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 236

Greece Pelicans Geese Buffalo 236

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. I am trying to count them all!

Greece 207

Greece Killing Pelicans Eagles 207

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2020

Like many of you, I had plans for this year’s spring migration: to bird the very best tour of the Balkans, heading for northeastern Greece. First, 800 km of driving from Belgrade through Bulgaria to very NE corner of Greece and the Dadia Forest National Park with its 36 species of diurnal raptors, out of Europe’s 38.

Greece 264

Greece Bulgaria Birds Serbia 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2014

Our bird guide, Georgos Spiridakis, is driving slowly along this dirt track, checking the mud all the time. It is an early April morning and we are in the hills surrounding Lake Kerkini in the north of Greece. Off we sail to another breeding colony – that of threatened Dalmatian Pelicans.

Greece 166

Greece Pelicans Breeding Buffalo 166

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

There’s something wonderfully primeval about the Northern Bald Ibis: it has the look of a bird that really ought to be extinct. The fact that it’s not is quite surprising, as this curious bird has come very close to the brink. Sadly, they no longer breed in Algeria, while in Turkey no free-flying birds remain. (In

Morocco 243

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 243

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2020

If you are old enough, you will remember birding without a phone? Later I carried it because of a stash of bird songs I compiled in it. And now I carry it for the same reason, only now they are a part of the bird ID app. Anyway, I don’t even have an app for the European birds at the moment, but for the Birds of Southern Africa.

Serbia 292

Serbia Birds Ducks Cyprus 292

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2024

Bee-eaters are one of the most colourful, and beautiful, of all European birds, but they are very scarce visitors to Britain. This was the best photograph I managed on a dull, grey May afternoon Suddenly, there they were, a whole line of birds on the wires, plus individuals swooping after insects. I’m coming!”

Greece 130

Greece 2014 Investigation Breeding 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Have you read my blogs on birding Greece ? Presuming that you live somewhere in Europe and plan a car trip to Greece, let me suggest a couple of routes that will increase your tour list. But, however successful it proved to be at the moment, waiting for accidental appearance is not the best birding tactic.

Greece 180

Greece Albania Macedonia Europe 180

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

Don’t you hate it when you cannot communicate while birding overseas? Having mobility issues, I still remember birding from a van along a rather productive dirt road in Costa Rica ( Broad-billed Motmot , Lineated Woodpecker , Cocoa Woodcreeper , etc.), While tracking brown bears in Greece some time ago, B. Yes, I thought so too.

Bears 159

Bears San Jose Greece Costa Rica 159

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

We are in the village of Finikas on the island of Syros in the Cyclades archipelago of Greece. We sail into the relative calm of a cliff, the mast takes an upright position, navigation becomes calm and quiet… quiet enough for our bird guide, Andrea Bonetti to pick up a voice of a Western Rock Nuthatch coming from the rock face.

Greece 249

Greece Malta Croatia Birds 249

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. The post The top-5 birds of 2018 appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

2018 121

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 121

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

And here I am now, avoiding the two barking dogs trying to bite my tires while I am driving through pre-dawn darkness towards the delta of the river Styx, or Acheron, as it is known today at the Ionian Sea coast of Greece. This is possibly the only European wetland I’ve birded where Common Moorhens outnumber Eurasian Coots.

Greece 212

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 212

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

An afternoon is already growing old while I am driving downhill to the Livadi marsh at the island of Kefallonia, Greece. I am watching from the main coastal road and do not see much – several Little Egrets and Grey Herons , one Common Kingfisher … is he going to be my best bird here? Trips falcons Greece' Of course you do!

Falcons 194

Falcons Greece Madagascar Game 194

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

I was driving along the legendary eastern levee of the Kerkini Lake in northern Greece ( Google Map ) and, listening to the first Golden Oriole flute, was slowly getting closer to a wooded Mt. The first birds to spot from the boat were Common Terns furiously defending their newly built nests on floating logs. mi) above the lake.

Greece 203

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 203

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2013

In short, the accepted view used to be that a small breeding population of Egyptian Vultures inhabited Southern Africa, but has vanished facing the spread of towns, roads and farms. It was not the first note I have published, but was the only one about a bird I have never laid my eyes upon!

