10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

American White Pelicans spend their winter months along the Gulf states, California, parts of Arizona, and Mexico down into Central America. They migrate north through the Western United States, breeding in pockets all the way up through Canada. No matter how many times I see them, this particular species remains breathtaking.

Pelicans 243

Pelicans United States Canada Arizona 243

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2016

I want to alert you to a recent study (from April) that looks at the plight of bird populations under conditions of climate change in Europe and North America. Data were collected from the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the Pan-European Common Birds Monitoring Scheme. Stephens et al. Let’s look at that first.

North America 122

North America Europe America United States 122

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. The 39 owls include five endemic Caribbean species.

North America 233

North America Owls America Dominican Republic 233

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2013

elegans ) are the largest rails in the Americas. Their taxonomic status long has been unclear due to their overall similarity and the fact that in eastern North America and Cuba, they hybridize. King Rails occur widely in eastern North America, in eastern and central Mexico, and in Cuba.

Species 230

Species North America Cuba Louisiana 230

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

There was one odd reprint in 2018, when the Subalpine Warbler was split into the Eastern and Western species, but the changes in the guide weren’t sufficient to call it a 3rd edition, so it remained the updated reprint of the 2nd edition. I haven’t noticed changes in the few descriptions of harder to ID species that I compared.

Europe 261

Europe Birds Woodpeckers Ireland 261

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Terns are too often considered the baby brothers and sisters of gulls, and if you don’t agree, take a look at the number of books written about gulls (at least four in recent years) and then try to remember the last book you read about terns of North America. Note that these are not all species accounts!

North America 218

North America America Species Groups 218

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2022

Wood-Wrens , birds of the family Henicorhina , are very small wrens of Central and South America that like to live very close to the ground, in dense forest underbrush or elfin forests. It’s a long drive, at least an hour of steadily climbing twists and turns; but there are high-altitude species I can only see there.

Mexico 204

Mexico South America Species America 204

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2021

A lot of birds take a shorter trip to Florida and the Caribbean, many spend the winter in southern Mexico, and some species even fly all the way to southern Amazonia (this drink is for you Veerys). This tail bobber is a common species of mangroves and any other wet spot in the lowlands. Yet another uncommon species for Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 243

Costa Rica Kentucky Louisiana Species 243

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. Strangely, there do not seem to be many papers on this species. In one paper , you can find fascinating sentences such as “The new species is most similar to D. You can see why here.

Birds 227

Birds Sri Lanka Taiwan Cats 227

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2020

One of the ways I could describe the unique mix of birds I can see here in southwestern Mexico, would be to divide our species into five categories. The invasive species are few, but, unfortunately, very numerous. But there is a final group of species here, about which I have not written very much.

Mexico 207

Mexico Birds Honduras United States 207

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

This sort of biozone mixing can create a tremendous richness of species. Each of these habitats attracts its own group of species. I mentioned last week the Jamaican Nettletree, whose tiny fruit was attracting all kinds of species — even some I thought did not eat fruit or seeds. This one was a true lifer for me.

Mexico 253

Mexico Nicaragua Lamb Sparrows 253

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2015

Growing up in South America, I distinctly recall the arrival of “the swallow with a deeply forked tail”. They fly from extreme northern North America to the southern tip of South America and are seldom seen perched during migration. Swallows have migrated north to south along the Americas for millennia.

South Dakota 170

South Dakota South America North America America 170

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

This is when we might see the greatest variety and numbers of wood-warblers, where we can watch dizzying groups of swallows zip through the skies as kettles of Turkey Vultures , and Broad-winged and Swainson’s Hawks flow towards South America. Swallows Everywhere. How many Sinaloa Martins also fly this way?

Costa Rica 330

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 330

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

A nice bird for sure, a bird with an evocative name and one that would be a lifer for many birders from North America, but not the bird we had hoped it to be. Pelagic waters being a sort of unexplored unique goldmine with potential to produce sea wanderers from far and away, some of those other birds could also be rare species.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.” Very little is known about this enigmatic species.

South America 191

South America San Diego Mexico America 191

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

I was happy to read that the wood stork ( Mycteria Americana ), a bird near and dear to me, was down-sited from the status of endangered to threatened species. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, birds in the U.S. Photo: U.S.

North Carolina 206

North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 206

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2015

I’m a big fan of the antelopes, a group that is most commonly associated with Africa but which also occurs in Asia and, if you stretch the term to be cladistically meaningful, Europe and North America. The crest on the back becomes erect during breeding displays.

Africa 173

Africa Hunters Goats Wolves 173

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

Birders in the Americas may not be aware of it, but from the higher ground of a European perspective the American “warblers” are intensely overrated. The genus Passer has several well-recognized and recognizable species in Europe, and still holds several enigmas. Bird blogging in May always gives me the creeps.

Sparrows 228

Sparrows Italy Asia Austria 228

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2019

The striking Golden-cheeked Warbler nests only in the hills of central Texas near Austin but a substantial part of those breeding grounds have leveled in favor of development. One of the fastest growing cities in America, Austin is the capital of Texas and home of the University of Texas. On December 27, 1990 , the U.S.

