10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2016

I want to alert you to a recent study (from April) that looks at the plight of bird populations under conditions of climate change in Europe and North America. From the Abstract and summary: Changes in climate can cause populations of species to decline, to increase, or to remain steady. Stephens et al. Let’s look at that first.

North America 115

North America Europe America United States 115

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

And what does it tell us, other than the obvious “head for South America” or perhaps Indonesia? It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data.

Equatorial Guinea 193

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 193

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

That’s because this fascinating part-Caribbean, part-south American country holds well over 800 species of avifauna making it without doubt one of my top three countries in all of the continent to visit. Before I delve into some of these avian treasures let me give you a few non-birding reasons to visit this gem of South America.

Guyana 278

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 278

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2024

The scope is worldwide; of the 24 birds depicted, five are from the Americas; five from Eurasia; three from New Zealand; two from Australasia; three from Africa; one from Africa and Asia; one from Antarctica; two worldwide, and two from Asia, introduced worldwide. of Chicago Press, 2014). This is my favorite illustration.

Chicago 177

Chicago Barn Owls Penguins New Zealand 177

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2024

Bald Eagle Species Name: Haliaeetus leucocephalus. Endangered Species list in 2007. Steller’s Sea-Eagle Species Name: Haliaeetus pelagicus. Where to Find in Alaska: One individual has been journeying across North America, first spotted on August 30, 2020, near Denali National Park in Alaska. It is recent as of 2024.

Alaska 189

Alaska Eagles Bald Eagle Deer 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2022

Hunting and disturbance, deterioration, fragmentation and destruction of habitat were the forces behind the decline of this, once widespread species, making it Critically Endangered on the IUCN Global Red List. After my trip, I followed the news of this species closely. Males reach 1.2 meters (3.9

Gazelles 254

Gazelles India 2012 Endangered Species 254

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2022

I spent a few hours on Mauritius flying from Shanghai to Cape Town, South Africa, and decided to use this time for a short trip to a nature reserve on Mauritius, the Black River Gorges National Park. Being an island, Mauritius has its share of endemics, extinct endemics (the dodo again), and introduced species.

Mauritius 222

Mauritius Birds 2000 South Africa 222

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2015

In many ways the weaver family is for Africa are similar beasts to the pseudowarblers of North America (sometimes called wood-warblers). If anything, some of the weavers take being gaudy to levels unimagined by America’s ‘weavers’, especially when you consider the widowbirds, bishops and malimbes. Taking off.

South Africa 154

South Africa Senegal Ethiopia Africa 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

The text goes far beyond just those two birds, however, as Doug works his way through the puzzles presented by the incredibly wide diversity of bird behavior, even within species, citing current research and new and old theories, reasoning out the most likely and unlikely answers. Why are all the real tanagers in tropical America?

Science 212

Science Albatross Research Birds 212

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I live in the southeast of Europe, for a while lived in the south of Africa and also have extensively birded western and central India. Which leaves only East Africa. And it shows.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

The Collins Bird Guide covers Europe, North Atlantic islands, much of North Africa and the Middle East. There was one odd reprint in 2018, when the Subalpine Warbler was split into the Eastern and Western species, but the changes in the guide weren’t sufficient to call it a 3rd edition, so it remained the updated reprint of the 2nd edition.

Europe 252

Europe Birds Woodpeckers Ireland 252

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

In fact, the best known member of the family, Central America’s aptly-named Resplendent Quetzal , looks less like Michoacán’s trogons than, say, Africa’s Narina Trogon , or the Red-naped Trogon of Indonesia. Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. Wikipedia has been used.).

Mexico 181

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2015

I’m a big fan of the antelopes, a group that is most commonly associated with Africa but which also occurs in Asia and, if you stretch the term to be cladistically meaningful, Europe and North America. By this I mean applying the term antelope to cover all of the family Bovidae, which would include the sheep, goats and ox.

Africa 165

Africa Hunters Goats Sheep 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

However, as DNA and morphological studies have indicated, despite the barbets of Asia and Africa looking quite like the ones in the Americas, they aren’t closely related to each other. A common resident of cloud forest, this species is often seen in pairs as it forages in mixed flocks or feeds at a fruiting tree.

Costa Rica 165

Costa Rica Colombia South America Ecuador 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

It’s a month to I go traveling in Africa again, but between that date and now I have a massive project to deliver, which has reached the ‘invading my dreams’ level of panic. So go to Queen Elizabeth National Park and tick this tricky species (I actually have no idea how seasonal this species is here).

Uganda 192

Uganda Madagascar Buffalo Africa 192

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2015

It can’t have escaped your notice lately that the blog has been overrun with articles about North America’s pseudo-warblers (or wood warblers, as some people, apparently unaware the name is taken by a proper European species, call them), and, even worse, no small amount of poetry.

Africa 174

Africa Feral Ethiopia Tanzania 174

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

There was a time when I thought each bird species had its own individual song. Then I found out that there was this vocalization called a ‘call,’ so I thought each bird species had its own individual song (but just the males) and individual call. Bird communication is a complex and evolving science. How do they know?

North America 278

North America Research Birds Groups 278

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Africa’s famous Big Five , but do you know there is also an equally fascinating Little Five ? Africa is famous for its large, charismatic mammals, and the Big Five epitomize the most sought-after of these fantastic beasts. This blog post will discuss both the Big and Little members of these quintuplets.

