10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY. Below are our Best Birds of the Year.

2014 183

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 183

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

Highlights here (while drinking the thrillingly strong coffee) include Channel-billed Toucan , Crested Oropendola , Turquoise Tanager , Bat Falcon , Barred Antshrike , Blue Dacnis , Green Honeycreeper , Gray-headed Dove , Yellow Oriole , and a suite of hot hummingbirds that deserve their own report.

Trinidad 242

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 242

Animal Person

APRIL 24, 2009

mikey, my stance can be seen in the posts about Project Treadstone (and if you type Project Treadstone into the Google Search box just below my half-blind, diabetic greyhound, Violet Rays, on the right, you'll get a dozen more posts). How contradictory is that? So mikey, I agree with you in theory. Hence, it's a Gray Matter.)

Project Treadstone 100

Project Treadstone Feral Cats Spay Spaying 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2021

And birders spend a lot of their time watching the tree-crowns and, in the right place, spotting many other tree-dwellers. Strictly speaking, Mammals of Madagascar is not a field guide, because some larger groups (rodents, bats) cannot be identified down to a species level following the concise descriptions and a single illustration.

Madagascar 233

Madagascar Mammals Lemurs Seychelles 233

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Here are some of the best experiences of my excellent trip. A Cactus Wren nest is right at the entrance, and I saw and heard the wrens everywhere, as well as Anna’s Hummingbirds, Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, Verdin (most young, without their yellow heads yet), White-winged and Inca Doves. At least for birders. Audubon trip ended.

Arizona 102

Arizona Lovebirds Phoenix New Jersey 102

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

We also got great views of a very small mammal, Wahlberg’s Epauletted Fruit Bat, at Satara. And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa. That was easily fixed by adding a post-Safari trip to Eastern South Africa, led by dashing Rockjumper guide Clayton Burne, to my itinerary. And, there were birds.

South Africa 251

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 251

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Recent publicity about these remarkable tribes has resulted in tourists wanting to experience this wild land and its attractions for themselves. This is largely due to the remoteness and prior near inaccessibility of the area, forming a natural barrier to modernization and the detribalization of the Omo Valley.

Ethiopia 235

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Our methods have changed over time — Linneaus, for example, chose not to classify bats among birds — but now, detailed molecular analyses can confound even the most comprehensive and rigorous morphology-based hypotheses, not to mention “obvious&# groupings. Wicked, right? Hat-tip to Stella.

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

If you can parse the subtle differences in his photo below, you’ll see the bird on the left is a dark morph Oriental Honey Buzzard, but the bird on the right is a pale morph Changeable Hawk-Eagle. All in all, a memorable Malaysian experience. Bats under a rocky overhang.

Malaysia 170

Malaysia Singapore Monkeys Birds 170