10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Birds of Belize by Steve N. Howell and Dale Dyer and Birds of Costa Rica by Dale Dyer and Steve N. Dale Dyer put in years working on his paintings for Birds of Central America , both in the field and in the museum. Howell utilizes the IOC World Bird List (v.11.2, Why are these issues? © 2023 by Steve N.

Costa Rica 212

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 212

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2020

And yet, I miss my family and friends, and grieve for those around the world who are not as lucky as I have been. I even enjoyed following the Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles as they fed along the shallow edge of the water body. I don’t mind the bird poop they leave behind! Eastern Kingbird.

Birds 235

Birds Blackbirds Shelters Wildlife 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2024

So I was delighted when the Seminary grounds turned out to host at least 6 of these beautiful birds. We were happy to experience three birds of prey on this jaunt. There is also a family of Barn Owls on the premises, and I have briefly seen the largest of them (enormous!) That’s a Melodious Blackbird in the background.

Barn Owls 207

Barn Owls Mexico Parrots ALA 207

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Construction is still ongoing at Nanhui, there are constant rumors that key birding sites will be made inaccessible … you have to take every Nanhui visit as it is your last (yes, another clichee). Still, there were a few birds there this September. Still, there were a few birds there this September. A juvenile male.

Birds 227

Birds LACS France Japan 227

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2012

Ourselves, for instance; just consider how many sweet or gritty stories you’ve seen about Olympic athletes’ family backgrounds over the last few weeks. Well, the American Birding Association’s Bird of the Year — the Evening Grosbeak – deserves no less. But what is a finch? And back to finches.

Family 177

Family Guatemala Stray Groups 177

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2020

Over the years I’ve seen a variety of open-country birds there, including Bobolinks , Vesper Sparrow , and American Kestrel. Over the years birding Willow Lake I had added nearly eighty eBird checklists at the preserve and netted myself 127 species, good for number two on the eBird hotspot list. I really hope so.

Bald Eagle 183

Bald Eagle New York City Birds New York 183

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong. We now know a lot more about who is a tanager vs. a sparrow vs. a cardinal.

Sparrows 251

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 251

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2019

Lots of birds, a lot of really cool birds! Some local populations of birds and animals couldn’t adapt to the radical ecosystem-wide changes and just died out but a fair percentage did survive and continue to persist where green space lingers. This is one heck of a sweet urban bird. Lesson’s Motmot.

Costa Rica 194

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Sparrows 194

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

I am shocked to be writing this post already, and doubly shocked that I’ve seen six new species for Queens since I guessed what my next five Queens birds would be just eight months ago, back in March. It’s been a good year for birding in Queens! Fortunately, there are birds to help.

New York City 151

New York City Birds New York Blackbirds 151

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2019

But North Coast also makes a bird-themed beer, Le Merle, an interpretation of a Belgian, farmhouse-style saison with a name borrowed from the French word for the Common (Eurasian) Blackbird ( Turdus merula ). Birds and Booze readers may remember another saison originally named for le merle that we looked at about a year ago.

Blackbirds 101

Blackbirds California Family Birds 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2019

I fell into the latter camp, with cold rain dashing my family’s Father’s Day hike and any interest I had in leaving the house. Corey spent most of the morning on Father’s Day out and about in Queens looking for interesting birds. Now that’s a bird that is worthy of being Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend!

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2019 Blackbirds Birds Experience 114

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2022

For some reason that I do not quite understand myself – given that I really rather dislike children and am not too positive about the rest of humanity either – I recently put up a little display of bird photos inside my Shanghai compound, which I share (as the only foreigner) with about 1700 Chinese. Some Birds of Shanghai.

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Birds Fish Germany China 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I was looking for a title for this third part of a blog post on the birds of Baihualing, and thought that the made-up term “Trequel” would sound fitting. The male Grey-winged Blackbird is similarly attractive. The bird below wants you to know that it is fun-loving, easy-going, and has a strong sense of humor.

Horses 194

Horses Family Species Blackbirds 194

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2014

I had completely forgotten making that promise until I was back at Rockaway Community Park again yesterday morning parked next to the exact same puddle, waiting once again for birds to avail themselves of the fresh water in the puddle on what was turning into a rather hot day. Teenage rebellion?

Birds 177

Birds Blackbirds Family 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

But the name of this beer had nothing to do with “Sixteen Tons” of coal, or “Okies” from Muskogee, but birds: merle is also the French word for “blackbird”. Brewer’s Blackbird is a more beery icterid than most, but it’s no merle. Most saisons aren’t anywhere near as dark as this Common (Eurasian) Blackbird.

Blackbirds 113

Blackbirds Belgium Colorado Wounded 113

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2021

I have often sung the praises of the beautiful birds I can see by driving 3,000 feet / 62 km / one hour down to the little town of Paso Ancho, on the edge of what Mexicans call Tierra Caliente (the Hot Country). Birding there can often be a test of endurance. Of course, Curve-billed Thrashers are some really tough birds.

Mexico 172

Mexico Blackbirds Sparrows Owls 172

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

If you like birds on posts, if seeing “little brown jobs” posing nicely in the distance as you drive or walk along a dirt road only to have it fly away as you approach makes you deliriously happy, then North Dakota is the place for you. I wanted to see prairie birds and I wanted to experience a new state. Scott Barnes, N.J.

North Dakota 138

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 138

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

One of these days, Jeopardy will feature a category called “Field Guides” and the first clue will be: “This landlocked South American country finally got its own bird field guide in 2016, but it wasn’t available in the United State until 2019.” Bolivia doesn’t come up much in discussions of birding travel.

