10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

I am still tired from the long drive, but it was great to play with the very best toys for birders, to be able to share experiences and to ask the factory staff all sorts of silly questions. At the end of the workshop we all went birding, to further test the glasses of our choice. impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 298

Austria Factory Asia Battery 298

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2020

Just under a fortnight ago, I saw a report on the local bird alert of a sighting of a group of approximately 20 Nacunda Nighthawks at a wetland not more than 20 minutes from where I live. Especially as we were at the time about to experience a rapidly advancing tropical storm. Such is birding, such is life.

Livestock 227

Livestock Ducks ALA illegal 227

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.

North Dakota 147

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2016

I don’t know which legislative branch to appeal to, but there ought to be a law that mandates life birds on a birder’s birthday. I spent several hours of an otherwise excellent weekend dipping multiple times on a rare ABA Tufted Duck. What was your best bird of the weekend? Sure beats cake! How about you?

2016 100

2016 Legislation Jamaica Laws 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 210

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 210

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2011

Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a male Long-tailed Duck in breeding plumage off the coast of Queens. Mine was a waterfowl as well, but a goose instead of a duck. I took Ivy to feed the birds up at Irondequoit Bay and observed this small goose. What was your best bird of the weekend? Do you agree?

2011 140

2011 Ducks Canada Birds 140

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2013

Joseph Chiera is a Masters student in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in NYC and a “somewhat newbie” to birding. After taking an ornithology course last year, he was hooked and spends most of his free time birding or reading birding blogs. Of course, birding was on the itinerary!

Iceland 197

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 197

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

But why on earth would you want to go to some sewage ponds when there are so many ways to experience debauchery and dissolution in Las Vegas itself? Birds, of course! ( Avocets, Black-necked Stilts , and Spotted Sandpipers breed at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. As Clare well knows! ) One lifer down and one to go.

Las Vegas 213

Las Vegas Nevada Birds Blackbirds 213

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2014

Among birds the Egyptian Vulture uses rocks to crack Ostrich eggs, the New Caledonian Crow and Woodpecker Finch (one of several Darwin Finches of the Galapagos Islands), uses sticks to extract grubs from inside a branch. This is similar to the fact that all birds, even first time breeders within a species build identical nests.

Fish 163

Fish Woodpeckers Ostriches Eggs 163

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2011

Up to that point, I’d offered Great Reasons to Become A Bird Watcher in an effort to encourage the uninitiated to try bird watching. Bird watching sounds simple, but for the beginner it’s anything but. Here are three simple steps to starting bird watching the right way: 1.

Birds 208

Birds United States 2006 Breeders 208

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2015

In the Old World, Horned (Slavonian) Grebe breeds in a wide belt stretching from Scandinavia to Kamchatka and it spends winters along sea coasts, from Japan to China and from Norway to France, plus the Adriatic and the Black Sea (west and east of the Balkans, respectively). But I said I’ve dipped it? Photos (2) by S. Which costed me a lifer.

Serbia 176

Serbia Norway France Japan 176

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

2014 has been a good year for us at 10,000 Birds. We’ve traveled to lots of places, seen lots of great birds, and met lots of great birders. So, as we’ve done for the last several years we thought we would share our Best Birds of the Year with you. Below are our Best Birds of the Year. What was yours?

2014 197

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 197

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

This is particularly poignant if the bird has disappeared during the course of my birding days or “on my watch” as I like to think of it. Islands, for various reasons, experience more extinctions than continents (with Africa being the only continent not suffering a bird extinction!).

Madagascar 246

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2012

Few experiences birding get me more excited than adding a new bird to my Queens list. My latest addition, a Parasitic Jaeger off the coast, finally got me to my 289th bird, well over a year since I got my 279th. The first time I did this I accidentally added twelve birds to my list before reviewing it.

Connecticut 176

Connecticut 2011 2012 Jamaica 176

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

British birders are very serious about birding and their birds. This is a very good thing; it means they publish a lot of books about birds (probably more at this point than U.S. This is a very good thing; it means they publish a lot of books about birds (probably more at this point than U.S.

Ireland 150

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 150

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2012

On this final day of 2012 it is time, just like it was on the final days of 2010 and 2011 , to share your Best Birds of the Year. Well, actually, your Best Bird of the Year will only be shared here if you took the time to respond to the post in which we here at 10,000 Birds shared our Best Birds of the Year.

2012 133

2012 Ghana Ireland Birds 133

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. Two other birds, both residents, surprised us.

Mexico 210

Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 210

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. Ringer Anhingas and darters , cormorants and shags , frigatebirds , gannets and boobies , pelicans , and the tropicbirds all share a characteristic found in no other living bird: Their feet are totipalmate.

2011 155

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 155

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2011

For many birders a highlight of birding the southeastern United States, maybe even the definitive birding experience of the region, is taking in the great numbers and diversity of long-legged wading birds. But would you believe that that sort of amazing wader show is increasingly common up the coast as well? Who knew?).

South Carolina 157

South Carolina Alligators Florida United States 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

If there is one thing that Kiwis care about, it’s birds. No, wait, not birds. One thing visitors love to see in New Zealand is Kiwi, the national (sort of) bird, and they also enjoy seeing some of the other birds the place has to offer. Kiwis care about rugby. A good place to see the enigmatic Kokako.

