10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2012

Two-thousand-and-eleven was a pretty darn good year for me, birding-wise. Sure, I didn’t leave the United States but my first trip to the Pacific Northwest allowed me to see lots of new birds and spending the beginning of the year in southern California didn’t hurt the ol’ year list either. Those birds are big!

2011 181

2011 Puffins United States New York 181

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2013

The general public is out and about, birds and animals are raising their young, and human/wildlife interaction is at its peak. Self-cleaning pens, never-empty feed buckets,” wrote Angel in South Carolina and Zoe in California. “A A robot that feeds baby birds so I can take a nap,” wrote Jodi in Massachusetts. “A High Technology.

Wildlife 254

Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Oklahoma New York 254

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2014

It was the bobbing action on the rocks that drew my attention to the bird. This was a family vacation and I had led my unsuspecting wife and son out onto the curving pier at Aquatic Park, overlooking San Francisco Bay, ostensibly to get a better look at Alcatraz and the bridge, but actually with half a mind to finding a Wandering Tattler.

San Francisco 165

San Francisco United States California Breeding 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

I bring this up not to boast (well, not much) but because I think that this approach to wildlife travel is somewhat neglected in birding circles. Read most accounts of how birders see birds outside their patch and one way or another, they’re tourists. Ugandan Mangabeys were part of my family once.

Uganda 165

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 165

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Which, naturally, got me to thinking about the newly erected order Suliformes, a development I mentioned in my December column, 2010′s Top 10 Developments in Bird Taxonomy and Systematics , but which I thought deserved further examination, for it’s one of those stories that defines the era in which we are living and birding.

2011 160

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2011

The order Suliformes holds a lot of special birds from anhingas and darters to cormorants and shags as well as frigatebirds, pelicans, and tropicbirds. But the sleekest of the sulids may be found in the family Sulidae. While this bird shares the Galápagos with two other boobies, the Red-footed Booby ( S.

Ecuador 201

Ecuador Peru Hunters Pelicans 201

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Asides / Nine-legged Plover? Win a Copy of Hawks at a Distance Great Horned Owl Taking a Deer Leg Cats Are Still Public Enemy Number One, For Birds Crossley ID Guide Giveaway Winners.Or Nine-legged Plover?

2011 163

2011 Deer New York Cats 163

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2016

Well, it is rather common and can even be scarce regionally, but overall it is not a difficult bird to find in Germany so long as a cunning birder frequents reedy wetlands. No, the usual birding opportunity at zoos and parks is one of watching feeding and preening behaviour, or parenting and social interactions.

Zoos 100

Zoos Germany California Condor Lions 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge : Open to migratory bird hunting (youth only). The Refuge is now home to nearly 200 species of birds, over 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of insects, fish and plants. This is an Urban Refuge ! Why would you open it up to hunting?

Fish 147

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Stalking a Kiwi Icon Stalking a Kiwi Icon By Duncan • March 16, 2011 • 1 comment Tweet Share Most people, if asked, would confidently name what they thought the National Bird of New Zealand was.

New Zealand 157

New Zealand 2011 Deer New York 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

The first obstacle was getting to the general range of the species, which is the west coast from northern California to Alaska and across to Russia.* Having flown to Washington State on a family vacation the first obstacle was easily out of the way, which you knew already if you ever read this blog. It’s not too expensive, is it?&#

Washington 181

Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 181

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

.” There are many variations on this traditional farmer’s adage about sowing, which instructs the planter to scatter four seeds for every plant one hopes to harvest, so as to account for inevitable losses to birds and other hungry animals scouring the fields. Good birding and happy drinking! Birds and Booze News.

2017 169

2017 Nevada California Italy 169

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 218

New York Woodpeckers Jordan 2011 218

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

There is a very distinctive smell found on seabird colonies, where thousands upon thousands of birds come to breed and, coincidentally, deposit large quantities of waste. Arriving at the colony the head lights go off and we move into position below the birds (trying not to fall over the cliffs and into the sea) coordinating everyone by radio.

Breeding 197

Breeding Stray Seals Whales 197

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2011

I have hope that in the next couple of weeks I will be able to get enough decent shots to share a gallery of birds in transitional plumage and then another of birds in alternate plumage. Until then, enjoy these basic-plumaged birds* and make sure to check back between now and mid-April for further galleries of Oxyura jamaicansis.

Ducks 146

Ducks 2011 New York New York City 146

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2019

So, it just might be that pisco – the beloved South American grape brandy contentiously claimed by both Peru and Chile – is the only spirit named after birds. The etymology of the city name itself is debatable, but according to the Chilean linguist Rodolfo Lenz, it comes from the Quechua pishku , meaning “bird”.

Peru 132

Peru San Francisco Parrots Chile 132

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2011

I thought after my recent look at the more angelic end of the avian spectrum it would be illustrative to descend into the circles of birding hell in order to regard, through the safety of the Internet, one of the baser demons in the pantheon of the birding gods. A Western Gull ( Larus occidentalis ) during a quiet, reflective moment.

Breeding 182

Breeding Collecting California Hunting 182

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2019

Happy New Year, 10,000 Birds readers and writers, listers and photographers, friends and fellow travelers near and far! Writing a post scheduled for January 1st for a birding blog is a big responsibility. On the first of the year, every bird is a new bird! It was a United States lower-48 birding year for me.

2018 181

2018 New Jersey Michigan North Dakota 181

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2016

It has truly been an incredible honor joining the team here at 10,000 Birds. I never have been able to figure out what it is that this California Scrub Jay has, but it make for a nice photo. There in no question that the bird of the year for me, at least from a purely photographic stand point is the Black Skimmer.

Grizzly Bear 133

Grizzly Bear San Jose Bears Fish 133

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

To get out to the deep water we have to cruise for hours which necessitates leaving late in the evening, trying to sleep on an uncomfortable, moving boat, and waking up in the predawn hours to spend not-enough-time amid amazing birds before suffering through the long, boring ride through the “dead zone” back to shore.

Whales 120

Whales Whaling Albatross Dolphins 120