10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 7, 2022
Alas, I must wait for another opportunity. So we waited, and waited. It preened, looked around, preened some more, fluffed up a bit. After about half an hour, it began to vocalize – and then flew off into the darkness. Thankfully I had seen it earlier this year and there were no powerlines around that time.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 13, 2022
Alas – both Trinidad and Tobago each have two Myiarchus flycatchers. Notorious for being difficult to identify, the ideal situation would be to have no possible overlap of species. One is found on Trinidad only, the other on Tobago only – and the third is found on both islands.
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10,000 Birds
APRIL 14, 2021
You’d think I could have begun my 2021 year list with something less familiar in Florida. A Red-breasted Nuthatch perhaps? A Hairy Woodpecker ? Even a Black-capped Chickadee. On the morning of January 1st, I woke up to Mourning Doves pecking beneath my parents’ bird feeder. Birding from a Maine beach. But still!
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. (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.)
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. How am I supposed to enjoy a pre-summer weekend dressed in all these layers? Despite my disdain for this unseasonable chill, I chased a variety of Rochester rarities this weekend.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 22, 2020
Alas, the pickings were slim apart from one freezing raptor counter. Sometimes the little things really do mean the most. Ivy and I braved what I hope is the last bout of winter cold in these parts to see what was happening at the Braddock Bay Hawk Watch platfrom.
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. Any luck this weekend? The ridiculous cold afflicting the northeastern U.S.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 16, 2022
Alas, we did not hear our Roadrunners vocalize, although I have heard sing on one other visit to La Escalera. They seem to derive their common name more from the habits of their better-known relative, than from their own habits. Number 4 proves my point. Lesser Roadrunners also do not know when to stop with the eyeliner.
10,000 Birds
AUGUST 17, 2022
Alas – thick clouds in the rainforest only mean one thing: rain. My fortunes began to swing with the passage of time, as I guess all good pendulums tend to do. That White-necked Thrush I patiently waited on earlier showed up again, this time sitting in plain view. White-necked Thrush. The encroaching darkness.
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. Entering is easy, but you should get to it quickly, as the promotion ends when August does. At the very least, thinking about penguins might keep you cool while summer still sizzles!
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 13, 2021
Alas, our trip to the sea was not to be! The trip began with plans made by world birder Pirjo Lakso to see if we could do a repeat of the fantastic pelagic trip we did in April, earlier this year. The evening before our trip, we received word of high winds and rough waters; seas much too rough for a boat.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 22, 2021
Alas, as the decade progressed, I also saw the site degenerate. First, fences started to appear. Sections were logged, to be replaced with avocado groves, or, even worse, the biological desert of unvaried pasture.
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.
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). There is a country in the Americas which is quite close to my country of birth, but which came into conflict with the USA shortly after said birth. (I I was born in 1958.) This two-country conflict has yet to end.
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. In other words, it is a bird photographer’s nightmare. But there is no missing its beautiful song wringing through a canyon.
10,000 Birds
MARCH 4, 2020
But, alas, the Novel Coronavirus did not respect my plans. And while it was to be a work (ministry) trip, I had still managed to schedule it right during the migratory peak along these two major corridors. I was soooo excited about getting to know the Middle East, as well as some of its exotic species.
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. “ Not the bird’s fault, I guess.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 22, 2023
Alas, he was gone before I had a chance to lift my camera. I did get a look through binoculars at a fabulous male that hopped up into a shaft of morning light, the pinkish-red feathers of his chin seemed to glow in the darkness of the surrounding foliage.
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.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 20, 2023
Alas, one would be wrong – I immediately mixed it up with the rather similar-looking Rufous-bellied Niltava (not shown here). Sadly, the HBW disagrees, going for “featureless smallish babbler” (which then incongruously is followed by a 155-word description of the features of the featureless babbler).
