10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The poster bird of this area is the near-threatened Black-necked Crane. The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area.

China 168

China Mongolia Birds Russia 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

The main attraction for birders here are the hornbills – I have written about them before , so this post will be more on the other birds I saw there in 2017. Anyway, it is a very cute-looking bird if you are big enough not to be among its prey of (mostly) insects.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

With my favorite Shanghai birding place at Nanhui getting gradually destroyed under the watchful eyes of the local government favoring Tesla over terns, I have been searching for some alternative Shanghai locations with less ongoing construction, fewer people, and hopefully more birds.

Cats 208

Cats Birds Kittens Transported 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

This is a bit of a dilemma for local authorities – on the one hand, they would presumably like to protect the birds, on the other hand, they also want to draw as many tourists to the place as possible. Still, it is a good place for birds, and given the gregarious nature of most of the Chinese tourists (similar to shorebirds?),

China 263

China Birds Fish Asia 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2022

They are places where we invest most of our birding time and rightly so; mature tropical forests are where we find the highest number of species. Tropical forest is a must but those mossy green mansions aren’t the only places where birds occur. Such field and edge birding becomes especially fun in urbanized areas.

Costa Rica 257

Costa Rica Farming Sparrows Birds 257

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

To say that an update of John MacKinnon’s “A Field Guide to the Birds of China” (2000) has been highly anticipated by birders interested in Chinese birds is almost an understatement. Mind you, I am not a particularly good birder – I am the kind of birder who really needs a good bird guide.

China 192

China Brazil 2000 Birds 192

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2020

That does not make it sound like a very promising or important bird habitat. This means that every year, millions of birds fly by the city on their way between their breeding grounds in Northern Asia and their wintering spots in Southeast Asia and Australia. And yet it is. So, there is some hope.

Wildlife Reserve 162

Wildlife Reserve Asia China Birds 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2020

The birds are moving around the globe as if nothing has happened. Dollarbirds left Broome earlier this year to return to Asia. They had arrived from Asia and were being chased away by Torresian Crows. This short section of power line is a great stop off for birds. This line gets used every day by many bird species.

Asia 263

Asia Australia Eggs Raised 263

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 294

Austria Factory Asia Battery 294

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

This, 2022, has been a curious year for books about birds and birding. Dragan]: Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide , by Hume, Still, Swash, and Harrop is a photographic guide. The artwork of “Europe’s Birds” is dazzling, the text condensed and comprehensive, and the layout and design are without peer.

Sri Lanka 216

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 216

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2022

If you think it is rather pretentious to start a birding blog post with a Kafka story, I fully agree with you. Anyway, the story is not quite how I remembered it, to be honest, but fitting enough to describe the almost claustrophobic birding experience in ever-shrinking Nanhui. I just want to point out it could be much worse.

Raccoons 204

Raccoons Birds Oregon China 204

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Not too many highlights, not too many species … hard to say whether this is just the usual nostalgia for a better but probably nonexistent past or a real phenomenon. The latter is possible, as the undisturbed areas of Nanhui keep shrinking, leaving less and less space for birds. Somehow, for this bird it is ok.

Birds 224

Birds Humane Japan Ducks 224

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2014

In Australia we definitely have our fair share of invasive species and the main problem is that we are such a huge land mass with such a small population. The population of Australia is concentrated mainly around the city areas along the coast and many invasive species have been able to spread with ease.

Australia 157

Australia Species Feral Cats Feral 157

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

“Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea” by James A. kg could be, do keep in mind that this guide covers 4,400 km / 2,750 mi of the Earth’s circumference, or 11% of the length of the Equator, and describes 13% of global bird diversity. Eaton, Bas van Balen, Nick W. Brickle and Frank E. Rheindt is a big book.

Indonesia 263

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Miami, Florida has a reputation among the birding community for being overrun with exotic bird species. However, the typical birding experience for someone down here also includes a large menagerie of other species such as Orange-winged Parrot , Mitred Parakeet , Egyptian Goose and Nutmeg Mannikin.

Miami 192

Miami Asia Florida Malaysia 192

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

Birders follow different patterns of bird migration and their local activities and travel accordingly. It illustrates the bird richness per country. It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands.

Equatorial Guinea 188

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 188

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2023

So, not much that is not to like about hummingbirds, particularly as they also frequently perch (unlike hummingbirds), which makes the life of the bird photographer so much easier. The somewhat shoddily edited Wikipedia entry on sunbirds states that there are 145 species in one paragraph and then talks about 146 in the next.

Indonesia 169

Indonesia Asia Species Raised 169

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2022

sq mi), which contradict the conservation significance of the bird it was founded for, some three decades ago – the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard. My guide, Chirag Solanki, told me he had once been searching here for five days, before he managed to locate the birds. Indeed, I say. The main tactic is diversion.

Gazelles 249

Gazelles India 2012 Pakistan 249

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2019

Birding Fraser`s Hil. Fraser`s Hill in peninsular Malaysia is another one of these almost legendary birding locations in Southeast Asia. And the birding is somewhat easier here as long as you do not make the mistake of reading some of the older bird guides. So, in terms of birds, what is it that you might find?

