10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2023

Say, Bullock, Brewer, and Cassin will lose their English namesakes in the recently announced renaming game. Not only did my research show a lot of promising sites to visit, but I also have two good birding friends in the region, Laura and Brad. That is arguably the scariest sentence you will ever read in a birding blog.

Colorado 176

Colorado Denver Skunks Wildlife Reserve 176

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

The only bird-related activity I can think of is looking at bird photos I took in Singapore in 2015, and adding some irrelevant comments to them. Presumably, birds living in Singapore do not understand German. Lesser Whistling Ducks are “not threatened by hunting as they are not considered good to eat” ( Wikipedia ).

Singapore 230

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 230

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2019

An expanse of habitat as vast as Murchison Falls NP in Uganda, as excessively generous in beauty and biodiversity, permits endless ways to experience both its birds and animals. The Masindi Hotel holds the distinction of being the oldest and most historic hotel in Uganda and has some terrific birds on premises. Mind boggling, I answer!

Uganda 196

Uganda Senegal Africa Game 196

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2023

While I did take advantage of the comfort inside, we did regularly venture outside and I was glad to have a few good birding moments. The lake itself did not produce anything out of the ordinary however, with Eurasian Coot , Great Crested Grebe , Tufted Duck , Mallard , Common Pochard , Mute Swan , and Grey Heron.

Germany 152

Germany Woodpeckers Game Family 152

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2022

Hot summer days, often reaching 40C/104F, time to open another beer and dream of birding some cooler place, a place where deep shade of tall trees controls the heat… Perhaps the world’s second largest rainforest? The Congo is one of the deepest rivers in the world with depths sometimes exceeding 220 meters (720 feet).

Central African Republic 297

Central African Republic Congo Gabon Gorillas 297

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2016

In 2015 a Federal Duck Stamp Task Force was convened under the auspices of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) consisting of seventeen individuals. b) Recommendation : Work with all groups to identify synergistic opportunities for promoting broad conservation benefits of the Duck Stamp. 1) Action : U.S.

Ducks 100

Ducks Hunters Hunting Wildlife 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2024

With the first three months of the year now gone, it’s time for a review of my birding efforts so far this year. Nor have I chased particular birds, either: almost all the birds I have seen have been encountered during a normal day’s birding, not a targeted twitch for a particular species.

Spain 130

Spain Eagles North America Ducks 130

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2021

Without looking through polished sets of coated glass, birds can be itty-bitty specks and flying objects that hint at the colors hidden therein. Bring the binos up to the eyes, work the focus, and if the bird is nice enough to still be there, life can take on new meaning. Life is good when you can inspect the plumage of a hummingbird.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Transported Parrots Birds 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

However, I have to put it in perspective by explaining that during the year I hardly ventured out of East Anglia, and almost every bird was seen in Suffolk or Norfolk – I live on the county boundary. I’m not a twitcher, either, so I rarely, if ever, go in search of a bird, or birds, that someone else has reported.

Estonia 233

Estonia Portugal Greece Barn Owls 233

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2013

It’s been a busy week in bird news–some of it bad, some of it good, and some of it just plain head-scratchin’ Let’s start with the odd stuff first. Henceforth, the Reading Fighting Phils will now be represented by two ostriches , who will live at the ballpark and greet visitors to the team’s games.

Ostriches 138

Ostriches Penguins Ducks Arkansas 138

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2021

As sad as I am to say it, I must: 2021 was one of my worst years for birding since I started looking at feathered creatures with intent in 2006. COVID kept me from traveling internationally, and my only major domestic trip of the year was to California where I have birded quite a bit already. All that said, 2021 was not a total loss.

New York 260

New York Birds California Owls 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2022

If you think it is rather pretentious to start a birding blog post with a Kafka story, I fully agree with you. Anyway, the story is not quite how I remembered it, to be honest, but fitting enough to describe the almost claustrophobic birding experience in ever-shrinking Nanhui. I just want to point out it could be much worse.

Raccoons 224

Raccoons Birds Oregon China 224

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2018

Those Eagles you’re hearing everyone talk about right now aren’t the ones you typically seek while birding, but rather the ones from Philadelphia that just won Super Bowl LII. To get in the mood for the big game, I took a run up to Irondequoit Bay in search of Bald Eagles. What was your best bird of the weekend?

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle 2018 Philadelphia Game 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 14, 2021

This is the second post in the Birding crème de la crème series (the first, focused on southern Asia, is here ). The bird-richest region of Africa is its equatorial East: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi (unlike the rest, the last one, Burundi, is politically unstable and not recommendable). 2 Phinda GR 447 sp.

Africa 208

Africa Kenya Uganda Tanzania 208

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Population density is far lower than in most parts of the city, and public transportation is limited – probably bad news for the people living on the island, but good news for the birds. The many small ponds and waterways attract quite a few ducks, though presumably due to their China experience, they are extremely wary of people.

China 167

China Ducks Transported Game 167

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2016

I’m a big fan of city birding. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy getting away from it all out in some remote forest or desert, but a good city can combine some excellent birding and outstanding diving, drinking, dining and sightseeing. The gardens are so bird rich books have been written about what can be seen in them.

Penguins 172

Penguins Birds Mongoose Ostriches 172

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2012

Some of my dear friends have a similar compulsion to play board games, analyzing strategy and searching the rules for loopholes and infelicities until their eyes fall out. This indoor-centric, sedentary activity could never be combined with birding, and clearly conflict is inevitable… or is it? Also, I’m not a real expert.)

Game 179

Game Birds Puffins Owls 179

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2012

What this land-locked country lacks in endemic birds it more than makes up for in accessibility of tough species, numbers of birds and the overall wildlife experience. Okavango sunset Almost 40% of all land in Botswana is under conservation either as wilderness areas, game reserves or national parks.