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. They look promising: You may note that I have no oak seedlings this year. But of the native trees I would like to grow, the Jamaican Nettletree (Trema micrantha) surpasses all the rest.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 16, 2022
Alas, our Western Gull was nowhere to be found! When not loafing by the fish shops, the gull sometimes takes sun on a nearby roof, even perching on the roof of the ferry that crosses the Gulf of Nicoya. With this birding knowledge in mind, we made a few passes by the shops, checked as many boats as we could and scanned rooftops.
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.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
Alas, this bird doesn’t like rain! I definitely fall into the former category, willing to cache new birds away like an Acorn Woodpecker stores oak nuts. This week, my travels took me within the orbit of a very special bird that’s been on my rainy day list. Don’t you love that feeling?
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
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. Since I wanted to buy some genuine tastes of Costa Rica, we continued to C.A.T.I.E.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 22, 2020
But alas, my garden Wilsons have not been seen here on the 4th of April. But my “Wilsons” really were Wilsons: Wilson’s Warblers , to be exact. One or or two of these cute birds visited me every day throughout the winter.
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
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.
10,000 Birds
APRIL 21, 2013
Alas, they both kept their heads down until long after we’d left. My ill-advised twitch was a run for the Long Island Ruffs recently spotted on the south shore. Corey and I staked out the location early in the morning and logged a lot of time waiting for either of them to show. This is why I hate twitching!
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. This verse and many of the others in Thomas’s Poem in October references birds. Were I to write a poem about October, I’d do the same. How about you? Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding?
10,000 Birds
JULY 19, 2013
Rumor has it the falls are fantastic for gulls, but alas only in winter! If you’re not sure why moths deserve your wonder or how you should observe this annual extravaganza, check the excellent National Moth Week website. More visitors from out of town will be bringing me to North America’s most famous waterfall, Niagara Falls.
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.
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?
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. He had seen the bird a couple of minutes earlier but then a Merlin had come past and he lost the white bird in the frantic flock.
10,000 Birds
FEBRUARY 10, 2021
Alas, the flowering plants had almost all dried up, and hummingbirds were few. I went to the tiny town of Laurelito, on the north slope of Pico Azul, a 2,440 m (8,000 feet) peak just south of Morelia. But the stream that runs through the area still has water, and that may have been important for the good birding.
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. My wife retired to catch up on some lost sleep in the car as the rain swelled. Belligerent as always I stayed out, binoculars in the branches, hoping for something – anything really.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 18, 2016
Crissal would never have become an ornithologist in the 1800s, as he would have been teased mercilessly from his first day in Bird School. What about the thrasher part though? Surely this returns some dignity to the poor bird, suggesting a pugnacious spirit honed by life in its desert habitat?
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Alas, we mostly get females; the males winter along the coast. And while the Black-billed and Calliope Hummingbirds are very difficult sightings in my region, it would be a sad winter indeed if I didn’t see several of the Rufous and Allen’s Hummingbirds of my youth. This one was on the latter.
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.
10,000 Birds
SEPTEMBER 11, 2018
Alas, they turned out to be Ring-billed Gulls , but as I turned back to the car another flock of white caught my eye. Rocky edges faced the water, and I leaped out of the car to see if the gulls lining the shore were the Ring-billed variety I’ve seen a gazillion times this year, or the less common Franklin Gulls.
10,000 Birds
JULY 21, 2018
But, alas, I’d have colored practically the whole letter. After all, removing resources is the exact opposite of protecting resources. Here’s the not-altogether-unexpected reply: The ‘official’ response to my letter of concern. © The White House. I was going to highlight the inaccurate parts. al from abuse of power!
10,000 Birds
MAY 21, 2020
Alas, I am not among them. At the Uvac Dam (cover photo), a large group of conference participants was leaving the shuttle bus as I stopped the car… While I carefully reversed through the scattered bunch, a lucky few saw the main prize landing at the hilltop vulture restaurant: the huge Cinereous Vulture (or Eurasian Black Vulture)!
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