10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

It has been more than 5 years since I last went to Australia, and I was even less of a qualified bird photographer then than I am now. So, the basic idea is to show 15 species of Australian birds in each post and give you the usual trivia about them. And that seems to be the only vaguely satisfying thing left to do at the moment.

Australia 181

Australia Birds Koalas Parrots 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2021

In another year when time stands still when you are not allowed to move freely around Australia or overseas some things happen like clockwork. The eggs hatched out around 20th June after 28 days of incubation and the Pied Oystercatcher family were soon on the move. Adult Pied Oystercatcher and two chicks’ footprints in the sand.

Breeding 244

Breeding Eggs Feral Cats Feral 244

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

Not that I don’t enjoy seeing new species myself, it’s just that they are an easy target and I am nothing if not lazy and mean spirited. But there is one kind of tick that I genuinely do enjoy, and as I do more and more birding it becomes harder and harder to get; new families.

Family 162

Family Wombats Uganda Fiji 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2020

There is a variation in the plumage of Australian Magpies across Australia and as such they looked different in Victoria. Whenever I walked from Foster to Fish Creek or Foster to Toora I encountered several family groups of Australian Magpies. Late last year I mentioned the presence of Australian Magpies around Broome.

Australia 159

Australia Fish Groups Family 159

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2022

According to Wikipedia, the national bird of Australia is the Emu – which I have not seen yet. On the other hand, some websites state that the Laughing Kookaburra is Australia’s national symbol. I was surprised that this species is named for its vocalization – which sounds like laughter.

Australia 147

Australia Birds Parrots Ostriches 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2021

It is now summer here in Australia and there is hope of rain in the next few weeks here in Broome. The most vocal species is the Brown Honeyeater. Earlier this year we encountered a Pheasant Coucal family close to Broome. It has been more than eight months now since we had rain and the land is desperate for rainfall.

Australia 188

Australia Raised Family Birds 188

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2022

Examples are the fairywren species and the Varied Sittella. Last year when we camped at Langi Crossing the family of Varied Sittellas that are usually in the area had birds amongst them that were clearly juvenile. I always seem to hear some of the smaller shriller sounding birds, which Grant does not.

Suffering 179

Suffering Australia Fish Humane 179

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2023

We had observed a few families of Black-winged Stilt and the young are small as below. Black-winged Stilt and young I had a quick look on my camera after taking the header photo and realised it was not a chick in the reeds, but another bird species entirely.

Geese 212

Geese Family Species Birds 212

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2023

Here goes: Paradise Flycatchers are a genus in the broader (and rather large) family of Monarchidae. There are 17 different species of them, a few of them endangered, particularly some island endemics. Switching to the Amur Paradise Flycatcher , which has the Latin species name of incei. not their own).

Japan 130

Japan China Guinea Germany 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2017

Apostlebirds- Struthidea cinerea have an isolated population in the Northern Territory which is quite separate from the population that runs down the east coast of Australia and can readily be seen in the town of Katherine and further afield. Grey Jumper, Happy Family, Lousy Jack and Twelve Apostles are names that can refer to them.

Australia 102

Australia Groups Family Species 102

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

They are usually in a group and our garden regularly has a family group of eight visit it. They have listed under “Other names” in one of our field guides “Happy Family & Yahoo”! In the southern areas of Australia you may also encounter White-browed Babblers , which are smaller and duller.

Australia 157

Australia Groups Family Experience 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Meanwhile across the ditch , my useful column last week explaining how awful oxygen thief Tony Abbott could distract Australia from his flailing incompetence has sadly for him arrived too late and he has been disposed in what Australians mysteriously refer to as a spill. It’s hard to escape the kookaburra when in Australia.

