10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

Chamois is an agile goat-antelope with short hooked horns, found in mountainous areas of Europe from Spain to the Caucasus. In a second, it disappeared into trees, down towards a rocky gorge, but not before I spotted it. Yes, yes, I know, not countable – it’s not a bird.

Serbia 264

Serbia Bears Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2013

I am driving through mostly bare, rocky ground, kept that way by herds of domestic goats, which also cross the road as they like. Already having had way too close encounters with domestic animals, that habit is something I particularly dislike – especially before the first morning coffee!

Greece 212

Greece Serbia Europe Goats 212

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Nestled right in the middle of Europe, we have a little bit of everything, a nice cross section of Europe’s avifauna. It is not unusual to drive by a farm building and see a bunch of Greater Rheas on the farm’s fenced-in pasture next to sheep or goats. Germany is underrated as a birding destination.

Germany 250

Germany Birds 2000 South America 250

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

The prehistoric extinctions most famously include the megafaunal assemblages of Europe, the Americas, Australia and Madagascar. And some of the extinctions were of small animals, like the many dwarf goats and elephants in the Mediterranean. Some of these giants were lost surprisingly recently – the last mammoths around 1700 BC.

Marsupials 170

Marsupials Costa Rica Elephants Cuba 170

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

These beaters usually take the form of grazing herds of game and domestic animals, and large flocks of carmine bee-eaters may gather overhead. As its name indicates, it breeds in Europe, with good numbers still nesting on the Iberian Peninsula and into eastern Europe, as well as further westwards right across to China.

Africa 265

Africa Gabon South Africa Uganda 265