10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2023

Chinese Penduline T**s are not particularly woke birds. White’s Thrush is described as “burly” on eBird – not entirely unjustified, I guess, but this description fails to capture the way the intricate patterns of the bird make for great camouflage and also for its own kind of beauty. Maybe the grandparents help.

Birds 185

Birds Blackbirds Indonesia Bhutan 185

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Alas, the team named for a bird fell short of the crown in Super Bowl XLIX. 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. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend'

2015 174

2015 ALA Birds Humane 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2024

Of course, excellent opportunity to go birding with my friends Brad and Laura. My colleague Doug wrote me an email describing the whereabouts of these “rosy finches” and my wife had to manage my excitement with horse tranquilizer… What a fantastic little birds. This is a simple grey and black bird but I have always wanted to see one.

Denver 157

Denver Colorado Ducks Mules 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

Alas, the winds blew nothing exceptional my way. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was any of the four Cave Swallows he saw in Queens, part of an amazing invasion of the northeast by this species after sustained southwest winds for nearly a week. What was your best bird of the weekend? Were you hither? Were you yon?

2015 145

2015 ALA Birds Experience 145

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2018

Suffice to say that our experience echoes across the United States and Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps summer still has plenty of air left in it and school in the upper latitudes won’t begin for another month, but birds really will be taking up their autumnal migrations soon. Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding?

2018 100

2018 ALA United States New York 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

An unfortunate side effect of birding in the developing world, is the amount of habitat destruction you are likely to see. The neighbors had advised me, from experience, that planting trees without excluding the local free-ranging livestock would be an exercise in futility: first challenge overcome.) Alas, this is what I must trim.

ALA 183

ALA 2016 Free Range Livestock 183

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2020

But, alas, the Novel Coronavirus did not respect my plans. My one sighting of the little-known Sinaloa Martin outside of summer had occurred on a 29th of February, and I hoped to repeat that experience. Three years of my experience shows that they most certainly do. (On On the other hand, I have never seen them here in fall.).

Species 157

Species Mexico Jordan Turkey 157

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. If you think it is rather pretentious to start a birding blog post with a Kafka story, I fully agree with you. I just want to point out it could be much worse. Depressing.

Raccoons 203

Raccoons Birds Oregon China 203

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

The weather outside is frightful, but winter birds are so delightful… guess that’s as good a reason as any to brave the cold. Alas, I had no time outdoors this weekend, which leaves House Sparrows sheltering a giant wreath as my Best Bird of the Weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2013 159

2013 ALA United States North America 159

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2019

This year, on the 21st of December, 2019, Michoacán had its second Christmas Bird Count. Back when I rediscovered birding, about seven years ago, there didn’t seem to be anyone doing serious birding in my corner of Mexico. And… we have an annual Christmas Bird Count! But here we are in 2019.

2019 142

2019 Birds Blackbirds Sparrows 142

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2013

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. Alas, they both kept their heads down until long after we’d left.

Oakland 186

Oakland 2013 ALA Birds 186

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2021

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). I have birding buddies! Suddenly, I gain new respect from the aforementioned Mexican birding buddies. … to where I once belonged.

Kansas 184

Kansas Wounded ALA Squirrels 184

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. Such a rare bird is always a good sighting! What was your best bird of the weekend? So, do you prefer rambunctious horses or big cats better? How about you? How about you?

2016 101

2016 ALA Arizona Horses 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In September, I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to an increasingly popular destination for birding: Honduras. Chris Lotz, the owner of the international bird tour company Birding Ecotours , invited me to join him on a familiarization trip that included several highland sites as well as Pico Bonito Lodge.

Honduras 206

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 206

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2013

Have you noticed that, at certain times of the year, many of us share similar weekend birding highlights? But I still love the serendipity of sharing best birds with the best birders out there. This is not to say that Corey ranks with the best, though I don’t mind saying that his birding mojo is strong.

2013 139

2013 ALA Birds Laws 139

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2022

It was only a few years later when I discovered birding. Eventually, I discovered the joy of putting these two pastimes together, by making gardens that are attractive to birds. But there are almost no ways to buy bird-friendly native plants down here in Mexico, so I’m still doing it on the cheap. Yellow-winged Cacique.

