10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2014

Seriously, if this continues into migration, the birds are all going to fly back south. He wanted to tell me all about it, which earns the robin Best Bird of the Weekend honors. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed.

2014 215

2014 Lions Birds Owls 215

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2016

As I opined in my post back in 2010 (and continue to preach) the Western Burrowing Owl needs a conservation plan. A pair of Burrowing Owls fledged six young! After all, the Western Burrowing Owl is listed as “ Climate Endangered ” by the Audubon Society. In the summer of 2015 our investment paid off.

Owls 102

Owls California 2010 Colorado 102

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2014

Those of you who follow such things should be pleased to learn that this weekend was quite auspicious for sports teams named for birds. But at last the Seattle Seahawks, named for a bird we all know and love , have won the championship and further advanced the cause of avian inspiration for athletes! Birding best bird weekend'

2014 180

2014 Seattle Owls Birds 180

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. Never mind, it’s not a bird. Birds to see There are 139 bird species recorded within the national park, 96 of them breeding in recent years.

Serbia 264

Serbia Bears Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2013

In 2013 I birded in two countries, submitted eBird checklists for seven U.S. At the beginning of the year I said the following about my goals for the year’s birding: I start 2013 with 297 birds on my Queens Life List , 500 birds on my ABA Life List , and 1,096 birds on my World Life List.

2013 183

2013 New York City New York Trinidad 183

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2019

Owling on Christmas Bird Counts is a peculiar business. Some counters are unfailingly resolute in their dedication to this thankless graveyard shift of the birding world, marching headlong year after year into the bleak winter landscape in search of their heard-only, nocturnal quarry. And listen some more.

2017 143

2017 Owls Game California 143

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2014

Which winter sporting event captured your attention more this weekend: The Olympics or the Great Backyard Bird Count? I’ve been paying careful attention to nuthatches in anticipating of seeing a gaudy new species of what has always been a prosaic but still pulchritudinous bird for me. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2014 170

2014 Birds Owls Experience 170

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2014

Of course both Mike and I were out and about spotting some birds this weekend. I could have chosen any of the four Snowy Owls I saw this weekend as myBest Bird of the Weekend but I decided that I preferred a Purple Sandpiper at Breezy Point, Queens, (pictured above) mostly because it was feeding on a jetty while waves crashed over it.

2014 154

2014 Seattle Pennsylvania Game 154

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

Birding that starts with the largest eagle of the continent certainly bears promises… The next stop is the town park in Opovo, north of Belgrade, where local bird expert Ceda Vuckovic reported one, locally rare, Short-eared Owl. Long-eared Owls are irresistibly cute. They are now moving from one tree to another.

Serbia 246

Serbia Owls Rodents Eagles 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2019

In 2014, FWS completed a five-year status review , concluding that continuing urbanization and associated habitat destruction and fragmentation still threatened the warbler. A conflict between development and an endangered bird almost inevitably leads to litigation, as it has for the Sage Grouse and Northern Spotted Owl.

Austin 190

Austin Texas Endangered Species Birds 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2014

Activists and environmental groups went into overdrive, and in March 2014 the State of California approved a ban on the sale of the worst types of anti-coagulants. In April 2014, a 4-year-old boy in the Bronx, New York, died after eating rat poison. Birds D-Con owls poison birds reckitt benckiser'

Rats 264

Rats Rodents 2014 Pets 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2021

Last year there was a spate of books specifically about bird “behavior” – though one might well say that every book about birds, from field guides on up, is about behavior in some way or another. The page or two of text for each bird has some good stuff, not all pertaining to migration. A “broad spectrum,” indeed.

Alaska 230

Alaska Breeding Kenya Africa 230

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 235

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 235

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

The full title of this exceptional book by Marie Read is Mastering Bird Photography: The Art, Craft, and Technique of Photographing Birds and Their Behavior. As a birder who photographs, rather than a bird photographer, this never occurred to me before and I find the idea intriguing.

Birds 201

Birds Ethics 2019 Experience 201

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 116

Birds North America Breeding America 116

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

However, I am here to make the case for birding California. With the largest state list by a considerable margin and a mind-boggling diversity of habitats, I reckon we have some amazing birding to offer. So if you are thinking of doing some birding out this way, here is a quick run-down of some of the state’s best birding areas.

California 214

California San Diego Birds Oakland 214

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2014

Herons and raptors and rails and gulls and ducks and cranes and jays and owls and alligators are all awaiting me – and you – at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. If anyone has good advice for tracking these birds down I would love to hear about it in the comments! No bird is as cool as the Green Heron.

Wildlife 180

Wildlife Tampa Alligators 2012 180

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2018

Far be it from me as the author of beer reviews on a birding website to accuse others of pretension, but condescending snobbery should never keep you from enjoying perfectly good beer. Especially when it has a bird on it. In this respect, Cold Snap would have been a perfect recommendation for Superb Owl Sunday two weeks ago.

Boston 100

Boston Branding Owls United States 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

For some reason, this is the year that the masked butcherbirds have been around in my corners of Montana, with as many sightings for me in 2014 as in the rest of my life (including the other three years I lived in Montana) combined. But I’m not going to think of 2014 as the Year of the Horrifying Number of Pigeons, when I look back.

