10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2023

As usual, my experience with such boardwalks was somewhat underwhelming, as was Eshowe as a whole, but there were still a few birds worth mentioning at the forest and in the area surrounding Eshowe. These two Hadada Ibis are reenacting the mirror scene from “Duck soup” (sort of). But the same species was never found again.

South Africa 147

South Africa Africa Birds 2018 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2018

At last count, there are 25 species of birds named for U.S. But only two states have more than one bird named for them: Hawaii and California, with nine and seven extant and eponymous species, respectively. states, with varying degrees of geographical relevance (sorry, Tennessee Warbler ).

2015 113

2015 San Diego Family California Condor 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Audubon guides to birds have been around since 1946. The first guide bearing the National Audubon Society imprint was Audubon Bird Guide; Eastern Land Birds , written by Richard Hooper Pough, and illustrated by Don Eckelberry. Plate 28 from Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds, by Richard H. Knopf, 1994/97.

North America 279

North America America Birds California Condor 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

And, sure enough, as the sun set birds came over in ones and twos and fours and fives, adding to what was already a pretty darn big flock of birds spread out on the West Pond. Mostly the ducks were Red-breasted Merganser and Greater Scaup , the two most prevalent species on the pond, but there were a few other birds mixed in as well.

Ducks 170

Ducks 2011 Jamaica New York 170

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2022

Necessity being the mother of invention, and all that, the almost-total disappearance of Mexico’s second-largest lake in the spring of 2021 forced me to try a new birding route last May. As it turned out, the remaining water was too shallow for ducks, except a few Northern Shovelers. Spoiler alert: I did not see any Canvasbacks.

Ducks 211

Ducks Mexico Fish Species 211

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

The April arrival of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, Second Edition was a supremely happy moment in a very difficult, sad month. A companion regional guide, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America was published in 1941; its fifth edition will be coming out in early September.

North America 207

North America America Hawaii Birds 207

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 194

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 194

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2023

And since I suspect there may be others out there who, like I, feel something of a personal connection with 10,000 Birds’ regular writers, I feel the need to explain my absence. Now, all of this should not have kept me from seeing, and reporting on, some cool Mediterranean birds. In fact, I have not formally gone birding, at all.

Mexico 182

Mexico Morocco Cuba Jordan 182

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 297

Austria Factory Asia Battery 297

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

On that glorious day, I observed ten critically endangered birds, representing 8% of their Costa Rican, or 2% of their global population!! In my previous post , I dealt with Rancho Naturalista Lodge itself and birding within their private reserve. But, let’s start at the beginning.

Costa Rica 233

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2023

Down here at the southern end of so many birds’ annual migrations, spring can be a melancholy time. Between March and May, we say goodbye to more than half our duck and wood warbler species, as well as about half of all our shorebirds, vireos, hummingbirds, buntings, sparrows, and orioles, and many members of other avian families.

South America 168

South America Pigs Mexico Species 168

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

In late July, I travelled a half hour north of Morelia to Lake Cuitzeo (kweet-SAY-oh) to see if our two inevitable first migratory species from up north, Baird’s Sandpiper and Wilson’s Phalarope, had begun arriving. At that point, neither species was yet present, and there wasn’t much of a lake, either.

Ducks 253

Ducks 2020 Eggs California 253

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

What I am getting at here is that I have seen lots and lots of Ruddy Ducks at Jamaica Bay but never one that looked like this particular individual. What I am getting at here is that I have seen lots and lots of Ruddy Ducks at Jamaica Bay but never one that looked like this particular individual. Go check it out! Get yours today!

Ducks 151

Ducks 2011 Jamaica Deer 151

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2022

Anytime I travel, I do what it takes to get in some birding. After all, the best way to find new birds is to look in new places. However, I rarely get to travel with family or friends who share my obsession. Birding being best in the early morning, I get up before they do, and try to be back by breakfast — their breakfast.

San Francisco 147

San Francisco California Battery Ducks 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2019

Was it Shakespeare who asserted that a bird by any other name would sing as sweet? Perhaps he didn’t write those exact words, but this enduring sentiment may be as close to bird naming conventions as the immortal Bard would willingly tread. Far too many bird names have confusing, misleading, or just plain dumb common names.

Birds 113

Birds Woodpeckers Ducks Suffering 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

One of these days, Jeopardy will feature a category called “Field Guides” and the first clue will be: “This landlocked South American country finally got its own bird field guide in 2016, but it wasn’t available in the United State until 2019.” Bolivia doesn’t come up much in discussions of birding travel.

Bolivia 172

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 172

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

I purchased my first Sibley— The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America —in 2003. My Eastern Sibley served me well, replacing the Peterson’s with which I learned my ducks and waders. Am I willing to give up the field guide which bears the mud and dirt of so many falls on so many birding trips?

North America 159

North America 2003 Birds America 159

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2018

July often means travel, which sometimes means tourist attractions, which occasionally means exotic or introduced bird species. We may know these birds well, but should we love them? The reason I ask is because my family and I visited the Bronx Zoo this weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2018 100

2018 Zoos Birds Raised 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

However, no matter how one enjoys or takes in interest in the avian side of life, an official list of the birds for a given area is of vital importance. With the rise in birding tourism, bird lists for entire countries have also become increasingly important. Not every list has Great Tinamou on it. Juvenile Gray Hawk.