Australia 156

Australia New Zealand Guinea Hunters 156

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2012

There are few families of birds as bewitching as the birds-of-paradise. There are, however, two species that are more accesible than the rest of the family. It was one of these species, the Victoria’s Riflebird , that I was lucky enough to see this year in the Atherton Tablelands near Cairns. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VGongXYDGo

Indonesia 186

Indonesia Birds Australia Guinea 186

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2024

Called home to the Oregon Coast to operate the family motel, in her free time she leads Tufted Puffin walks and escapes to guide at birding festivals and explore the world as often as possible. Scissor-tailed Kites – while not threatened now – are a vulnerable species. Habitat degradation is a huge possible threat to the species.

Senegal 187

Senegal South Dakota Gambia Birds 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2016

In theory we are supposed to be experiencing tropical storms at this time of year, but like last year the rain just isn’t falling across this part of northern Australia. This species was never a regular bird species in Broome at all and was only occasionally observed. Pair of Varied Lorikeets in flowering Eucalypt.

Australia 102

Australia Zebras Family Species 102

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2013

The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae is Australia’s largest bird standing at up to 2 metres (6 foot 6 inches) tall. There had been good rains the previous year and as a result of that there were numerous family groups. Emu family on the other side of the fence. A fence of this height is not going to slow down Emu for long!

Australia 178

Australia Investigation Family Groups 178

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

As the tide drops the birds all move forward to bathe and feed and the Pied Oystercatcher family becomes more visible. Pied Oystercatcher family with two chicks. Thankfully the shorebirds soon returned to the same beach and the Pied Oystercatcher family were a lot less obvious. Pied Oystercatchers on the move.

Breeding 147

Breeding Family Hunting Eagles 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2021

Australian Hobby family at the nest. We have enjoyed watching the development of the Australian Hobby family over recent weeks. It was nice to have a bird species that we knew for certain that we could find on New Year’s Day and add to our 2021 year list! The two juvenile Australian Hobby are very close to fledging.

Breeding 148

Breeding Collecting Family Birds 148

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2018

After an incredibly wet start to 2018 as a result of several tropical cyclones and other rain events the land remains saturated around Broome and as a result of this there are several bird species breeding that we don’t even encounter in dry years. Juvenile Australian Painted Snipe.

Breeding 100

Breeding Family 2018 Australia 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2018

Even before we had reached the lake we had encountered forty bird species in forty minutes, so we knew we were going to have a good day! There was a family of Comb-crested Jacana with two very small chicks running on the vegetation in the lake and several Green Pygmy-geese families too.

Ducks 100

Ducks Australia Geese 2009 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2013

Around Broome we have several members of the Kingfisher family, with the most common being the Sacred Kingfisher and the Red-backed Kingfisher. On a recent visit to an inland area not far from the township of Broome we were lucky enough to not only observe this species, but also take some photographs from a close distance.

Reptiles 172

Reptiles Australia Hunting Family 172

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

True geese belong to the tribe or sub-family Anserini within the larger family Anatidae that encompasses ducks, geese and swans. The Cape Barren Geese of Australia are sometimes placed with the true geese and swans, sometimes with the shelducks and sometimes within a separate tribe called Cereopsinae.

Geese 178

Geese Ducks Botswana South Africa 178

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2014

Parrots captivate me more than any other bird family. For one, they are remarkably diverse with a little over 380 species spread over every continent except Europe (only introduced) and Antarctica. However, they do not occur evenly across their familial distribution. I am a self-proclaimed psittacophile. Most do not.

Parrots 167

Parrots Brazil Mauritius Dominica 167

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2013

We had last experienced this cheerful family of birds in Katherine in the Northern Territory over 13 years ago, so although the population is isolated there they had the same characteristics. They roam in family groups varying from eight birds upwards and have a certain confidence about themselves as they strut around the bush.

Investigation 165

Investigation Australia Family Collecting 165

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2013

Keep your eyes to the skies, but don’t forget to look out below… excellent advice when visiting Australia’s Blue Mountains ! He and his family will be in California, where he has his eye on a few West Coast species that have thus far eluded him. Corey will do the same, but from a different coast than usual.

