10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2023

The Collared Finchbill is not a rare bird, and it is not endangered, but it is a particular favorite of mine. So, in order to show a few more photos of the bird than the usual two or three had I included this bird in a post of birds seen around Wolongshan, Sichuan), here is one dedicated to the species.

Vegan 190

Vegan Cats Animal Friendly Eggs 190

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

The chapter titles of Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds represent both ends of the spectrum: “A World Full of Poisons,” “Malaria,” “Forest Intruders,” “Lead Shock,” “Shot.” Conservation. It’s not easy. This is the most intense, tragic section.

California Condor 190

California Condor Falcons California Birds 190

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2020

Rather than belabor the obvious, I’ll just point out that the global pandemic may have spawned a new wave of birders, but collectively we’ve seen far fewer species of birds. As I’m not traveling these days, I’ve been spending lots of time with my local birds. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2020 157

2020 Birds Industry 2011 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

This, 2022, has been a curious year for books about birds and birding. Dragan]: Europe’s Birds: An Identification Guide , by Hume, Still, Swash, and Harrop is a photographic guide. The artwork of “Europe’s Birds” is dazzling, the text condensed and comprehensive, and the layout and design are without peer.

Sri Lanka 240

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 240

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

In 2007 I was working in a university building that was just begging for bird feeders. This was where I set up my bird feeders, just one at first, then expanding as everyone expressed delight in seeing the Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Downy Woodpeckers. There were no dead birds for weeks. I hoped it was an anomaly.

New York City 261

New York City Birds Illinois Science 261

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Galápagos: A Natural History, Second Edition by John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin gives the traveling naturalist the tools needed to fully appreciate and experience the Galápagos Islands. Where once there were 13 species of “Darwin’s finches,” there are now 17. There are changes in where to find the birds.

2006 262

2006 Tortoises Sea Lions Sea Turtles 262

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

Thank you, goddess of birding luck and text group people).* My inner self felt stuck in an area between disbelief and total joy and the voices near me were echoing this state of mind: “Oh My God,” “I never thought I would see this bird,” “Look at that bill!” “How did that bird get here?”

Birds 263

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 263

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 235

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 235

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Perhaps those people have never had to personally experience increasingly erratic climate patterns. So when there is no Lake Cuitzeo on which to winter, where do all these birds go? There were plenty of other birds in the area, with 72 species around the reservoir for the day. And the Black-polled Yellowthroat ?

Ducks 130

Ducks Mexico California Fish 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Birders derive “value” from birding. But does the value of a particular trip come from the number of birds seen, viewing a particular species, seeing an endangered species, catching a glimpse of a rarity, adding a lifer, or something else? How much do birders value a birding experience?

Oregon 188

Oregon Washington Birds Chad 188

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

Of course, birds only represent a sliver of the near-infinite flora and fauna that, collectively, grows, blooms, dies back, and lapses into dormancy over the course of a year. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was his favorite species, a Green Heron , at the Great Vly in his hometown of Saugerties, New York.

2016 154

2016 New York Birds Collecting 154

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2020

And I love making my little garden (some 1400 square feet) more attractive to birds. But I would never have imagined how important it would be to my emotional well-being to have a bird-friendly garden during lockdown. In recent years, I have moved much more in the direction of plants that attract birds.

Birds 159

Birds Woodpeckers Madagascar Nashville 159

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2020

One good thing about birding during a pandemic–the forced restrictions on place and time translate into more time to observe what birds do. Bird behavior–endlessly fascinating, but so much still hidden and unknown. Extreme behaviors also push scientists to look at birds in new ways.

Research 237

Research Birds Science Costa Rica 237

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2021

I didn’t plan on taking such a long break away from the Birds and Booze beat, but life got in the way the last several weeks, mostly on account of moving into a new home. And what could be better than a new bird-themed brewery opening up less than two miles down the road from me? Good birding and happy drinking!

New York 264

New York Boston 2019 Collecting 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2013

I am back home and recovered from the Birding Rally Challenge in Northern Peru (Rally). Well, I will start by saying I am not new to non-stop birding; some friends and I tried to break the 24-hour record number of birds in Florida (Big day). Photo: Peru Birding Rally. Photo: Peru Birding Rally.

Peru 258

Peru Birds South Africa United Kingdom 258

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

I was wishing I had a birding buddy with me as a mixed flock overwhelmed my abilities. Suddenly, a large bird, which seemed to have a bright yellow breast and black head, flew overhead to a point behind multiple branches. And then the bird was gone. But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species.

Mexico 193

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 193

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

You know how you plan your regular Monday birding outing in spite of a category 2 hurricane making landfall on the coast, 135 miles away, because the rain bands are supposed to finish impacting your area at around 7:00 a.m.? And then the hurricane stalls, and the rain continues until noon, but you go birding anyway? Which I did.

