10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2019

For nearly 10 days now, I have been sorting thru all of the images from 2018. Over-all there were almost 80,000 photos taken, nearly 50 story’s posted on this website, and 10 countries, all with some amazing birds. There were literally hundreds of birds that I am so fascinated with, that could have/should have been here.

2018 159

2018 Costa Rica South Africa New Zealand 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

Most serious bird photographers dislike taking pictures of birds wearing rings (or what on the other side of the Atlantic you call bands). I can sympathise, as a shiny new ring, clamped to a bird’s leg, rarely enhances its portrait. The information I received didn’t indicate the age of the bird.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Morocco Iceland Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

But it seems the birds like this habitat, probably as this is a rare more open area on these otherwise mostly heavily forested hills. The monastery is quite large compared to a bird guide (Bella from Alpinebirding on the left-hand side). And compared to birds, for that matter. Please consult your own bird guide for more details.

Birds 210

Birds Germany India 2018 210

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2018

After an incredibly wet start to 2018 as a result of several tropical cyclones and other rain events the land remains saturated around Broome and as a result of this there are several bird species breeding that we don’t even encounter in dry years. Our first ever encounter was just over seven years ago near Broome.

Breeding 100

Breeding Family 2018 Australia 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2022

The American Birding Association has declared that 2022 is the year of the Burrowing Owl, but if Rosemary Mosco has her way, it will also be the year of the Rock Pigeon. Yes, sure, Rock Pigeons are not a vulnerable species, unless you count the number of times they have been mocked, scorned, and shooed away. Watcha looking at, human?”

2018 214

2018 New York City Birds Abandon 214

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

This is the last post covering my time birding the Kruger Park in November 2018. A study on the diet of the African Harrier-Hawk starts rather pompously: “Feeding is an indispensable activity in the life of birds. I guess blushing is easier if you have a bald face like this species. No clue what it is though.

South Africa 147

South Africa Niger Birds Mice 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2019

The toughest thing for me, as a local birder, was to choose the most attractive birds because those that attract my attention are generally all too common in the northwest of Europe, from where most visiting birders are coming. Cranes breed in very small numbers in UK but are always impressive en masse. Hence, I asked my friend B.C.,

Serbia 249

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Breeding 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2022

The first title of the ‘official’ series (there were two ‘prequels’) was “ Birds of Thailand “, published in 2018. The most recent was the ninth one, “ Birds of Colombia ” in 2021. One thing I deeply respect is the addition of common bird names in a local language.

Thailand 147

Thailand Colombia 2018 Groups 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 194

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 194

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

The April arrival of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, Second Edition was a supremely happy moment in a very difficult, sad month. A companion regional guide, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America was published in 1941; its fifth edition will be coming out in early September.

North America 207

North America America Hawaii Birds 207

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2019

But there is an old quote I always carry with me when I bird: “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” (Desiderius Erasmus). and I never bird on an empty stomach. I rarely bird more than an hour from my home, because my wife expects me back by 2 p.m. I am, you see, only a mediocre birder. or the U.K.;

Mexico 128

Mexico Birds 2013 Lamb 128

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2018

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are home to some of the largest assemblages of breeding seabirds in the United States. Invasive species , particularly rodents, have long been a problem on the Hawaiian archipelago. Midway’s birds are also protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. They are also disease vectors.

Mice 102

Mice Albatross Honolulu Endangered Species 102

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

There are 35 raptor species that have a presence in the United States and Canada, 56 (more or less) if you count by subspecies, and they are all covered in admirable, exhausting, unbelievable detail in B irds of Prey of the East: A Field Guide and Birds of Prey of the West: A Field Guide by Brian K. Structure & Organization.

North America 190

North America Birds Mississippi Bald Eagle 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

One of these days, Jeopardy will feature a category called “Field Guides” and the first clue will be: “This landlocked South American country finally got its own bird field guide in 2016, but it wasn’t available in the United State until 2019.” Bolivia doesn’t come up much in discussions of birding travel.

Bolivia 172

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 172

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2018

Major extinction events that are geologically instantaneous have been followed by periods of time with reduction of species or unstable habitats that last for hundreds of thousands or millions of years. Readers of 10,000 Birds know that diversity is one of the great hallmarks of modern day birds. More recently, Kelly J.

2018 101

2018 Science Humane Species 101

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2018

Each year the Sanderling depart from Australia and head north to Siberia to breed and then return to be observed running frantically along the water’s edge. Earlier this year when we were in the south of Western Australia adding numerous bird species to our 2018 year list we encountered a small flock of Sanderling.

Australia 113

Australia 2000 2018 Breeding 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

This week we decided that we really should try and add Common Redshank to our 2018 year list. The road is very corrugated and narrow in some areas and the condition varies throughout the year and can be closed after heavy rain, so you should check on the road condition website or call the Broome Bird Observatory before you leave town.

