10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2018

About six-and-a-half years ago I had the privilege of watching a young Waved Albatross on the Galapagos island of Española learning how to fly. It’s not often that we have the opportunity to glimpse the home life of albatrosses, nor of any seabird species. So, what did I learn from Far From Land ?

Albatross 114

Albatross Penguins Research Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2012

As is my wont, we’ll be celebrating a secular Easter replete with colored eggs, chocolate bunnies, and a fun family hike. Keep your eyes to the skies… you might see an Albatross! Perhaps I’ll even see my First Phoebe of 2012. Corey will be visiting his folks in upstate New York.

2012 158

2012 Albatross New York Eggs 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2015

In many ways the weaver family is for Africa are similar beasts to the pseudowarblers of North America (sometimes called wood-warblers). There aren’t many galleries of weavers on this site, mostly because Corey lives in in Queens and not Johannesburg or Mombasa (or Cape Town, where he could also add some albatrosses to his year-lists).

South Africa 154

South Africa Senegal Ethiopia Africa 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Guiding aside, Howell is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and the author of many books, including Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America (Princeton). Howell and Fabrice Schmitt: both of them are international bird tour leaders with WINGS.

Chile 202

Chile Birds South America North America 202

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

The inner side of the front cover contains the visual Quick Reference with paintings of one representative of the family followed by the relevant page number. I particularly like the albatrosses and owls, shrikes and boubous. The next page contains an alphabetical Quick Reference.

Africa 264

Africa South Africa Swaziland Lesotho 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Checklist for Belize lists 622 species in 76 families, of which 104 are rare or accidental and four introduced. Checklist lists 955 species in 86 families, with 152 rare/accidental species, three extirpated species, five introduced species, and nine endemics). For context, the IOC version 13.1

Costa Rica 216

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 216

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2013

People ascribe near mythic status to the members of the family Delphinidae (and other related families). Yes, the same Kaikoura I keep banging on about that is a great place to see albatrosses. Which has always mystified me slightly. Dolphins are basically just smart sharks that breath air.

Dolphins 155

Dolphins Sharks New Zealand Albatross 155

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

Given that they are a family of obscure deepwater whales that are very hard to see, I would imagine this is a contender for one that will never leave my list. I think I know what Corey wants for Christmas… a Buller’s Albatross. Trips albatrosses bucket lists South Africa wish lists' A beaked whale. Any beaked whale.

Sharks 173

Sharks Leopards Whales Whaling 173

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

In Hawaii I stood on a beach as albatrosses fledged and Tiger Sharks prowled for the less successful ones. Ugandan Mangabeys were part of my family once. This Laysan Albatross died from ingested plastic. In the Bahamas I swam in a pod of feeding dolphins. And you can always race for a few days afterwards).

Uganda 161

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2014

The Oriental Pied Hornbills are pretty special, as they represent a recolonization of Singapore of this family. Honestly, it amazes me I have any time to bird at all. So this week, should you stop a mistake, or a minor factual inaccuracy, or even a complete bare-faced lie, well, it isn’t my fault.

Singapore 172

Singapore Uganda Malaysia Seals 172

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2013

” Last year I saw this Antipodean Albatross. I have a deep love for members of the babbler family (or families now) and so the ten minutes I spent with a pair of Chestnut-crowned Babblers was heaven. So I guess the question is “am I happy?” ” Well yes, I guess. Why wouldn’t I be happy?

2012 157

2012 New Zealand Thailand Albatross 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

When all of you are settling in inside away from the snow for family, food and arguments, we’re all getting our travel on. That’s why I went for an albatross, because it wasn’t my BBOY, but it would at least tweak Corey. Honestly, I love albies and all, but they aren’t exactly rare down here.

2013 175

2013 Birds Rhinoceros Thailand 175

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2011

I saw one once, in Chicago, and simply thought it was beautiful.) - A Laysan Albatross was found dead on Midway Atoll, its carcass full of ingested plastic objects, including toothbrushes, cigarette lighters, and bottle tops. -

Albatross 198

Albatross Birds Campaign Protection 198

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

If you misidentify something, you bring great shame and dishonor to both you and your family. And no, as you read this, I am not on a boat miles offshore from Half Moon Bay, California, dauntlessly attempting to establish another North American record of Wandering Albatross. Is this what you really want? Red-footed Booby.

Puffins 248

Puffins Albatross Penguins Experience 248

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

And, that falcons are about as far away from hawks as a bird family could get. The group pages show how much the taxonomy of certain bird families has changed over the past 13 years. The Quick Index of bird families (Albatrosses, Ani, Auklets, etc.) This means that loons are no longer first!

North America 162

North America 2003 Birds America 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

’s bird family tree in a new tab and follow along as you read. In 2008, Nick Sly published a review of Hackett et al. titled Avian relationships – What do we know? Now it’s late 2014, six and a half years later, and here’s what we know today. Open Jarvis et al.’s Ratites, Tinamous, and Fowl.

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2011

In spite of this New Zealand does have an iconic family of birds that has served as an emblem for the country for over a century, the kiwi. Tags: features , kiwi , national bird , new zealand • Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents , family tents , and more! Please click here to see the archive of actual national bird posts.

New Zealand 146

New Zealand 2011 Deer New York 146

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. Penguins are shown individually in groups, in dense colonies, within habitat (ice, rainforest, beach), swimming in the ocean, and doing things–nose to nose with an albatross, feeding a child, placing an egg on its foot, sliding down ice.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

We’ll go on a pelagic trip and you can wave at albatrosses. And I, like some dowager countess in a birding vest, am expected to know each one’s family at a glance and greet them by name. Eight days with 20 of the world’s top birding guides looking for some 1,000 species and three dozen endemics.