Birds 194

Birds Malaysia Morals Asia 194

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2014

Big news about a small bird broke earlier this month when bird researchers from several nations announced that the species formerly known as Spotted Wren-Babbler ( Spelaeornis formosus ) — a tiny, secretive bird of montane forests from the eastern Himalayas to southeast China — is not a Spelaeornis wren-babbler at all.

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Family Comoros Asia Birds 266

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

While not on the scale of bird migration, it is routinely and somewhat lazily described as the biggest annual migration of humans in the world. Like a film star wearing a whig and big sunglasses in a public place, this bird at first glance looks fairly nondescript. Once the bird takes up a different position, it gets more interesting.

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China Birds Pythons Rabbits 196

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 14, 2021

This is the second post in the Birding crème de la crème series (the first, focused on southern Asia, is here ). The bird-richest region of Africa is its equatorial East: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi (unlike the rest, the last one, Burundi, is politically unstable and not recommendable). SERVIR Africa Workshop.

Africa 190

Africa Kenya Uganda Tanzania 190

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

But here is the truly tragic part: I was not birding during those years! It originally served as the port of entry for goods brought from Asia by Spanish galleons. These turkey-sized birds, named for their raucous calls, can muster an impressive level of volume. The White-throated Magpie-Jay: such a beautiful bird!

Birds 158

Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2019

Patrick’s Day, did you stop to wonder why so few birds wear green plumage? Based on how naturally parrots and leafbirds (the real ones in Asia, not the figments that plague birders in every country) blend into foliage, I’d imagine that most arboreal avian species would want the same advantages. How about you?

2019 114

2019 Asia Turkey Parrots 114

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2022

Every place has its common birds, the species that do very well in a given habitat. As we like to say, these are species that are “hard to miss”, birds that, if you are watching, will be seen. As one might expect, signature birds take many forms. Birding in a local park? What about urban sites?

Costa Rica 147

Costa Rica San Jose Asia Geese 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2020

North America is home to many amazing bird species, including several which require a special effort to see and appreciate. There are few birds in the world with such a dramatic combination of blue, green, and red colors as the Painted Bunting. South Texas Birding & Nature. So let’s look at this sampler, shall we?

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America Arizona North America Texas 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

South Africa 215

South Africa Malaysia Africa China 215

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

So, this post just shows 25 birds I spotted at Nanhui (coastal Shanghai) in October 2019. One of the birds seemed somewhat incompetent in handling the seeds of the local trees. Always interesting to see the same species both in Germany (in my parents’ garden) and in Shanghai. After a few days, they left again.

2019 185

2019 Japan Birds Owls 185

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

This shouldn’t have to be stated, especially in a book on bird evolution by an evolutionary biologist with a Ph.D. How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity by Douglas J. Futuyma is a synthesis of theory and research about evolution and birds. that’s three birds).

Science 204

Science Albatross Research Birds 204

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

The migratory shorebirds are now returning to the Broome area and the numbers of birds on the beaches of Roebuck Bay are rapidly increasing. Both the female Black-tailed Godwit and Bar-tailed Godwit are larger than the male of the species. The Black-tailed Godwits that we observe here in Australia breed in east Siberia and Mongolia.

Mongolia 147

Mongolia Australia Breeding Asia 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Not professionally – these people come in SUVs and probably never recapture their gas money from the fish they catch (though come to think of it, neither do I with my bird photos). This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). One strange thing about Chongming is the inevitable presence of people fishing. End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

His obsession with all things feathered has led him to visit 20 countries around the world in the pursuit of thousands of different species of birds to watch, photograph, and enjoy. On Hokkaido there are three primary species that people go to see in the winter – the Big Three as I think of them.

Japan 176

Japan Massachusetts Birds Eagles 176

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2016

The world’s biggest flying bird—the Sarus Crane , with a maximum of height of 6 feet/1.8 Due to habitat encroachment and environmental degradation in its traditional home base of Asia, the bird’s worldwide population has dropped to roughly 20,000 individuals, marking it as a Vulnerable species.

Thailand 251

Thailand Asia Hunters Species 251

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

The project seems to be just as much about the process as about the product, since the coloring sessions were wonderful teachable moments that got kids enthused about saving this Critically Endangered species. Birding Birds Conservation Inspiration News spoon-billed sandpiper video' And share it far and wide!

Asia 145

Asia Thailand Russia Endangered Species 145

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2014

As much as I love hearing about and sharing Best Birds of the Weekend, sometimes I have cause to ponder just what that term means. Obviously, the birds themselves are not jockeying for recognition. Rather, we designate best birds according to our priorities and perceptions of value. BBOTW speaks volumes about birders, not birds.

2014 181

2014 Feral Asia China 181

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. The little red bit on the crown on this photo indicates that it is a male bird.

Woodpeckers 221

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 221

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2022

Not bad given that the 5 families in the inner circle of the laughingthrush family have a combined number of about 68 species. Presumably, in the early days of ornithology, some scientists spent most of their time transcribing bird calls. This post shows some of them. And of course, I would have been wrong.

San Diego 198

San Diego Malaysia China Zoos 198