10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2014

The serpent-eagles of the genus Spilornis are an Asian group, not to be confused with two different genera found in Africa or, for that matter, the snake-eagles, a mostly African but also European and Asian genus (simple, right?). This species ranges from India to Japan and south down Borneo. Birds birds of prey Borneo eagles'

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Eagles Japan India Africa 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. If you like cute birds, you will probably like the Black-and-yellow Broadbill. Homework assignment: Is the bird in this video a male or a female? Strangely, there do not seem to be many papers on this species.

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Birds Sri Lanka Taiwan Cats 212

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2019

In mid-December, I was birding along the Beljarica levee (Beh-LYAH-ritza), my local patch north of Belgrade, when something other than birds attracted my attention: three wild boars , appearing all black because they had just swam through the swamp to reach the bottom of the levee. I barely started when some sulphur (a.k.a.

Serbia 245

Serbia Otters Boars Eagles 245

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2022

Gazetted as the “nature monument” in 2013, one of the few remaining – Bojcinska Forest by the village of Progar covers 670 ha / 1650 ac, with around 108 bird species and some 60 species of mammals. The most numerous birds are Common Chaffinches. A Lesser Spotted Eagle high in the thermal, getting ever smaller.

Croatia 225

Croatia Serbia Shelters France 225

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

You may have read my recent piece on Birding the Okavango Delta in Botswana here on 10,000 Birds. If you have never thought of India as a birding destination, I’d urge you to give it a good look. Fly into Delhi and within an hour you can be birding the lovely Sultanpur wetland reserve.

India 187

India Wildlife Tigers Eagles 187

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

Having been penned in our house for the last month (and more), the last time we have been out birding seems like a distant memory. I was ardently working to finish a years-long project on the birds of T&T so those last few weeks have not been bird-less by any means. Our yearly CBC racked up its highest numbers in a decade.

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Trinidad Hunting Venezuela Woodpeckers 260

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2022

sq mi), which contradict the conservation significance of the bird it was founded for, some three decades ago – the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard. My guide, Chirag Solanki, told me he had once been searching here for five days, before he managed to locate the birds. Indeed, I say. And why are they parked?

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Gazelles India 2012 Endangered Species 255

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2014

Furthermore, the total population in Hemis National Park is estimated at 50-60 individuals, making the park an important genetic reservoir for this species which is classified on the IUCN’s Red Data List as Endangered. We could not believe our fortune, could we really be treated to a Snow Leopard hunt – this was beyond our wildest dreams?

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Snow Leopard Leopards Hunting Sheep 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Slowly, the shapes of birds were beginning to materialise. We just needed to find somewhere that was less cluttered to allow us some chance of seeing birds! Cocoa Woodcreepers are the largest species of woodcreeper in T&T, and they have a proportionately massive bill. And so, we continued.

Trinidad 162

Trinidad Eagles Bears Litter 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

“Target birds” The term can foster excitement but is easily contentious. It would be uber cool to lay eyes on a rare lifer, on species that only seem to live on the pages of a field guide but isn’t that somewhat discriminatory? Aren’t all birds worth watching? Looking for Bare-necked Umbrellabird ?

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Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 202

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2020

Whiskey Month at Birds and Booze: This January, Birds and Booze at 10,000 Birds is setting its sights on whiskeys all month long. Luckily, we needn’t wander into such whimsical territory to find Scotland’s putative national bird. Pair of Golden Eagles (1899) by Scottish painter Archibald Thornburn (1860-1935).

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Eagles Lions Hunting Lamb 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

The main attraction for birders here are the hornbills – I have written about them before , so this post will be more on the other birds I saw there in 2017. Anyway, it is a very cute-looking bird if you are big enough not to be among its prey of (mostly) insects.

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Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

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.

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Austria Factory Asia Battery 297

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2019

The toughest thing for me, as a local birder, was to choose the most attractive birds because those that attract my attention are generally all too common in the northwest of Europe, from where most visiting birders are coming. In no particular order, here they are: Where to watch the top-20 birds of Belgrade.

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Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Breeding 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

It is near a river, attracting some birds that like to eat wet food. As the national bird of Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the African Fish Eagle is usually very busy whenever it stays in these countries, giving speeches, opening shopping centers, etc. The birds I asked about this pretended not to be related to anyone though.

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Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2016

In front of us, the river is two miles wide… and it is paved with birds: smaller groups of Greater White-fronted and Greylag Geese , numerous Mute Swans and Mallards , plus Eurasian Teals , Gadwalls , Common Pochards , a few Ferruginous and Tufted Ducks , Common Goldeneyes and several Smews. A goose hunt sounds like a WWII battle.

