10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2021

The raucous Spotted and Gray-barred Wrens are in the Cactus Wren family. It’s unusual to find a bird that is mostly seen, not heard, and yet has so much attitude when you do see it. In other words, it is a bird photographer’s nightmare. Maybe this time I would finally manage some decent photos of this adorable bird?

ALA 174

ALA United States Mexico Family 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2014

The Long-tailed Tit , Aegithalos Caudatus , is one of the most endearing of British birds. They are usually seen as a small, noisy flock or family group that passes quickly through feeding acrobatically like the true t**s as they go. Birding Long-tailed Tit' In Japan, it is represented by the A.c. japonicus race.

Japan 214

Japan Collecting Europe Groups 214

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

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

I am shocked to be writing this post already, and doubly shocked that I’ve seen six new species for Queens since I guessed what my next five Queens birds would be just eight months ago, back in March. It’s been a good year for birding in Queens! Fortunately, there are birds to help.

New York City 153

New York City Birds New York Blackbirds 153

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

MAY 5, 2015

There is GISS and there is Birding by Impression and they are not the same. Birding by Impression is a conscious, deliberate method of identifying and recognizing birds based on the study and evaluation of “distinctive structural features and behavioral movements” and comparison with nearby and similar species. So say Kevin T.

Birds 172

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 172

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

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

DECEMBER 18, 2013

The Pygmy Nuthatch ( Sitta pygmaea ) is a non-migratory bird that lives primarily in Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine forests in western North America. These little 4 1/4 inch birds roost in cavities, which it selects depending on season and weather. What a nice, close knit family! References: 1 Birds of North America Online.

North America 166

North America America Collecting California 166

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

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

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Few if any species are as emblematic of the Neotropics as Ramphastidae, the family that includes the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. Even non-birders can appreciate the huge-billed and colorful birds. On the other, the birds love Pink Banana , and the guests love seeing the birds up close. Disturbing, no?

Costa Rica 240

Costa Rica Horses Farming Collecting 240

10,000 Birds

JULY 14, 2011

southern Australia’s cool winter weather and wonderful birds sound mighty appealing right now and 2. The following points stood out to me: “Metaves,&# a collection of disparate and puzzling birds recently grouped by the position of a few molecules in one nuclear gene, is probably not an actual clade.

Madagascar 164

Madagascar Birds Louisiana Groups 164

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa). Hamar mother and child.

Ethiopia 249

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 249

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2013

We had last experienced this cheerful family of birds in Katherine in the Northern Territory over 13 years ago, so although the population is isolated there they had the same characteristics. They roam in family groups varying from eight birds upwards and have a certain confidence about themselves as they strut around the bush.

Investigation 166

Investigation Australia Family Collecting 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2012

While New Zealand is famous for its endemic oddities, once upon a time New Zealand also had many birds from groups and families that are no longer found here. More curious was the owlet-nightjar, an already obscure group to begin with, but made all the more astonishing by virtue of its flightless and ground living lifestyle.

Eagles 102

Eagles New Zealand Bald Eagle Collecting 102

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

MARCH 2, 2021

Ranging in color from off-white to dingy black, with pastel to gelatinous shades of yellow, orange, purple, and brown in-between, found in moist crevasses, decaying trees, rain-soaked pastures, mushrooms lack the beauty of butterflies and wildflowers cannot equal the action of bats, or flying fish, and certainly lack the spiritual zest of birds.

North America 270

North America America Species 2018 270

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2016

Once you eliminate the risque jokes (I know, I know, but it’s a family blog) the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet might have the most comical name in American birding. How did this itty-bitty bird come to be saddled with a moniker that sounds exactly like a punchline about bird names? There is no great mystery here.

Costa Rica 103

Costa Rica 2014 Family Collecting 103

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

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

It is now the month of love, and there are few birds I love more than the alcids. According to Reedman , murre is the old Cornish world for a Razorbill , and eventually became a vernacular term for alcids more broadly; murrelet, then, makes simple sense as a name for the smaller members of the family. The Long-billed Murrelet , well.

North America 115

North America Science Collecting Fish 115

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

The Edwards’s Pheasant is a rather smart blue-black member of the pheasant family and it may be on the edge of extinction. If this bird did become extinct, it would be the first pheasant species to have been lost in the 400 years since proper records began. Conservationists searched intensively in 2011 but found none.

