10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

I was wishing I had a birding buddy with me as a mixed flock overwhelmed my abilities. Suddenly, a large bird, which seemed to have a bright yellow breast and black head, flew overhead to a point behind multiple branches. And then the bird was gone. But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species.

Mexico 210

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 210

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

Memorable encounters with Mammals: Part I Most birdwatchers enjoy seeing mammals, but the trouble with mammals is that they tend to be much more challenging to see than birds. I remember the guide on my first Kenyan birding safari remarking that “birding groups always see far more mammals than those who come just to see animals.

Fur 218

Fur Otters Bulgaria Estonia 218

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In September, I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to an increasingly popular destination for birding: Honduras. Chris Lotz, the owner of the international bird tour company Birding Ecotours , invited me to join him on a familiarization trip that included several highland sites as well as Pico Bonito Lodge.

Honduras 240

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 240

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2020

And this doesn’t mean you are obsessed or a little bit too much into birds because keeping track of a year list actually comes with some side benefits. Yeah, many of us living the birding life do so anyways because we can’t help it. I strongly suggest the experience of sharing Turquoise-browed Motmots. Go birding!

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica 2020 Morals Farming 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

Going birding is even more of a no-brainer now than before. Many moons ago, when I used to work in the (supposedly) booming petrochemical industry in Trinidad, most of my time was actually spent birding. I racked up a staggering number of life birds in the surprisingly rich surroundings during my four-odd years slaving for The Man.

Trinidad 249

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 249

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

2014 has been a good year for us at 10,000 Birds. We’ve traveled to lots of places, seen lots of great birds, and met lots of great birders. So, as we’ve done for the last several years we thought we would share our Best Birds of the Year with you. Below are our Best Birds of the Year. What was yours?

2014 211

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 211

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Visiting this area for the first time after seeing it for month was a crazy experience. And besides, it’s nice to see something that isn’t the same 12 (now 13) species of seabird (plus Molly Meep Meep, a Black Brant ) There may not be as many as in October, but they are there, and they can be cool. A Hoary Bat.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

And Flamingos and Hornbills and a Secretarybird and birds with names like Hamerkop and Thick-knee and Eremomela (which I know is a scientific term, but which, when pronounced correctly, reminds me of a Yiddish term of endearment my grandmother used). And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa.

South Africa 255

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 255

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa). Yellow-billed Stork.

Ethiopia 253

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 253

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2014

But spotlighting brings you the things you don’t see so much of when birding. Sometimes in a forest you’d be forgiven for thinking there was nothing but birds, monkeys and squirrels (and mosquitos, obviously), and then at night you start seeing civets, wallabies, and tarantulas. So many insects. And spiders, and scorpions.

Badgers 154

Badgers Wildlife Reptiles Monkeys 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2015

Birds of California , the new volume in the ABA series, arrived the day I returned. Every bird book seems to be about the west coast this month!) With the boat speed what it was, and being the only birder on board, to stop watching meant I might miss an interesting bird. That’s 22 Marine Mammal species and 43 Seabirds.

Dolphins 162

Dolphins Whales Whaling Porpoises 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

A cherished handful of Central and South American locations enjoy international renown as absolutely mandatory destinations for adventurous bird watchers and nature lovers. T&T is a country any birding beach-lover can gladly visit without feeling deprived or compromised. And English is the national language!

Trinidad 250

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 250

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Which, naturally, got me to thinking about the newly erected order Suliformes, a development I mentioned in my December column, 2010′s Top 10 Developments in Bird Taxonomy and Systematics , but which I thought deserved further examination, for it’s one of those stories that defines the era in which we are living and birding.

2011 160

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2021

When you bird afar and wander wide, you carry a field guide to the birds of the region you are exploring, a pair of binoculars, likely a camera, perhaps a spotting scope and a tripod too, plus clothing, medicines, toiletries, electronics, money and documents… Did you notice the missing item? Yet, those bird guides are hefty.

Madagascar 262

Madagascar Mammals Lemurs Seychelles 262

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

My first birding trip ever was to Arizona. I saw a lot of birds, learned a lot about birding (including the fact that I had lousy binoculars), and gained good birder friends. I had a list of birds I had missed and a list of birds I needed to see again—second lifers I call them. At least for birders.

Arizona 106

Arizona Lovebirds Phoenix New Jersey 106

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

I was lucky to visit India several times, but as a keen birder I carried along only a bird book, and even upgraded it to a new edition between the trips. 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 191

Asia Mammals Sri Lanka Bhutan 191

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2022

Over the past couple of weeks I have spent some time exploring this section of my home island and have come to realize its tremendous potential in terms of birding. The confluence of these two elements gives rise to a unique experience with a distinctive aesthetic. The archetypical rainforest bird – Channel-billed Toucan.

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Woodpeckers Bats Venezuela 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

JOHOR, MALAYSIA, DECEMBER 2012 – If you’re traveling to Singapore for birding, you might want to think outside the box or, in this case, the island. Some of the best birding in the area is just 90 minutes or so north in peninsular Malaysia, home of the infamous Panti Forest. Wanna try to ID this bird?

Malaysia 193

Malaysia Singapore Monkeys Birds 193

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. After publishing my stories I got emails from people all over the world who had seen similar behavior in various birds and mammals. Waterfall Dances: Do animals have spiritual experiences? by Marc Bekoff. Empathy Among Elephants.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

I like pelagic birding. Being on a boat surrounded by the endless blue of the ocean is a wonderful experience, especially when the waves aren’t too high, the sun isn’t too bright, and the birds are showing. The other pelagic bird that we saw in numbers on the chum slick we created was Wilson’s Storm-Petrel.

Whales 175

Whales Whaling New York Dolphins 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2014

It prompted a lot of questions, many of which I had previously answered by simple supposition and presumption, but which now became highlighted as inadequate in the light of this experience. My first internet search was an attempt to sex the bird. Birds Bird Behavior Red-breasted Sapsucker Townsend''s Warbler'

San Francisco 185

San Francisco Maryland Jordan Lifestyle 185

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

I have been relatively negligent about having blogged about the birding I did while I was there so I thought I would try to rectify my lackadaisical attitude with a quick post about a quick twitch for a rather stunning bird. In fact, as of this post the bird is still present.) Painted Redstart at Irvine Lake.

San Marino 113

San Marino California Laws Bats 113