Blackbirds 235

Blackbirds Shelters Ducks Mexico 235

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2014

Birding in the Amazon Rainforest has its pros and cons. The lure of an staggering number of species at a particular location is a draw for many people. However, rainforest birds live in specific microhabitats and are often much easier to hear than to see in the dense multilayered rainforest.

Peru 192

Peru Birds United Kingdom South Africa 192

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

The Durango Highway is arguably one of North America’s great birding roads due to the great variety of habitats, the spectacular mountain scenery of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the numerous Mexican endemics one can target. There are many dusty side roads in this area, many of which offer productive birding.

Mexico 201

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 201

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2015

As a result, some of the most popular and exciting birding destinations in the world run on Tico time. Having visited quite a few outstanding ecolodges in my blessed life, I’ve learned that exceptional birding destinations must first and foremost harbor exceptional, accessible birds. Are there hummingbirds?

Costa Rica 250

Costa Rica Birds Farming 2014 250

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 191

Trinidad Emotional Transported Mexico 191

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

Going birding is even more of a no-brainer now than before. Many moons ago, when I used to work in the (supposedly) booming petrochemical industry in Trinidad, most of my time was actually spent birding. I racked up a staggering number of life birds in the surprisingly rich surroundings during my four-odd years slaving for The Man.

Trinidad 232

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 232

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2018

When it comes to initiatives that promote birding, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is hard to beat. Numerous projects take place that monitor bird populations and help educate people of all ages about birds. Those who did so on May 5th automatically became part of the biggest day of collective birding in 2018; Global Big Day !

Costa Rica 174

Costa Rica 2018 Colombia Collecting 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

They were commenting where they felt most at home – on their favourite FB pages (predominantly American Birding Association). I found those comments insightful and inspiring, valuable experiences and opinions worthy of sharing to a wider audience than the FB groups where they were initially posted. A teacher.”.

Greece 216

Greece Birds Zambia Experience 216

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept of Birds and People , Mark Cocker and David Tipling’s book that, in 592 pages, explores the intersection of just that—birds and us. Nor have I overlooked “sightings” of birds in movies mouthing other birds’ calls. I’m not sure why.

Birds 224

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 224

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

APRIL 4, 2014

Among birders, wildlife photographers, and nature enthusiasts, it is renowned for its incredible concentrations of birds at the end of the dry season. During this time, the fish trapped in the shrinking pools of water attract hordes of herons, egrets, storks, and other wetland species. I must mention one thing.

Brazil 165

Brazil Birds Blackbirds Paraguay 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2014

There were opportunities to go to far flung places like the islands of the Pacific or the coast of Canada or the Yorkshire Dales… Anyway, as I was obsessed by Africa at the time, I leapt at the opportunity to go to Namibia to collect samples of bat DNA for a biogeography project. And then, there it was.

Bats 155

Bats Birds Vanuatu Namibia 155

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2014

Continued from: Calilegua National Park Birding Trip Report. This is a very hot and dry region known as El Chaco where many interesting bird species can be found. Gonzales the greater the size of soybean farming fields and our expectations to see birds on this road trip had quickly died and turned into a boring flat-land ride.

Argentina 195

Argentina Farming Chile Birds 195

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

All of these titles deal with birding in specific North American geographic areas: The Atlantic coast, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The photos show the forms of the bird seen on the east coast and are annotated with notes on plumage and other distinguishing field marks. It’s time for some short book reviews. Well, short for me.

Pennsylvania 176

Pennsylvania Texas Whales Whaling 176

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

There is GISS and there is Birding by Impression and they are not the same. GISS—general impression, size, shape—is intuitive, the result of an unconscious cognitive process derived from experience in the field. Experienced birders can identify birds using GISS; all birders can identify birds if they adopt the BBI approach.

Birds 172

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 172

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 150

Ireland Birds Groups Falcons 150

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. For birders, it’s the extremely large book, shelved in a place where it can’t crush the field guides, used to research the history of a bird in their area. It included surveys of nocturnal and marsh birds, and a point count survey of songbirds.

Pennsylvania 239

Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 239

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2017

As far back as the late ’70s he’s been entertaining and enlightening birders with his essays and books on the hows and why of birding. The latest from his pen is Birds of Prey , a hybrid between an identification guide and an essay collection, a book of lore that provides a comprehensive overview of the raptors of North America.

North America 103

North America Falcons America Eagles 103

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2014

It is also a good description of the birding in southernmost Florida. However, few realize how unique and how good the birding can be here. Sure, Miami and the Florida Keys do not boast any endemics ( ‘Cape Sable’ Seaside Sparrow is close) at the species level.

Florida 172

Florida Miami United States Stray 172

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 24, 2015

I was upstate again this past weekend, collecting Desi from his week with his grandparents, and took a couple of hours early Sunday morning to visit my favorite Saugerties birding spot, the Great Vly. As is to be expected in late August there were many young birds around getting the hang of living life on their own.

Tennessee 158

Tennessee Experience Experiments Collecting 158

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 205

Trinidad Birds South America Research 205