10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2023

One step away from swifts are hummingbirds, and at least 13 species of these winged jewels flutter about from sunrise to sunset. White-necked Jacobin A sizeable vervain/verbena attracts several species to the main entrance, including Blue-chinned Sapphire , Ruby-topaz Hummingbird , and Tufted Coquette. Interesting.

Trinidad 229

Trinidad Barn Owls Owls Reptiles 229

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

Some call them trash, tours might not visit, but they can host more than the expected and common species. Some such vegetated spots can also attract oddball birds, species that wander to find a home in urban circumstances. Three species of seedeaters sing from the tall grass, one of them being the Yellow-bellied Seedeater.

Costa Rica 253

Costa Rica Sparrows Birds Rodents 253

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2020

With 18 species of native Psittacids to choose from, birding in Costa Rica is always a thrill, especially for someone who grew up in parrotless Niagara Falls, New York! At least one of these species has adapted to nesting on buildings and a few others can nest in large parks. The other regular parrot around here is this species.

Parrots 268

Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 268

Critter News

MARCH 28, 2010

I like this opinion piece from the Christian Science Monitor which calls for an "Endangered Species Hour." The Christian Science Monitor rightly points out that citizens and consumers need to get involved in endangered species protection, because at the CITES level, it's all about money and international politics.

Endangered Species 100

Endangered Species Science Species Japan 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2014

There were opportunities to go to far flung places like the islands of the Pacific or the coast of Canada or the Yorkshire Dales… Anyway, as I was obsessed by Africa at the time, I leapt at the opportunity to go to Namibia to collect samples of bat DNA for a biogeography project. I think we caught perhaps three bats.

Bats 154

Bats Birds Vanuatu Namibia 154

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

It’s also the high season for birding and with good reason; there are hundreds of birds waiting to be seen, some of them migrants from the north but the majority resident tropical species that are easy on the eyes. Sometimes, this one forages for insects and bats near street lights adjacent to forest. Resplendent Quetzal.

Costa Rica 235

Costa Rica Birds Panama Woodpeckers 235

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2018

Each of the six species in Costa Rica sports beautiful plumage with green and blue hues highlighted with rufous tones, and several also have long, racket-tipped tails. It was tough to pick out just one tanager species, many are downright stunning. Bat Falcon. Dressed to kill, the deadly Bat Falcon eats more than bats.

Costa Rica 160

Costa Rica Bats Birds Falcons 160

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species. As it turned out, these were not the only bad photos to help me flesh out my 2022 year list that day (species 201-211, on February 12th). But previous experience with Ejido Triquillo taught me that another species might turn up during the spring.

Mexico 181

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 181

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. In 2023 I attempted to keep a year list of mammal encounters: the list barely exceeded 20 species, while it became complicated by seeing bats and voles that I was unable to name specifically.

Fur 184

Fur Bulgaria Otters Estonia 184

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

With this weekend consumed by Halloween excitement, bats were more easily encountered than birds. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a relatively common species though it was uncommonly cooperative. How did you fare?

2014 169

2014 Bats New York Birds 169

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2024

He has written and co-written over 400 scientific papers on brood parasitism, Common Cuckoos, egg rejection and other nesting behaviors, and fairy wren learning in addition to T he Book of Eggs: A Life-Size Guide to the Eggs of Six Hundred of the World’s Bird Species (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2014).

Chicago 178

Chicago Barn Owls Penguins New Zealand 178

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

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. And there aren’t just cool birds rocking up, migratory bats do too. A Hoary Bat. A wave goodbye.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2019

Those were some interesting additions to a day of birding that also gave us more expected ones like Bat Falcon, Black-collared Hawk, Bare-crowned Antbird , and 125 other species. Despite rain during part of the day, the other teams also did very well and we ended up with a final overall tally of more than 270 species.

Costa Rica 244

Costa Rica Birds Owls Bats 244

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

But the jawbone…that was from a bat! Oehlenschlager apologized that he couldn’t say the exact species of bat. It was either a big brown bat or a hoary bat. Oehlenschlager said that because two teeth were missing, he couldn’t give a positive id on the bat.

Bats 204

Bats Dissection Owls Minnesota 204

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Similarly, descriptions of species repeated across volumes do not lose their accuracy with each publication. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 213

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 213

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2015

It is swimming with its body half-submerged (typical for the species and yet, so strange for songbirds) and often diving. This species is reasonably easy to find if you are in the right kind of habitat – but I am rarely in that type of habitat. Bats flying out of the Lazareva Cave, (c) Jovica Sjenicic.

Bats 214

Bats Woodpeckers Squirrels Game 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

If it was any indication of where my passion lay, instead of racing home like the proverbial bat out of hell, I stayed put to monitor this supposed nest. Although relatively common here they’re notoriously difficult to see well – a phenomenon clearly not unique to this species ! Bay-headed Tanagers. Turquoise Tanager.

Trinidad 217

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 217

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2019

As with any home inhabited by birders, we have kept track of all species heard or seen, night and day. The farm would have even more birds if not for the bio-diminishing blend of poison and monoculture but the adjacent hedgerow does support quite a few species especially when the figs and other trees are in flower or draped with fruit.

Costa Rica 157

Costa Rica Barn Owls Birds Parrots 157

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2019

More than 5,000 bird species in the world make some kind of seasonal movement. As Kaufman shows, however, to birds and bats, they can be death machines. On our North American continent, tens of millions of birds are flying northward on peak spring nights. Example A, perfectly up to date, is the wind turbine.

