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.

Family 272

Family Comoros Asia Birds 272

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Still, how many birders visit this region and could be seen as the target group for this, already a second edition? Just last year, 5 new bird species and 5 new subspecies were discovered in a few short weeks of fieldwork on the islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka. The rest of the region remains fairly undervisited.

Indonesia 264

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2015

While there as some very attractive members of the family (or families, scientists can’t make up their minds) in Asia, in Africa the babblers tend towards the restrained when it comes to plumage. Like others of the genus Turdoides it is also a very social species, found in often noisy groups.

Africa 162

Africa Asia Family Groups 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

There’s so much more that can be said about this group of birds but that’s the first description that comes to mind. However, as DNA and morphological studies have indicated, despite the barbets of Asia and Africa looking quite like the ones in the Americas, they aren’t closely related to each other.

Costa Rica 184

Costa Rica Colombia South America Ecuador 184

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2016

The species, which migrates from the Russian Arctic to Southeast Asia, is down to about 200 breeding pairs in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching. Two different females among the captive group have laid eggs , and scientists are keeping a watchful eye on a few others. Now, it’s Spoon-billed Sandpipers’ turn.

Eggs 190

Eggs Louisiana Breeding Asia 190

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2015

I’m a big fan of the antelopes, a group that is most commonly associated with Africa but which also occurs in Asia and, if you stretch the term to be cladistically meaningful, Europe and North America. By this I mean applying the term antelope to cover all of the family Bovidae, which would include the sheep, goats and ox.

Africa 177

Africa Hunters Goats Sheep 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Myers, a professional birding guide in “real life,” summarizes the etymology and history of all common bird names (of bird families and groups, not all 10,000-plus species). The guide covers 265 of Maine’s 461 bird species: common nesting species, common migrants, and wintering birds.

Sri Lanka 247

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 247

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2016

The Azure-winged Magpie is a pretty member of the crow family found in Eastern Asia, from Siberia and Japan down to Hong Kong. It was in Hong Kong that I caught up with the species, as it is easy to find in the splendid wetlands of Mai Po. Azure-winged Magpie. As you can’t see from the wings.

Spain 106

Spain Portugal Asia Japan 106

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Beside India, Lynx Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of South Asia covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Despite depicting 540 species/56 families, it is a lightweight book of 173 pages, easy to pack and carry. Larger species, that is, excluding dolphins and whales.

Asia 185

Asia Mammals Sri Lanka Bhutan 185

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

You’d think that dressing in green to hide from predators inside a dense rainforest is as a strategy as plain as day, yet only a surprisingly limited number of bird species on Borneo have ventured down that evolutionary road. Interestingly, the females are more varied between the species and are far more readily identified.

Indonesia 179

Indonesia Birds Asia Groups 179

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Waxwings and their relatives are a small, interesting group of songbirds that have seen some interesting taxonomic changes in the last few years. The Palmchat has long been grouped with waxwings and silky-flycatchers based on morphological similarities, and genetic work has confirmed the relationship. Meet the bombycillids: Palmchat.

Saudi Arabia 232

Saudi Arabia 2008 Indonesia Groups 232

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; this category is reserved for only the most threatened species in the world. If this bird did become extinct, it would be the first pheasant species to have been lost in the 400 years since proper records began.

Vietnam 157

Vietnam 2000 Germany Groups 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2019

The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia, edited by Yong Ding Li & Low Bing Wen. And now I am holding the “The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia” – an expanded and fully updated second edition of “The 100 Best Birdwatching Sites in Southeast Asia”. As a rule, I like second editions better.

Asia 233

Asia Laos Myanmar Indonesia 233

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2015

“The Pygmy Cormorant is a strictly protected bird species in Serbia, as well as in the European Union. It belongs to a group of species of special conservation concern, which under the European Birds Directive requires Member States to designate Special Protection Areas (Annex I species).

Serbia 188

Serbia Protection Europe 2015 188

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

The text goes far beyond just those two birds, however, as Doug works his way through the puzzles presented by the incredibly wide diversity of bird behavior, even within species, citing current research and new and old theories, reasoning out the most likely and unlikely answers. The six middle chapters are my favorite reading. ” (p.

Science 234

Science Albatross Research Birds 234

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Storks are typically viewed as wetland species and whilst some storks are restricted to aquatic habitats, others are not. Like the Adjutants in Asia and Jabiru of the Americas, the Marabou is our bare-headed scavenging stork.

Africa 248

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 248

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2016

Asia: Indeed, some 150 meters away, four males of the Great Indian Bustard are semi-displaying – more than one per cent of the surviving population! Asia: We wait on the top of the hillock crossed by a barbed wire fence and topped by a scarecrow. I already have a history of searches for this species. The Sun is just rising.

Wildlife 187

Wildlife Tigers Asia Europe 187

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

African Pygmy Geese are one of a number of waterfowl species that have a rather misleading name So where does that leave the Pygmy Geese, of which there are three distinct species? For these birds, the smallest of all waterfowl, belong to the “perching duck” group. But they are not just any ducks.

Geese 189

Geese Ducks Botswana South Africa 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2013

You may not realize it when you look at those bizarre looking waders with the massive bills and the vacant expression, but you’re looking at a group of birds that has inspired humankind for literal centuries. The group has a worldwide distribution; 28 species living and two additional extinct.

