10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

For those of us in the Americas, nine-primaried oscines are among our most familiar and beloved birds: finches; sparrows, juncos, and towhees; warblers; blackbirds, meadowlarks, and orioles; cardinals and grosbeaks; and tanagers. Some scientists have lumped them all into one enormous family (e.g., Keith Barker, et al.,

Family 177

Family Blackbirds Groups Sparrows 177

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Similarly, descriptions of species repeated across volumes do not lose their accuracy with each publication. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 212

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 212

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

I’ve written before about how much I enjoy the abundance of Pine Siskins in my adopted home. I’ve always been rather fascinated by trans-Atlantic bird families, perhaps because of growing up with copious mentions of British birds in my children’s books. The siskins are much simpler.

Blackbirds 164

Blackbirds Adoptable Humane Family 164

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It’s not like I had forgotten lists created with friends of ‘songs with birds in the lyrics’, my personal favorites being Sondheim’s Green Finch and Linnet Bird and the Beatles’ Blackbird. It’s relatively easy to classify birds into family groups based on physical characteristics. As they say, the relationship is complicated.

Birds 212

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 212

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.

North America 147

North America Sparrows America United States 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Both Puerto Rico and the USVI have active birding communities that are currently excluded from full membership in the ABA family. The USVI are smaller and have fewer habitats and, as a result, fewer bird species. All Americans Should be Full Members of the ABA Family. Because it is much larger, this will focus on Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico 152

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Hawaii United States 152