10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Instead, we’ve got other bird news to cheer us up (or at least take our minds off avian’s inexplicable inability to capture U.S. Project FeederWatch data prove that woodpeckers are at the top of the backyard bird feeder pecking order. sports championships ).

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Massachusetts Eggs Falcons Rights 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2017

Controversies about federal public lands, including the 2016 occupation of Malheur NWR in Oregon and proposed bills in Congress to dispose of certain land, has focused attention on the value of federal lands to birds and birders. But if one focuses on specific types of birds, the results can be both illuminating and surprising.

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Albatross Hawaii Alaska Puerto Rico 138

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2017

You believe in birthday birds , right? If you haven’t yet embraced the theory or practice of birthday birds, I recommend that, next time your special day rolls around, you make it a point to pursue a seasonally appropriate species you don’t regularly see. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

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Los Angeles 2017 Coyotes Birds 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2012

Evening Grosbeak Male ( Coccothraustes vespertinus ) photos by Larry Jordan The Evening Grosbeak ( Coccothraustes vespertinus ) is a striking bird. The female is more subtle in her plumage but gorgeous in her own right. As you can see, Evening Grosbeaks visit bird feeders, often during fall and winter irruptions.

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Jordan North America Breeding Birds 171

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

“Out West” to most Floridians might mean California or Arizona or might even refer to the Gulf Coast of Florida. These two water management wetlands are amongst the very best birding and photography locations in south Florida. I’m out guiding a lovely couple from California. Right in the open.

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North America Factory Alligators Trafficking 222

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2014

It was the bobbing action on the rocks that drew my attention to the bird. I had seen one in the same location earlier in the year and was hoping to bump into it again before it headed north to it’s breeding grounds in the Arctic. The bird was feeding actively amongst the rocks to the north of the sailing club.

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San Francisco United States California Breeding 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2011

These ceremonies are some of the most complex displays in the world of birds. We are fortunate in Northern California to have four lakes that support 76% of the total number of nesting grebes in California 1. Like the breeding activity of many species this spring, the grebes were late, probably due to the unseasonable weather.

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California Eagles North America Breeding 219

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

Author Sherrida Woodley thinks deeply about dearly departed birds. such as California Condors and Passenger Pigeons. His parents moved where opportunity beckoned, taking him from San Angelo, Texas, to Columbus, New Mexico, then to Dallas, and finally on to California. It was there where the first glimpse of his future began.

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Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2013

During March and April the Lazuli Buntings ( Passerina amoena ) begin showing up in Southern California but we don’t usually see them up north until May or June. The female is not as flashy or as easily distinguishable as the male but is beautiful in her own right. Isn’t it nice to have friends that feed their local birds?

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United States Canada California Breeding 197

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

Birds are supposed to have feathers and birds without feathers look incomplete, like they left home with shaving cream on their ear and toothpaste spots on their shirt. The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. T urkey Vulture, photo by Dawn Puliafico.

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California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2015

In February of 2013, I wrote a piece outlining my thoughts on which exotic bird species should be added to the American Bird Association (ABA) checklist. The 10,000 Birds readership also suggested Scaly-breasted Munia ( Nutmeg Mannikin , Lonchura punctulata ) as another likely choice for the next ABA-countable exotic.

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Los Angeles Miami San Francisco Florida 154

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2012

I know it sounds strange, especially when the folks at Mission San Juan Capistrano are trying to coax them back by playing recordings of the bird’s mating calls. Because I am a local Audubon board member, I was recently contacted by a bird lover who witnessed Cliff Swallow nests being destroyed at the marina where they dock their boat.

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San Diego illegal California South America 165

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2019

Between our many residents and migratory species, birding in central Mexico is a joy. This photos, however, is from southern California. Baird’s Sandpipers , like the one at right, helpfully still have summer coloring when they fly through my area (in great numbers) in August and September. But it can also be a challenge.

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Mexico United States North America Ethics 139

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2014

Does my field guide of New Zealand birds have the same birds as my Handbook of the Birds of the World or the IUCN? You’re joking, right? We get lots of Antipodean Albatrosses in New Zealand, which is good since they breed here, and we do get visiting Wandering or Snowy Albatrosses. Does it hell.

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Albatross New Zealand Breeding California 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

And Flamingos and Hornbills and a Secretarybird and birds with names like Hamerkop and Thick-knee and Eremomela (which I know is a scientific term, but which, when pronounced correctly, reminds me of a Yiddish term of endearment my grandmother used). And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa.

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South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 253

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2013

The one thing I really wanted to do on this most recent trip to southern California was visit Santa Cruz Island again. Our time on the island was spent looking at birds, exploring, picnicking, throwing rocks in the water, and admiring a very cooperative Santa Cruz Island Fox. Then the birds showed. It was amazing.

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Whales Whaling Dolphins California 150

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. And, the birds are awesome. Brown Boobies ( Sula leucogaster ), Islas Coronado, Baja California © David J. A bare gular pouch or throat sac is another feature shared by most of these birds, tropicbirds being the exception.

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2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 152

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Spring is in the air, and all around the Baja desert I am seeing a plethora of species, all looking for love, in what appears to the right places. It would appear that this is the only bird with this capability. Last Sunday, it was never as obvious as it was with the small group of Phainopepla , Phainopepla nitens.

