10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

Wrynecks are fascinating because they are woodpeckers, taxonomically and evolutionarily, yet they do not share many behaviors and anatomical features of most members of the Picidae family. But they are woodpeckers: the genus Jynx of the subfamily Jynginae of the Picidae family. They are beautiful, but in a different way.

Woodpeckers 243

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 243

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2017

Our first encounter with Sarus Cranes was shortly after we left Normanton heading towards Karumba and it was a family group of two adults and one juvenile near the Corduroy Creek crossing. Sarus Crane family. We had never observed Sarus Cranes until that day in July and they are proudly on the 2017 year list !

Australia 100

Australia 2017 2015 Family 100

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. To be fair, I could and should have also grabbed The Shorebird Guide for the Greenshank and Collin’s Bird Guide, 2nd edition for both birds, but the Nat Geo was right there next to me, where your favorite field guides should be.).

North America 186

North America America 2017 Birds 186

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

Hongbenghe is a very small village in Yunnan, right next to the border with Myanmar. The main attraction for birders here are the hornbills – I have written about them before , so this post will be more on the other birds I saw there in 2017. One road simply ends here, giving the place a real end-of-the-world feeling.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2020

Great Shearwater – At this point, seabirds are my weakest family in Queens with the most species having reported in the borough that I have not seen. Western Tanager – Pretty unlikely but a guy can dream, right? 314 – Sooty Shearwater , 13 May 2017: Yes! I just have to be at the right place at the right time.

2018 162

2018 2015 Birds 2019 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

September 2017, Cerrado, Brazil. Author Joshua Hammer, who previously wrote about a different type of real-life-unexpected-caper in The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu , read about Lendrum in the Times of London in 2017, realized the possibilities, did the research. We are cautioned to keep the location of the eagle a secret.

Falcons 219

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 219

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2017

It is with that in mind, and given that we are pretty much half way through this year, that I have picked my top twenty images for 2017. I happen to think the Crested Cara cara is one of the most beautiful birds in the falcon family. They stay here in Mexico despite the heat, and raise their families.

Seattle 110

Seattle Mexico 2017 Falcons 110

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

The Birder’s Guide to Africa was written by Michael Mills (left) and illustrated with photographs by Tasso Leventis (right). Family accounts for all 142 bird families recorded from the region. Naturally, I expected this to be a new version of Wheatley-like site guide and I couldn’t be more wrong.

Africa 174

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2017

The birding has been rewarding as always and we have been able to add several birds to the 2017 year list that we may not see around Broome every year. I am not expert on our local wildflowers and scientists are constantly finding new species in remote areas of the Kimberley, so for some of the flowers I can only give you a family name.

2017 100

2017 Australia Ducks Family 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

A family motel and passion for responsible ecotourism brought her home to the Oregon Coast where she and her husband, Erik, adventure and record a podcast ( Hannah and Erik Go Birding ), created in an effort to inspire others to get out and bird. It is an extremely popular fundraising project with an almost cult-like following.

South Africa 264

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago describes all 1,456 bird species (39 species more than in the first edition) within 107 bird families known to occur in the region, including 628 endemics (27 endemics more than in the 1st edition) and 10 species yet to be formally described (down from 18 in the 1st edition).

Indonesia 264

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 264

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! Three swimming Australian Painted Snipe.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Raised 2017 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2017

After all, exposing a child to nature is important in their development, right? Now, those of you familiar with my tendency to chase birds in New York and knowledgeable of the spate of Great Gray Owls we have had in 2017 might question why it took me to nearly the end of March to make a trip upstate to see one. Family twitching?

New York 101

New York Owls Beavers Puerto Rico 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. Within families, the species are arranged less taxonomically and more in line with “design and space considerations,” (Introduction), and on the plates themselves, species are arranged to facilitate comparison.

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Recently, while guiding ABA 2017 Big Year winner Yve Nagy Morrell in Costa Rica for a handful of days, we found ourselves trying for just a few more. The next day saw us making our way to El Tapir for close views of the Snowcap , a surreal fairy of a creature that stands out in an already surreal family.

Costa Rica 191

Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 191

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2019

We see a closer shot of the river itself, hawks flying across the span, and then we see that brown line again, close up, a wall of brown panels filling the right side of the screen, continuing into the distance, no end in sight, while a white pick-up truck drives parallel to it at the far left of the screen. Otilia Portillo Padua, director.

Advocacy 268

Advocacy Mexico United States Texas 268

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

Species Accounts are arranged taxonomically, grouped by family. Family sections start with a brief description of the characteristics shared by the species in the family, followed by a description of the sounds made by those species and how they obtain their song/call knowledge. by Nathan Pieplow. Peterson Field Guide series.

North America 175

North America America Birds New York 175

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

Working in an area for which there are few official checklists, no governing taxonomic body, and much new information on species relationships coming in, the authors were faced with a multitude of questions about family sequence, genus arrangements, English common names, and species taxonomy. Co-author Frank E. Species Accounts.

