10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2017

After a very good Wet Season with substantially more rain than normal over the first few months of 2017 the land was flooded and a huge variety of birds arrived in the Broome area to take advantage of the ideal conditions for breeding. Two birds on the right and one on the left-note the bills!

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Raised 2017 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2017

June may be the gateway to summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but the birding still delivers the thrills of spring migration when you have access to the right birds’ breeding grounds. I visited Letchworth State Park this weekend, renowned for a ridiculous density of breeding wood warblers. How about you?

2017 102

2017 Louisiana Birds Breeding 102

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2019

The striking Golden-cheeked Warbler nests only in the hills of central Texas near Austin but a substantial part of those breeding grounds have leveled in favor of development. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) declared the Golden-cheeked Warbler “ endangered ” under the Endangered Species Act. On December 27, 1990 , the U.S.

Austin 192

Austin Texas Endangered Species Birds 192

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2018

Serbia has 317 eBirded species so far, or 89% of the 356 in the national checklist. The country has one eBird hotspot with 200+ and 48 with more than 100 bird species. Spring migration March to April , 270 eBirded species. Breeding season May – June , 261 eBirded species (yet, only about 242 breed in the country).

Serbia 173

Serbia Owls Geese Macedonia 173

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2017

You believe in birthday birds , right? If you haven’t yet embraced the theory or practice of birthday birds, I recommend that, next time your special day rolls around, you make it a point to pursue a seasonally appropriate species you don’t regularly see. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles 2017 Coyotes Birds 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2015

A bird species battling an onslaught of invasive rats just got a glimpse of hope. That’s because these birds won’t breed when rats are around. And let’s face it, would you go to all the effort of breeding if there was a hefty chance that your newborn would just go down some invader’s gullet?).

Georgia 197

Georgia Rats Rodents 2017 197

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

Happy New Year, 10,000 Birds readers and writers! Everyone is looking back on their best birds of 2019, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at a book that looks back a little further: Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City , by P. The Bronx also has a special place in birding history.

New York City 164

New York City New York Birds Breeding 164

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Birding in Mexico is not like birding in the United States… especially when it comes to interpreting unusual sightings. Howell does not place the White-tailed Hawk anywhere near Morelia, but I have seen it in every cuadrant of the city, and know for a fact that it breeds near the church I pastor.

Mexico 299

Mexico Science Breeders United States 299

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. The 224-page book is organized by habitat and behavior, not taxonomy.

Ecuador 185

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 185

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

JANUARY 6, 2021

And there were moments during the year when I thought birding was a lost cause. As the year began, I was making plans for a work-related trip which would take us to two of the world’s great flyways, with time spent near Istanbul and Gibraltar, the two greatest crossing points for migratory European birds.

Mexico 177

Mexico 2020 2019 Turkey 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2018

Happy Second Day of the New Year, 10,000 Birds friends! I came late to bird feeding. Jim Carpenter is the founder of Wild Birds Unlimited, the popular bird feeder and seed franchise. There is a lot of information out there about feeding birds—web pages, pamphlets from bird feed retail stores and Audubon centers.

Birds 186

Birds New York City Squirrels New York 186

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2017

Over the years that we have birded we have observed some variation in the plumage of birds including a Crimson Finch that wasn’t crimson, but orange. We are also very much in tune with the local beaches and the tides and which species you can expect at different locations on different tides.

2017 105

2017 Taiwan 2012 2016 105

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2019

I like seeing as many species as possible on my life list, year list, state list, patch list, any kind of list. But even in summer I can usually count on 60+ non-endemic species per visit, and in winter, a decent effort can usually result in 80 or more species. I confess: I am a lister.

Ducks 117

Ducks Blackbirds United States Pelicans 117

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2017

I have been there several times last month, but barely ever managed to do any proper birding! That is hardly a surprise: this area holds 3 to 4 breeding pairs of White-tailed Eagles, which represents the biggest density per square mile anywhere in the country! So, the Belgrade press become acutely interested in birding?

