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 247

Greece Bulgaria Birds Serbia 247

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

By Martin Garwood Martin has been interested in birds from an early age and has traveled extensively in pursuit of different species. He recently set up a charity, High Weald Swifts, to promote conservation in the UK of this now “red-listed” species. He has a particular passion for Swifts. It was a male Kestrel.

Shelters 231

Shelters Cattle Wildlife Hunting 231

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2023

The coastal delta includes low, scrub-dominated hills and brackish marshes, the habitats with the greatest species richness in moderate zones. These birds have already left my native Serbia, further north, and this is not just the only one I have seen in Greece, but my last bee-eater of the season.

Greece 162

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2024

I contemplated how the birds were able to achieve such acceleration after sleeping all night without an ounce of caffeine. Once the swifts ascended well above the canopy, they began to look like birds again. Meanwhile, the forest edge was awash with birds. The birds were for the most part playing hard to get, though.

Guyana 223

Guyana Parrots Trinidad Woodpeckers 223

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

10,000 Birds is running a series of articles by and about tour guides, tour companies, eco-lodges, and other birding travel organizations. We want to help the birding tourism industry come back strong from the COVID pandemic. She was attracted by the number of different species and their colors.

Ecuador 191

Ecuador Spain Experience Experiments 191

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2022

Both Trinidad and Tobago share over a hundred species but within the mix are many that are found on one island and not the other. For those of us who travel and see different birds, I’m sure you’d agree that there are different degrees of novelty. So this is a strange, and very niche version of a trip report!

Trinidad 266

Trinidad Turkey Squirrels Species 266

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Not professionally – these people come in SUVs and probably never recapture their gas money from the fish they catch (though come to think of it, neither do I with my bird photos). This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). One strange thing about Chongming is the inevitable presence of people fishing. End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

What happens when you visit one of the best birdwatching sites in the region with the highest number of endemic bird species in the Americas in the world’s birdiest country? The area is known for a military base, the legendary Montezuma Lodge, and a boatload of birds. Your mind gets blown. Xeno-canto has a helpful map.)

Colombia 267

Colombia Birds South America America 267

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

By David Tomlinson If you’re an avid lister, then the best advice I can give is not to go to Lapland in late autumn, as you won’t see many birds. During a week based in Äkäslompolo, a small Finnish town a couple of hundred kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, we struggled to get to 27 species. The same was true of Eurasian Magpies.

Reindeer 149

Reindeer Squirrels Fur Fox 149

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 19, 2023

Photos courtesy of Mosetlha Bush Camp A dusty-red road leads me through Marico bushveld deeper into the 750 square kilometers large wilderness of the Madikwe Game Reserve – the 4th largest reserve in South Africa, home to 350 bird and 66 mammal species, some 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg.

South Africa 232

South Africa Africa Game Elephants 232

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2020

Just under a fortnight ago, I saw a report on the local bird alert of a sighting of a group of approximately 20 Nacunda Nighthawks at a wetland not more than 20 minutes from where I live. It seemed to be good birding judgement to scan the seasonally flooded wetland in the couple hours of daylight available before the storm arrived.

Livestock 227

Livestock Ducks ALA illegal 227

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2014

Birds have no boobs. Birds hatch out of eggs, like some species of snakes, who also have no boobs, although with a snake the fact is more readily apparent. Not so with birds, who are taken care of by either the mother or both parents until they are old enough to fly. No birds feed their young milk.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 255

Wildlife Rehabilitation Wildlife Birds Eggs 255

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2014

According to Wikipedia, birds (class Aves) are feathered, winged, two-legged, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrates. The fossil record indicates that birds emerged within the theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic period, around 150 million years ago. Conservation Cavity nesting birds nestlings NestWatch'

Fur 189

Fur Horses Birds Cows 189

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

Marshes are the habitats with the greatest species richness in moderate zones, also significant as breeding, wintering and migratory stopover sites for birds; it therefore comes as no surprise that this one is among the 10,000 Important Bird Areas of the World (one per each bird species?).

Greece 199

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 199

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 early August this year, I saw 77 species here (69 on the lake, plus 8 more in the surrounding areas) but barely more than a thousand individuals. I pass the first of several dead cows.

Greece 198

Greece Killing Pelicans Eagles 198

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2014

so I’m a bit behind in my intense pursuit of scientific findings related to birds. First, the bird butts. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of birds flying by out there are going the other way. If half the Warblers go extinct, that would be a lot of species but you’d still pretty much have Warbler DNA.

Birds 185

Birds Bald Eagle Zoos Philippines 185

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2014

The vast majority of the 10,000+ living species of birds are passerines, and the vast majority of those have a similar system of breeding: Mom and dad bird make a nest and share parental responsibilities roughly equally, if not identically. There are variations on that theme, of course. They looked at fairy-wrens and cuckoos.

Breeders 210

Breeders Breeding Birds Groups 210

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2017

Birds begin to filter down through this southern part of Central America by August but the biggest avian movement happens during the third and final weeks of October. We might not get the variety of a New Jersey autumn but we do get major numbers of species that winter in South America. Some of the Birding Club at Selva Bananito.

Costa Rica 169

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Farming 169

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2019

This species was discovered (shot, actually) in the 19th century, only to be lost through the entire 20th century. The Forest Owlet is an endemic species of this mountain range. From the next curve in the road, I can see the cows grazing deep in the valley: “If I was a tiger, I would check my prey from here.” Let’s go.”.

India 187

India Owls Tigers Cows 187

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2016

I dipped a bird recently – possibly a lifer. First I noticed a red cap – a male, then striped flanks and pale-red undertail, but couldn’t see its wing because some part of the bird remained hidden by a branch at any given time. I opt for the bird richest section of the lake, visible from the eastern dyke. What to say?

