10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2021

So I contacted him for the exact location, which turned out to be a beautiful 14-acre property that belongs to his family, and he kindly invited me over. We didn’t manage to make it happen the first Monday, but on the 28th of June, we birded his property together. That’s 100% Barn Owl butt, right there.

Barn Owls 261

Barn Owls Owls Mexico Leopards 261

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2020

The last time I had seen a Summer Tanager was during a Christmas Bird Count in 2012. Sightings in Trinidad have been sporadic, 38 to be exact since the formation of the T&T Bird Status and Distribution Committee. This is an immature bird, as evidenced by the yellow wash on his underparts. Amazingly, it was still there!

Trinidad 212

Trinidad Birds Squirrels 2012 212

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. There are distinct differences between Eastern Screech-Owl morphs.

North America 229

North America Owls America Dominican Republic 229

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2020

For several years I lived and birded in the south of Africa , and still have my battered second edition (1997) of the Sasol Birds of Southern Africa, the most trusted local field guide. This region is so far from the northern breeding grounds that there are no migratory corridors to show.

Africa 264

Africa South Africa Swaziland Lesotho 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Early August is a bit of a dead time for birding in Shanghai unless you like your birds as little white spots at the far end of a telescope. So, I asked around and was told that Qinghai is the place to go to for birds in China in August. A Little Owl blocked the road and asked for our Covid health certificates.

Birds 246

Birds North Korea China Woodpeckers 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2022

According to Wikipedia, the national bird of Australia is the Emu – which I have not seen yet. Duncan – in a 10,000 Birds post – apparently also thinks it would make a good national bird. Duncan – in a 10,000 Birds post – apparently also thinks it would make a good national bird.

Australia 147

Australia Birds Parrots Ostriches 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2020

Winter is not the greatest time for birding in Shanghai, and this year, there was no escaping to Southeast Asia due to Covid-19. I can go out birding freely – though to be safe, I always bring a bottle of disinfectant along and take a sip every now and then. The obvious local star of the bird world is the Reed Parrotbill.

2020 193

2020 China Asia Owls 193

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2023

May is a busy month for birds migrating through Shanghai – and of course, last May was completely missed due to the lockdown. So, I spent a lot of time birding this month, and to keep this post at a manageable length, it mostly only covers the first half of May. The video is notable for the bird basically refusing to move at all.

Birds 130

Birds Raised Cattle Mammals 130

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 204

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 204

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Ring-billed Gulls in Breeding Plumage Ring-billed Gulls in Breeding Plumage By Corey • March 8, 2011 • 3 comments Tweet Share It should come as no surprise to readers of 10,000 Birds that I do not love gulls.

Breeding 145

Breeding 2011 Deer New York 145

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2015

Just like we did last year my family spent this past weekend camping at North Lake State Park, up in New York’s gorgeous Catskill Mountains. And, not surprisingly, the breeding birds present were largely the same species as last year which was not a problem at all! It’s about birds!

Birds 162

Birds New York Family Sparrows 162

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 7, 2019

But, sometimes an appreciation of birds and birding requires more than a reference book with images of birds and facts about their identifying field marks. There are large avian handbooks and small ‘how-to bird’ guides, and quite a few excellent books of both types have been published.

Birds 115

Birds North America Breeding America 115

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

The April arrival of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, Second Edition was a supremely happy moment in a very difficult, sad month. A companion regional guide, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America was published in 1941; its fifth edition will be coming out in early September.

North America 217

North America America Hawaii Birds 217

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 178

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 178

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. This lucky youngster from Massachusetts has almost 300 ticks, but just added his favorite— a Great Gray Owl his supportive family drove hundreds of miles to glimpse. sports championships ).

Massachusetts 100

Massachusetts Eggs Falcons Rights 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Several years ago, I was asked to visit my nephew’s preschool class and talk about birds. I was delighted by the invitation and spent hours going through my photos, printing them out, imagining fifteen 4-year olds entranced by egrets, herons, and Burrowing Owls. How old were the baby birds? How did they get into the nest?

Birds 219

Birds Owls Switzerland Lions 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

That’s right, I, along with my family and some really good friends, was camping. And one that I have written about before when I was pleased to find Blackburnian Warblers like the one above breeding.). Here a fledgling Chipping Sparrow , which is one of those confusing, streaky, brown birds, gets stuffed by an adult.

New York 175

New York Cooking Chipmunks Owls 175

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

How much do you know about owls? I’ve been fortunate to encounter many owls in my birding life, sometimes because I’m looking for them, sometimes happily by happenstance. What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds is a joyous, fascinating read. I don’t think so.