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Costa Rica Panama Nevada Guatemala 105

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2012

As special as any bird that is abundant… just not abundant in your neck of the woods. OK sure, it is only an hour drive before I reach Swainson’s paradise in the Central Valley of California… but where I live, any large brown Buteo has a higher probability of Red-tailed Hawkishness. This is a lovely dark morph.

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Gophers Argentina Oregon California 172

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. Curassows are such stately birds. Photo courtesy of Ciro Albano. What happened next was pure magic.

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Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 213

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2015

Firstly, if you check the wonderful photo galleries here at 10000 Birds, you will find some excellent shots of the female Mountain Bluebird that Corey took in New York, of all places! I figured that it is only fair and right to include the male Mountain Bluebird ( Sialis currucoides ) for comparison.

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United States Mammals Squirrels New York 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

I spotted a Eurasian Wigeon amongst the American Wigeon right out of the gate, but that wasn’t the best sighting of the day. Being winter, this bird is in non-breeding plumage with more brown upper parts and lacking the white face it acquires in its aternate (breeding) plumage. It was foraging in breast deep water.

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Wildlife 2011 Sacramento Jordan 155

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2011

We here at 10,000 Birds thought this would be a perfect time to look back and figure out what each of us considered our Best Bird of the Year, just like we did last year. juvenile Parasitic Jaeger by Larry Jordan Jochen enjoyed a plover : My Best Bird of the Year is a White-tailed Lapwing I “twitched” in Germany in June.

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2011 Birds South Korea North Dakota 182

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2016

That original installation (pictured above) was part of a series of 40 artificial burrows created at three separate locations, all made possible by a grant from Audubon California. This property is located in northern Butte County which is nearing the (dwindling) northern most historic range for this species in California.

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Owls California 2010 Colorado 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

A week ago today, the federal government proposed a “threatened” listing for the Greater Sage Grouse in Nevada and California , as part of a larger study considering whether the species as a whole should be listed. I am a great lover of these gallinaceous birds, though my encounters with them have been but brief.

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Nevada Endangered Species Montana Humane 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2013

Chasing requires luck, persistence, and attention, but it does involve one advantage over regular birding – you know, not just what to expect, but more or less exactly what you are looking for. When I went back with my camera I could not find the bird again. Birding goldfinch vagrants' And I saw a Lesser Goldfinch.

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California Sparrows Fish Wildlife 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2013

And so, when Salvador Ramirez left, there were feral goats on the island of San Clemente, the southernmost of the Channel Islands off the coast of California. And so, the local subspecies of Bewick’s wren, a bird described in 1908 a “very common on all parts of the island,” was gone by the 1940’s, its habitat converted into goat flesh.

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Goats Bald Eagle Fox Feral 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2024

So Eduardo set aside the afternoon to show me some of the city, and take me birding in two city parks. Being a westerner — raised in California, and now living in western Mexico — I was perhaps most excited about the migratory birds that breed in eastern North America. Then, around 4:00 p.m.,

Mexico 194

Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 194

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Petrel Paradise Petrel Paradise By Duncan • March 2, 2011 • 4 comments Tweet Share I’ve mentioned before that New Zealand is a great place for enjoying petrels.

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New Zealand Albatross 2011 Cooking 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Pelagic birding off the Atlantic coast of Florida can be a frustrating experience, usually involving long waits of up to an hour or more interspersed with brief flurries of activity — a far cry from pelagic birding off of coasts blessed with cold water currents and nutrient rich upwelling such as California, southeast Australia, and Peru.

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Florida United States Fish 2005 164

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2014

Sophie had serious doubts about whether she was really a bird. August arrived and I was releasing birds knowing they’d need time to adapt prior to making that long flight across the Gulf of Mexico, headed to South America. Sophie the Scissortail was the most difficult but the most satisfying bird of the season.”.

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Ohio Tulsa West Virginia 221

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

The California Quail ( Callipepla californica ) is the California state bird, inhabiting scrub, broken chaparral and woodland edges primarily in California, Oregon, Washington and Baja California. All New World Quail are highly gregarious, typically found in coveys or flocks except during breeding season.

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California Eggs Gophers Rattlesnake 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2012

Rufous Hummingbirds ( Selasphorus rufus ) breed farther North than any other North American hummingbird and have the longest migration route of all U.S. Their spring migration brings the majority of them through Northern California in April when these photos of the male Rufous Hummingbird were taken.

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Mexico California Groups Breeding 178

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2011

Any season is good for looking for birds if you have the right mindset. To the more rounded birder, however, any season provides opportunities to see interesting birds doing interesting things. On the grass at the edge of the fence was a large group of California Quail.

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New Zealand Sanctuary North America Guinea 113

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2011

As you read this, I am riding my trusty Grizzly Bear through the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park, helping my colleague Seagull Steve find some new birds. Birding by bear is by far the best way to view the park, although it seems to terrify the hoofed animals. Birds do remarkable things every day, as a matter of their nature.

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Grizzly Bear North Dakota Downers Bears 167

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

That’s right, the overwhelming benefits to the environment and the economy are generated by non-consumptive uses of the refuges like wildlife photography, environmental education, wildlife observation and interpretation, not hunting and fishing. Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge : Open to migratory bird hunting (youth only).

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Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 143

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2022

Last week, Corey opened the “Top Ten Birds for 2021” season here at 10,000 Birds. He lamented that he had barely been able to travel during the year — only one trip from New York to California, poor boy — and then went on to give an impressive list of vagrants and first-of-state birds.

Mexico 219

Mexico Birds Virginia Barn Owls 219