10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

And the results are indicative, representative and nothing short of surprising: Brunei, The Gambia, Belize, Jamaica, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea and Panama top the list. It may be slightly impractical to focus on big countries such as Brazil or Indonesia. Mongabay.com has done exactly that.

Equatorial Guinea 188

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 188

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2017

I’ve been back from Belize for several days now and have fully recovered from the chiggers, the sunburn, the sand flies, the rum, and the exhaustion of international travel. (I I know, I know, poor me, right?)

Belize 101

Belize Woodpeckers Species Family 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2018

But my experiences in Belize and Honduras give me a good basis in the birds of the region and I have plenty of time to study and learn what to expect with the endemics. Then you learn if you got the answer right or wrong and, this is important, you rate the photo or sound clip before you get the next quiz.

Mexico 104

Mexico Belize Honduras Science 104

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2016

But then we remember that special birding moment when we saw a wood-warbler freezing it out with the rest of us (and thus sacrificing itself for the count) when it should be chasing bugs in Belize. There are hundreds of avian possibilities and you never know if some super rare lifer is waiting right around the next bend in the trail.

Costa Rica 235

Costa Rica 2016 Eagles Belize 235

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2017

Grandmas and little kids, bored office workers, students and teachers – when things go right your audience is huge and passionate. Once you get back to Belize, you can be yourselves. They leave comments on your videos and give you cute names like Ozzie the Osprey and Wisdom the Albatross. It’s just for the summer.

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle Belize Iowa Eggs 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

Wheeler, Raptors of Mexico and Central America has a two-part structure: (i) Plates—artwork by Schmitt on the right, detailed plumage descriptions on the left; (ii) Species Accounts—two to six page descriptions of each species with photographs and range maps. And vice versa. Again, this is a common practice.

Mexico 155

Mexico America North America Falcons 155

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2017

First Corey gets his life Jabiru in Belize, then I see my lifer in the Pantanal. I was practically right next to the two in this photo (and, note the Rufescent Tiger-heron photobomb). And, of course, Pat sees Jabiru every year in Costa Rica.

Brazil 142

Brazil Birds Los Angeles Tigers 142

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rican, and Panama , just published in October, is a field guide that was ten years in the making. Text is on the left, plates are on the right. The images on the right, from the Peru field guide, are more intense in color.

America 211

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 211

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

You could say that the right-brain, the part of the brain that is intuitive and creative, goes first, and the left-brain, where the logic resides, comes in second to refine and substantiate the initial impression. The process doesn’t totally ignore plumage. Overall, the graphic design of Gulls Simplified is exceptional.

North America 193

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 193

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2012

The IOC has been on a mission to remove all grammatically incorrect hyphens from common names , but eBird required me to manually return every one to its rightful place. Then again, at 1 in the morning, who cares where Xunantunich in Belize is located. Worst of all were all the hyphen issues.

Arizona 173

Arizona Belize Adoptable ALA 173

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2018

And the results are indicative, representative and nothing short of surprising: Brunei, The Gambia, Belize, Jamaica, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Panama and Haiti top the list. No, I am not talking of Brazil or Columbia, they are not just in the tropics but more importantly, they are officially huge.

Rwanda 205

Rwanda Equatorial Guinea El Salvador Costa Rica 205

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2023

FIELD GUIDES : We were blessed with a Central American double-header this spring with the publication of Birds of Belize and Birds of Costa Rica , both by Steve N.G. There are plenty more book reviews, as well, on the 10000 Birds blogsite.) Howell and Dale Dyer.

North America 239

North America Birds Europe America 239