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10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 7, 2022
Alas, I must wait for another opportunity. After countless drives in the dead of night, scouring powerlines and treetops in the darkness for any sight of one of Tobago’s best kept secrets, we were finally rewarded a few weeks ago.
10,000 Birds
JUNE 14, 2020
Alas, I didn’t locate any but found enjoyment in a prolonged standoff between mobbing Red-eyed Vireos and a Blue Jay who refused to take the hint.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 13, 2022
Alas – both Trinidad and Tobago each have two Myiarchus flycatchers. As is my self-declared tradition of speaking of groups of birds within the species gamut of Trinidad & Tobago, allow me to introduce you to yet another group of three.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 22, 2020
Alas, the pickings were slim apart from one freezing raptor counter. You may have experienced one of the weirdest weekends of your life, what with all bars and restaurants closed and people maintaining a healthy distance from even close friends and family.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 14, 2021
Alas, no. Like so many, the majority of my birding since the Covid-19 pandemic began has centered on my own backyard and local walking excursions. But as we kicked off 2021, I found myself far from my current home in North Florida, surrounded by a plethora of Maine birds!
10,000 Birds
APRIL 26, 2020
Alas, these gentle rains may not always speed spring migrants on their way to breeding grounds far from the equator. April showers most assuredly bring May flowers in the more temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
Alas, only 12 plants remain from that season, victims of my inexperienced care. Alas, this is what I must trim. An unfortunate side effect of birding in the developing world, is the amount of habitat destruction you are likely to see.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 1, 2015
Alas, the team named for a bird fell short of the crown in Super Bowl XLIX. While many human beings felt anguish and rage at the loss, most avifauna appeared unperturbed. The non-Seahawk birds that caught my eye this weekend were Northern Cardinals , which always look their best burning crimson against a blanket of white snow. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a wonderful American Pipit foraging on the roadside margin at Jones Beach State Park.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 9, 2019
Alas, I won’t be anywhere near penguins this weekend, so I’ll have to make do with whatever uncommon shorebirds trickle through Lake Ontario. If you’re struggling with horrendous summer heat, a trip to Antarctica might sound good to you. On the other hand, if you’re dealing with the depths of winter’s chill, a trip to Antarctica might sound good.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 29, 2021
Alas, our rainy season seems to be slowing down — although I heard a rumble of thunder as I wrote the sentence — fingers crossed! My latest posts have tended to the thematic, rather than offering up lots of photos of the cool birds I am seeing.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 5, 2015
Alas, the long slog to spring will take many, many more frigid, blustery weeks. Keep your eyes to the skies for freaky hybrids ! If you live on my side of the globe–north/south axis, of course–you may be as sick as I am of winter weather. At least we have birds… My desire to see boreal specialties pales in comparison to my passion for staying warm and dry. This does not bode well for my birding weekend.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 30, 2022
I happen to have visited that country twice (both for ministerial purposes and, alas, before I started my second birding period). Over the past couple of months, my wife and I have had an interesting turn in our lives.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 17, 2022
Alas – thick clouds in the rainforest only mean one thing: rain. As we all know, birding is very much a lottery. Visiting the same place repeatedly delivers a different cast of characters each time. Such is nature.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 8, 2013
Alas, I had no time outdoors this weekend, which leaves House Sparrows sheltering a giant wreath as my Best Bird of the Weekend. Winter may not technically begin for another couple of weeks, but frigid temperatures and wicked snow are assailing various parts of North America. The weather outside is frightful, but winter birds are so delightful… guess that’s as good a reason as any to brave the cold.
Animal Person
MAY 8, 2009
But alas. I've been a bit preoccupied with a couple of stranger-than-fiction situations that recently caused me to tweet "Sometimes I wish there were a god so I'd have someone to blame." One situation was that Charles, who will turn six on June 3, has been lame for nearly six months. And after vet upon vet, and drug upon drug (and also some acupuncture and chiropractic), we had to take him to Orlando (3 hours north) for an MRI.
