10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Back in July, my fellow 10,000 Birds contributor Dragan wrote a delightful piece about birding Lake Kerkini in spring. I first visited Kerkini and this bird-rich region of northern Greece 15 years ago, and have been returning regularly ever since. My photograph below is of a captive bird).

Greece 208

Greece Pelicans Geese Buffalo 208

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

Beware breeding and nesting swans! Also of interest is how Mute Swans are employed to deter Canada Geese. Which would you rather: slovenly geese or homicidal swans? That’s one of the valuable takeaways from this tragic tale out of Chicago of a man drowned by the very swans he cared for. Hat tip to Meredith!)

Geese 145

Geese Chicago Canada Breeding 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

Most of the world’s domestic geese can be traced back thousands of years to the wild Greylag Goose ( Anser anser ) although domestic geese were also bred from Swan Goose ( A. Feral geese run the gamut from pure white to almost entirely gray or brown. cygnoides ) ancestors. We certainly see enough of them, don’t we?

Geese 145

Geese 2011 Deer New York 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2017

This year has been very wet and the local birds have taken advantage of the situation. Not only have the Magpie-larks been busy building their mud nests and the Tawny Frogmouths been breeding at the supermarket car park, but other birds arrived and started to breed. Adult and Juvenile Black-winged Stilts.

Breeding 100

Breeding Geese Australia Eggs 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Nisqually NWR) is one of Washington’s finest and most popular birding locations. It is on my list as one of the Top 25 NWRs for Birding. (As Nisqually NWR is a major staging area for migratory birds , a wintering area for many ducks and geese, and a breeding area for numerous songbirds.

Washington 234

Washington Portland Birds Geese 234

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

The Christmas Bird Count was the answer. The IWC census starts from mid-January following the logic that it is the period when the birds have reached their wintering grounds and are rather static, so the chance of double-counting the same flock is minimal. But it is so frustrating to pass the birds by without IDing them!

Geese 144

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 144

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2012

These Greater White-fronted Geese ( Anser albifrons ) flew in with just enough light to begin taking photographs. Range map courtesy of South Dakota Birds and Birding. As the sun rose higher in the sky I was able to get some shots of the geese flying in… and landing among the tules. Great birding!

Geese 169

Geese Wildlife Sacramento South Dakota 169

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2024

Birders know that some of the finest birding locations in the country are on federal land , which include national parks , wildlife refuges , forests , monuments , and seashores , among others. These lands support countless birds, either year-round, as migratory stopovers, or as breeding grounds.

Virgin Islands 208

Virgin Islands Alaska United States Endangered Species 208

4 The Love Of Animals

APRIL 30, 2013

Ducks and geese may not be a particularly unusual sight in the wild, but have you ever thought about keeping them as pets? Ducks and geese make excellent pets because it is interesting to watch them as they go about their activities and engage with their environment. They can make excellent, if slightly quirky, pets.

Geese 100

Geese Ducks Pets Chickens 100

4 The Love Of Animals

APRIL 30, 2013

Ducks and geese may not be a particularly unusual sight in the wild, but have you ever thought about keeping them as pets? Ducks and geese make excellent pets because it is interesting to watch them as they go about their activities and engage with their environment. They can make excellent, if slightly quirky, pets.

Geese 100

Geese Ducks Pets Chickens 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2017

Magpie-larks are a very common bird throughout most of Australia and they are quite at home among the large cities as well as in the country towns and the remote parts of Australia. The young Magpie-larks were eagerly awaiting the return of their parent and one particular young bird was rather more eager than the other two.

Breeding 100

Breeding Australia Collecting Geese 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

They migrate north through the Western United States, breeding in pockets all the way up through Canada. Compare that to the water body’s other regulars – Canada Geese – that reach “only” 43 inches with a wingspan of nearly 67 inches. Did I mention they’re huge?

Pelicans 227

Pelicans United States Canada Arizona 227

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2019

Now that the Mad Queen is dead, Brandon the Broken, First of His Name, is the King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm; and peace is restored in all the kingdoms, would you want to bird Westeros? How many birds have you spotted in 8 seasons? Geese (domesticated). Partridges.

Chickens 167

Chickens Falcons Birds Geese 167

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2017

Over the past few months there have been a lot of birds breeding around Broome with the excellent rain events that we have been having and the vegetation is at long last revived. The open plains are now busy with young Magpie Geese and numerous other waterbirds and the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are busy feeding up before migration.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Protection Cows 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2017

After a very good Wet Season with substantially more rain than normal over the first few months of 2017 the land was flooded and a huge variety of birds arrived in the Broome area to take advantage of the ideal conditions for breeding. Two birds on the right and one on the left-note the bills! Australian Painted Snipe nest.

Breeding 100

Breeding Eggs Raised 2017 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2018

The country has one eBird hotspot with 200+ and 48 with more than 100 bird species. Among travel guides, due to its extensive coverage of natural history and birding sites, recommendation goes to Laurence Mitchell’s Serbia: The Bradt Travel Guide (5th edition, 2017). Little Bitterns are back by late April.

Serbia 152

Serbia Geese Owls Macedonia 152

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

OCTOBER 1, 2015

The other day I was exploring a new area for the first time, birding the national park that I’ve watched only in BBC documentaries, the place famous for the largest Dalmatian Pelican colony in the world – more than 1300 pairs! Greylag Geese. Checking the birds on the stork’s nest, I found both House and Spanish Sparrows.

