10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. So, writing a post about them is easy.

Woodpeckers 245

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 245

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

I didn’t realize how many new species I would see within the city itself! It’s a strange experience looking up from a city street to gaze at birds native to South America; even more ironic considering humans drove the only native parrot/parakeet species, the Carolina Parakeet , to extinction.

Austin 114

Austin Texas Birds Non Human 114

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

” But the tanager brand is changing. Most of these birds are small, finch-like species with thick, conical bills for cracking seeds or eating insects. Odd little grassquits singing from power lines in South America’s great cities. The word “ tanager ” conjures certain images for most of us birder types.

2003 222

2003 Sparrows Family South America 222

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Experiments in the field (the famed Asa Wright Nature Center veranda) involving Bananaquits and bananas came up with numbers ranging from 7 to 16, but a tanager always came along to interfere with Bananaquits’ noisy appreciation of their namesake fruit. (2) Which hummingbird was more beautiful—Tufted Coquette or Ruby-topaz Hummingbird? (3)

Trinidad 205

Trinidad Birds South America Research 205

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

But meanwhile, let’s look at the four avian families that comprise the brand new order Suliformes. Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific.

2011 155

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 155

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2018

While some people never overcome this vestigial aversion to sour and bitter sensations, this innate prejudice can be overturned with experience, becoming acquired tastes we learn to enjoy just as much as the more dependable, uncomplicated pleasures of sweetness, salt, and fat. Tart is tart and hoppy is hoppy and never the twain shall meet.

Collecting 100

Collecting St. Louis Dogs Sparrows 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

And, to give his dream year a little more oomph, he created a grand once-in-a-lifetime goal: to track down and see every pitta species in the world in one year. That’s Pitta, people, not Antpitta, which is what I foolishly first envisioned, having never birded beyond the Americas.) And mosquitos. edition of the book in the fall. (At

Hunters 202

Hunters Sri Lanka Asia Solomon Islands 202