Animal Person
APRIL 24, 2009
But alas, we' re too important and special to "manage," and every human pregnancy is treated as a sacred, blessed event, while we kill the kittens inside pregnant feral cats every day without batting an eyelash, and in fact we're relieved when we can catch one who's pregnant, as that's x number of cats who don't have to come into this world.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 1, 2022
The campus has a pond (above), partially covered by hyacinths full of Northern Jacanas , where I tried to spot at least one caiman (alas, without success), a botanical garden and manicured grounds (with quite a few Green Ibises ) together with a souvenir shop.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 22, 2021
Alas, as the decade progressed, I also saw the site degenerate. … to where I once belonged. My first experience birding was as a teenager back in the 70s, when birding meant a pair of binoculars, a couple of bird feeders, and a smallish field guide (book).
Animal Person
APRIL 7, 2010
But alas, the supply has dwindled. As many of you know, 2009 was chock full of creature-related drama for me. From the feral cats of Project Treadstone to Charles' back surgery to problems with Violet's Vetsulin (insulin for dogs), we had more than our share of issues. If I told you what I spent last year doing work-wise, you probably wouldn't believe me and you'd definitely suggest I write a book about it. At least Emily the kitty, though not at all skinny, had an uneventful year.
Animal Person
JUNE 1, 2009
With traits allegedly unique to humans running out, philosophers and scientists claimed that only humans have minds complex enough to allow a sense of self-consciousness or self-identity, but, alas, chimpanzees and other animals demonstrated significant degrees of self-consciousness too. Steve Best's verbal presentation of his ideas sometimes irks me. It's over-the-top, for me, and I often resent the time I must spend working through the ranting.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 13, 2021
Alas, our trip to the sea was not to be! A cancelled trip? How could there be highlights? According to the unwritten ancient rules of birding, whether your pelagic trip gets cancelled or not, as long as you go birding, there will always be highlights.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 25, 2021
The Ala Shan Redstart (which I will not call Przevalski’s Redstart, see my juvenile rants about the evil Mr Przevalski in earlier editions of this blog) is a very attractive bird and – as many attractive birds – listed as Near Threatened.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 27, 2022
Alas, I have found no viable acorns anywhere this past year — just as I am figuring out how to get oak seedlings to survive. I bought my first plant for the garden, with my own money, when I was eight years old.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
Alas, this bird doesn’t like rain! Are you the sort of birder who takes comfort in the thought that you might find new species within driving distance of your home? Or are you the kind of completist who is driven to distraction by the knowledge of unseen species in your general vicinity? I definitely fall into the former category, willing to cache new birds away like an Acorn Woodpecker stores oak nuts.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 16, 2022
Alas, our Western Gull was nowhere to be found! The birding in Costa Rica is always golden but some days, you really do strike gold. Go birding in the humid, moss decorated forests of the Caribbean slope and the feathered nugget might take the form of a Bare-necked Umbrellabird.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 4, 2020
But, alas, the Novel Coronavirus did not respect my plans. I should have been on my way to Istanbul by the time this post came out. That trip was to take my wife and I to Turkey, Jordan, and southern Spain, with stopovers near Paris.
10,000 Birds
JUNE 23, 2021
And when you do get it to come within sight (alas, with playback, always), it can be as bold as any other member of this cocky family. When it comes to wrens, central Mexico has it pretty good.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 21, 2013
Alas, they both kept their heads down until long after we’d left. One question every self-described birder must grapple with is to twitch or not to twitch. Some of us love to chase down preposterous vagrants, while others eschew bird chasing for contemplation of standard local fare and seasonal specialties. I raise this perennial issue because I found myself twitching a rare ABA bird this weekend. Did you?
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 10, 2021
Alas, the flowering plants had almost all dried up, and hummingbirds were few. Those who read my posts each week (and I know you’re out there, a few of you have said so) know that 2021 is shaping up to be a decidedly bipolar birding year for me here in Michoacán.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 3, 2018
Alas, we’re still mired in shorebird season, so I’l sally forth once more this weekend in search of the Red Knots and Ruddy Turnstones passing through the Great Lakes. Here in the Empire State, August’s arrival triggers some predictable reactions: “Aw, summer is almost over.” ” “Aw, school will be starting any day now.” ” “Yee-haw, fall migration is starting soon!”