Mexico 217

Mexico Collecting ALA Sparrows 217

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2012

Or join in… Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was, what else, his first Red-headed Woodpecker in Queens ! I had my share of best birds while visiting Wild Wings at Mendon Ponds Park. What was your best bird of the weekend? If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

2012 163

2012 ALA Woodpeckers Birds 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2020

Just under a fortnight ago, I saw a report on the local bird alert of a sighting of a group of approximately 20 Nacunda Nighthawks at a wetland not more than 20 minutes from where I live. Especially as we were at the time about to experience a rapidly advancing tropical storm. Such is birding, such is life.

Livestock 202

Livestock Ducks ALA illegal 202

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Alas, we’re also intimately acquainted with darker emotions; the lust in our hearts alone (for lifers and optics, naturally) exacts a heavy emotional toll. But even more bitter is a birder’s envy… Jealousy makes up so much of the birding experience that I imagine the green-eyed monster derives its color from parrot plumage.

Emotional 160

Emotional 2011 ALA Ohio 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2014

Among birders, wildlife photographers, and nature enthusiasts, it is renowned for its incredible concentrations of birds at the end of the dry season. Raptors such as Savanna Hawk , Snail Kite , and Black-collared Hawk and up to five species of kingfisher also join the bonanza in one of the world’s great birding spectacles.

Brazil 165

Brazil Birds Blackbirds Paraguay 165

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

As 2013 draws to a close we here at 10,000 Birds thought that it would be a great idea if we, like we did in 2010 , 2011 , and 2012 , shared our Best Birds of the Year. We also want to know what YOUR Best Bird of the Year was. Now on to the Best Birds of the Year for those who write on 10,000 Birds! Sound good?

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2011

Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a wicked Chuck-will’s-widow at Prospect Park on Saturday. My own best bird was Caspian Tern , right on time along Lake Ontario. For those of you playing along at home, this gives me 17 new ABA birds for a total of 467 as of May 1, 2011.

2011 157

2011 Mississippi ALA Sparrows 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2018

But I really would’ve jumped at a chance to try this beer, if only to review a beer infused with the world’s best-known bird-inspired candy. Alas, the beer is only available on draft in Texas for a limited time, far out of range for me in New York. Happy drinking and good birding! “Fat free”? Stay tuned!

Fort Worth 114

Fort Worth ALA Texas Investigation 114

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2014

After wrapping up our time in the highlands of Honduras, Chris Lotz (owner of international bird tour company Birding Ecotours ) and I arrived at the deservedly famous Pico Bonito Lodge. However, for me, there were birds to be seen. Photo by James Adams. For the hardcore birder, Pico Bonito has plenty to offer.

Honduras 162

Honduras Monkeys Birds America 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species. Why am I here?

Sri Lanka 256

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 256

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

JOHOR, MALAYSIA, DECEMBER 2012 – If you’re traveling to Singapore for birding, you might want to think outside the box or, in this case, the island. Some of the best birding in the area is just 90 minutes or so north in peninsular Malaysia, home of the infamous Panti Forest. Wanna try to ID this bird?

Malaysia 170

Malaysia Singapore Monkeys Birds 170

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2017

In Costa Rica, we don’t get many chances to chase birds. The same goes for other challenging resident birds like the Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo, Speckled Mourner, and Gray-headed Piprites. No matter where in the world we bird, it seems like the ones we twitch are the birds that aren’t supposed to be there.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Nicaragua 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2012

In fact, experience proved that the process is actually way more cumbersome and time-consuming than it should be. eBird doesn’t know what a Black-crowned Night Heron is Once I clarified every bird, I had to manually locate most of my locations on maps, even though many of these locations have markers in the system.

Arizona 173

Arizona Belize Adoptable ALA 173

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2017

With enough planning, you can enjoy a family-friendly, bird-rich vacation in the Panama Canal zone. Any dedicated birder visiting Panama City should first consider the Canopy Tower , one of the most important and beloved birding lodges in the Americas. Despite the golf course, this place host all manner of birds and mammals.

Panama 100

Panama 2017 Monkeys Family 100