2013 157

2013 Birds California Australia 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

Colorful bills and heads seem quite popular among Letaba’s bird species – see the African Jacana (blue and black) … … the Striated Heron (yellow and blue) … … and the Yellow-billed Stork (yellow and red). The Latin species name vermiculatus (worm-like) refers to the markings on the upperparts.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2019

Its holiness may not be in question, but from the label drawing, I’m not quite sure which species of the family Columbidae the Sainte-Colombe pigeon belongs to. The Château de Colombe estate was purchased in 2012 by Henry Lathwaite, scion of the famed English wine merchant family and a trained winemaker in his own right.

2017 114

2017 France Lifestyle Feral 114

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

There is a lot of extreme behavior here (and a lot of that behavior takes place in Australia), but this is not simply a collection of the world’s most fantastic bird tales. As Ackerman explains in her Introduction, studying extreme behavior brings new insight into what we think we know. It’s fascinating stuff.

Research 215

Research Birds Science Costa Rica 215

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2018

Today, I saw a handful of Mallards , two Common Mergansers, and a Wood Duck Family. For those of you following along on my “ Little Big Year” the numbers are as follows: Little Big Year species – 814. USA species – 111. Australia species – 242. Mexico species – 148.

New Zealand 111

New Zealand Seattle Qatar South Africa 111

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2014

When you monitor a species of birds over many years you learn a lot from your observations and you soon become aware of the fact that some birds are just better at parenting than others. Family of five Pied Oystercatchers- quite well disguised-also in the header photo! Family of five-adult Pied Oystercatchers on the right.

Eggs 165

Eggs Raised Breeding Family 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

There are certain families that I habitually fail to encounter when opportunities arise. I’ve had pretty lousy luck when it comes pittas and broadbills, and I also am really bad when it comes to the various night birds such as owls, nightjars and related species. It isn’t that I never see them, just that I often miss them.

Uganda 164

Uganda Family Australia Killing 164

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2022

The urge to breed is obviously strong enough for them to keep attempting it and thankfully due to the longevity of the species they are able to replace themselves during their lifetime. The majority of the Pied Oystercatchers that were marked in Broome many years ago are now still breeding at over twenty years of age.

Breeding 147

Breeding Eggs Protection Family 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2012

It concerns the nature of wildlife in Australia, and is perhaps the most remarked about aspect of Australia’s wildlife, at least the impression you’d get if you’ve ever watched ten minutes of Animal Planet. The family on a peaceful moment. The very dangerous nature of the wildlife. Danger, danger, danger!

Sharks 217

Sharks Birds Australia Boars 217

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2012

As a guide he was great, we never saw the fairy-wrens (we did hear them), but he found a bunch of species I had not yet seen on the trip, including the Superb Fruit-dove , a Cicadabird (actually a type of cuckoo-shrike) and my personal favourite, a Yellow Boatbill. I saw them in Kingfisher as well, but only got a photo here.

Guinea 169

Guinea Parrots Australia Family 169

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2020

The family of Pied Oystercatchers soon made their move to Gantheaume Point. Typically the whole Pied Oystercatcher family spend a lot of time either feeding or roosting. Pied Oystercatchers are not a species that we observe flying very often at all. Although it is stood alone in the header photo it has its parents very close by.

Eggs 163

Eggs Breeding Family Protection 163

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2017

Our recent bush-walking has involved some long muddy walks and are always productive as far as birds and wildflowers go and we have found several species nests. Our most recent encounter of an Australian Painted Snipe family was four birds that we accidentally flushed from under the shade of a bush near an ephemeral lake.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Raised 2017 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2013

We have finally returned home to Broome after spending most of the year either birding and camping in Queensland or birding around Grant’s work commitments in and around Karratha in the Pilbara district of Western Australia. We are now seeing species we have seen in other locations in our own patch. Birding Australia Broome'

Birds 154

Birds Ducks Australia Species 154