10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2021

Anyway, so I started checking my bird photo collection for photos of species starting with an A (after all, this is a bird photo blog, though I sometimes tend to forget this). Let us start with some of the cheaters in the A-Team – the ones just adopting the name of a continent to get into this post. Are you still with me?

South Africa 334

South Africa China Nevada Africa 334

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 227

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 227

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

Fortunately for me, my adoptive land of Mexico is rich in, precisely, double-hyphenates. Among our bird groups with many such species are the Wood-Partridges, Quail-Doves, Ant-Tanagers, Forest-Falcons, and Tody-Flycatchers. And hey, who can forget the Foliage-Gleaners? Ground-Sparrows have faces that border on the clownish.

Sparrows 142

Sparrows Mexico United States Groups 142

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

A Field Guide to the Birds: Giving Field Marks of All Species Found in Eastern North America was published in 1934 by Houghton Mifflin (note–Peterson was 26 years old), after being rejected by four publishers. Adding the 76 new species in the Hawaii section, this makes coverage of approximately 884 species.

North America 223

North America America Hawaii Birds 223

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2018

Let me be quite clear here, my 2018 will not really a true “Big Year” in the sense that I spend an entire year, every day, going all over the world in an effort to establish a new record number of bird species. There was just enough light to see a Peregrine Falcon swoop down thru the parking lot here at Marina Palmira.

2018 109

2018 Mexico New Zealand Falcons 109

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. New World Vultures.

California Condor 190

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 190