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. It works well in Florida , in which most species are allocated one page each and 20 species get two-page spreads. “Great Egret.”

Colorado 243

Colorado Florida Birds New Jersey 243

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

2014 has been a good year for us at 10,000 Birds. Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. That’s Redgannet’s BBOTY at the top of the post.

2014 194

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 194

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2015

My number one choice at the time was Egyptian Goose ( Alopochen aegyptiacus ), an adaptable sheldgoose from Africa that was rapidly becoming established in peninsular Florida. In 2014, the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee (FOSRC) voted to add this species to the Florida state list.

Los Angeles 154

Los Angeles Miami San Francisco Florida 154

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

This is perhaps the best place in Florida to find a rare gull for the state and though I had no luck picking a vagrant California Gull out of the teeming hordes I did enjoy myself as much as I did back in 2012. … 10,000 Birds is a Scrub-Jay level sponsor of the 2014 Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.

Florida 199

Florida Panama Wildlife 2014 199

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2016

For example, years ago, Eiton Tchenrov postulated that the wild progenitor of the domestic dog, some subspecies or another of wolf, could benefit from overlapping its breeding territory with human hunters. It turns out that there is an example of this with wading birds in the Florida Everglades.

Alligators 120

Alligators Protection Leopards Birds 120

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

But for some poorly (or not-at-all) understood reason, its spread across North America has shown a very northwesterly orientation, so while birders as far away from the epicenter of the North American introduction in Florida as British Columbia get to see Eurasian Collared-Doves regularly we New Yorkers and other northeasterners are deprived.

New York 167

New York New York City North America Bahamas 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2016

That, at least, is the case for most birders in North America, unless they reside in Florida and have no clue as to what a winter is anyway. First, most of Europe’s owl species are breeding in Germany anyway and are better found at other times of the year.

Germany 103

Germany Owls 2013 2006 103