10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

These bark-burrowing beetles, which apparently hitched a ride in cargo shipments from their native Asia, have been starving the ash trees of eastern and midwestern North America to death for a dozen years now. Enter the woodpecker. To be specific, the Red-bellied , Hairy , and Downy Woodpeckers , along with the White-breasted Nuthatch.

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Woodpeckers Illinois Science Chicago 273

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2015

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

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Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 252

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2013

This is a Green-barred Woodpecker , common and widespread throughout South America to the south of the Amazon River and to the east of the Andes. This form is thought to be a different species and the name Golden-bellied Woodpecker has been adopted by some.

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Woodpeckers Argentina South America Adoptable 169

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

I am puzzled as to why Gulls and Terns are almost passed over, with less than two pages of text devoted to a family description and only six species accounts (four gulls, two terns). Family follows family with no page break, making this section a little dense. and three of the nine woodpeckers illustrated.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 270

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Why would I call these beautiful woodpeckers the “clowns of the avian world?” ” Besides the facial features of the Acorn Woodpecker ( Melanerpes formicivorus ) appearing somewhat clown-like, they are a joy to watch and some of their antics are sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face. www.youtube.com/watch?

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Woodpeckers Breeders Groups North America 186

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2014

I had taken the short drive to the park to search for a family of American Dippers sighted near the visitor center by a fellow birder a few days before. As I got out of my car, about fifty feet from Manzanita Lake, I heard the loud drumming of a woodpecker. It was July of 2012. It was a cool 48 degrees.

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Woodpeckers California South Dakota Chad 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

The point is, the field guide I grabbed without hesitation was the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition by Jon L. North America is defined as from north of the Mexican border to the far north, plus “adjacent islands and seas within 200 nautical miles off the coast or offshore islands.”

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North America America 2017 Birds 187

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

So, I was very excited when I heard that Rick Wright was writing a book about sparrows, the first treatment of North American sparrows since 2001, possibly the first book about sparrows of North America, depending on your definition of that geographic area. They’re all birds of North America! Mexico border.

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North America Sparrows America United States 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

Before I delve into some of these avian treasures let me give you a few non-birding reasons to visit this gem of South America. If your Spanish or Portuguese is at the level of a 2-year-old bonobo like mine is, then you’ll probably be pleased to know that Guyana is the only English-speaking country in South America.

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Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2011

Second of all, Lewis’s Woodpeckers are birds of the west and they rarely stray to New York State. So you can imagine our disappointment when we crawled out of the car after our trip to find out that Mike was in fact relaxing in the warm kitchen and had no idea where the woodpecker was!

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New York Woodpeckers Jordan 2011 204

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2023

If you have much interest in birds, you may well have seen videos of the very comical mating dance of male Red-capped Manakins , a species whose range stretches from southeast Mexico to South America. In the same way, all of central Michoacán’s woodpeckers are black and white and red all over. This one was a Collared Aracari.

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Mexico Woodpeckers South America Species 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

2012), and (4) Waterfowl of Eastern North America, 2nd ed. A map of Ontario is reproduced on the inside front covers and the Quick Index, a one-page listing of bird families, is on the back inside cover. Lengthy captions point out key identification features, mostly plumage-based, sometimes including behavior, size, and structure.

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North America Birds Owls America 224

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

The Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America by Nathan Pieplow is innovative, fascinating, and challenging. The Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America is divided into three main sections: Introduction, Species Accounts, and Index to Bird Sounds (also called the Visual Index). Chandler S.

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North America America Birds New York 178

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

’s bird family tree in a new tab and follow along as you read. The Hoatzin, which may have reached South America by raft , has resisted placement in basically every study ever done. In 2008, Nick Sly published a review of Hackett et al. titled Avian relationships – What do we know? Open Jarvis et al.’s Hackett et al.

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Family Birds Parrots 2014 279

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Few places boast so many different bird species in such a small area — over 900 species (more than Europe, or all of the United States and Canada combined), including 75 different families, like 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tanagers. Travelling from Eastern Europe to Central America was also an 8 hours back in time trip.

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Costa Rica San Jose Nepal Europe 254

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2021

The authors’ goals are (1) to provide information that will help readers identify a bird nest; (2) to explore the broader ecology of bird nests of North America, “an ecological study of how hundreds of species have adapted nests and nesting behavior to environs that range from tropical deciduous forest to Arctic tundra” (p.

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Eggs Birds United States Sparrows 244

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

Woodpeckers are phenomenally well-represented in Colombia and the country holds anything from 42 to 44 of the world’s woodpecker species, depending on which list you follow. That’s over 20 % of all the woodpeckers found worldwide. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets share several traits common to the family.

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Colombia Woodpeckers South America Family 176

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Each family is given a double-page spread. Excluded are non-migratory species from the Atlantic and Mediterranean islands and a few resident species of the Caucasus (as well as vagrants from America). Weighing 2.88 pounds, it is a hefty book, not something you would want to carry on foot, but rather leave at home or in your car.

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Europe Asia Cyprus 2009 252

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2020

Despite the gull fest down at the river, I rarely went birding on Thanksgiving Day as it was a special time reserved for the treasure of sharing good food and laughs with family. Birding in the forest was more challenging but careful steps and quick binocular action got us on to various tanagers, woodpeckers, and other species.

