10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2019

Of course, the California Condor is listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and it has been famously subject to some of the most ambitious conservation efforts (including litigation ) ever undertaken for a bird. One management tool used by FWS is reintroduction of an endangered species into its former range.

California Condor 213

California Condor California Endangered Species Oregon 213

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. For the nature lovers and birders who participate in breeding bird surveys, the atlas represents hours, often hundreds of hours, of volunteer time spent within a community of citizen scientists doing what they love, observing birds. So, what exactly does a breeding bird atlas contain?

Pennsylvania 219

Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2021

This lake, with a surface area of up to 150 square miles in good years, is my go-to site for dozens of waterfowl and shorebird species, so I take its health personally. It is also a vital wintering and migratory site for most of these species, so I imagine they take its health very personally, as well.

San Francisco 263

San Francisco 2018 Mexico Ducks 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2023

That’s 18 species in one book. This is more than a collection of species accounts. There are also two pages illustrating the “Holistic Approach,” silhouettes of each species (Western birds on the left, Eastern birds on the right), that allow for comparison of structure, size, and shape.

Los Angeles 200

Los Angeles North America America Species 200

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

Osborn, a passionate field biologist who participates to the core of her being three re-introduction projects aimed at saving three very different, endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala)*, and California Condor. Sophie Osborn’s stories are personal and inspiring, but this is more than a personal memoir.

California Condor 168

California Condor Falcons California Birds 168

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2014

There’s a new proposal before the American Ornithologists’ Union’s North American Classification Committee to split Painted Bunting into two species (yay! — maybe, more later) and to name the new species “Eastern Painted Bunting” and “Western Painted Bunting” (no!).

Mississippi 263

Mississippi Mexico Alabama North Carolina 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2017

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the 1980s to be part of a captive breeding program. Audubon thought there should be some wild condors to serve as “guide birds” for condors that would eventually be released from the captive breeding program. But they disagreed on the means to obtain that shared goal.

California Condor 104

California Condor California District of Columbia Utah 104

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 101

Colorado Legislature North America New Mexico 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

After nearly a week of traveling through Arizona’s very dry southeastern corner, I decided to make a detour to Flagstaff for a change of pace, a change of scenery, and a chance at seeing an assortment of birds more typical of the Great Basin than the Sierra Madre of Mexico. Truly, a must see species in North America.

Arizona 140

Arizona Woodpeckers Phoenix Birds 140

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2018

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently decided that the Sonoran Desert population of Bald Eagle is not a listable taxon under the Endangered Species Act. Under ESA, the term “species” actually has three categories: (1) species, (2) subspecies, and (3) distinct population segments (DPS). What does that mean?

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle Eagles Endangered Species 2017 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

we learn) that are home to coveted boreal species, breeding wood-warblers, and two species of Grouse. There are 461 species on the Maine checklist. This field guide covers 265 species, the ones most likely to be seen–residential and migratory, almost all nesting birds, many wintering birds.

Los Angeles 184

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 184

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. Think Arizona meets Costa Rica with a Mexican twist. The birds we observed were nesting right into the cliff face.

Mexico 185

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 185

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

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. Alex also masterfully worked another tricky species into view for us during that first afternoon, Ruddy Crake (a close relative of the Black Rail ).

Honduras 206

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 206

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Spring is in the air, and all around the Baja desert I am seeing a plethora of species, all looking for love, in what appears to the right places. A member of the small Ptiliogonatidae family of silky-flycatchers, of which there are only three other species besides our local Phainopepla , Phainopepl nitens.

Costa Rica 104

Costa Rica Panama Nevada Guatemala 104

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2013

Hybrids between separate species are rare. But they do spark an interesting and somewhat controversial debate that inevitably leads back to the same old question of what constitutes a species. Suspected hybrids between heron species, whilst extremely rare, have been documented for some time.

Florida 168

Florida Arizona Cattle California 168

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2016

He has visited more than 40 National Wildlife Refuges in 20 states and frequently visits NWRs in his travels, most recently Buenos Aires NWR in southern Arizona. Farallon NWR , a group of islands near San Francisco, hosts the largest colonies of breeding seabirds south of Alaska. It’s not just for the birds.

Wildlife 189

Wildlife Grizzly Bear Puerto Rico United States 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2018

Following passage of the United States Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the California Condor ( Gymnogyps californianus ) was among the first 75 species listed for protection, the so-called “Class of 1967”. Reintroduction efforts expanded to Arizona in 1996, and later, to the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.