Montana 195

Montana 2014 New York Sparrows 195

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Louisiana is a magical place to bird. At the same time I was ogling Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Upland Sandpipers, Marybeth Lima was also birding Louisiana. Chapter Two is a potpourri of stories about nemesis birds, birding by ear, birding for science, under the rubric of birding ‘for the love of it.’

Louisiana 264

Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Hugh, who years ago helped me find my first Pauraque in the Rio Grande Valley , visited Peru as part of the 2014 World Birding Rally, where he stopped thinking of himself as an experienced birder. This is his first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Come to Peru, they said. Golden-tailed Sapphire by Alfredo Fernandez.

Peru 255

Peru Birds South America Owls 255

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2019

It’s never too late or too early to buy a children’s book about birds. It’s been a few years since my last roundup of children’s bird books, and children’s book writers, illustrators and publishers continue to produce picture books that feature avian protagonists. First, the board books.

New York City 165

New York City Pelicans Birds New York 165

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Beside birds, in this park you stand a chance of spotting the Eurasian Lynx , Brown Bear and Gray Wolf ! It is possible to reach it on the Friday afternoon, sleep there and go birding at the crack of dawn on Saturday. Well, do you really? The Forgotten Road does not exist on the GPS screen either. Am I complaining about it?

Serbia 203

Serbia Turtles Birds Eagles 203

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 187

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 187

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2019

After seeing the Burrowing Owl on Thursday night last week and talking to some other birders I realized that Friday was shaping up to be a good migration day, at least so far as we could divine from the weather forecast. I decided to take Friday off from work and devote my day to birding. This called for a change of plans!

Puerto Rico 117

Puerto Rico New York New York City United States 117

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2019

In our times, it seems foolish to be fearful of birds. There’s nothing to be afraid of: Landscape with Grave, Coffin, and Owl by Caspar David Friedrich. But our ancestors weren’t always so lucky to appreciate birds the way we do. Good birding and happy drinking – and happy Halloween! *

2015 114

2015 Denmark California Fowl 114

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 155

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 155

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Doves tend to get a bad rap when it comes to birding. In neotropical birding circles, the ability of this ground-dove to avoid detection is pretty much legendary. Bird as much as you want from Mexico to Bolivia, and you could easily never see or hear one for years. “No respect! Not a chance!

Costa Rica 181

Costa Rica Bolivia South America Rats 181

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Most of the books about extinction, including Fuller’s Extinct Birds (now, ironically, out of print), describe what was lost and look for explanations, scientifically and historically. The idea of Lost Animals was conceived after the publication of Extinct Birds (2001), a 400-page, four-pound book on 75 extinct species.

Animal 270

Animal Mammals Hawaii Dolphins 270

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

It’s etched into my audio memory, which is quite a feat considering the problems I have recognizing even the most common bird cries. I look up and see three large green birds, the bright green contrasting with dark blue underwings, whitish-grayish foreheads and breasts shining in the winter sun, flying overhead. “We And cell towers.

Chicago 214

Chicago New York City New York Illinois 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2014

When the proprietors of Costa Rica’s Finca Luna Nueva Lodge graciously invited Corey and me to visit, we were both thrilled at the prospect of awesome Costa Rican birds at an amazing ecolodge. Anyone attuned to Neotropical birding knows well that the Arenal area is famous for phenomenal birding, perhaps among the best in the world.

2014 223

2014 Costa Rica Birds Groups 223

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

FEBRUARY 5, 2017

I started keeping year lists – not just blogging about them but really keeping track of what I see each year – as late as 2012, roughly 30 years into my birding career. I was able to maintain the new structure in the 2014 list , and this was a mighty fine birding year in all aspects. What was left? This was fun.

2017 100

2017 Germany 2012 2013 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

You know there is probably some evil backstory if Wikipedia talks of a “complex” legacy of Raffles – further detailing that “he was ultimately an imperialist benefiting at the expense of the indigenous peoples” So, I guess this is another bird name that should be changed eventually.

Los Angeles 208

Los Angeles Birds Woodpeckers Owls 208

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2016

I am not entirely sure whether most birders outside Germany know or realize that Germany still has a decent population of one of Europe’s most attractive and desired bird species: the Great Bustard Otis tarda. Never mind the slight over-exposure: look at this bird!

Germany 102

Germany Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 102

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Way back on 16 May I managed to see my 312 bird species in Queens to add to my Queens list. Whimbrel – Undoubtedly this is the easiest bird left for me to find in Queens. Eastern Screech-Owl – There are many just outside of Queens in Nassau County. Sedge Wren – This is a bird that rarely shows up on the coast in fall migration.

2013 160

2013 2010 2012 2011 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2016

Few things can spell out “winter birding” as poetically as the sighting of a rare northern owl that has more or less unexpectedly found its way to southern, more balmy environs. A “winter owl” however has little meaning to German birders for two simple reasons (and male smew aren’t one of them).

Germany 104

Germany Owls 2013 2006 104