10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong. The paper is by leading researchers F.

Sparrows 244

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 244

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

However, as DNA and morphological studies have indicated, despite the barbets of Asia and Africa looking quite like the ones in the Americas, they aren’t closely related to each other. The Prong-billed Barbet is in the Semnornithidae, a family shared with the Toucan Barbet of western Colombia and Ecuador.

Costa Rica 159

Costa Rica Colombia South America Ecuador 159

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2014

It’s been awhile since we had a regular blogger based in Central America and I am sure that the steady diet of quetzals, hummingbirds and tanagers will be quite enjoyable. Patrick became a birder at the age of seven after seeing books about birds in the Niagara Falls, New York public library.

Costa Rica 154

Costa Rica Ecuador Peru Colorado 154

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

Sometimes, they even have the same species… I’m looking at you, House Wren ! The Red-ruffed Fruitcrow ( Pyroderus scutatus ) is a big, beautiful omnivore distributed across five distinct subspecies found in specific locales ranging from the humid western cordilleras of Colombia and Ecuador to the forests of northeastern Argentina.

Colombia 187

Colombia South America Argentina Ecuador 187

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Many of us in North America are facing the imminent departure of “our” hummingbirds for the next few months, though across the Gulf Coastal Plain, a few western hummingbirds are staking out winter homes, and hardy Anna’s Hummingbirds will do just fine along the Pacific Coast and in Arizona all winter long. And this one.

Family 193

Family Ecuador Costa Rica United States 193

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2012

Colombia is not only home to nearly 20% of all avian life on the planet but this birding mecca also accommodates an incredibly high percentage of highly sought after species. Nearly 80 species are endemic and found nowhere else in the world. But we just could not ignore the plentiful antpitta species too.

Colombia 239

Colombia Ecuador South America North America 239

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2012

The Maroon-tailed Parakeet lives in northern South America. In Ecuador it is found mostly in the tropical and sub-tropical forest of the east and west slopes. The place of this Bird Love action is the Sumaco National Bioreserve located on the east slope of the Ecuador in the legendary Loreto Road.

Ecuador 146

Ecuador South America Parrots America 146

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

Folks want to know what they can see, if it’s worth traveling to Trinidad and Tobago, if they should to to Ecuador for three days or three weeks, or if one should drive to Wisconsin to look for a vireo with white eyes or a blue head. The gray hawks weren’t the only north-south sister species that meet in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 196

Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 196

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

What happens when you visit one of the best birdwatching sites in the region with the highest number of endemic bird species in the Americas in the world’s birdiest country? We spied 11 tanager species including the highly coveted Black-and-gold Tanager. Your mind gets blown. But the birds we did see were stellar!

Colombia 260

Colombia Birds South America America 260

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

This spectacular, turkey-like bird roams the floor of tropical forests from eastern Mexico south to northwestern Ecuador. In most countries, long, sweaty, expedition birding is required to see the only curassow species in Middle America. It also ranges widely from Mexico south to western Ecuador. Ain’t I great?

Costa Rica 164

Costa Rica Turkey Ecuador Hunting 164

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2011

As autumn arrives and the days get shorter and cooler Tennessee Warblers make their way south to Central America and northern South America, sometimes as far south as Ecuador. The nectar from Inga flowers provides an important food resource during the winter dry season throughout Latin America.

Tennessee 188

Tennessee South America Ecuador United States 188

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

It is not limited to North America, as many of my other quizzes are. Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 3. Corey has written about one of the species, which I will most likely see when I go. Instead, name one of the endemic species in this country.

2011 150

2011 Myanmar Bolivia Venezuela 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2015

” Without diminishing the importance of any local Big Days, although Big Day birding has been popular and reaching new heights in North America for more than a decade, major attempts at truly breaking the world record have only taken place the past few years. Yep, those two guys identified 331 species in one small area, sans vehicle.

Costa Rica 164

Costa Rica South Africa Kenya Ecuador 164

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

In 2009, I traveled from New York City to the tropical rainforest of Ecuador. An enlarged version was published in 1997, with color photographs and more coverage of South America. The text still focuses on Central and South America, though the Caribbean is also considered to be part of the Neotropics.

South America 143

South America Ecuador Reptiles America 143

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2013

In early December we had the privilege of filming the inaugural Peru Birding Rally Challenge , a six day, five night event where teams from around the world compete to see the most species of birds. The bears hung around the next day too and some of the birding teams risked losing a few species to enjoy the sighting. Holy mackerel!

Bears 164

Bears Mammals Peru South America 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

It would be uber cool to lay eyes on a rare lifer, on species that only seem to live on the pages of a field guide but isn’t that somewhat discriminatory? And why spend time only looking for one or two species when those hours could be used to put binos focused on a few dozen? Aren’t all birds worth watching?

Costa Rica 201

Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 201

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital.

Sri Lanka 256

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 256

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2012

And while I’ve seen a number of different toucan species, every one is a thrill, even the toucanets! The Crimson-rumped Toucanets ( Aulacorhynchus haematopygus ) I was privileged to observe at Refugio Paz de Las Aves in Ecuador were absolute cripplers, as the parlance goes. Look at that monstrous bill!

