10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

Hannah Buschert was first exposed to birds and birding during a required ornithology course at Oregon State University and she quickly caught the birding bug. This is Hannah’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Hannah and Erik ready to see some birds! I love to go on cruises.

South Africa 264

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

Birds of Kruger National Park covers the 259 species most frequently seen in the park, about half of the total number of birds documented there. Regular readers of 10,000 Birds may remember Jochen’s posts about keeping taxonomy out of field guides. It sounds simple, but I wonder how it works in practice.

Ecuador 174

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Yet, as I was slowly running out of other bird groups that I knew nothing about, I had no other choice but to start learning what I was always running away from: those abominable shorebirds. The Shorebirds in Action begins with introduction to various families, as a framework for later discussions. Publisher: Whittles Publishing, 2017.

Botswana 119

Botswana 2017 Groups Europe 119

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2020

Be careful how you Google ‘bird of paradise’! It’s the bird family that most people don’t know is a bird family. It’s the bird family that most people don’t know is a bird family.

Guinea 263

Guinea Birds Papua New Guinea Family 263

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 213

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 213

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2024

Lesser Kestrels are one of those birds that have a special fascination for British birdwatchers. They are very rare birds in Britain, but have been recorded from Scilly in the south to Fair Isle in the north. Lesser Kestrel really is an appropriate name, for they are a lesser bird than the familiar Common Kestrel.

Falcons 199

Falcons Spain Europe 2012 199

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 127

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 127

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 237

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 237

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

The Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America by Nathan Pieplow is innovative, fascinating, and challenging. The guide covers 520 species of birds regularly found in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, including, interestingly, a number of exotic species. But, first the basics.

North America 171

North America America Birds New York 171

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 212

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 212

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 202

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 202

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

It was a good birding year. Many sad and unfortunate things occurred in 2016, but the birding was good. I started the year in Florida, traveled to India with the ABA in February, combined family and birding in an August trip to California, and in-between saw very good birds in New York and New Jersey.

2016 110

2016 India Ducks Birds 110

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Are there birders out there who do not dream of birding Australia? Possibly birders who have already birded Australia (but, wouldn’t you want to go back?) or birders who live there (but, how can you bird it all?). So, I welcomed the opportunity to review The Australian Bird Guide.

Australia 107

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 107

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2018

What do you do when you are a bird guide in a Central American country incredibly rich in birds and other natural resources but which has no birding field guide? selling original art plates, and sponsorships and donations from birding and conservation companies and agencies from the U.S., You write your own. Gallardo did.

Honduras 104

Honduras Birds 2015 Family 104

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2018

The numbers of Magpie Geese were not only significant due to the high rainfall at the start of 2017, but the Magpie Geese bred around the area and there was a population boost over the following months. The families of Magpie Geese are now on the move and they are gathering where the remaining water is in very large numbers.

Geese 100

Geese 2017 Ducks Breeding 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Australia has a lot of birds. The “ Working List of Australian Birds, v.4 4 ,” published by BirdLife Australia lists 2,016 birds, but that includes subspecies (add extinct, domestic, failed introduced & non-confirmed birds and you have 2,106). I recently visited Australia (Yay!) How did they do that?!”

Australia 242

Australia Birds 2017 Groups 242

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

October 23 2017: I read the text message confirming that there is indeed a Common Greenshank at Edwin B. 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. Forsythe NWR.

North America 184

North America America 2017 Birds 184

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

JANUARY 1, 2019

Happy New Year, 10,000 Birds readers and writers, listers and photographers, friends and fellow travelers near and far! Writing a post scheduled for January 1st for a birding blog is a big responsibility. On the first of the year, every bird is a new bird! It was a United States lower-48 birding year for me.

2018 158

2018 New Jersey Michigan North Dakota 158

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 152

2004 North America America Europe 152

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 119

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 119