Vietnam 156

Vietnam 2000 Germany Groups 156

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2013

The Spring Wings Festival , held this past weekend, was the perfect way for a birding-festival newbie like me to get into the swing of things. Its small size, laid-back nature, and ample opportunities to get up close and personal with birds make it a good fit for experienced birders, but also for people looking to get their feet wet.

Nevada 182

Nevada Birds Barn Owls Cows 182

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

…so here’s a post about some birds at a spring. The spring the birds I’ll show you today is far from the seat of New Zealand’s government where I now work. Striolated Bunting ( Emberiza srtriolata ) This member of the bunting family (that’s bunting, not sparrow. I’m sorry. Long may it last.

United Arab Emirates 161

United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia Oman Yemen 161

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2018

To celebrate spring migration, I usually review an exciting new bird book. So, here, for May, is a review of two amazing field guides, reminders that there are strange and wonderful things out there in the natural world other than birds that deserve our attention. Moths are more than bird food. Happy May Day! Let that sink in.

North America 100

North America America Oklahoma Missouri 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

“ There is, perhaps, no better place in the world for birds than this country. Despite discovering dozens of bird species, he is however not remembered in any English names of birds. The famous Verreaux family who made several expeditions into the province through the 1820’s and 1830’s procuring specimens for rich collectors.

Mozambique 195

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 195

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2014

Earlier this afternoon my small family made a drive out to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Three owls have already had the devices attached and some pretty interesting data is being collected. How about it, 10,000 Birds reader? He brought with him Snow, his stuffed Snowy Owl , so Snow could see his “real owl friends.”

Owls 219

Owls Research Science Collecting 219

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Its mostly found on the ground in thickets or the edges of dense vegetation and usually in small family parties. Pink-backed Pelican by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours. There are certainly some stunners involved.

Africa 220

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 220

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2016

The English language, or at least the adherents thereof with more time on their hands than sense, has bestowed us a great number of names to collective nouns for groups of birds. English has not been similarly encumbered with frivolous names for young birds of specific types. A Jackbird! Bonus bath shots!

New Zealand 106

New Zealand Parrots Rats Bats 106

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / What is the National Bird of Nicaragua? What is the National Bird of Nicaragua? Nicaragua is not the only country to have the Turquoise-browed Motmot as its national bird. Get yours today!

Nicaragua 194

Nicaragua El Salvador 2011 Deer 194

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

But later in August, Alexander Suh at the University of Münster emailed me about a new paper he and his colleagues have just published: Mesozoic retroposons reveal parrots as the closest living relatives of passerine birds (PDF). Now, you collect the nine pieces of paper from the last generation of copiers. Ringer Suh et al.

Parrots 195

Parrots Falcons Indonesia Rodents 195

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.

North America 157

North America Sparrows America United States 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Like so many trips this one is more about the journey than the destination which brings us to why they have had a series of guest posts on 10,000 Birds. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”. Their first contribution to 10,000 Birds is here.

San Diego 195

San Diego South America Costa Rica America 195

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

It seemed to draw you in and I could easily imagine standing beside him, staring as he did at the bird, watching it curve its neck downwards. The title read “Birds of the Northern Forest”, paintings by J.F. As I flipped through the pages I was once again amazed by the quality and lifelikeness of the birds presented.

Birds 229

Birds Woodpeckers Canada Collecting 229

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

As I have explained before these islands are the best place for a lot of the birding here because they are more easily protected from introduced mammals which wreck such havoc on the wildlife here. They are a common enough coastal bird that can been seen from shore on some days paddling around the marina, but a nice bird none-the-less.

Penguins 165

Penguins Parrots New Zealand Seals 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. They are often found roosting in small groups along the edges of lakes and riverine sandbars. It is also related to Wood Stork of the Americas and Milky Stork of Asia.

Africa 246

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They looked out their windows and across their patios and up from their apartment terraces and saw–birds. And they were intrigued and they had questions, lots of questions, more questions than could be answered by a field guide or a social media group. copyright @2020 by David A llen Sibley.

2020 264

2020 Birds Groups North America 264