Sudan 245

Sudan Macedonia Botswana Serbia 245

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2011

A few months ago I shared with the 10,000 Birds community the plight of Griffon Vultures in Cyprus , and it has only been getting worse. I had written then that… There are rumors of a plan to capture Griffon Vultures breeding in Greece and release them here in Cyprus, to rescue the population.

Cyprus 194

Cyprus Greece Rescue Breeding 194

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2015

One simply has to love Greece. The bird is gone into the pines, about to land in some tree crown. Birding is either black or white – there are no gray tones. Then, I go birding. Above that steep section, a bird hanging in the air on a strong wind… Should I stop the car? I’ve had just two glimpses of it.

Greece 245

Greece Falcons Madagascar Birds 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2020

And as the windblown birds settled down for the summer breeding season and the wind subsided, I found any concern for which way it was blowing died down with it. Of course, there may very well have been fowl-inspired weathervanes in ancient Greece and Rome. And living birds still seem to appreciate weathervanes as perches!

New York 159

New York Farming Belgium Fowl 159

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2016

Of course this is self-evident as you can never have enough gulls on a bird blog, but this blog here is in an especially dire need of more gull posts for the simple reason that I have a few nice pictures of gulls that would make for a few nice posts. As you can see by the brown markings, this bird is not an adult. No, not in this post.

Europe 140

Europe Spain Italy Ireland 140

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

However, I have to put it in perspective by explaining that during the year I hardly ventured out of East Anglia, and almost every bird was seen in Suffolk or Norfolk – I live on the county boundary. I’m not a twitcher, either, so I rarely, if ever, go in search of a bird, or birds, that someone else has reported.

Estonia 243

Estonia Portugal Greece Barn Owls 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2024

Lesser Kestrels are one of those birds that have a special fascination for British birdwatchers. They are very rare birds in Britain, but have been recorded from Scilly in the south to Fair Isle in the north. Lesser Kestrel really is an appropriate name, for they are a lesser bird than the familiar Common Kestrel.

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Falcons Spain Europe 2012 226

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2024

A first-winter Red-breasted Goose at Cley, North Norfolk As a general rule, geese are birds of subtle, even dull, plumage. With its deep chestnut-red breast, exquisite head pattern and black and white body it’s an exceedingly handsome bird, and one that never fails to attract admirers when one turns up in Britain.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2024

With the first three months of the year now gone, it’s time for a review of my birding efforts so far this year. The next couple of months will of course see a boost to my British list, as summer migrants flood into England, while forthcoming trips to Cyprus, Greece and northern Spain will also turbocharge the European list.

Spain 130

Spain Eagles North America Ducks 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Out of just under 200 bird species I observed this year in SE Europe, there are 6 threatened species. Some of them were always uncommon in the region, others are highly localised, some are hard to notice among thousands of similar birds, but others were abundant recently and one of them still is, despite the decrease in numbers.

Serbia 203

Serbia Montenegro Greece Bulgaria 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2016

For those who happen to be faithful followers of posts about birding in Costa Rica, no, you haven’t accidentally browsed to the wrong place. Today, I am writing about another very birdy place and an event that I was very fortunate to have experienced, the Champions of the Flyway Bird Race in Eilat, Israel. Nope, not one bit.

Costa Rica 187

Costa Rica Eagles Birds 187

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2023

Though it’s more than 50 years since my first bird photograph was published, I’ve always remained a birdwatcher who photographs birds, not a photographer whose favourite quarry has feathers. However, 400mm wasn’t really long enough for bird photography, so I eventually bought myself a secondhand Nikon 600mm f5.6

Birds 245

Birds Cyprus Portugal Estonia 245

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2022

In addition, it has over 450 bird species and more than 30 in-country endemics, of which it is possible to see every single species! Where to look for the birds? Birding agencies seem to stick to their announced plans and no news of cancelled tours had reached the bird tourism market.

Sri Lanka 147

Sri Lanka Ghana Uganda Eagles 147