10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2012

It seems strange that I’ll miss the return of the Sun this year, as I leave this week for a trade show and then a short trip out west to see my family. I’ve family to raise and no time for modeling.” Typically there are four eggs in a brood especially on good year. “Do you mind? This was a later nest.

South America 162

South America Eggs Family Raised 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2015

That was the first thing we–our New Jersey Audubon group of 11 birders, led by Scott Barnes–noted as we exited the airport. My cabin was located in a separate area from most of my group, so I didn’t know about the Tinamou till I arrived at the bar for our pre-dinner drink and checklist. There was no snow. And, no snow.

Honduras 257

Honduras Birds Costa Rica Groups 257

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

And, I started daydreaming about encountering something a little different, maybe a Horned Frog, Ceratophrys cornuta, a large, squat green and brown frog of South America, with a wide mouth large enough to eat other frogs as well as reptiles. But, within the frog group there is a tremendous range of diversity. These are terms of usage.

Reptiles 190

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) It is organized taxonomically, with families identified by first scientific and then popular name. 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago?

Trinidad 205

Trinidad Birds South America Research 205

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

Birders are always happy to see a turtle or tortoise, and there are times of the year when my social media feeds are sprinkled with photos of turtles beings removed from roads or crawling to land to lay eggs. Or that tortoises and terrapins are considered part of the turtle family. Lovich and Whit Gibbons.

Turtles 211

Turtles Tortoises Family Terrapins 211

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. Another member of the stork family, the African Openbill , looks like it is could benefit from a good orthodontist. And sadly, it is listed as Endangered.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2014

They cut down the trees the parrots used for nesting and brought black rats, who ate their eggs, and honeybees who swarmed into their nests, and by 1937 there were only about 2,000 Puerto Rican Parrots left. The targeted age group is 6 to 11 years. Spanish settlers arrived in 1493 and called the birds Coterras. Other Europeans came.

Puerto Rico 241

Puerto Rico Parrots New York City 2013 241

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. Each chapter focuses on a specific geographic area of penguin population: (1) Antarctica, (2) South Georgia, (3) Falkland Islands, (4) South Africa and Tristan de Cunha, (5) New Zealand and Australia, (6) South America and Galapagos.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

They are part of a family of New World Quail which includes Gambel’s, Mountain, Scaled and Montezuma Quail, as well as the Northern Bobwhite. In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June.

California 231

California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 231

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2019

Like crows and jays, they are social, vocal, intelligent, and omnivorous (including eating eggs and nestlings). As with related species in South America, pairs also give a loud yelping duet from the top of canopy emergents in the morning and late afternoon. This species also tends to forage in pairs or small family groups.

Costa Rica 186

Costa Rica Panama Eating Eggs South America 186

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2021

This may have been partly a leftover from the Victorian fascination with egg collecting (the infamous passion known as oology), but probably more from people’s burgeoning interest in the nests and eggs found in their gardens and fields, gateway artifacts to a newer hobby called birdwatching. The Harrison guides are out of print.

Eggs 244

Eggs Birds United States Sparrows 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

from University of Miami in 1966 and has written over 75 scientific and popular papers and books, including Shorebirds of North America: The Photographic Guide. Press in 2009), active participation in the Dragonfly Society of the Americas and leading dragonfly trips to Costa Rica and, hopefully this summer, Panama.

United States 241

United States Costa Rica Massachusetts North America 241

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2019

Why this one city alone would be named for birds, in this country of 1,800 species, is unclear, but it could very well be a designation inspired by the nearby Islas Ballestas, an uninhabited island group just offshore from Pisco and home to enormous breeding colonies of Humboldt Penguins , Inca Terns , Peruvian Boobies , and many other species.

Peru 126

Peru San Francisco Parrots Chile 126

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2019

I hesitated because a 496-page book about two skulky neotropical bird groups is a little intimidating. Antpittas and Gnateaters covers 64 species in six genera and two families. (I Here’s Plate 3, the third plate for Conopophaga , one of the two genera of the Gnateater family. Antpittas and Gnateaters by Harry F.

Research 150

Research Eggs South America Costa Rica 150

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

The where and how of egg laying and larva emergence is briefly treated, with page references to larval drawings at the back of the book. And, to be fair, with the small number of species located in Great Britain and Ireland, there is far less confusion than in North America. In fact, visuals dominate all the introductory sections.

Ireland 180

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2015

Picidae, Woodpecker, is one of those charismatic bird families that everybody gets excited about. Woodpeckers of the World: A Photographic Guide is the first major guide to family Picidae in 20 years. Unless the woodpecker is drumming a hole into your garage, and then, well, it’s a different kind of excitement.)

Woodpeckers 252

Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 252

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl covers every residential, migrating, vagrant, exotic, and introduced swan, goose, dabbling and diving duck in North America (Canada and the United States): 62 Species Accounts on four swan species and one vagrant subspecies; 15 goose species; 46 duck species; plus accounts for hybrid geese, ducks and exotics.

Ducks 125

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 125