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Greece Pelicans Geese Breeding 252

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2022

Every place has its common birds, the species that do very well in a given habitat. As we like to say, these are species that are “hard to miss”, birds that, if you are watching, will be seen. As one might expect, signature birds take many forms. Bird in southern Asia and there are mynas and magpie-robins.

Costa Rica 147

Costa Rica San Jose Asia Geese 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2014

My Dark-eyed Juncos are trilling in preparation to retreat to quieter breeding grounds, the Black-Capped Chickadees sing their two notes, and the Song Sparrows absolutely will not shut up. Snow Geese overgrazing their breeding grounds, displacing other Arctic-breeding species and setting themselves up for a fall.

Geese 179

Geese Montana Breeding Pelicans 179

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

What qualifies a bird to be included in the top-5? This version extended the list a bit and it turned out that almost every fourth bird was an one-monther. Somewhat unfairly, the second criterion was that I described the observation at 10,000 Birds. Lesser White-fronted Geese, of course.

2018 117

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 117

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2019

Although little-known, WPAs provide critical breeding, resting, and nesting habitat for millions of ducks, geese, and swans, as well as shorebirds and grassland species. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimates that 2-3 million geese and 7-9 million ducks use use the basin every spring as staging grounds on the journey north.

Nebraska 146

Nebraska Dissection Geese Ducks 146

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2012

It was a pleasure to study and digiscope a North American rarity at leisure in the company of other birders, even if the bird was not quite as close as we would have wished. In the recent past Barnacle Geese that showed up on the east coast were almost uniformly considered escapes from waterfowl collections.

New York 165

New York Geese United States Canada 165

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 187

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

John from A DC Birding Blog , and Patrick from The Hawk Owl’s Nest at Jamaica Bay at 8 AM Saturday morning for some birding. The Red-winged Blackbirds that were busy staking claims to breeding territory by singing from bushes, trees, and marsh plants were not groggy at all.

New York 163

New York Honduras Jamaica Geese 163

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2012

Andrew Baksh, Birding Dude, has been keeping close tabs on it during his weekly Van Cortlandt Park bird walks since, and I figured it was time that I made a serious attempt at it when I had some time last week. (An I got out of my car and walked up to the parade grounds where large numbers of Canada Geese often forage.

Geese 155

Geese New York City United States Canada 155

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2019

Although little-known, WPAs provide critical breeding, resting, and nesting habitat for millions of ducks, geese, and swans, as well as shorebirds and grassland species. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimates that 2-3 million geese and 7-9 million ducks use use the basin every spring as staging grounds on the journey north.

Nebraska 113

Nebraska Dissection Geese Ducks 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Every autumn, tens of thousands of Snow Geese arrive in California’s Sacramento Valley following their long journey from the Canadian Arctic (click on photos for full sized images). Snow and Ross’s Geese winter there in the tens of thousands. Map courtesy of Terry Sohl at South Dakota Birds and Birding.

Geese 153

Geese South Dakota Sacramento Arkansas 153

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2017

There should be thousands of birds at this time of the year, Dimitris Michalakis from the Karla Lake management authority told me. In the northern section, the water was deep, interspersed by reed-islets, but the only birds were a few Little Egrets and Black-headed Gulls. Lesser Kestrel. These two were only the first of several I saw.

Greece 186

Greece Killing Pelicans Eagles 186

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2013

All four major flyways in North America — the aerial migration routes traveled by billions of birds each year — converge in one spot in Canada’s boreal forest, the Peace-Athabasca Delta in northeastern Alberta. About three billion birds fly north to the Boreal Forest each spring to build nests and lay eggs. Water withdrawals.

Obama 245

Obama 2008 United States Industry 245

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Crotty is a birder and lawyer living in Portland, Oregon who loves to share thoughtful , in-depth conservation pieces with 10,000 Birds readers. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), contain many of the nation’s most renowned birding locations, including Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico, Laguna Atascosa NWR in Texas, and J.N.

Factory 117

Factory Ducks North Dakota Nebraska 117

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

It is commonly kept in captivity and has therefore established many feral populations world-wide originating from escaped / released cage birds. This is what happens when people choose their pet birds on visual factors alone without taking vocalizations into account. Very stupid thing to do.

Germany 244

Germany Netherlands Zoos Geese 244

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2018

We were heading to the Djerdap (Iron Gates) Gorge National Park, stretching along the south bank of the Danube in eastern Serbia, to do the 400 km / 250 mi bird tour interconnecting possibly the very best sites around Belgrade reachable within a day. The deep beech forest of Djerdap was still full of birds. It shows again, flying back.

Serbia 118

Serbia Woodpeckers Birds Bears 118

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

These two water management wetlands are amongst the very best birding and photography locations in south Florida. link] From the tangled scrub at the entrance to Green Cay my guests emerge on the boardwalk, cooing and ahing at the tameness of all the birds. And this is where magic happens from time to time. If not THE best.

North America 221

North America Factory Alligators Trafficking 221

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2016

This is Jason’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds: Birders were rightly alarmed by the armed occupation of the Malheur NWR in Oregon. One of the nation’s premier birding locations had been overrun by an armed militia and the occupation unexpectedly endured for weeks. Individually, many NWRs protect crucial bird habitat.

Wildlife 189

Wildlife Grizzly Bear Puerto Rico United States 189

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2018

It eventually warms up but in the meantime, it’s good birding anyways. “Good” in this case means lots of birds on the move. Flock after flock of blackbirds, ducks, geese, raptors flapping their way north. The birds also need it because this is when they build nests and breed.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Blackbirds Texas Geese 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2014

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!

Finland 165

Finland Estonia Birds Europe 165