Kansas 170

Kansas Ecuador 2010 Species 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2019

To paraphrase Keith Barnes, who wrote on world birding in 2008 ABA’s Birding magazine, if you can afford only one big tropical bird tour, let it be Ecuador. The new Helm field guide to the Birds of (mainland) Ecuador by Freile and Restall covers 1630 species in a single volume, has 656 pages and isn’t exactly lightweight.

Ecuador 142

Ecuador South America 2006 Birds 142

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2016

The proximity of both slopes also facilitates seeing a lot of different species in a short span because the montane barrier has resulted in differences in terms of species and habitats. This small antbird species is common in Panama to Ecuador but rare in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 165

Costa Rica San Jose Panama Birds 165

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

The dichotomous republic of Trinidad and Tobago may be something of a cipher to anyone unfamiliar with the point where the Caribbean ends and South America begins. I’ve been privileged to travel somewhat extensively through the Americas, but I still pulled a ton of lifers from the veranda before my first breakfast.

Trinidad 242

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 242

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

Like a shy stepchild, it’s always eclipsed by the wonders of Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, etc. That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. ″ x 9.5″x

Bolivia 168

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 168

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

Ecuador or Botswana, respectively). 17%: Ecuador, Peru. While Peru was seen as the best country for “birds and ancient sites”, Ecuador was seen as “much safer” and best for its size and easiness of getting around. If I were answering those same questions, my answers would probably be Ecuador, Uganda and Thailand.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2015

When Esdras asked us to find the bird without his help, I flashed back to my first potoo experience on the Napo River, Ecuador, where I was literally face-to-face with a Common Potoo and still saw a stick. Our group got to see another species that is a master of camouflage on our trip for the Honduran Emerald.

Honduras 242

Honduras Birds Costa Rica Groups 242

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2019

America) or westbound (from Europe). In such a case, you might opt to book an eastbound flight, or a series of flights, from Lisbon to Sao Tome and Principe, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, then Sri Lanka, Thailand, Borneo, PNG, Tahiti, Ecuador, Guyana and finally to Costa Rica…. Some 500 species are possible in three weeks.

Costa Rica 186

Costa Rica Sri Lanka Rwanda Papua New Guinea 186

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

This species is not only usually the earliest, but the most common. What’s remarkable about this species is what we don’t see here: the extremely long migration that this species makes, with some individuals traveling from Sub-Saharan Africa to Greenland and back every year.

Cyprus 145

Cyprus 2011 Deer New York 145

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

It has entertaining stories, includes animals people care about because they like them (and also addresses that concept), and it describes how the numbers of various species decreased to the point of being classified as "endangered" or worse. Consider this: Every month, it takes $12 billion to fund America's involvement in the Iraq War.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears California Condor Bald Eagle Lions 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Originally from India and the vicinity, it is believed that they had already undergone two major expansions – through Asia Minor in the 1600s, and then across Europe in the 1900s – when they first appeared in North America. Especially of all the species that had been introduced to the US.

Montana 132

Montana 2011 New York Bahamas 132

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Cormorants and Shags (Phalacrocoracidae) Cormorants are more speciose than other families in the order; 30-40 species range widely on every continent and many islands. Thanks for visiting!

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2014

2014) — attempts to answer it by ranking species according to their “evolutionary distinctiveness,” or how distantly related they are to all other living birds. is not primarily a measure of the divergence dates of major clades of birds but rather of individual living species. ’s list.

Madagascar 274

Madagascar Comoros South America Ecuador 274

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

The idea is that some finches from what is now Ecuador ended up on the Galapagos Islands, and subsequently diversified into a number of different forms … they speciated … filling various niches that on the mainland would have been filled by a number of different species. First, about the Galapagos.

Tortoises 193

Tortoises South America Panama Culling 193

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2023

It was a busy one, with birding trips not only to Europe, but also Central America, East, West and Southern Africa, South-East Asia and Australia. It was during this period that I took part in a bird race in Kenya, where I saw 290 species in one day, 442 in two. I haven’t a clue.

Sri Lanka 226

Sri Lanka Kenya San Francisco Greece 226

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2019

Who can forget Mike and Corey’s stories about Maria, the Giant Antpitta at Refugio Paz de Las Aves, Ecuador, or James Currie ‘s quest to see the Scaled Antpitta at Tandayapa Lodge? And, I looked at my eBird list and realized I’ve seen nine species of Antpitta and one of Gnateater. Species Accounts.

Research 136

Research Eggs South America Costa Rica 136

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2018

As a friend of mine who lives in Ecuador always used to say (and I’m sure still does), “It’s my birthday, I can do whatever I want!” I’m sure we also saw some cool birds although the memories of his birthday species are understandably eclipsed by that of America’s biggest cat.

Costa Rica 118

Costa Rica Birds Sparrows Ecuador 118

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

They are the only birds able to fly backwards and the 340-odd species come in many different forms. Its partner is the well-known Ruby-throated Hummingbird , one of the only species of hummingbird that migrates every year. Make sure you watch out for this little stunner if you happen to be in Central America.

Colombia 279

Colombia Ecuador Bolivia Peru 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2015

During my previous five trips to Indonesia, I only heard but never caught a glimpse of three species. Now my tally stands at four species seen and a fifth heard-only. However, all that changed when I saw a species that was both a long-awaited lifer and a very rare vagrant for Costa Rica. A country-first?

2015 180

2015 Costa Rica Birds Sparrows 180