it provides a friendly and authoritative way for people interested in the birds around them to learn more quickly and easily.

Colorado 241

Colorado Florida Birds New Jersey 241

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Producing a book about birds and nesting is a dangerous business. The truth is that there are few images cuter than baby birds in the nest opening their mouths and begging for food, but there are curmudgeons amongst us, myself included, who don’t like to admit this. And of birds courting and mating. We simply refuse to squee.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

The danger of reviewing a field guide to the birds of an exotic country you’ve never been to is that you become obsessed with visiting that country, no matter how far away and how expensive it may be. I’m already looking up birding tours of Borneo and pricing airfares. Borneo, the authors say, is under-birded.

Brunei 177

Brunei Birds Asia China 177

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

British birders are very serious about birding and their birds. This is a very good thing; it means they publish a lot of books about birds (probably more at this point than U.S. This is a very good thing; it means they publish a lot of books about birds (probably more at this point than U.S.

Ireland 146

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 146

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

My review copy (well, actually a contributor’s copy—more on that later) was waiting for me when I returned from the ABA birding tour of Thailand and Malaysia (more on that in a separate post) in early March. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family.

North America 152

North America Sparrows America United States 152

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 240

United States 2011 Guatemala North America 240

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. It is the first bird field guide to every country of Central America (plus the islands governed by those countries).

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Its crown was so thick, I could spot the movement, but only rarely the bird itself and never the whole bird, once it would be only its back, once its head, once just legs… slowly, I was putting this puzzle together. The first birds to spot from the boat were Common Terns furiously defending their newly built nests on floating logs.

Greece 197

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 197

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

There are few bird names that will elicit great big smiles and Penguin is one of them. Other contenders are Kookaburra, Shoebill, and Umbrellabird, but people smile when they hear these names because they know a song or because they can’t believe these are real names of real birds. <pause> Do I have your attention now?

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

The Eurasian Wryneck is the woodpecker that doesn’t look like a woodpecker, the bird with the portmanteau name that is also a medical condition (and which may remind some people of a Nora Ephron essay). They are slim and small-headed birds and their bills are fine, not strong and dynamic.

Woodpeckers 240

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 240

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2014

At least the birds seem to appreciate the clement weather! Corey greatly enjoyed his weekend in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York with family and friends. In addition to the camping and camaraderie he took some time to catch up to the local breeding birds of which there were quite a few. How about you?

2014 169

2014 Colombia New York Birds 169

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2023

Way back in 2014, when I saw my first Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo near the little town of Pino Real, and shared the sighting on a birders’ chat group, it took just over a month for the first biologist/ornithologist to visit me. But he regularly visits family in Morelia. Any day in Paso Ancho is a great birding day.

Mexico 214

Mexico Cuba Species 2014 214

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

I’ve never been to the Indonesian Archipelago, but I really like the birds there. Lynx Edicions, the ornithological (and now mammal) publisher that gave us the Handbook of the Birds of the World , has now published Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea , by James A. So, this is no ordinary bird guide.

Indonesia 130

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2014

The second edition of the National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition has one of the longest book names in bird bookdom: National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition: Now Covering More Than 1,000 Species With the Most-Detailed Information Found in a Single Volume. Karlson, and Brian E.

North America 178

North America America Birds Family 178

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2014

There are excellent birding opportunities along the highway throughout the year and the area still remains flooded from the rains over our Wet Season and it has been a breeding site for several species of birds. There are no bird hides, but we have our own favourite bird hide and ventured out late last Sunday afternoon.

Birds 165

Birds Geese Falcons 2014 165

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2015

Well, a New Year has arrived and of course that means a new list for birds! It makes you aware of how a “common bird” can elude you for days or weeks! It makes you aware of how a “common bird” can elude you for days or weeks! Pied Oystercatcher family together for the last time in 2014.

2015 186

2015 2014 Ducks Ponies 186

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2016

I started out my birding life sitting on Benches 2 and 7 at the Jamaica Bay NWR West Pond, my Peterson’s in my lap, studying Green-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, and the occasional Pintail. But, as with many avian families, the more you look, the more complicated it gets. So much simpler than pinning down those warblers!

North America 155

North America Asia Europe America 155

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2023

In many ways, birding Wawushan is a nightmare for a solitary and crowd-hating birder like me. An unnamed bird guide called them “avoidless tourists”, which sums it up rather nicely. So, all this makes birding this place an occasionally less than pleasant experience. Never fails to startle them.

Pandas 210

Pandas Birds Eggs China 210

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2021

If you haven’t been to Costa Rica, or if you’ve birded Costa Rica but somehow missed their damselflies and dragonflies (not a problem! Species are arranged by family and genus along taxonomic lines, but not always in accordance with the very latest molecular DNA research. Paulson, William A. Haber, and Zona Tropical S.A.

Costa Rica 262

Costa Rica North America Family America 262

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

The point is, the field guide I grabbed without hesitation was the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition by Jon L. No other field guide to North American birds does rarities so comprehensively and so well. (To I miss the shorebird and get it a few days later, but that’s not the point of this story.

North America 185

North America America 2017 Birds 185

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

My trips abroad were limited to short family vacations to the Cote d’Azur during the first days of January and a week-long vacation to northern Tuscany / Italy in May. You can see my birding activities abroad and within Germany on the maps at the top of this post. 1, my best bird of the year… 10.

2016 101

2016 Germany Italy Netherlands 101

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

Some people read cookbooks though they have no intention of whipping up a mushroom risotto, some people read bird guide books, even when the likelihood of actually seeing the creatures in those guides is remote. It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds. SCOPE & SPECIES ORGANIZATION.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Groups Family 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2014

I am also writing it on the tails of an excellent review by Corey who, although he termed his post a collection of “impressions,” really did nail down the great content of The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition , by David Allen Sibley, as well as the minor items that need to be improved. I like this.

North America 243

North America Birds Species America 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2015

Picidae, Woodpecker, is one of those charismatic bird families that everybody gets excited about. Woodpeckers of the World: A Photographic Guide is the first major guide to family Picidae in 20 years. Unless the woodpecker is drumming a hole into your garage, and then, well, it’s a different kind of excitement.)

Woodpeckers 247

Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 247

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Penguins are also bellweathers of climate change; dwellers of remote areas you’ve (probably) never heard of; creatures who have developed unique, innovative ways of adapting to the harsh environments where they breed and rear chicks and the water environments in which they feed and swim.

Penguins 203

Penguins New Zealand South Africa Albatross 203

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

Larger, denser with avian information than your typical field guide, a Crossley Guide bursts with bird images, photographic plates that verge on the surreal of birds in all plumages and poses against real-life habitats, informing, sometimes overwhelming us with visual and, if you can take your eyes off the images, textual information.

Ducks 121

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 121