article thumbnail

My Do-over

10,000 Birds

But, as I detailed last week , that drive to the Pacific Coast was a rather spectacular failure, because of a highly unseasonal rain, and my failure to recharge my camera battery. But this time, it would be in the afternoon, with strong winds and brilliant sunshine… and a full camera battery. And where was the nearest beach?

article thumbnail

The Beach is Back

10,000 Birds

That green grass is not a meadow; it is growing in water deep enough for swimming ducks. The dot in the center of the second photo is a lone Mexican Duck flying just over the water. Most of these are migratory species, for which Lake Cuitzeo is a vital wintering ground. Still life with Avocet and Shoveler.

Ducks 218
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trending Sources

article thumbnail

Swarovski Skills Camp, or men and their toys

10,000 Birds

It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 298
article thumbnail

A Gentlemen’s Big Day’s Birding

10,000 Birds

In my younger days I was very keen on what is generally known as Big Day Birding, or trying to see as many species of birds as possible in one day. Called The Big Bird Race , it tells the story of how my team, representing Country Life magazine , recorded 155 species in 24 hours in East Anglia (Suffolk and Norfolk).

Birds 130
article thumbnail

Queens County Bird Club Seventh Annual Big Sit

10,000 Birds

It is a birding challenge where a team of birders stays in one spot for the entire day to see how many species they can record for their location. As always, we were high above the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, perched precariously on the platform atop Battery Harris, the old artillery battery built to defend New York Harbor in World War II.

Battery 173
article thumbnail

Death of the Downy Woodpecker, or, Dunlin at 10,000 Feet: The Eighth Annual Queens County Bird Club Big Sit

10,000 Birds

As always, we held our sit high atop Battery Harris at Fort Tilden on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. A pair of flyover American Black Ducks , a flock of Green-winged Teal winging west way out over the ocean, and surprisingly, all three of our expected falcon species were all seen relatively early in the morning.

article thumbnail

A Brown Booby in Queens

10,000 Birds

And seeing as there were good northwest winds overnight, weather radar had shown lots of birds taking off, and the winds were expected to continue from the north through the morning, I decided that I would make my way to Fort Tilden at first light and install myself on the Battery Harris Platform. It wasn’t a duck.