10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Within 140 ac / 60 ha of Rancho Naturalista’s Reserve, there are 500 bird species – or 55% of the nation’s total! While I already visited Costa Rica once, I do not feel overly-confident with its birds. And Verbena attracts another specialty bird and a regional endemic (from Honduras to Panama), the Snowcap.

Costa Rica 254

Costa Rica Rats Parrots Raccoons 254

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

The Juniper Titmouse ( Baeolophus ridgwayi ) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. You can also see my 10000 Birds post on the Oak Titmouse here. Thanks to my friend Rebecca Carrier for penning this post for 10,000 Birds on my behalf. One of my favorite bird species living by my house is the Juniper Titmouse.

2017 160

2017 New Mexico Groups Abandon 160

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 243

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 243

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

APRIL 7, 2020

September 2017, Cerrado, Brazil. The proprietor of our ecolodge guides my small group of birders up a steep slope where we see, just at the point where a scope view deteriorates into pixels, a huge bird—a Chaco Eagle, also known as a Crowned Eagle—on a huge nest. We are cautioned to keep the location of the eagle a secret.

Falcons 219

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 219

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2018

Every single species, even the European Starlings above, count as one bird on the year’s checklist. Sure, 2017 was a wonderful year , but out with the old, what have you done for me lately, and all that jazz. This is almost as good a bird in Queens as a Western Tanager : before this bird I had only ever seen two.

Ducks 101

Ducks Litter Feral 2017 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

And, for all our complaints about brown and gray plumages, gulls can be beautiful birds (well, some more beautiful than others, and Heermann’s Gull is one of my favorites, with one N at the end or two). In a birding world that celebrates identification, there are surprisingly few articles and books on gull identification.**

North America 205

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 205

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2018

So many birds of white and gray touched with black. So many immature birds utilizing a palette of brown and ecru, burnt umber, white and black. The ordering of the Species Accounts is based on Handbook of the Birds of the World, with some rearrangements (p.10). So many species that change eye color or leg color as they age.

2004 157

2004 North America America Europe 157