Birds 229

Birds North America Charlotte New Jersey 229

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

From a birder’s perspective however, this is both a shame and a blessing, as I will show below based on my observations of the species on the island of Java in November. The prinias are a group of around 25 Old World warbler species found in Africa and Asia. Many birders might regret this one day.

Burma 163

Burma Laos Birds Indonesia 163

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Elephant The big – two species of elephant are now recognized as occuring in Africa, the smaller and more secretive Forest Elephant and the larger, more familiar African or Bush Elephant. The little – the two species of black Buffalo Weavers obtain their appellation from their dark coloration that resembles their fearsome namesake.

Buffalo 220

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 220

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2015

It can’t have escaped your notice lately that the blog has been overrun with articles about North America’s pseudo-warblers (or wood warblers, as some people, apparently unaware the name is taken by a proper European species, call them), and, even worse, no small amount of poetry. And they are always a pleasure to see.

Africa 175

Africa Feral Ethiopia Tanzania 175

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

Or else I’d be tempted to mention that the cold rainy weather has given way to a massive heat wave and drought, or that the summer doldrums this year are more boring than ever, or that it is so unfair that Corey is more than 100 species ahead of me in his year list, or that I really would enjoy some nice birds for a change!

Germany 181

Germany Russia Iceland India 181

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? Kinabalu (at 13,455 feet the highest peak in southeast Asia), and human development that has resulted in freshwater rice fields, secondary forest, and oil palm plantations, this means that Borneo offers an incredibly high degree of biodiversity. Now, I’m not so sure.

Brunei 182

Brunei Birds Asia China 182

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2015

Since this is the season of love and harmony and all things nice, I sincerely and originally had planned to write an equally nice, loving and harmonic post on a beautiful group of birds that’s mostly found in SE Asia, the broadbills. Even the group’s namesake feature, the broad bill, is ill-chosen. Gone, bird magic.

Groups 110

Groups Asia Species Birds 110

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2017

An eclectic mix of endemics, specialties and oddly displaced species, it is one of the most memorable places I have ever birded… and I never visited it as a trip. As you begin to emerge from the trees impossibly bold Rouget’s Rails can be seen stalking around, and groups of Chestnut-naped Francolins are common too.

Ethiopia 100

Ethiopia Mammals South America Rats 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

As the story goes, way back in the late 19th Century and organization called the American Acclimitazation Society was working hard to introduce every one of the 600 species of birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays to North America. The AAS released some hundred European Starlings into Central Park in 1890 and 1891.

India 160

India Stray Dog United States Stray 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2015

One – the Takahe is far too cool a species to lose. Two – there is so much distinctness amongst the different forms of the Purple Swamphen that lumping means we may as well lump all the world’s reed warblers into one huge species and be done with it. This is ridiculous for two reasons.

Spain 157

Spain Hunters Africa Hunting 157

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. We’ll take these two similar, yet very different groups of birds separately.

California Condor 196

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2017

Species searches on eBird reveal that both species might be found in Tokyo, though White’s is much more common, with a few contemporary sightings. White’s Thrush contains two subspecies, aurea and toratugumi; and Scaly Thrush includes the subspecies dauma, major, and horsfieldi, each of which also is recogized as a monotypic group.

Sri Lanka 100

Sri Lanka Japan India 2005 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2013

If you are a migratory bird in Europe and western Asia, this is your sweet spot. Fearing that a natural disaster, introduced species, or disease could wipe this fragile population out, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the American Bird Conservancy, and other groups teamed up to translocate 50 of the birds to another island, Laysan.

Cambodia 146

Cambodia Slaughter Slaughtered Cyprus 146

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

The fins are then utilized in a wide variety of ways, especially in areas of Asia. For example, shark fin soup is a delicacy in most of Asia, especially China. While there are laws in place protecting endangered species of shark from shark finning, international waters are rarely regulated when it comes to the practice.

Sharks 100

Sharks Asia Endangered Species Hunters 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2014

The original story is that emus and ostriches and moas and such evolved as a separate group of birds from all the other birds, from the basal birdish thing that gave rise to all the living birds, and became a large land bird. This was on Gondwana.

Madagascar 216

Madagascar Ostriches Elephants New Zealand 216

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

.” The Wels Catfish, Silurus glanis , is the second largest fish in its range, which covers much of Europe and parts of West Asia. It has also found its way to Japan where it is considered to be an invasive species. Or, it could just be some weird thing one group of catfish do.

Fish 215

Fish Birds Whales Whaling 215

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2013

Africa’s Rosy Bee-eater is vivid enough to burn your retina while the Rosy Pipit of Asia flaunts but a flush of pink. Only two bird species have been so honored and both can be spotted on the east coast of North America, though usually not in the same spot. The Asian Rosy Finch is found, well, elsewhere.

Mauritius 180

Mauritius Lovebirds United States North America 180

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

I never cared much for insects and my interest in plants never got beyond the veggy section of my supermarked – in spite of buying field guides and giving both groups a good try. This is very bad news for a group that is largely nocturnal and has adapted to a secretive lifestyle, and is thus best detected by its tracks and signs.

Europe 166

Europe Mammals Animal Birds 166

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2011

And while they are easily identified to genus level, species identification - where necessary - is all I have mentioned in the intro to this post above, and then some. “Outside North America&# and “where necessary&# ? have asked themselves for ages: Is the Brown Creeper more than one species ? I’ll explain.

North America 145

North America Europe America Asia 145