Greece 257

Greece Woodpeckers Boars Eagles 257

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2015

There are lots of great birding sites in Costa Rica. In fact, go anywhere with a good amount of natural forest and the birding is gonna be good. However, there are a few stand out sites here and there that are significantly better for species like Jabiru, Lance-tailed Manakin, and Nicaraguan Grackle to name a few.

Costa Rica 179

Costa Rica Chile Nicaragua San Jose 179

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2020

I soon encountered many of the local birds that I have become very familiar with over recent weeks. When I returned to the small dam where there had been so many Australian Wood Ducks earlier in the day I discovered that the eleven cows had been joined by two Cattle Egrets. Two Cattle Egrets with four cows!

Buffalo 166

Buffalo Fish Koalas Cattle 166

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2013

When you move on to Montana, you discover that there are worse things that one species of tiny screaming mammal tricking you each year as you try to cope with an influx of songbirds and a winterized memory bank that contains only Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos (and only about half their calls at that.) You sigh and move on.

Chipmunks 186

Chipmunks Squirrels Rodents Montana 186

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2016

The proximity of both slopes also facilitates seeing a lot of different species in a short span because the montane barrier has resulted in differences in terms of species and habitats. But, if you want to go further afield, fear not, there is some wonderful lowland forest birding up near Nicaragua and down south by Panama as well.

Costa Rica 166

Costa Rica San Jose Panama Birds 166

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2018

What was the weirdest place you ever birded? Cows are considered sacred by majority of Hindus so cow meat is generally not consumed. This results in the cow’s corpse being left to be fed on by vultures. A dead cow that was treated with Diclofenac turned out to be poisonous to vultures. A war zone?

India 140

India Stray Dog Cows Rats 140

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2020

There is a water trough for the dairy cows, but sometimes the Pacific Black Ducks take advantage of the trough! I always approach the bridge slowly to see what bird species are below and around the area. Once I find a few active species I watch and wait. The post Foster to Toora appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Fox 156

Fox Feral Ducks Horses 156

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2011

For these stunning birds are not easily found outside of the Guianas which includes Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. On a trip to Suriname to find and film some of these spectacular species I was blown away by the birding. Suriname has approximately 735 recorded species, with many more to still be added to its total list.

Suriname 223

Suriname Birds Guyana South America 223

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2015

When we left to go to Melbourne it was the time of year that we get rain in Broome and much of the land becomes inaccessible by vehicle, but we have often wandered/waded into the bush in search of birds. The sky was busy with Cockatiels flying overhead, which are another species that some years don’t make it so close to Broome.

Birds 157

Birds Zebras Cows 2012 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2014

The official definition of CR status says the species could be gone within ten years, or could lose 80 per cent of its population within three generations – whichever comes first. CR being the highest category in the Red List , if I want to see some of those birds, I better hurry! Locals being vegetarians, why are there no birds?

India 250

India Sudan Ukraine Camels 250

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

There is a fantastic paper just out in Science : “Sustained miniaturization and anatomoical innovation in the dinosaurian anceestors of birds” by Michael Lee, Andrea Cau, Darren Naishe and Gareth Dyke. Whales are cows. The point is, of course, that whales are not cows. Even though whales are cows. But birds are dinosaurs.

Camels 204

Camels Whales Whaling Apes 204

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

And so ended the birding day of the W. We survived mosquitoes, poison ivy, arguments about the route, traffic, and everything else that was thrown at us and we managed to break the record for the Seatuck Birding Challenge, which had stood at 117. Sadly, four other teams did as well, and we finished fourth with our 123 species.

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle Jamaica Birds New York 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 16, 2013

Out east on Long Island you can find what is arguably the most productive inlet in coastal New York in terms of birding.* The jetty-lined Shinnecock Inlet seems to be a magnet for marvelous birds which makes it, of course, a magnet for birders as well. Holy cow was it cold! Common Loon Gavia immer. The guillemot never showed.

Ducks 165

Ducks New York Battery Birds 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2011

One of the things I do to earn a living is bird surveys, some for the federal government, some for private companies that want to assess an area for construction (like a wind turbine). There’s something very relaxing and calming sitting in one spot for four hours at a time and only focusing on birds, no email, no paperwork just birds.

Birds 162

Birds Cattle Blackbirds North America 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2011

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil giveaway we asked readers of 10,000 Birds to name the bird in Brazil that they would like to see more than any other species. What follows are the responses that readers offered, a veritable aviary of sought after species. My most-desired Brazilian bird?

Brazil 216

Brazil 2011 Birds Wildlife 216

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2013

Now nearing 50 and duly lost in a mid-life crisis, Dragan Simic took to birding rather late – only half a lifetime ago, after successfully testing his inadequate skills in other life threatening activities, such as rock climbing and vertical caving. The Forest Owlet is an endemic species of this mountain range. Let’s go.”.

India 259

India Owls Tigers Endangered Species 259

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Several years ago, I was asked to visit my nephew’s preschool class and talk about birds. Jake lives in southern Florida, so he and his friends had to be interested in learning about these birds, which they saw everyday, right? How old were the baby birds? I chalk it up to the original baby bird book, P.D.

Birds 223

Birds Owls Switzerland Lions 223

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2016

While I was at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in January I spent most of one afternoon taking my time driving around the Viera Wetlands and digiscoping anything that crossed my path. The frog was big but the bird was determined. They were also finding tree frogs though I am not sure of the exact species.

Cattle 106

Cattle Leopards Cows Wildlife 106