Eagles 183

Eagles Campaign Otters Serbia 183

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. Illustrated by Chandler’s mainly excellent photos, the book shows about 180 species, or some 80 % of the total. What is it, then?

Botswana 131

Botswana 2017 Groups Europe 131

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 203

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 203

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2017

Since they don’t occur in the UK and obviously not in North America, they don’t often make it onto the front page of the bird blogging world and have this aura of unattainability, of being a gap rather than a feature on one’s travel list. Well, they are big. But this is really unnecessary. Here in Germany, we have them.

Germany 100

Germany Woodpeckers Luxembourg North America 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2016

I will also give you the link here for 2017 in case you are reading this next year or want to plan a trip for next year! Most of the Red Knot are in very good breeding plumage now and they do stand out very well on the grey rocks. We wish them all a safe journey and hope to see them return alongside juvenile birds later in the year.

Taiwan 100

Taiwan Breeding Japan 2017 100

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. For many years it was thought the two bird families were related taxonomically.

Guinea 264

Guinea Birds Papua New Guinea Family 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

If they can spare a glance upward, the busy grape-pickers might also be treated to another portent of the changing seasons in the Iberian skies overhead: the sight of flocks of White Storks ( Ciconia ciconia ) heading south from their summer breeding grounds in Europe to Africa, where they spend the winter on the warm savannas.

2017 114

2017 Spain California Condor California 114

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2018

Last week I introduced you to the new bird-watching hut at the Broome Poo Ponds and now I will let you know it is not just about the ponds, but the adjoining Broome Golf Course! Some bird species are regulars at the Golf Course, but we have also had rare birds how up over the years such as the Banded Lapwing in 2011.

Birds 100

Birds Ducks 2017 2011 100

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

JANUARY 26, 2024

A first-winter Red-breasted Goose at Cley, North Norfolk As a general rule, geese are birds of subtle, even dull, plumage. With its deep chestnut-red breast, exquisite head pattern and black and white body it’s an exceedingly handsome bird, and one that never fails to attract admirers when one turns up in Britain.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2017

I am a birder and I can claim that out of Serbia’s total of 350+ bird species, highly urbanised inner city areas of Belgrade hold almost 100 birds, while the outskirts have more than 200 species. eBird says that, at the time of writing (April 2017), there are some ten hotspots that have crossed the 100 bird species mark.

Birds 213

Birds 2017 Eagles Otters 213

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. They are ant specialists.

Woodpeckers 255

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 255

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 211

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 211

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 184

North America America Birds New York 184

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 142

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 142

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2022

It appeared that many of the birds that we had seen on earlier visits this year had abandoned the area due to the huge expanse of water. Glossy Ibis were by far the dominant species and we observed hundreds of them in flight as we crossed Roebuck Plains. Cones marking the highway damage. It really can be too wet for ducks!

Ducks 198

Ducks Reptiles 2017 Abandon 198

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 236

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 236

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. 1) Dusky Eagle-Owl.

2016 117

2016 India Ducks Birds 117

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 112

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 112

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 108

Honduras Birds 2015 Family 108

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2018

Following passage of the United States Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus ) was among the first 75 species listed for protection, the so-called “Class of 1967”. They’re becoming an expected sight there – and one that’s hard to miss given their immense size.

California Condor 108

California Condor Oregon California Zoos 108

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2017

The bird’s injured wing proved, when x-rayed, to be badly broken – so badly that even with treatment he would never be able to fly again. On Sunday May 19 2017, he was euthanized. Swanson Wildlife Health Center received an adult male Red-tailed Hawk that had been found on Cornell University’s campus.

Feral Cats 112

Feral Cats Suffering Montana 2006 112

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2018

In addition to my monthly posts here, I have also written short pieces and feature articles that rely on bird-related scientific literature. Other papers are locked behind paywalls.) That research ultimately led to an article about the conservation efforts regarding the Laysan Duck in the June 2017 issue of Birding.

Transported 113

Transported 2011 Research 2012 113