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Grassy Green Space in the Central Valley- Trash Habitat or Prime Real Estate for Oddball Birds?

10,000 Birds

Keep birding and you might see a White-tailed Kite hovering as it hunts rodents and one of the few Bat Falcons in the Valley might dash into view. Recently, I was surprised to have a family of Stripe-headed Sparrows , birds typically associated with dry habitats of the North Pacific slope.

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Birds of Belize & Birds of Costa Rica: A Field Guide Review Doubleheader

10,000 Birds

Checklist for Belize lists 622 species in 76 families, of which 104 are rare or accidental and four introduced. Checklist lists 955 species in 86 families, with 152 rare/accidental species, three extirpated species, five introduced species, and nine endemics). For context, the IOC version 13.1

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Birding Adventure in Mexico Part II: Durango Highway

10,000 Birds

This is where Gila Woodpecker and Yellow-breasted Chat meet Squirrel Cuckoo , Bat Falcon , and Black-throated Magpie-Jay. In the mean time, a family group of Black-throated Magpie-Jays were frolicking in the breeze high over the dry valley, showing off their exorbitantly long tail streamers.

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Raptors of Mexico and Central America: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The guide presents 69 species and 1 subspecies, from “NEW WORLD VULTURES: Cathartiformes” to “OSPREY: Pandioninae” to “FAMILY: Accipitridae” (Kites, Hawks, Eagles, Hawk-Eagles), to “FALONIDS: Falconidae” (Falcons, Forest-Falcons, Caracaras, Kestrels, Merlin).

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Caribbean Lowland Birding at Ara Ambigua Lodge, Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In Costa Rica, even the super shy Slaty-backed Forest-Falcon is seen more often than the island pigeon with the snow-white cap. Owned and run by a local family, they treated us very well, even making sure that we had coffee by 4:30 in the morning. The Bat Falcon that joined us for breakfast. .

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What is a Jackbird?

10,000 Birds

One website I found suggested a few others that may be true but I hadn’t encountered before, are young cranes actually called colts, or falcons eyas? The saddlebacks are both members of the of the New Zealand wattlebird family, which includes the two kokako (one extinct and one… probably extinct) and the sadly lost Huia.

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Birding in Honduras, Part I: Highlands

10,000 Birds

Many Neotropical families and genera have some of their northernmost members here, such as the spinetails ( Rufous-breasted Spinetail ), Tangara tanagers ( Azure-rumped Tanager ), and guans ( Horned Guan ). This is a fascinating area of transition. In short, the mountain birding in Honduras promised a slew of cool new birds.

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