10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

So, it sometimes comes to South Africa to relax and enjoy relative anonymity. Colorful bills and heads seem quite popular among Letaba’s bird species – see the African Jacana (blue and black) … … the Striated Heron (yellow and blue) … … and the Yellow-billed Stork (yellow and red).

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2015

One – the Takahe is far too cool a species to lose. Two – there is so much distinctness amongst the different forms of the Purple Swamphen that lumping means we may as well lump all the world’s reed warblers into one huge species and be done with it. This is ridiculous for two reasons.

Spain 157

Spain Hunters Africa Hunting 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2012

It’s a mini-Africa Week at the moment on 10,000 Birds, with Adam talking about spectacular bee-eaters in his post and James discussing the diminutive African Pygmy-geese. Kibale National Park, in the west of the Central African nation of Uganda, is home to a 13 primate species, from Common Chimpanzees to bush-babies.

Monkeys 168

Monkeys Uganda Primates Cameroon 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2013

The survival of songbirds depends in part upon eliminating illegal hunting. It all seems like such a charmed life … until you have to fly down to Africa for the winter. That means passing over the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East, where you’re liable to get shot, trapped, or otherwise hunted.

Cambodia 145

Cambodia Slaughter Slaughtered Cyprus 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2015

That was the first thing we–our New Jersey Audubon group of 11 birders, led by Scott Barnes–noted as we exited the airport. My cabin was located in a separate area from most of my group, so I didn’t know about the Tinamou till I arrived at the bar for our pre-dinner drink and checklist. There was no snow. And, no snow.

Honduras 259

Honduras Birds Costa Rica Groups 259

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2013

You may not realize it when you look at those bizarre looking waders with the massive bills and the vacant expression, but you’re looking at a group of birds that has inspired humankind for literal centuries. The group has a worldwide distribution; 28 species living and two additional extinct.

Birds 228

Birds North America Charlotte New Jersey 228

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

It has also found its way to Japan where it is considered to be an invasive species. Now and then individual catfish of various species hunt nearer the surface and larger catfish such as the American Channel Cat will take a duck or other water bird. Or, it could just be some weird thing one group of catfish do.

Fish 214

Fish Birds Whales Whaling 214

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2013

What a way to sum up what is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest birding sites and certainly my favorite in southern Africa. Both species of southern African otters are also regularly encountered ( Cape Clawless and Spot-necked.). The final southern African stronghold of this species is the high Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho.

Lesotho 182

Lesotho Africa Birds Rats 182

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. We’ll take these two similar, yet very different groups of birds separately.

California Condor 194

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 194

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Cheetahs are regulated by the Species Survival Plan (SSP), which tracks a species’ genetic lines in zoos and animal parks around the world and makes recommendations as to where specific animals should be placed for successful breeding opportunities. Only approximately 12,400 cheetahs remain in the wild.

Jacksonville 100

Jacksonville White Rhinos Zoos Rhinos 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

From a birder’s perspective however, this is both a shame and a blessing, as I will show below based on my observations of the species on the island of Java in November. The prinias are a group of around 25 Old World warbler species found in Africa and Asia. Many birders might regret this one day.

Burma 163

Burma Laos Birds Indonesia 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.

Africa 266

Africa South Africa Gabon Uganda 266

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2013

Geladas are the sole survivors of a once abundant branch of primates that historically foraged across the grasslands of Africa, the Mediterranean and India. We were able to spend hours sitting right in amongst super-groups of 500-600 Geladas that just carried on with their daily business in total oblivion to our presence.

Ethiopia 162

Ethiopia Primates Mammals Fur 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa).

Ethiopia 251

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 251

Reddit Animals

DECEMBER 15, 2023

forest buffalo goes into first ​ hyena: The spotted hyena is a highly successful animal, being the most common large carnivore in Africa. The spotted hyena displays greater plasticity in its hunting and foraging behaviour than other African carnivores it hunts alone, in small parties of 2–5 individuals or in large groups.

Africa 40

Africa Buffalo Ostriches Animal 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? With a trip to South Africa on the horizon at the time, I thought I could handle it. The Indexes show images of the most common birds of the area against a painted background, with page references to species accounts. Now, I’m not so sure. Back to the field guide!

Brunei 181

Brunei Birds Asia China 181

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Pafuri lies in the northernmost part of the Kruger National Park and is described as “some of the most potentially productive birding territory in South Africa” on the SANParks website. ” (HBW). ” (HBW). Vultures, therefore, tend not to nest in areas with high elephant populations ( source ).

Elephants 147

Elephants Birds Congo Africa 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

The proprietor of our ecolodge guides my small group of birders up a steep slope where we see, just at the point where a scope view deteriorates into pixels, a huge bird—a Chaco Eagle, also known as a Crowned Eagle—on a huge nest. September 2017, Cerrado, Brazil. We are cautioned to keep the location of the eagle a secret. ” [loc.3014,

Falcons 230

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

” Writing about owls means writing about roughly 250 species (I counted 245 on the 2022 Clements spreadsheet, but I might have missed a few, and we all know that each classification system is different). These are behaviors that are most likely to vary across species and topics that make for compelling stories.

Owls 230

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 230

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

But nevertheless, this part of the country is home to an astonishing variety of birds and a good number of species that are found nowhere else in the US. In fact, this sub-species was formerly classified as endangered in the US under the Endangered Species Act. “Schmoking Ponies!” Sure enough, there they were.

Owls 160

Owls Texas Arizona Pigs 160

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

My best bird of the year is based on the sighting rather than the species. Obviously my best bird of the year is going to come during this trip, what with several species of endemic pitta and broadbill possible, not to mention 8 species of hornbill and numerous babblers, storks, kingfishers, trogons and even the endemic Bornean Bristlehead.

2013 168

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 168

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2015

I was in contact with a group of birders for whom I arranged and guided an annual tour to Africa. We already had South Africa, Zambia and Uganda under our belts, but my clients’ request for the next year came right out of the blue: Ghana! We also knew we had discovered Africa’s next hot birding destination.

Ghana 202

Ghana Hunters Guinea Gambia 202

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2022

Logging roads have opened up vast areas to commercial hunting, leading to industrial-scale poaching and a more than 60 per cent drop in the region’s Forest Elephant population in less than a decade. The region also provides food, fresh water and shelter to more than 75 million people of nearly 150 distinct ethnic groups.

Central African Republic 306

Central African Republic Congo Gabon Gorillas 306

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2012

Barbets are a group of medium sized, chunky, generally colorful, frugivorous, hole-nesting near-passerines, that are popular targets for anyone birding in the tropics. In Asia, their 30 barbet species are placed into their own family Megalaimidae , and finally in Africa, we have 42 species in the family Lybiidae , the topic of this blogpost.

Ethiopia 243

Ethiopia Tanzania Africa Uganda 243

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red.

Birds 227

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 227