California Condor 103

California Condor Oregon California Zoos 103

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2011

The Mexican Duck, as its name suggests, is native to Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States, and unlike the Mallard, the Mexican Duck does not have a showy male breeding plumage; both sexes are brown throughout the year. Do you prefer stability and certainty, or would you rather make changes to our lists early and often?

Ducks 169

Ducks North America Texas Mexico 169

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

“Out West” to most Floridians might mean California or Arizona or might even refer to the Gulf Coast of Florida. Nearly every species of heron and egret in North America forage only feet away, some of them in their dazzling breeding displays. And this is where magic happens from time to time.

North America 213

North America Factory Alligators Trafficking 213

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2019

Occasional spots of dense willows add additional cover for some species, while just a few yards away, you can find open, grassy areas, as well as patches of Ocotillo, and Prickly Pear Cactus. This area boasts a “life” list of species of 224, so I have quite a ways to go, with my paltry 47 species in 6 visits.

Florida 100

Florida Sparrows Mexico Fox 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.

North America 141

North America Sparrows America United States 141

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

Avocets, Black-necked Stilts , and Spotted Sandpipers breed at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Upon my arrival, at shortly before the 6 AM summer opening time, I ran into a fellow birder, a biology professor from Arizona name Robert Borker. Later in the season more species show up. Get out of the casinos and into nature!

Las Vegas 195

Las Vegas Nevada Birds Blackbirds 195

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

In the right season, with a little luck, we often find it, and sometimes it perches high and long enough that we can admire its scimitar of a bill, its stern face pattern, and even the patch of rusty red on the undertail that gives the species its English and its scientific names. I had no idea I should have been embarrassed.

2011 140

2011 Tucson Arizona Deer 140

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2019

In the end, I truly did set out to reduce the number of birds that I feature here from 1302, my years total species, down to 10-12. The birds are now breeding in the area, but are quite happy to keep coming to the daily feeding station in groups of over 100 birds. My favorite of the stay was this White-cheeked Bulbul.

2018 152

2018 Costa Rica South Africa New Zealand 152

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2014

The photo above is a breeding-plumaged Myrtle Warbler by Kelly Colgan Azar. Write the authors: Near the border of Utah and Arizona there is a transition to a second, deeply divergent mitochondrial DNA clade (Brelsford et al. 2011), which was previously assumed to be geographically restricted to Mexico in the black-fronted warbler.

United States 225

United States 2011 Guatemala North America 225

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

The warm, sunny climate beckons a wide variety of passerines, raptors, and shorebirds to spend the winter, inflating the species diversity to the extent that Miami-Dade can go toe-to-toe with counties in Texas and Arizona during this season. Can we hit 200 ABA-countable species in four days next year?

Miami 165

Miami 2015 United States Birds 165

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2012

Now free flying in California, Arizona, Utah, and Baja, condors are slowly making a comeback thanks to those, like the Center, who’ve committed to captive breeding and releasing these amazing birds. When they finally lift off, I’ve heard it said to hear the rush of wind through their wings is something you never forget.

California Condor 201

California Condor California Idaho North America 201

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. New World Vultures.

California Condor 175

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 175

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2012

I even managed to shoot a video with hands trembling of excitement, probably a first of the species. However, as regular readers will remember, I finally defeated my nemesis bird over Thanksgiving break at Veterans Oasis Park Chandler, Arizona. It was a mythical bird I didn’t ever expect to see. Thainamu chose a snipe !

2012 133

2012 Ghana Ireland Birds 133

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

the same few states always come to mind first…Alaska, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Humboldt and Del Norte Counties offer top-knotch birding, and a suite of species that can’t be found in the rest of the state. Gull-billed Terns breed in south San Diego Bay, along with Black Skimmers and several other tern species.

California 192

California San Diego Birds Oakland 192

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

… Matthew Anderson [of Audubon] said proponents of colonies are putting the interests of one invasive species — cats — over the hundreds of other native ones that are their prey. In Yuma, Arizona, they don’t take no prisoners. The ordinance requires caretakers to “educate” people in their neighborhoods.

Feral Cats 201

Feral Cats Feral Cats Minneapolis 201

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

My best bird of the year is based on the sighting rather than the species. Obviously my best bird of the year is going to come during this trip, what with several species of endemic pitta and broadbill possible, not to mention 8 species of hornbill and numerous babblers, storks, kingfishers, trogons and even the endemic Bornean Bristlehead.

2013 167

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 167