Costa Rica 199

Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 199

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2020

Should you ever come to bird in central Mexico, and you are only interested in our wonderful endemics, feel free to come in the summer. For the first time in months, I ate breakfast at home before leaving to bird, and then I had to change a tire before I could leave my neighborhood. So my probabilities of a banner day seemed low.

Game 156

Game Lions Africa Family 156

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2021

So I contacted him for the exact location, which turned out to be a beautiful 14-acre property that belongs to his family, and he kindly invited me over. We didn’t manage to make it happen the first Monday, but on the 28th of June, we birded his property together. But the Mexican Ducks say otherwise. The post Lifer!

Barn Owls 257

Barn Owls Owls Mexico Leopards 257

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2014

Derby is approximately 225 kilometres from Broome and has had almost three times the rainfall that Broome has had so far this month and so we thought it would be interesting to go and investigate the various birding areas that we knew of from other visits during our dry months. Birds visiting the puddle in the track! Long-tailed Finch.

Birds 145

Birds Ducks 2015 2014 145

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2017

The year 2016 is done and gone and 2017 beckons us onward, bright and new and shiny, hopefully full of birds. Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful 2017, full of amazing birds and experiences. As for Mike, well…at the beginning of a new year, every bird commands attention. How about you?

2017 124

2017 2016 New York Birds 124

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

The danger of reviewing a field guide to the birds of an exotic country you’ve never been to is that you become obsessed with visiting that country, no matter how far away and how expensive it may be. Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? I’m already looking up birding tours of Borneo and pricing airfares.

Brunei 174

Brunei Birds Asia China 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 218

Dissection Birds Research Europe 218

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2012

The month and this particular period is all the more auspicious for me and mine, as so many friends and families celebrate spring birthdays. My family took our annual post-Easter Egg hunt hike at Powder Mills Park, where I spied several gorgeous matched pairs of Wood Ducks along with lots of different woodpecker species.

2012 183

2012 Birds Eggs Hunting 183

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2014

I spent this past weekend in Saugerties at my folks’ house in order to look for Easter eggs, let Desi enjoy time with his cousins, and generally have a good ol’ time with family. I had no luck with the rails or bitterns but I did manage to see quite a few species, including some that were very cooperative. Conk-a-ree!!!

New York 171

New York Birds Ducks Blackbirds 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

Birds know habitat. They don’t read treaties or draw maps or build walls and, as far as we can tell (since we can’t talk to birds, yet), they have no concept of political boundaries. Robert Gallardo’s self-published Guide to the Birds of Honduras came out in 2015, and is the first bird field guide dedicated to that country.

El Salvador 232

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 232

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2011

Feeding birds is generally regarded as a harmless past-time, a wholesome way for people to share nature and enjoy wildlife with the family. However, more and more news stories are popping up this year of communities cracking down on bird feeding. How do you know when you are a little too involved with feeding birds?

Bald Eagle 243

Bald Eagle Birds Deer Minnesota 243

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2013

We have finally returned home to Broome after spending most of the year either birding and camping in Queensland or birding around Grant’s work commitments in and around Karratha in the Pilbara district of Western Australia. We are now seeing species we have seen in other locations in our own patch. Straw-necked Ibis.

Birds 154

Birds Ducks Australia Species 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2020

He has been an avid lover of the natural world since he was a kid, with a strong love for paleontology when he was younger, but he only took up birding in his last year of high school and hasn’t looked back since. This is Luis’s first guest post on 10,000 Birds but hopefully not his last! And something different I got!

Canada 165

Canada Cuba Miami Florida 165

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

If you like birds on posts, if seeing “little brown jobs” posing nicely in the distance as you drive or walk along a dirt road only to have it fly away as you approach makes you deliriously happy, then North Dakota is the place for you. I wanted to see prairie birds and I wanted to experience a new state. Scott Barnes, N.J.

North Dakota 138

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 138

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2012

Birds have captivated us for time eternal, not only because of their ability to fly, but also because of the color they add to our lives. Ok, let me be clear that I’m not suggesting that ALL birds are colorful. Birds like Plain Chachalacas and Grey Catbirds hardly evoke images of stunning beauty.

Birds 271

Birds Groups Cooking Parrots 271

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2017

As birders, we tend to spend more time in wetlands than most of our peers, neighbors, and family members. Unless those non-birding folks happen to be duck hunters or love to go fishing, they tend to stay away from the marshes, the riparian zones, the bottom lands. See the birds? Of course not, it’s rainforest!

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Birds Ducks Pelicans 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Birding for the Curious: The Easiest Way for Anyone to Explore the Incredible World of Birds by Nate Swick brings birding back to its roots—a simple, joyous way to enjoy nature using our eyes, ears, hands (for sketching), and brain. There are now no excuses except a lack of curiosity. And, nobody wants to admit that.

Birds 263

Birds North Carolina North America Owls 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2012

We are back from our ten-day family vacation to Berlin and Prague and it was awesome. What’s not to like about cobblestone streets, great architecture, wonderful friends, lots of beer and delicious food, unfamiliar birds, and not working for ten days? Mandarin Ducks are countable in Germany. Nothing, that’s what!

Germany 163

Germany Ducks Birds New York 163

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2019

Birds are singing and migrating, freshets are running, and trees are budding – yes, it’s time for all those things. And given what these birds have been through, this caution is certainly warranted. The same can’t really be said of a confusing Orange Bishop or gaudy Mandarin Duck loose in a city park.

North America 113

North America Vermont America Farming 113