Bolivia 172

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 172

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

With the lockdown lasting until the end of May (ironically thus pretty much including the whole spring migration – the divine sense of humor is a rather malign one, I am afraid), June still had the freedom of birding anywhere in Shanghai, not just inside a smallish compound. Accessorizing for birds.

Singapore 147

Singapore Birds Mountain Goats Giraffes 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2012

When I worked for a wild bird specialty store, I was always baffled by the question from customers in spring, “When do I take my feeders down?” Most bird species cannot live by black oil sunflower seed alone. One of my all time favorite bird feeding moments involved a Blue Jay family. This is what you do.

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Blackbirds Birds Baltimore Breeding 224

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

Birds, of course! ( The freshwater ponds provide an oasis in the desert and thirsty desert birds take advantage as well as waterfowl and shorebirds that would never be present in an environment so inhospitable for them if it weren’t for the water. He steered me right and there it was, my first life bird in Nevada!

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Las Vegas Nevada Birds Blackbirds 201

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2024

However – and I am not saying this out of misplaced national pride – there is one bird in the Netherlands that proves Jefferson wrong and Buffon right: the White-tailed Eagle (or Sea Eagle ). The rooms are floating in a pond and the pond provides a home for a Eurasian Beaver family. It’s the only Dutch eagle. Buffon 5 – Jefferson 0.

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Beavers Netherlands Eagles Geese 141

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept of Birds and People , Mark Cocker and David Tipling’s book that, in 592 pages, explores the intersection of just that—birds and us. Nor have I overlooked “sightings” of birds in movies mouthing other birds’ calls. I’m not sure why.

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Birds Egypt Family Eagles 212

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2013

In 2013 I birded in two countries, submitted eBird checklists for seven U.S. At the beginning of the year I said the following about my goals for the year’s birding: I start 2013 with 297 birds on my Queens Life List , 500 birds on my ABA Life List , and 1,096 birds on my World Life List.

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2013 New York City New York Trinidad 173

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

My family have already grown bored of my presence this week and are asking when I will be going back to work. An angry Red-winged Blackbird attacked again and again, flashing its bright epaulettes and hitting the heron hard in the middle of its back. The blackbird appeared to be purposefully targeting the heron’s back.

Blackbirds 153

Blackbirds Hunting Raised Fish 153

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

This is the area that fostered my lifelong interest in birds. I imagine I have a pretty good idea of what this does to the human inhabitants of the area, but what does it do to the birds? These secretive little marsh birds are rarely found out in the open, like most of the rail family.

Oregon 100

Oregon Birds Montana California 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

However, no matter how one enjoys or takes in interest in the avian side of life, an official list of the birds for a given area is of vital importance. With the rise in birding tourism, bird lists for entire countries have also become increasingly important. Not every list has Great Tinamou on it. So long buddy.

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Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 199

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

But I have been sick with different kinds and forms of cold since the beginning of December with no interruption, and so has my entire family. A short summary of events described in this former blog post of mine: We are talking about the thrush called Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula , not the American Icterids. I honestly did.

Germany 160

Germany Blackbirds 2006 Denmark 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2014

I spent this past weekend in Saugerties at my folks’ house in order to look for Easter eggs, let Desi enjoy time with his cousins, and generally have a good ol’ time with family. Red-winged Blackbird singing at the Great Vly. This bird actually flew over my parents’ house on Easter morning. Conk-a-ree!!!

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New York Birds Ducks Blackbirds 171

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

There are many charismatic endangered birds that capture people’s hearts and imaginations: the colossal California Condor , the evocative Red-crowned Crane , and the adorable Spoon-billed Sandpiper come to mind. This is a short series that brings attention to these incredible birds, and my various adventures to try and see them.

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Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 213

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2011

He lost nearly a day off of his trip but I am sure that he managed to see some birds once he arrived. Let’s assume that he saw something delightful and tropical like, say, the national bird of Costa Rica. Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed.

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Costa Rica New York City Atlanta 2011 174

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Several years ago, I was asked to visit my nephew’s preschool class and talk about birds. Jake lives in southern Florida, so he and his friends had to be interested in learning about these birds, which they saw everyday, right? How old were the baby birds? I chalk it up to the original baby bird book, P.D.

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Birds Owls Switzerland Lions 211

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2013

The Spring Wings Festival , held this past weekend, was the perfect way for a birding-festival newbie like me to get into the swing of things. Its small size, laid-back nature, and ample opportunities to get up close and personal with birds make it a good fit for experienced birders, but also for people looking to get their feet wet.

Nevada 170

Nevada Birds Barn Owls Cows 170

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

It sheltered him, it haunted him, and it set his thoughts adrift, to the warmth of spring and the family he had. He was a careful and vigilant bird, traits that had saved him from the hawks and the cats on so many occasions while those around him had perished over the years. Blackbirds are just there, everywhere, and always.

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Blackbirds Germany Shelters Rodents 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

For 13 years now, friends and family have been gathering in an undisclosed corner of Potter County, Pennsylvania during the third weekend of July to create a glorious giant chicken of wood, straw, and gunpowder only to burn it. This year, though, the birding was better than usual. See why we keep the location undisclosed?

Chickens 174

Chickens 2011 Pennsylvania Birds 174

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Producing a book about birds and nesting is a dangerous business. The truth is that there are few images cuter than baby birds in the nest opening their mouths and begging for food, but there are curmudgeons amongst us, myself included, who don’t like to admit this. And of birds courting and mating. We simply refuse to squee.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2017

In some ways his story is familiar to a lot of birders: the outdoors was both recreation and refuge for him, his family imbued him with a love of learning and an appreciation for the earth. The love of nature is evident in his chapters about his parents and siblings; his family is ever-present in his musings on trees and springs and cows.

South Carolina 126

South Carolina Stray Cows 2012 126