10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

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. If your Spanish or Portuguese is at the level of a 2-year-old bonobo like mine is, then you’ll probably be pleased to know that Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America.

Guyana 278

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 278

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

I did that with Peacocks & Picathartes – Reflections on Africa’s birdlife (published by Penguin Random House South Africa ). In case you didn’t know, yes, there is an indigenous peacock living in Africa, the Congo Peafowl. When was the last time you chose a book by its covers?

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Starting in the mid-1990s, there was a “where to watch birds in…” series of five site guides written by Nigel Wheatley and covering South America (1994), Africa (1995), Asia (1996), Europe & Russia (2000) and Central America & the Caribbean (2001). I was always curious, but never had a chance to study any of them.

Africa 169

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

So I lowered my threshold to 500 and that worked well… for Costa Rica and South America, that is (especially Peru). Hence, for the rest of the world, I lowered my threshold to 400 and that worked well in Africa, but I soon discovered that for Asia I need to go further down, to 300. Other wildlife includes Phayre’s Leaf Monkey.

Asia 271

Asia Malaysia Papua New Guinea Thailand 271

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

–especially when reviewing books like A Field Guide to the Wildlife of South Georgia or Far from Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds. But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. A scientific analysis of the bird family was written by Lloyd S. Press).

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2011

Veraguan Mango by Carlos Bethancourt Although the Neotropical region supports fewer bird families than Africa, there are considerably more bird species here than anywhere else on earth. This means that there are some astoundingly large families of birds in Central and South America.

Panama 205

Panama Costa Rica 2011 Cleveland 205

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Adam will be leading 10,000 Birds readers on an amazing odyssey into Africa starting… now! To the uninitiated, Africa conjures up images of underdevelopment, poverty and hardship. I was fortunate to have been born and raised in Africa, and although I have traveled extensively around the world, it remains my home and in my blood.

Papua New Guinea 218

Papua New Guinea Madagascar Africa Equatorial Guinea 218