Buffalo 200

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2013

The six living species are all found in Sub-Saharan Africa. They were once a widespread and diverse group, however, with many fossils known from what are now North America and Europe. Birds Africa genetics taxonomy and systematics'

Kenya 172

Kenya Parrots Africa North America 172

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

I stopped at the Red Crossbill , realizing that the species indeed “occupies an immense range, including North America, Eurasia, and northern Africa” (HBW) – including Baxi forest, China. It is hard to see any scientific value in defining a bird species as a country endemic. Progress of sorts, I guess.

China 225

China Birds Nevada North America 225

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2022

Instead, they usually just describe species seen at a specific location, with the vague notion that these descriptions might be interesting to other birders. It looks quite distinct compared to some of the other recently discovered species. I guess my sympathy is more with the Plain Bunting, if such a species existed.

China 203

China Birds Asia Vietnam 203

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2019

They give short shrift to New Zealand’s birds, lumping them with odd names no one here uses because the names are shared elsewhere and God knows America isn’t going to take a hit for us. Then someone decided that the Canary Island birds were a separate species. I’m not blind to the list’s faults, though.

Iran 128

Iran Barn Owls New Zealand Europe 128

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. Here’s the kicker though.

California Condor 179

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 179

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY. Carlos’s BBOTY – the Nicobar Pigeon.

2014 187

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 187

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2020

Every year along the Atlantic Coast of North America, from June to November, experienced birders anticipate the exciting possibility of finding rare, tempest-tossed seabirds blown in from the tropics far north of their usual range. Admittedly, I nearly overlooked the bird on the bottle of Tamarindo Gose by Montreal’s Brasserie Dieu du Ciel!

India 166

India Squirrels North America America 166

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2017

I was looking for a new project to write about on Wikipedia, something unusual, and this species appealed for reasons I can’t quite define. The migration within South America of local birds, as opposed to North American visitors, is poorly understood for many birds (as in Africa). It was both mysterious and plain. .

Science 107

Science Argentina South America Uruguay 107

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

Other species have certainly expanded their ranges, but never in such a rapid and global scale. The Cattle Egret is native to Africa, where it is a familiar sight among herds of large mammals. For reasons that are not quite clear, this species underwent a massive range expansion. This species is primarily an insectivore.

Cattle 170

Cattle South Korea Suriname Seychelles 170

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

I found out on my second day in Mkuze, a great game reserve in South Africa, earlier this year when on my first dark night, poor visibility, uneven ground and unsteady footing resulted in a twisted ankle and a day in camp keeping weight off it. And it did so in spectacular fashion, in the form of a mixed-species feeding flock, or a bird wave.

South Africa 145

South Africa Tortoises Woodpeckers Birds 145

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2014

Later the continents broke up into smaller regions such as South America, Africa, Asia and such, an a few smaller pieces like Madagascar and New Zealand as well. To be more specific, the Kiwi descends from a bird that FLEW there from Africa or Madagascar and then became the kiwi. This was on Gondwana. Like nothing had happened.

Madagascar 200

Madagascar Ostriches Elephants New Zealand 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

It was not a kitty cat, even though all of its relatives in the Americas were. The majority of wildcats live today in Africa, and virtually none of them have provided the DNA from which supposed histories of domestication have been constructed by researchers. But they don’t live in North America. Unless we put them there.

Feral Cats 254

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 254

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2017

I have just returned from Costa Rica, the country about which I knew very little, despite it coming under my radar all the way back in 1999 when the “Africa – Birds & Birding” magazine published some of John Graham’s experiences from his visit in 1993. With its 920 species, Costa Rica has 2.6 to great birding.

Costa Rica 178

Costa Rica San Jose Serbia Europe 178

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2020

Beyond that is the entire expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, stretching some six-hundred leagues west to Newfoundland — and even further to the mainland shores of North America. Not far from its capital Lisbon lies Cabo de Roca, the westernmost point in mainland Europe.

2015 155

2015 Portugal France Europe 155

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2015

” Without diminishing the importance of any local Big Days, although Big Day birding has been popular and reaching new heights in North America for more than a decade, major attempts at truly breaking the world record have only taken place the past few years. Yep, those two guys identified 331 species in one small area, sans vehicle.

Costa Rica 165

Costa Rica South Africa Kenya Ecuador 165

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2017

The Sanetti Plateau in Ethiopia is a one of Africa’s greatest birding locations. An eclectic mix of endemics, specialties and oddly displaced species, it is one of the most memorable places I have ever birded… and I never visited it as a trip. These Chestnut-naped Francolin look like they have lipstick and heavy eyeliner!

Ethiopia 100

Ethiopia Mammals South America Rats 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

Growing up within an hour of one of the world’s premier shorebird destinations -- West Coast National Park in South Africa -- helped for sure. Getting to know the subtleties in differences between closely related species takes years of dedication and practice. For me, there’s a few things that drive this fascination.

Florida 188

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 188

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2012

Neither of us had ever seen any species of hedgehog and it is no wonder that we were both surprised and excited to see such a cool little creature. There are seventeen species of hedgehog found across Europe, Asia, and Africa, the only places where hedgehogs are native. concolor once that was split from the European Hedgehog.

Hedgehogs 169

Hedgehogs Hungary Opossums North America 169

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

Unlike North America, Germany has never had naturally occurring psittacines that went extinct, and the one we have is a true and complete invasive alien introduction. Rather, it originates from the white-hot evil fire that is the soul of an invasive, alien species hell-bent on destruction and mayhem. Very stupid thing to do.

Germany 243

Germany Netherlands Zoos Geese 243