Peru 254

Peru Birds South America Owls 254

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2017

Duck : “any of various swimming birds (family Anatidae, the duck family) in which the neck and legs are short, the feet typically webbed, the bill often broad and flat, and the sexes usually different from each other in plumage.”. Many individual species get an entry too, though they are generally not capitalized.

Albatross 104

Albatross Bears Ducks Bald Eagle 104

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2016

The end of July and beginning of August featured an amazing trip across the American west with my family. Black-footed Albatross , 13 August, off the coast of California. I finally saw an albatross! A couple of long range twitches to upstate New York netted me one great state bird and one dip. Finally, finally, finally!

2016 131

2016 Puerto Rico New York City New York 131

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2013

On my last visit, which lastes four days, I didn’t have much time to sneak away from family, but I did get to check out two new sites. But there were a lot of albatrosses, and if writing here has taught me anything, it is that any day I see an albatross is a day that Corey hasn’t seen one.

Albatross 151

Albatross Rats Belize New Zealand 151

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2013

To celebrate, here are some shots of something not remotely albatross related, Arthur’s Pass. Common forest birds that we saw included the diminutive and adorable Rifleman , a member of the New Zealand wren family, an ancient line of passerine birds that fall between the oscines and suboscines.

New Zealand 140

New Zealand Albatross Family Australia 140

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

but I really feel I should nominate an albatross, if only because I love taunting Corey about them. I’ll go for the Black-browed Albatross , in celebration of the fact that conservation efforts have resulted in this species being downgraded from endangered to near threatened this year. He wrote about it in more detail here.

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

The Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching offers two types of information: Species Accounts–descriptions of 112 birds within 15 families as they appear over and on the water, and Where to Watch, brief descriptions of 47 sites on the North American eastern coast and interior recommended for seawatching. No rails or gallinules.

Ducks 233

Ducks Groups Species North America 233

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

A few families have a small number of eggs in the clutches, like gulls or cormorants. For the larger albatrosses and the frigatebirds it is common to take longer and have rest years between attempts. Seabirds are one group of birds that go for the latter strategy.

Eggs 165

Eggs Puffins Breeding Raised 165

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

I started the year in Florida, traveled to India with the ABA in February, combined family and birding in an August trip to California, and in-between saw very good birds in New York and New Jersey. It was a good birding year. Many sad and unfortunate things occurred in 2016, but the birding was good.

2016 110

2016 India Ducks Birds 110

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2012

Truth is, coming in to this year I found myself with some time off after the sale of a business, but I was tied to New York and not really able to travel extensively for family reasons. But I appreciate the chance to explain – I’m not trying to mess with anyone’s head, honestly. Hey, you don’t ask, you don’t get ….

New York 174

New York Stray Vermont Marine Life 174

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2011

I think this ridiculously happy looking Laysan Albatross was as stoked as it appears. The average (responsible) dog-owner does not think of his or her dog functioning on instinct, but as a organism with deep emotional ties to its family that seeks out pleasures and avoids pains… which, fundamentally, is how we people operate.

Emotional 206

Emotional Science Birds Mammals 206

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds. We tend to think of seabirds as mysterious long-winged creatures that spend their lives flying over oceans–phalaropes, noddies, skuas, jaegers, auks, tropicbirds, penguins, albatrosses, storm-petrels, petrels, shearwaters, diving-petrels, frigatebirds, gannets, and boobies.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Groups Family 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

Most of the species are described in the Species Accounts, arranged taxonomically into 86 family chapters. Each family chapter begins with a brief, bold-printed description of the common traits of the species in the family and an enumeration of the number of species worldwide and the number of species in North America.

North America 184

North America America 2017 Birds 184

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Masked Lapwing is a very easy bird to identify, so there is a question about how the Compact Guide works in the field when trying to identify trickier birds, like Honeyeaters, a family totally new to many North American birders. I found it extremely easy to use in the few days I was able to take it out in the field without a guide.

Australia 241

Australia Birds 2017 Groups 241

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

.” And, if you don’t believe them, just take a look at some of the photographic comparisons of species they present: Or, of albatross plumages: Or, read about the taxonomic confusions and scientific lapses in research on petrels, Albatrosses, storm-petrels, and diving-petrels. Coverage of all families is not comprehensive.

Albatross 158

Albatross North America Birds Groups 158

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2011

This association belies the advanced and highly sophisticated adaptations the family has evolved for a life of wandering, hunting and, yes, piracy on the high seas. Great Frigatebirds, like other members of the family, have very long lives and reach sexual maturity very slowly. Adult female at rest.

Albatross 158

Albatross Pelicans Family Hunting 158

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2013

I’m going through this right now, as I am planning a holiday for my entire family to Borneo. Corey has not yet seen this Buller’s Albatross , but he will one day, and he should enjoy the anticipation. This requires research, and research is fun. Which is pretty good value for a trip that is ages away.

Birds 165

Birds Research Hawaii Albatross 165

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2021

The guide covers terns and gulls, penguins and phalaropes, but birders will be most interested in its treatment of seabirds like shearwaters, storm-petrels, diving-petrels, albatrosses, and skuas.

Birds 243

Birds Colombia Collecting Bald Eagle 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2011

Long-tailed Duck by Mike Bergin Tags: best bird , weekend • Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents , family tents , and more! Carol Holverson Mar 21st, 2011 at 6:37 pm Hands down it was the Laysan albatross(es) and chicks on Ka’ena Point on Oahu. Patrick ODonnell Mar 21st, 2011 at 5:35 pm Beautiful Long-tailed Duck!

2011 140

2011 Deer Birds Costa Rica 140