10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2012

He’d like to thank his mom, his agent, and of course the Birding Academy. This bred both indifference, and on the flip side a tendency to overly pester the few charismatic birds they did come in contact with. Does anyone here have personal experience visiting the Charles M. ” This weekend, remember a bird you love.

Montana 163

Montana Geese Blackbirds Canada 163

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago? The bird guide question was a conundrum.

Trinidad 189

Trinidad Birds South America Research 189

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

Like so many trips this one is more about the journey than the destination which brings us to why they have a guest post (hopefully the first of several) on 10,000 Birds. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.” We were ecstatic!

South America 179

South America San Diego Mexico America 179

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically. million in the late 1990’s.

Delaware 176

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

I’ve been fortunate to encounter many owls in my birding life, sometimes because I’m looking for them, sometimes happily by happenstance. I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. What the Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds is a joyous, fascinating read.

Owls 200

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 200

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

My review copy (well, actually a contributor’s copy—more on that later) was waiting for me when I returned from the ABA birding tour of Thailand and Malaysia (more on that in a separate post) in early March. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family. Mexico border.

North America 142

North America Sparrows America United States 142

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2022

I can’t resist loving my first week of birding each year. Just today (Saturday) I got to celebrate a Cooper’s Hawk, Berylline Hummingbird, and Lesser Goldfinch — common birds all, but still great when they are FOY. We had a nice collection of birds of prey for the day. Was it practicing?

Falcons 177

Falcons Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 177

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

The Eurasian Wryneck is the woodpecker that doesn’t look like a woodpecker, the bird with the portmanteau name that is also a medical condition (and which may remind some people of a Nora Ephron essay). They are slim and small-headed birds and their bills are fine, not strong and dynamic. This is a very easy book to read.

Woodpeckers 224

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 224

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

Acrocephalus palustris is the old world Marsh Warbler, and is one of the birds in the Chernobyl area. So sorry, but this is a necessary part of our thought experiment!) Let’s do another thought experiment. And, of course, of all the tissues that make up a bird or a mammal, neural tissue is the most demanding of oxygen.

Mammals 225

Mammals Birds Fish Cooking 225

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Are there birders out there who do not dream of birding Australia? Possibly birders who have already birded Australia (but, wouldn’t you want to go back?) or birders who live there (but, how can you bird it all?). So, I welcomed the opportunity to review The Australian Bird Guide.

Australia 105

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 105

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

APRIL 30, 2011

Each year 120,000 birds visit the island to breed from March through August in burrows that riddle the landscape. A pair of birds in a nesting burrow share the parental responsiblities and change shifts under the cover of darkness. After mating, a single egg is laid and incubation duties are shared by both parents.

United Kingdom 159

United Kingdom Brazil Eggs Abandon 159

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, experts have determined that the current rate of bird extinction is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times the background rate. Globally, 1,313 bird species of a total of count of 10,064 are threatened, a frightening 13% of the total.

Endangered Species 183

Endangered Species Species South Africa Morocco 183

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2012

We now interrupt all talk about birds and migration to consider dragonflies. Together they comprise Ondonata, an order of insects that, like birds, are beautiful in flight and challenging in identification. Unlike birds, they do not vocalize; unlike butterflies, they are totally predatory, not a vegetarian amongst them.

United States 225

United States Costa Rica Massachusetts North America 225

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

For birders, the Wolongshan area is like a poorer cousin of Balangshan – due to the lower elevation, the bird species here are more common and thus less interesting. I can confirm that the Indian Blue Robin – as stated by the HBW – tends to sing from deep cover – not ideal behavior for a bird photographer.

Hamburgers 198

Hamburgers Birds Science China 198

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2018

The idea behind is simple, some birds may move and if counted within a week or a month, double counting is almost guaranteed. Mechanisation (ploughing and harvesting in particular), chemical fertilisers and pesticides, fire and predation all contribute to high mortality of eggs, chicks, juveniles and incubating females. Snowing rain?

Hungary 138

Hungary Serbia Austria Eggs 138

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

We can bird all over the world, and although we are not guaranteed a field guide to every single region and country in the world, there are a whole lot more of them than in the mid-1970’s, when world birders like Phoebe Snetsinger often had to put together their own checklists and guides. I couldn’t wait to give names to all my new species.

Ireland 168

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 168

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2012

I caught glimpses of lots of fine, fine birds including a heroic Killdeer protecting a nest and my first Willow Flycatcher of the season. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed.

2012 158

2012 New York Fish Birds 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2019

Falconry Month at Birds and Booze: I’ve decided to dedicate this month of March 2019 to wines and beers related to the history of falconry – or hawking – for no other reason than that I’ve recently acquired several bottles adorned with mostly medieval European iconography relating to this “sport of kings”.

2015 113

2015 Italy Falcons Europe 113