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Penguins Sanctuary Birds 157

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

With longer and warmer days, we feel the urge to bird in the country, away from our local city patches. So, if you were coming into my neck of the woods – Belgrade, where would I suggest you go birding? Above them, on limestone cliffs, Alpine Swift and Crag Martin breed. Forest covers 70% of the area (hornbeam, beech and oak).

Serbia 263

Serbia Woodpeckers Owls Eagles 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2021

While Mike and Corey – fitting for being real celebrities in birding cycles – get invited to far-flung places such as Uganda, minor local birders sometimes at least get invited to places nearby. The birding life. But now back to birds … Little Ringed Plovers also seem to like to breed directly on the road.

Birds 230

Birds Uganda Breeding Rats 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They looked out their windows and across their patios and up from their apartment terraces and saw–birds. This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives.

2020 264

2020 Birds Groups North America 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. I chalked up 132 species in a pretty relaxed eight days, during which birds shared the agenda with culture. Black Stork and three pairs of White-tailed Eagles breed here. What has changed in the meantime?

Serbia 168

Serbia Birds Bulgaria Farming 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Its crown was so thick, I could spot the movement, but only rarely the bird itself and never the whole bird, once it would be only its back, once its head, once just legs… slowly, I was putting this puzzle together. The first birds to spot from the boat were Common Terns furiously defending their newly built nests on floating logs.

Greece 200

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 200

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

It was a good birding year. Many sad and unfortunate things occurred in 2016, but the birding was good. I started the year in Florida, traveled to India with the ABA in February, combined family and birding in an August trip to California, and in-between saw very good birds in New York and New Jersey. 1) Dusky Eagle-Owl.

2016 113

2016 India Ducks Birds 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2011

When the American Ornithologists’ Union publishes its annual North American checklist update next month, many birders will be disappointed to see that a proposal to re-split Mexican Duck ( Anas diazi ) from Mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) has failed. © David J. © David J.

Ducks 169

Ducks North America Texas Mexico 169

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

For many in the birding community, Miami is a destination meant only for ticking off ABA-countable exotics such as Spot-breasted Oriole or Red-whiskered Bulbul. It was truly heart-warming to see the local birding community participate with so much enthusiasm and fervor. This bird was a life bird for him!

Miami 169

Miami 2015 United States Birds 169

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

As 2013 draws to a close we here at 10,000 Birds thought that it would be a great idea if we, like we did in 2010 , 2011 , and 2012 , shared our Best Birds of the Year. We also want to know what YOUR Best Bird of the Year was. Now on to the Best Birds of the Year for those who write on 10,000 Birds! Sound good?

2013 168

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 168

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2011

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil giveaway we asked readers of 10,000 Birds to name the bird in Brazil that they would like to see more than any other species. It is a really neat bird that I have not seen before. It would mean that I was birding in a really cool place! Come quickly!”

Brazil 216

Brazil 2011 Birds Wildlife 216

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

Splits were once a much more subjective determination, based on differences in appearance, vocalizations, habits, and breeding preferences. But you pretty much must come to Mexico to see the Mexican Duck , which I see every time I go to our nearest lake. These are a male and a female Mexican Ducks. A male Mallard from Munich.

San Diego 185

San Diego San Francisco Mexico Baltimore 185

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2012

Nassau County, New York, March 2009 After having fully explored the trail around the West Pond at Jamaica Bay , we four bird bloggers agreed to load up Patrick’s car and head over to Jones Beach to see what kind of birds we could find there and some other locations in Nassau County. And what a look at a life bird!

New York 160

New York Butcher Birds Geese 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Beautiful Blue Backyard Bird Beautiful Blue Backyard Bird By Jochen • March 10, 2011 • 9 comments Tweet Share There is a lot of whining associated with colours and Europe’s birds.

2011 167

2011 Birds Deer Europe 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2011

Now that the Earth has rotated somewhat and the Northern Hemisphere types that tormented me through June to September with all their tales of sunny days and summer birds have been plunged into Snowy Owl-filled darkness, it is the time of year where I can talk about nice weather and birds breeding away like crazy.

New Zealand 184

New Zealand Sanctuary Ducks Wildlife 184

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

At Sea With the Marine Birds of the Raincoast opens with the unexpected appearance of a Laysan Albatross. Having shown us the bird, the boat, and the water, Fox then introduces herself: “Albatrosses, petrels, fulmars, puffins and gulls live out their lives along these transect lines; my job is to count them all.”.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2018

In addition to my monthly posts here, I have also written short pieces and feature articles that rely on bird-related scientific literature. Other papers are locked behind paywalls.) That research ultimately led to an article about the conservation efforts regarding the Laysan Duck in the June 2017 issue of Birding.

Transported 113

Transported 2011 Research 2012 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2011

Melanerpes lewis is, to put it simply, a really cool bird. Second of all, Lewis’s Woodpeckers are birds of the west and they rarely stray to New York State. In fact, the bird is the fifth recorded in the history of the state,* and the first spotted in the Empire State since 2001. What a bird! Really well.

New York 204

New York Woodpeckers Jordan 2011 204