Botswana 211

Botswana Zebras Lions Elephants 211

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2021

After spending Christmas Day birding around Broome and observing 92 species we spent the week making a mental note of what bird species were where. Every time the weather changes or you observe a bird you did not see on Christmas Day you wonder where it will be on New Year’s Day. Four Dollarbirds.

Geese 215

Geese Ducks Breeding Zebras 215

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 205

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 205

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2013

Greetings, 10,000 Birds readers! Birds have already begun making their presence known on the court. Among the “First Four” games, the LIU-Brooklyn Blackbirds faced the squad from James Madison University. The Round of 64 boasts a healthy contingent of teams with bird mascots.*

Louisville 161

Louisville Bald Eagle Kansas Oregon 161

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

I have to admit that I feel like Duck Dynasty is a tremendous missed opportunity. Ducks have everything that such a show requires — vicious rivalries between the males, catty scheming among the females, kidnapping, mate-swapping, even freaky relationships among cousins that result in all kinds of who’s-the-daddy confusion.

Dallas 175

Dallas Ducks Baltimore Birds 175

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2015

This is Liz’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. The rise in drone popularity over the past few years has been meteoric — and in our typical human arrogance, we’ve once again ignored the fact that for the past 150 million years, the sky has belonged to the birds.

Birds 186

Birds Protection Idaho Bears 186

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

To explain what a Grallard is one must first go back to those societies and recall that one of their predominant preoccupations was game. Yes, cute little Skylarks were all well and good, but what Kiwis really wanted were birds they could shoot and fish they could, uh, fish. Female Mallard, photo by Corey.

Species 168

Species New Zealand Ducks Game 168

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 218

North America America Hawaii Birds 218

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2022

Another paper on Taiwanese birds found that “the urban Crested Goshawk bred 34 days earlier on average than the rural population with significantly higher nesting success”, concluding that “the urban Crested Goshawk population benefits from high food supply and low predation risk.”

Birds 147

Birds China Eggs Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2014

There is an absorbing game known to American children as “Where’s Waldo?” He has progressed through many volumes to become an enduring favourite and now there is a birding version for young and aspiring ornithologists. competitions ducks Wood Duck' It’s called “Where’s Woody?”

Snow Leopard 173

Snow Leopard Zoos Ducks Leopards 173

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2011

My 8-year old daughter got interested in birds from a VERY early stage. By age 2 she could identify over 10 species of birds in our Johannesburg, South Africa, yard by call alone. So I guess for some people birding skills come naturally but, for others, birding skills need to be learnt. And perhaps 20 others by sight.

Birds 279

Birds Game Wildlife Family 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2018

This just might be a birding joke as old as the hills, but it’s one I hear without fail every year come Christmas Bird Count season in upstate New York. Not long after the compilation gets underway starting with the order Anseriformes , we come to Aix sponsa and the compiler asks – hopefully – “Any Wood Ducks?”

2016 107

2016 Ducks California Hunters 107

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Ever since I learned that the Muscovy Duck I discovered in a Central Park pond was not countable by ABA standards, I’ve grappled with the question of “What is Wild?” Alvaro Jaramillo, brilliant bird guide and proprietor of Alvaro’s Adventures , just tackled this thorny topic on the ABA Facebook page.

California Condor 151

California Condor Rescue Game California 151

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2016

We’ve worked to change the dialogue around the Duck Stamp in public discussions and meetings, and we’ve reached out to Refuge officials and conservation officers to argue for the viability of this concept. To my 10,000 Birds readers, I’d love to get your comments here in response: 1. But we’re moving closer to our goal.

Wildlife 187

Wildlife San Francisco Legislation Ducks 187

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Proposal: Creation of a Federal Wildlife Conservation Stamp A birder, wildlife watcher, photographer and non-hunter version of the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (aka Federal Duck Stamp). She says, “there’s just a cultural bias against anything related to hunting.”

Wildlife 208

Wildlife Hunters Ducks Hunting 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

Mangrove Warblers, in particular, turn up in the ABA listing area with some regularity, particularly at the southern tip of Texas, where higgledy-piggledy is the name of the game. Chuk makes his quip about the Black-winged Yellow Bird; my friend Molly insists that everything is a duck, a pigeon, or an owl.

Connecticut 180

Connecticut Baltimore North America New York City 180

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2020

There wasn’t much in the way of birds in the yard, maybe a Cooper’s Hawk winging through from the north, crows calling and House Sparrows chirping. That’s where the birds were, thousands of gulls, rafts of diving ducks, Buffleheads and goldeneyes buzzing the cold, gray water.

Costa Rica 239

Costa Rica Turkey Iceland Eagles 239

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2016

How much time do you devote to birding? How high is birding on your list of activities – is it the very first or merely one of? These are the types I recognise: Coffee Break Birding – 10-15 minutes, usually not planned ahead but squeezed out of your schedule. It is a good option if you know that there is that one special bird.

Birds 115

Birds India Africa Serbia 115

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2012

Nothing is sacred, not even Big Bird or Honey Badger. This year as the party was rounding the corner, I thought that I might look into a sexy bird costume. But I thought I could do some form of brown bird. But I thought I could do some form of brown bird. Here we have a Ruby-throated Hummingbird costume.

Birds 225

Birds Owls Badgers Fowl 225

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

I’ve never been one to be overly concerned about whether a bird “counts” People, and organisations, have complex and elaborate rules about whether a bird you saw or heard actually is a bird you saw or heard, which seems a very unnecessary way to add complexity to an already complex hobby. Water Thick-knees.

Botswana 162

Botswana Birds Lesotho Elephants 162