10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2020

Having finally found a Black Vulture for my Queens list , an important tick both because it was long overdue and because it was the tenth bird since my last set of predictions, it is time, once again, to look at what might be coming to my Queens list. Black Vulture – The bird that has been reported the most in Queens that I have never seen.

2018 159

2018 2015 Birds 2019 159

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2019

2018 proved to be one of my best birding years ever. In addition to spotting exciting new species in Florida, including the rare Snail Kite, travel across the country brought me into contact with birds in Oregon, California, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, and more. Not so much.

Bald Eagle 146

Bald Eagle Alabama Kansas Florida 146

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2018

On my wanderings I picked up quite a few species that were new for my year list but my Best Bird of the Weekend was one that countered cruelty with happiness. Mike, too, chose a bluebird as his Best Bird of the Weekend, though his was a different species seeing as he and his family avoided the cruelty of April by being in California.

North Carolina 113

North Carolina Cruelty 2018 United States 113

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

JULY 8, 2018

July often means travel, which sometimes means tourist attractions, which occasionally means exotic or introduced bird species. We may know these birds well, but should we love them? The reason I ask is because my family and I visited the Bronx Zoo this weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2018 100

2018 Zoos Birds Raised 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2018

Our calendar– the birding calendar –has just shifted into overdrive. In fact, some might argue that, on an international level, this weekend represents one of the zeniths of birding activity and engagement. Last year’s Global Big Day accounted for at least 65% of all the bird species on the planet.

2018 100

2018 Birds Collecting Killing 100

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

JANUARY 13, 2022

The late November to early December was the beginning of a dry season and no one wore rubber boots, all birding was done in lightweight hiking shoes. In Inírida – on older maps Puerto Inírida, there is no need for cages, you can hear birds all the time! Birds The local birdlist has reached 462 species, and some 30 more are expected.

Colombia 239

Colombia Birds Cooking Fish 239

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

I am shocked to be writing this post already, and doubly shocked that I’ve seen six new species for Queens since I guessed what my next five Queens birds would be just eight months ago, back in March. It’s been a good year for birding in Queens! Fortunately, there are birds to help. I’ll make it three!

New York City 151

New York City Birds New York Blackbirds 151

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2018

This past weekend marked one of the peak moments of migratory bird activity globally, at least in an aggregate sense. Family obligations kept me on the sidelines during Global Big Day, but I did manage to sneak in a little birding before traveling. What was your best bird of the weekend? Did you notice? How about you?

2018 101

2018 Birds Sparrows Experience 101

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

OCTOBER 13, 2018

Through multi-partnerships, cooperation, federal funding, and the private conservation efforts of one family, 616 acres were officially added to the Cherokee National Forest in September 2018. In the area live 15 species from Tennessee’s threatened and endangered list, as well as 11 aquatic species from the federally endangered list.

Georgia 205

Georgia Bald Eagle Tennessee 2018 205

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 246

Costa Rica Rats Parrots Raccoons 246

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

APRIL 14, 2023

Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth. An Englishwoman, she thought, originally, that she would stay within the British Isles, to see the five or six native species.

Barn Owls 113

Barn Owls Owls Serbia Finland 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2018

I have observed this species many times (my eBird says 28 times this year alone) and never had one landing near me. and after the road construction (June 2018). Hidden from my view, it stood on a nearby tree and if it weren’t for those clumsy beats, I wouldn’t have noticed it. And that was the last I ever heard from the officials.

2016 170

2016 Eagles Birds Otters 170

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 152

2017 New Mexico Groups Abandon 152

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2021

Ranging in color from off-white to dingy black, with pastel to gelatinous shades of yellow, orange, purple, and brown in-between, found in moist crevasses, decaying trees, rain-soaked pastures, mushrooms lack the beauty of butterflies and wildflowers cannot equal the action of bats, or flying fish, and certainly lack the spiritual zest of birds.

North America 255

North America America Species 2018 255

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

JULY 4, 2018

The birding around Lago de Yojoa in Honduras is frankly phenomenal, as I learned during a June 2018 birding junket organized by the Instituto Hondureño de Turismo. Peraza , could not sit still knowing that so many tasty target birds could be found within easy driving distance. EL RANCHO HOTEL Y RESTAURANTE.

Honduras 137

Honduras Birds Farming America 137

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2018

The crunch is on, and with less than two weeks left in the year, we are trying to squeeze out as many more species as possible. Last week, we quite impulsively jumped in a rental car and drove 2600 miles round trip to south Texas to pick up 34 new species. If we could get there, all other expenses were covered.

Bahamas 113

Bahamas Tucson El Paso Texas 113

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

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

I haven’t yet been birding in Europe but whenever I occasionally skim a field guide about the birds on the other side of the Atlantic, I’m always encouraged to find that I’m already familiar with many species found over there, even though most of my birding experience has been limited to eastern North America.

2017 117

2017 Portugal Rabbits Europe 117

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2018

I didn’t intend to turn over a new leaf with my first review of the new year, but this week’s beer represents a few firsts for the “Birds and Booze” beat here at 10,000 Birds. This the first drink I’ve reviewed featuring a bird not yet on my life list – and it’s not one I’m counting on adding any time soon.

New Zealand 100

New Zealand India Massachusetts United States 100

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. What about incubation shifts?

Albatross 114

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2019

Last year I reviewed The Feather Thief , an enjoyable tale centering on the use of feathers in the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying, and how that led to the theft of priceless bird skins by one obsessed young man. The late Victorian age was not a good time to be an egret!

Industry 118

Industry Virginia Portland Campaign 118

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.

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

MARCH 29, 2021

Currently he is the convenor for Birdlife Australia in his local area and, as that suggests, he loves sharing his passion for birds and all wildlife through outings and bird walks. Currently Ken continues to dream of overseas birding tours but will settle for ones down under. First the listing part.

Birds 263

Birds 2020 Australia Species 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2021

Sometime back in 2018, I started sharing some of my photos by e-mail with my sister and aunt. But I felt that photos of Mexican species wouldn’t make much sense to west-coast Americans, so I added some descriptions of the birds and how I saw them. And that is why I write for 10,000 Birds. S triped-headed Sparrows.

Costa Rica 149

Costa Rica Birds Mexico illegal 149

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

If, someday, you make your way to Morelia, and ask for me to show you some of our best birds, I will surely do my best to accomodate you. In the case of most of these wonderful bird species, I probably know where they are most likely to be found. The Aztec Thrush is a beautiful bird, with bold dark/light plumage patterns.

2017 209

2017 2019 Nashville 2018 209

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

I should add that the Big Owls taking over NYC social and even hard print media, dominating conversations with my nonbirder friends and family, are not the only owls in the five boroughs, but like a musical, the closer you are to Broadway, the closer you are to fame and fortune (and maybe even a higher quality rodent for dinner, who knows?).

New York City 185

New York City Birds Owls Fox 185

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

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

AUGUST 4, 2020

I Love Birds!: 52 Ways to Wonder, Wander, and Explore Birds with Kids. Her children’s books–which include the charming Mama Build a Little Nest , other picture books, and chapter books–evince an easy familiarity with birds, their science and birding ethics. How many birds do you see?

Los Angeles 264

Los Angeles 2019 Birds 2014 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2020

Whisky Month at Birds and Booze: This January, Birds and Booze at 10,000 Birds is setting its sights on whiskies all month long. This boldness isn’t restricted to exchanges with other grouse, either: in some locales, members of this circumpolar family are astonishingly foolhardy around humans.

Sheep 196

Sheep Branding Ireland Fowl 196

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 232

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 232