Owls 219

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 219

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2014

Earlier this afternoon my small family made a drive out to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. We went because Desi, my four-year-old son, wanted to see a Snowy Owl after hearing about and seeing pictures of all of the owls his dad had been seeing this winter. Snowy Owl being harassed by an American Crow. That is not cheap.

Owls 214

Owls Research Science Collecting 214

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, 2021

This has always been a wish of mine, since many of my favorite birds here stand out as much for their songs as for their appearance. And while the the gully-loving White-tipped Dove is a bird that is almost never seen, you had better know its ubiquitous song if you’re going to go birding in Michoacán. Thanks, Clare!

Trinidad 187

Trinidad Emotional Transported Mexico 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2013

Let’s take a look at some of what lurks inside: Pygmy-owl split. Proposal 2013-A-2 would split the “Guatemalan Pygmy-Owl” ( Glaucidium cobanense ) of southern Mexico and northern Central America from the widespread Northern Pygmy-Owl ( G. gnoma ) on the basis of vocal differences and a discrete range.

2013 190

2013 Sparrows Owls Stray 190

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

Birds know habitat. They don’t read treaties or draw maps or build walls and, as far as we can tell (since we can’t talk to birds, yet), they have no concept of political boundaries. Robert Gallardo’s self-published Guide to the Birds of Honduras came out in 2015, and is the first bird field guide dedicated to that country.

El Salvador 234

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 234

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

Birds of Kruger National Park covers the 259 species most frequently seen in the park, about half of the total number of birds documented there. Regular readers of 10,000 Birds may remember Jochen’s posts about keeping taxonomy out of field guides. The 224-page book is organized by habitat and behavior, not taxonomy.

Ecuador 177

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Birds 177

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

The ABA currently lumps the Mangrove Warbler and Golden Warbler with the Yellow Warbler (the IOC lumps Mangrove and Golden Warbler together but splits them from the Yellow Warbler that breeds in North America.) Chuk makes his quip about the Black-winged Yellow Bird; my friend Molly insists that everything is a duck, a pigeon, or an owl.

Connecticut 179

Connecticut Baltimore North America New York City 179

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

Two-thousand-twelve was a pretty darn good year for me birding-wise and otherwise. Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I went to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. Mottled Duck ?

2012 144

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 144

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 154

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 154

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Corey was lucky enough to meet Carlos while birding in Ecuador , where Carlos was dragooned into accompanying the horde of Queens birders for the day, an encounter that somehow didn’t turn him off of all things New York. If you have been out birding in southeast Florida there is a good chance that you have run into him in the field.

Miami 162

Miami Florida Birds Pelicans 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2012

One of the really great things about living in the Arctic, and loving to watch and photograph birds, is that you can bird in the middle of the night if you so desire. I know you can bird in dark in New York and Newcastle, Weyburn and Walla Walla. I’m talking about full on, need sunglasses, no need for high ISO, birding.

Bald Eagle 172

Bald Eagle Breeding Raised Whales 172

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2013

The cahow is one wild and crazy bird. And, all the while it vocalizes with the strange-sounding, weird cries that give the bird its name, cries so bizarre sounding that they once kept Spanish explorers from settling the island. other birds that collided with a tower and a radio antenna. You’ve never heard of the cahow?

Birds 170

Birds Rats Breeding 2012 170

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

There are certain families that I habitually fail to encounter when opportunities arise. I’ve had pretty lousy luck when it comes pittas and broadbills, and I also am really bad when it comes to the various night birds such as owls, nightjars and related species.

Uganda 165

Uganda Family Australia Killing 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

Baby Bird week couldn’t come at a better time for someone in the High Arctic, suddenly there are birds hatching everywhere. Baby birds here, as everywhere else fall into two broad categories, altricial and precocial. Precocial birds hatch in a relatively developed state. And now onto some precocial birds.

Eggs 191

Eggs North America Breeding Europe 191

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 147

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2011

Talk about pesky, a Northern Flicker like the bird above liked to peck foam off of the space shuttle. Reason 1: Territory This is the time of year when a variety of birds are setting up breeding territories. The most important thing that you need to know is that plastic fake owls do not work.

Woodpeckers 262

Woodpeckers Owls Blackbirds Raised 262

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2011

Though breeding grounds for neotropical migrants get the bulk of attention in North America wintering grounds are just as critical, and any news about land being preserved as wintering habitat for the Cerulean Warbler is wonderful. » To learn more about 10,000 Birds, Mike, Corey, or the many marvelous Beat Writers, please click here.

Colombia 145

Colombia 2011 Deer Brazil 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

All the local avian characters have been extra-antsy despite the weather, all contending for best bird of the weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. Where Are You Birding This First Weekend of March 2011?

2011 155

2011 New York Deer Birds 155