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Costa Rica Turkey Iceland Eagles 244

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

Cardinal Woodpecker. Three species of woodpecker, from the large Bearded Woodpecker to the smaller Golden-tailed Woodpecker and the even smaller Cardinal Woodpecker, searched the trunks and branches, while on the smallest tips of the branches the tiny Long-billed Crombec clambered about in search of food.

South Africa 145

South Africa Tortoises Woodpeckers Birds 145

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. I really wanted to see Gray-crowned Woodpecker and Military Macaw , and I managed to succeed on both counts.

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Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 201

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

Cuba (twice), South America (twice), Europe and Morocco (once) and Bali (once). The third weekend of January, I travelled to the coastal city of Acapulco to give a seminar on family finances at a church there. And my one lifer for the trip was a family of Rufous-naped Wrens that apparently live in the same garden.

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Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They portray the nesting cycles of Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Robin, illustrating the various ways in which birds create families. Do they have families too and do they take care of them? Some of the chapters focus on a specific bird, most are about bird families like hawks, tanagers, wrens, etc.,

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2020 Birds Groups North America 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

Before finally connecting to the South American continent about three million years ago, Central America consisted of a series of volcanic islands. Many Nearctic species and families reach their southern terminus in the Northern Central American Highlands, such as Common Raven , Red Crossbill , Steller’s Jay , and even Brown Creeper.

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Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 226

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2023

A description of the parenting habits of Emperor Penguins begins the lengthy chapter, “Family Matters,” about Chris’s difficult, intense relationship with his father. A trip to Nepal with a non-birding boyfriend, with the goal of climbing the Himalaya to the foot of Mt.

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Emotional Birds Minneapolis Nepal 228

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

I purchased my first Sibley— The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America —in 2003. 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. This means that loons are no longer first!

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North America 2003 Birds America 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Their taxonomic affinities have caused great confusion and debate amongst ornithologists; they were originally assigned to the thrush family, then Old World warblers before being shifted to babblers (the last mentioned a common dumping-ground for any aberrant passerines).

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South Africa Lesotho Africa Swaziland 234

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2019

If I had a dollar for every time I had to explain why Melanerpes carolinus is named Red-bellied Woodpecker , I’d be able to afford little brochures on the topic to pass out in the field. Far too many bird names have confusing, misleading, or just plain dumb common names. Well, no more!

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Birds Woodpeckers Ducks Suffering 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

Diversity of habitat means, of course, great biodiversity, and the Introduction boasts that Bolivia “is the richest landlocked nation on Earth for bird diversity, the sixth richest overall, and the fifth richest in the Americas” (p. Tintaya’s woodpeckers also nicely feature tree (and cactus!)

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Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Starlings, they’ll dutifully explain, are ruthless invasives that have been responsible for the serious declines of several beloved native species, like the Red-headed Woodpecker ( Melanerpes erythrocephalus ) and the Eastern Bluebird ( Sialia sialis ).

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Farming New York Breeding Unwanted 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

In North America, that is. The ABA currently lumps the Mangrove Warbler and Golden Warbler with the Yellow Warbler (the IOC lumps Mangrove and Golden Warbler together but splits them from the Yellow Warbler that breeds in North America.) As you travel south, everything gets all higgledy-piggledy.

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Connecticut Baltimore North America New York City 183

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2018

Although this bad behavior may run in the overall eagle Family.) Sadly, it appears hardly any creatures are safe from our feathered Captain America.) We here at 10,000 Birds have no shame and it was either this or lots of posts about woodcocks, boobies, and woodpeckers. They are literally kleptos ! Well, except maybe you.

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Bald Eagle Eagles United States Philadelphia 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

I’m happy to say that Laura Erickson and Marie Read have written a book, Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds , that is not too cute and that does not anthropomorphize. Part Two: The Family Live of Selected Species” describes and illustrates the family lives of 49 species in 25 chapters.

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Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2017

After we had our scope fill of that one, we ventured into the forest to lay eyes on a family of Spectacled Owls ! They come to fruit right behind the buildings and while you dig the colors, you might also get lucky with Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Golden-olive Woodpecker, White Hawk , and other species (we did). Yeah, I think we had to go.

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Costa Rica Owls Birds Eagles 153

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2015

Into the Nest: Intimate Views of the Courting, Parenting, and Family Lives of Familiar Birds (Storey Publishing, 2015) by photographer Marie Read and writer Laura Erickson, documents the procreative and parenting lives of 49 species through beautiful images and readable, knowledgeable text. So, Happy Holidays to all!

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Papua New Guinea 2014 Penguins Birds 187

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

It is worth pointing out that titmice belong to the family Paridae , an expansive international clan made up primarily of what we call “chickadees” in the states but are known as “t**s” in the Old World. What do you expect of those decadent, debauched Europeans? Birders, because they look, notice them everywhere.

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Arizona Oklahoma Texas Mexico 266

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2017

Can a family-focused trip—even to one of the world’s most biodiverse countries—deliver enough opportunities for avian observation to satisfy this serious world birder? With enough planning, you can enjoy a family-friendly, bird-rich vacation in the Panama Canal zone. If you have kids, you’re probably as curious as I was.

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Panama 2017 Monkeys Family 100