Ohio 197

Ohio Bats Legislature Ducks 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

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). Here’s a sample of Plate 30, Bat Falcon and Orange-Breasted Falcon (pp.

Mexico 162

Mexico America North America Falcons 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2021

Ranging in color from off-white to dingy black, with pastel to gelatinous shades of yellow, orange, purple, and brown in-between, found in moist crevasses, decaying trees, rain-soaked pastures, mushrooms lack the beauty of butterflies and wildflowers cannot equal the action of bats, or flying fish, and certainly lack the spiritual zest of birds.

North America 255

North America America Species 2018 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. I had point blank life views of this tricky species from within a few feet. Lesser Roadrunner with a cicada.

Mexico 191

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 191

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Of course, travelling from Africa back to New Zealand is a big deal and I’m still somewhat fried (especially as real life hit with with a bat when I got back). One species I had never really appreciated until this trip is the Malachite Sunbird.

South Africa 157

South Africa Africa New Zealand Bats 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

It’s not just eagles, either; other bird and bat species also fall victim to the turbines.) As mentioned earlier in these pages , wind farms and eagles don’t always go well together—the birds, which often scan the ground for prey instead of looking straight ahead while they’re flying, thus don’t see wind turbines until it’s too late.

Eagles 165

Eagles Bald Eagle Farming Obama 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

The graveyard shift is on duty: several bats are chasing insects through the evening coolness. There are more than 1100 plant species, the most valuable being the 76 endemics. Other species include Roe Deer (also spotted), Wildcat , European Pine Marten and Otter. The Song Thrush becomes silent. The shades are impenetrable now.

Serbia 264

Serbia Bears Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2017

Birds with white on them are much more likely to take the form of goodies like the Snowy Cotinga , or two species of tityras. The Caribbean slope of Costa Rica also differs from the islands in having a lot more bird species. The Bat Falcon that joined us for breakfast. . I recommend staying there but what about the birds?

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica San Jose Bats Birds 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2018

At last count, there are 25 species of birds named for U.S. But only two states have more than one bird named for them: Hawaii and California, with nine and seven extant and eponymous species, respectively. states, with varying degrees of geographical relevance (sorry, Tennessee Warbler ). Good birding and happy drinking!

2015 113

2015 San Diego Family California Condor 113

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2016

Since all sorts of rare species are possible at this remote lowland rainforest site, I was looking forward to this trip for a while. Since that block still hosts Harpy Eagle and every other possible species, it’s not out of the question for those rare birds to also show at Laguna and vicinity.

Costa Rica 127

Costa Rica Nicaragua Eagles Parrots 127

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2018

The crunch is on, and with less than two weeks left in the year, we are trying to squeeze out as many more species as possible. Last week, we quite impulsively jumped in a rental car and drove 2600 miles round trip to south Texas to pick up 34 new species. L ittle Big Year species – 1280. Bahama species – 38.

Bahamas 113

Bahamas Tucson El Paso Texas 113

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

The majority are clearly Mallards , followed by Garganeys , with one and possibly more Green-winged Teals , also Ferruginous Ducks … Surprises among them are one Common Shelduck , a species that most likely breeds some 15 mi from here (and my first shelduck of the year) and an even greater surprise: two Eurasian Wigeons.

Serbia 166

Serbia Protection Eagles Ducks 166

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2015

You may not have heard about the Florida Bonneted Bat (Eumops floridanus) , and that is fine, not many know this bat even existed. This bat is rare and range-restricted in South Florida, which are some of the reasons it was recently listed as an endangered under the Endangered Species Act. ounces, a body length of 6.5

Bats 166

Bats Florida Endangered Species Cuba 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2014

The animals aren’t quite so closely packed as Hollywood can manage, and they tend towards slightly smaller species, in general, but still, its impressive. At nighttime this allowed some impromptu spotlighting, and we found many spiders, insects, bats as well as a Lesser Mousedeer and a sleeping Malaysian Flycatcher.

Rhinoceros 169

Rhinoceros Apes Elephants Monkeys 169

Critter News

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

Bats are being targeted. A bird species is near extinction. The Brits are known for their animal rights activism, but there's been a rise in wildlife crime against all animals. Apparently they are seen as nuisances. Badgers are being caught for dog-baiting.

Wildlife 100

Wildlife Badgers Animal Cruelty Cruelty 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2012

Other species I was looking forward to as possibilities included Anhingas , Magnificent Frigatebirds , and seeing as the sun was supposed to shine, some raptors soaring. Creatures like another species of monkey, White-headed Capuchin , Cebus capucinus , which are also known as White-faced Capuchins.

Honduras 158

Honduras Wildlife Monkeys Transported 158

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2016

South Island specifically, and in fact it was the marked difference between the young birds of this species and the North Island Saddlback that alerted scientists to the fact that they were two separate species. Jackbirds are young South Island Saddlebacks.

New Zealand 104

New Zealand Parrots Rats Bats 104

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2016

Rehabbers are very responsive, although constantly living under the gun makes us sometimes vent about species that aren’t necessarily the ones in question. Bats just love to fly into human hair!” Three: Why would anyone , no matter what their species, want to become tangled in human hair? Porcupines throw their quills!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 178

Wildlife Rehabilitation Porcupines Raccoons Birds 178

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2019

In an unhurried half-day of birding, we racked up over 90 species, including killers like Denham’s Bustard , Northern Carmine-throated Bee-eater , and Shelley’s Rufous Sparrow. Plus, the food, service, and accommodations meet the highest standards. How is birding in Murchison Falls, you ask? Mind boggling, I answer!

Uganda 186

Uganda Senegal Africa Game 186