2018 114

2018 2016 2015 Australia 114

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2019

Since the last notice of him on this blogsite (in June 2018), Steve Burrows has published two more novels in his terrific “Birder Murder” series, the fifth and sixth – respectively, A Tiding of Magpies and, now the latest, A Dance of Cranes. This is good news, and especially so for birders.

Humane 132

Humane 2018 Laws Science 132

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Lots of people would prefer other birds. In one of the first of Dee’s observations about gullers he calls them: “men leaving their homes and their families to spend time peering at arsey birds in some of the arseholes of the world.”. Out of 240 pages of the Landfill, only a minor part is about birding the landfills.

Angola 184

Angola United Kingdom Mozambique Botswana 184

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2018

The sight of the large bird, so awkward on the ground, trying to launch itself with the coaching of an indefatigable parent, was funny, charming, and amazing in its uniqueness. It’s not often that we have the opportunity to glimpse the home life of albatrosses, nor of any seabird species.

Albatross 114

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2021

This lake, with a surface area of up to 150 square miles in good years, is my go-to site for dozens of waterfowl and shorebird species, so I take its health personally. It is also a vital wintering and migratory site for most of these species, so I imagine they take its health very personally, as well.

San Francisco 264

San Francisco 2018 Mexico Ducks 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2022

Last week, Corey opened the “Top Ten Birds for 2021” season here at 10,000 Birds. He lamented that he had barely been able to travel during the year — only one trip from New York to California, poor boy — and then went on to give an impressive list of vagrants and first-of-state birds. In my garden!

Mexico 218

Mexico Birds Virginia Barn Owls 218

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

MAY 8, 2018

More than 50 years ago, the Hawaiian Goose (Nene) was one of the first birds listed under the Endangered Species Act, part of the inaugural “ Class of 1967 ”. Under the Endangered Species Act, any listing, uplisting, downlisting, or removal from a list requires a formal “rulemaking” process.

Endangered Species 101

Endangered Species Species Hawaii 2018 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

In retrospect, this weekend at Wuyuan was not exactly my finest hour as a bird photographer – hopefully, I could do better now, and perhaps one day I will, should normal traveling ever be possible again in China. I’d rather see yellow birds than yellow plants. Such a cute bird deserves a better representation.

China 147

China Birds Breeders Species 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

In total, there are eight species of hornbills in Borneo – the best place to see them seems to be the Kinabatagan River area (also known as Sukau). Another item they feed on is hunting edible bird nest swiftlets, which are quite common in edible swiftlet houses in Sabah, Malaysia ( source ).

Rhinoceros 126

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 126

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2021

Of course, I also go there several other times each year; I have, after all, seen 160 species at this endemic-rich site. The reason for this annual pilgrimage is a single species, the Sinaloa Martin. All sightings southeast of the species’ Puerto Vallarta-to-Los Mochis breeding area are of migrating birds.

2016 262

2016 2015 Nicaragua Mexico 262

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

For the last two decades, Europe and the greater Mediterranean have been covered by one of the best field guides anywhere: “Collins Bird Guide” by Lars Svensson et al., published in the US by Princeton as “Birds of Europe”. Unlike “Collins Bird Guide” (CBG) with 416 pages and 1.7 And my first impression is: Wow!

Cyprus 250

Cyprus Saudi Arabia Europe Birds 250

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Its crown was so thick, I could spot the movement, but only rarely the bird itself and never the whole bird, once it would be only its back, once its head, once just legs… slowly, I was putting this puzzle together. The first birds to spot from the boat were Common Terns furiously defending their newly built nests on floating logs.

Greece 193

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 193

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 199

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 199

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 232

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 232

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

Fortunately, the very abundant 2018 rains raised the water level to heights I had never seen, and so far, that seems to be making up for this year’s poor rains. During the winter migratory season, I can always count on seeing at least 70 species of birds. At Lake Cuitzeo, everywhere you look, you see birds.

Ducks 132

Ducks 2018 Pelicans Europe 132

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

For, in birder lingo, a split occurs when subspecies are determined to be, in fact, entirely separate species. If you happen to have seen both species, your life list can increase without you even leaving the house. Two former species can also be joined into one, the same way. Do we really need to talk about sad events?).

San Diego 175

San Diego San Francisco Mexico Baltimore 175

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

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. The post The Falcon Thief: A Book Review appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Falcons 208

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 208

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2018

Last month we decided to head north to go camping and birding and top up the 2018 Year List. It is now very hot and dry inland and the temperature does not drop much at night, so you go to bed early and get up early like the animals and birds. We were woken by birds at 4am every day, so we were inside our tent early each night!

Shelters 114

Shelters Geese 2018 Ducks 114

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2021

Once upon a time, bird field guides included nests. Decades later, Richard Pough’s Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds (I happily own the 1948 edition) included nest and egg descriptions for each species as well. There are many reasons to inquire about bird nests (and eggs) and how to identify them.

Eggs 228

Eggs Birds United States Sparrows 228

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 155

2018 New Jersey Michigan North Dakota 155