Austin 184

Austin Texas Endangered Species Birds 184

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2015

At some point in evolutionary times one Avocet colonized the high Andes and the other North America. American Avocet in breeding plumage. The Andean Avocet breeds in small groups in loose colonies scattered along the shallow saline lagoons at high elevation. Photo: Dan Dzurisin. Andean Avocet, Photo: Sergey Pisarevskiy.

Bolivia 165

Bolivia Chile Argentina North America 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

The Andean Flamingo ( Phoenicopterus andinus ) is one of the three flamingos occurring in the high Andes of South America. Egg harvesting to sell as food was intensive then, with thousands taken annually from the breeding colonies in Chile. The Andean Flamingo is now protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Chile 155

Chile Endangered Species Eggs Argentina 155

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. It is the first bird field guide to every country of Central America (plus the islands governed by those countries).

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

I purchased my first Sibley— The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America —in 2003. It gets very confusing when I’m trying to look at subspecies descriptions in multiple field guides (“Slate-Colored Fox Sparrow” in Sibley West, for example, is “Western Slate-colored Group” in Stokes West).

North America 172

North America 2003 Birds America 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Instead, they are summer visitors, moving up to Colorado in the warm months to breed before returning to wintering grounds in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. During the summer breeding months, Lark Bunting males – a sparrow species – are jet black, their white wings contrasting beautifully with the dark bodies.

Colorado 102

Colorado Legislature North America New Mexico 102

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

The Durango Highway is arguably one of North America’s great birding roads due to the great variety of habitats, the spectacular mountain scenery of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the numerous Mexican endemics one can target. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains. Photo by Andrew Spencer.

Mexico 202

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 202

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2015

Birds included common species such as Black Drongos , Jungle Babblers and a Hoopoe. During the Pleistocene, Dholes were found across the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe and North America, sharing their space with sabre-toothed cats. These days, the species shares habitats with Tigers, Snow Leopard, Bears, etc.

Tigers 246

Tigers Dogs India Snow Leopard 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Spoonbills and ibises are stocky, colorful wading birds with distinctive bills: downcurved and pointed in the case of ibises, flat and paddle shaped in the spoonbills (above is my shot of Roseate Spoonbills ( Platalea ajaja ) near a breeding colony in Louisiana). A cryptic species? White-faced and Glossy ibises ( Plegadis chihi and P.

Louisiana 206

Louisiana Mississippi America Pelicans 206

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2015

Plus, there was once a time when I couldn’t tell a tern from a gull, let alone differentiate between species. I’ve seen Forster’s Terns and Common Terns , but one particular species was fast becoming a nemesis bird: the Black Tern. Black Tern in Breeding Plumage. Black Tern in Non-Breeding Plumage.

Breeding 160

Breeding South America Florida Protection 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2016

This is a very different book from what I expected, less of a handbook and more of a comprehensive identification text on 24 groups of birds, presented in words and photographs. It is an intriguing choice of species. These are bird groups that have been covered extensively by other guides. Armistead and Brian L.

Birds 190

Birds Groups 2015 North America 190

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2023

It could easily be mistaken for a book about aviation or space navigation or even a flight simulator game if you don’t read the long, adjective-filled subtitle: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration. Geological Survey. I do not think we have solved the mystery of bird migration.

Science 200

Science Illinois Investigation Research 200

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Waxwings and their relatives are a small, interesting group of songbirds that have seen some interesting taxonomic changes in the last few years. The Palmchat has long been grouped with waxwings and silky-flycatchers based on morphological similarities, and genetic work has confirmed the relationship. Meet the bombycillids: Palmchat.

Saudi Arabia 227

Saudi Arabia 2008 Indonesia Groups 227

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Both the male and female of the species have a bright red crown. Most Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of up to a dozen or more individuals. Within a group, 1–7 male co-breeders compete for matings with 1–3 joint-nesting females who lay their eggs in the same nest cavity.

Woodpeckers 186

Woodpeckers Breeders Groups North America 186

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2011

While I often tease Corey about how many albatrosses we have down here in New Zealand, the fact is that the United States has three species of Albatross that breed within its boundaries, albeit one of them only very rarely, and visit the western shores of North America. It took ages, but it was a constant delight.

Albatross 179

Albatross Hawaii New Zealand United States 179

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

How to Know the Birds talks about 200 commonly found birds in North America (including one extinct bird, the Passenger Pigeon) in 200 brief essays, each exactly one page long. ” The essays are arranged in thematic order grouped in six sections: “Spark Bird!”

Birds 115

Birds North America Breeding America 115

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2019

That fallacious family name seems to have encouraged all manner of knaves, dunderheads, and miscreants when time came to label species. Most of the warblers south of the border escaped this ignominy; those Basileuterus and Myiothlypis species generally appear exactly as advertised. NAMED FOR PEOPLE. NAMED FOR PLACES.

Rights 113

Rights Connecticut Tennessee Nashville 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2013

Now you know why the most numerous and widespread of the two swan species in North America used to be known as the Whistling Swan. That is where I found this group of nearly 100 Tundra Swans northeast of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge as they flew in to the flooded agricultural fields.

California 110

California South Dakota Sacramento North America 110

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2013

The family Regulidae comprises six small, hyperactive species that range through the great boreal and temperate forests North and Middle America, North Africa, and Eurasia. The best evidence available so far puts them somewhere near a group of three superfamilies: Bombycilloidea (waxwings, etc.),

Family 187

Family Guatemala Mexico Japan 187