Indonesia 131

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 131

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2018

A friend of 10,000 Birds, he talked to Corey about his mission to create this guide in 2012 and wrote about his goal to create a Spanish-language version of the guide in 2017. Illustrations are old school, in a separate section, with images of the right and brief descriptions of the left–73 plates offering 1,000 images.

Honduras 105

Honduras Birds 2015 Family 105

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Say’s Phoebe – A self-found rarity at Edgemere while accompanied by my family made my day back on 05 October 2014. Golden Eagle – Two weeks to the day after the Say’s Phoebe I was once again at Edgemere with my family and picked up a Golden Eagle flying past , a surprise bird for sure!

2013 160

2013 2010 2012 2011 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2017

Even when hunting in sub-freezing temperatures on the edge of the Mongolian border or doing her chores around the family ger (yurt) in the isolated Altai Mountains, Aisholpan beams. Eagle hunting is a family tradition that goes back at least 12 generations, part of the larger nomadic Kazakh culture. That’s not right.”

Eagles 102

Eagles Mongolia Hunters Hunting 102

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2018

Sure, 2017 was a wonderful year , but out with the old, what have you done for me lately, and all that jazz. Then, amazingly, it flopped down in the leaf litter right in front of me where it alternated sunbathing and flipping leaves. On January first my year list, just like every other birder’s year list, reverted to zero.

Ducks 101

Ducks Litter Feral 2017 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2016

The end of July and beginning of August featured an amazing trip across the American west with my family. That’s some awesome stuff right there! I think my brain, which for so long had been wanting to see a Macgillivray’s Warbler , just couldn’t process the fact that one was right at my feet. Or something.

2016 135

2016 Puerto Rico New York City New York 135

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2019

Clearly, author Phyllis Limbacher Tildes, the author of 24, soon to be 25, children’s books, is also a birder (and a little research brings up a presentation she gave at Ogeechee Audubon, Georgia with the biographical information and she and her family “love watching birds and wildlife seen near their lagoon on Skidaway Island.”

New York City 155

New York City Pelicans Birds New York 155

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

You could say that the right-brain, the part of the brain that is intuitive and creative, goes first, and the left-brain, where the logic resides, comes in second to refine and substantiate the initial impression. But, I think the birding world is big enough to accommodate more than one way to identify the members of this infamous family.

North America 205

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 205

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

I have to say right off that taxonomic organization is imprinted in my brain. You can find the Pygmy Marmoset’s family feeding tree by looking for its markings on the trunk, similar to those made by sapsuckers. Princeton University Press, 2017. Princeton University Press, 2017. Paperback, 224p., Paperback, 288p.

Ecuador 178

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Considering this adherence to scientific accuracy, it is intriguing that the authors have put aside a taxonomic form of organization and have instead opted for “a pragmatic field guide sequence… that groups bird families according to the broad biomes in which they are most likely to be encountered—marine, freshwater and terrestrial…” (p.2).

Australia 108

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 108

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

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. The answer was right in front of me, a bit to the right, an adult keeping an eye on oblivious tourists, the nest deep within the tree. (2)

2016 112

2016 India Ducks Birds 112

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2018

Many species that live right here in Costa Rica are also very difficult to find, have prominent positions on local target lists, and some have attained near mythical status. Yellow-breasted Crake – Along with most other members of their reclusive family. At least we have the Black-and-white Owl. Most people still need it.

Costa Rica 101

Costa Rica Bald Eagle Eagles Birds 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2018

So, we start with Dolphin Gull and end with Red-Legged Kittiwake, a totally different sequence from the 2017 eBird listings. So, I can go right to the description of Larus canus heinei on page 78, but I need to scan the photo captions to find the gull depicted on pages 83 and 84. Browsing through this book is tough.

2004 157

2004 North America America Europe 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

The guide presents 69 species and 1 subspecies, from “NEW WORLD VULTURES: Cathartiformes” to “OSPREY: Pandioninae” to “FAMILY: Accipitridae” (Kites, Hawks, Eagles, Hawk-Eagles), to “FALONIDS: Falconidae” (Falcons, Forest-Falcons, Caracaras, Kestrels, Merlin). Princeton University Press, 2017. And vice versa. A good book helps.

Mexico 170

Mexico America North America Falcons 170

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. Thanks, Marsh Sandpiper (seen on the right with a redshank on the pic below), your presence was highly appreciated! Arctic Tern , Große Rosin, Germany.

2016 101

2016 Germany Italy Netherlands 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

” Kricher delineates the many types of bird families and species you are likely to encounter in the Neotropics, emphasizing habitat and behavior (especially feeding behavior, and particularly fruit eaters; fruit is an important element when it comes to tropical ecology). Princeton University Press, 2017. By John Kricher.

South America 158

South America Ecuador Reptiles America 158

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

This is how, I think, the “Crossley technique” works best—coverage of specific bird families that pose identification challenges to birders at all levels of skill. And Hybrids: Waterfowl tend to hybridize to a greater degree than most other bird families, and the guide does an excellent job of covering hybrids. Crossley Books, 2017.

Ducks 122

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 122