10,000 Birds
JULY 19, 2013
Rumor has it the falls are fantastic for gulls, but alas only in winter! When the birds of summer grow stale, a birder’s fancy turns to leps and odes. If you don’t know what those terms mean, think about the most colorful and fascinating flying creatures that aren’t birds. Summer is sweet for dragonflies, butterflies, and moths, the last of which deserve your attention over the next seven or so days. After all, this is National Moth Week 2013!
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 3, 2013
Alas, the New York coastline is nowhere near as picturesque as the Pacific coast as our photo above by Duncan shows. As daylight dwindles in the Northern Hemisphere, birds proliferate and then progress out of the frame. October, as Dylan Thomas perceived it, was awash with avian activity: My birthday began with the water-. Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name. Above the farms and the white horses. And I rose. In rainy autumn.
10,000 Birds
OCTOBER 24, 2014
Alas, the only thing either of us found worth making a call about was the white cowbird, which I refound in one of the huge flocks of cowbirds and starlings that have been roaming around Fort Tilden. I was sorting through a large mixed flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds and European Starlings at Fort Tilden on Friday morning when Isaac Grant, the intrepid Staten Island birder, showed up and asked if I had seen the white one.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 2, 2018
Alas for the naming of birds that it took place before anyone had the foresight to recognize that the Sharp-shinned Hawk should be called the Mini-Cooper. It would reflect not only a pun hilarious to me personally and birding dads everywhere, but the magnitude of the ID challenge presented by a glimpse of one of these accipiters in swift flight – akin to the Greater and Lesser Scaup or the Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitcher. But such things were not to be.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 5, 2020
The cows and their entourage of Cattle Egrets sloshed through the pastures, each time they moved we lurched forward hoping to see a disturbed Grey-breasted Crake hop into view – but alas, no such luck even though we were hearing the little skulkers consistently.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 22, 2020
But alas, my garden Wilsons have not been seen here on the 4th of April. 10,000 Birds is having trouble with our website platform. If this post turns up on Wednesday, April 23, it will mean I was successful in uploading text. However, the platform did not allow me to include photos. Since I consider myself a better writer than photographer, I can live with that. When you are an American expatriate who lives, and birds, in Mexico, it is a topsy-turvy world.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 15, 2015
Alas, the winds blew nothing exceptional my way. Every week, the winds carry the unexpected hither and yon. Were you hither? Were you yon? If so, we’d love to hear what you found there. In fact, my weekend avifauna was so prosaic that a lone House Finch stood out as the most interesting sighting.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 31, 2022
I can sometimes hear Hwamei singing here in my compound in Shanghai – alas, these are then cage birds, as the species is popular as a caged bird for its singing.
10,000 Birds
MAY 12, 2021
Alas, nothing showed until there was a brief break in the shower and a Golden-crowned Warbler materialized in the leaf litter just in front of me. I know many of us seek birds as an escape from dreary, depressing news that seems to permeate almost everything of late.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 3, 2022
In the English translation, the story is titled “Little Fable”: “Alas,” said the mouse, “the whole world is growing smaller every day. Unfortunately, Nanhui – in the past, a great place for birdwatching in Shanghai – is continuing its decline.
10,000 Birds
JANUARY 24, 2016
Alas, now that the Arizona Cardinals have fallen to the Carolina Panthers, we face the prospect of a Super Bowl without bird-themed football teams. So, do you prefer rambunctious horses or big cats better? I got a good dose of seaducks this weekend up at the mouth of Irondequoit Bay; the most interesting species amidst the mixed flocks was a lone Bufflehead hobnobbing with Common Goldeneyes.
10,000 Birds
MAY 21, 2020
Alas, I am not among them. The coronavirus has locked us all in, literally, doing something that was totally unthinkable only a few months ago: it has prevented us from birding abroad!
10,000 Birds
MARCH 11, 2012
Choosing among the hawks, eagles, and owls at the raptor residence (alas no rehab for these irreparably injured birds of prey) and the active late winter species in the park seemed impossible, until an impressive Pileated Woodpecker put on a powerful display of excavatory activity. Change is in the air, isn’t it? All around the world, satisfaction subsides as an inevitable restlessness sets in on a cellular level.
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