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Geese Hunting Boars Birds 175

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.

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Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

The Christmas Bird Count was the answer. The IWC census starts from mid-January following the logic that it is the period when the birds have reached their wintering grounds and are rather static, so the chance of double-counting the same flock is minimal. But it is so frustrating to pass the birds by without IDing them!

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Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 145

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2016

And then, two canids appeared in my scope field of view… My plan was that the downpour should finally be over in the morning, so I could go birding. They are sitting in the wet grass at the edge of the water, observing the bird movements around them. I am thrilled: this is more than just birding, this is a full-scale safari!

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Serbia Sheep Birds Eagles 128

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2023

Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth. An Englishwoman, she thought, originally, that she would stay within the British Isles, to see the five or six native species.

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Barn Owls Owls Serbia Finland 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2018

I hope everyone participated in at least one day of the four day Great Backyard Bird Count of 2018. I submitted five checklists from four different locations yielding 44 species. As I walked out on my back porch on Friday morning, the first day of the count, it was a cool, clear day and the birds were very active at the feeders.

2018 100

2018 Bald Eagle Woodpeckers Turkey 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2014

While there are some two dozen birding spots in Belgrade, Serbia, that stand out, in this guideblog I will focus on the river Danube and its floodplain, inside the Important Bird Area “Confluence of the Sava and the Danube Rivers”. The next winter bird spot lies some 4.5 In March and November, Common Cranes are a possibility.

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Serbia Birds Ducks Eagles 233

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

The Mourning Dove ( Zenaida macroura) is among the most abundant and widespread terrestrial birds endemic to North and Middle America. Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fNo6B5gUI.

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Hunters Hunting North America Game 175

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Getting familiar with birds is a process. As a child, poring through the pages of the Encyclopedia of Animal Life (I was gifted this 25 years before I appeared in Audubon magazine myself) birds gripped my attention. But this book taught me about eagles, owls, storks and herons. I was blown away. Streak-headed Woodcreeper.

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Trinidad Laws Family Hunting 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2018

No matter where or when we bird, we have our targets. Our bogey or nemesis species, birds that we would opt to see over others. Back in the early days of birding with optics, I wonder if such wanted species would have been birds that were much more common in present times. This bird does indeed glow.

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Costa Rica Bald Eagle Eagles Birds 101

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.

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Birds Egypt Family Eagles 212

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2022

Roebuck Bay is a well-known location for bird-watching around Broome. At the farthest point of Roebuck Bay to the south there is often a flock of Pied Oystercatchers that number several hundred birds. The area is used as a hunting ground for large raptors including the White-bellied Sea-Eagle and Brahminy Kite.

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Breeding Family Hunting Eagles 147

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. Red Lechwe.

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Botswana Birds Lesotho Elephants 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2020

I wrote previously about the prolific birding that is to be had in the small town of Baringo, Kenya. One of my top ten bucket list birds made itself very visible even before the sun broke over the horizon. Drifting slower and looking closer, we observed a tiny Malachite Kingfisher hunting in the sheltered shallows.

Kenya 155

Kenya Fish Trinidad Eagles 155

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2018

As you know, I started to bird from a canoe, exploring the Danube backwaters in Belgrade, Serbia. It is a fascinating world of swampy forests of willow and poplar, inhabited by Black Storks , White-tailed Eagles , Eastern Olivaceous and Icterine Warblers (above), among more than 200 other species. Nevertheless, Nagy was right.

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Beavers Serbia Eagles Hungary 120

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2014

It’s always tragic when a species goes extinct. But that tragedy is compounded when the species at risk is a country’s national bird. Americans of a certain age will recall how close their country came to losing the Bald Eagle.). The Manumea isn’t the only Samoan bird on the brink, however.

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Samoa Bald Eagle Campaign Hunting 170

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Many countries have private reserves and concessions, run for tourism or hunting, that provide outstanding wildlife watching opportunities. Brown-hooded Kingfishers hunt far from water. Spotted Eagle Owls are one of several owls that can be seen here. As well as birds, the reserve holds endangered species like African Wild Dogs.

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Zimbabwe Botswana South Africa Endangered Species 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2012

Birding’s Holy Grails. One of the most highly desirable birds in the world, the Pel’s Fishing Owl is a true phantom. The bird eluded me for nearly 20 years until I stumbled across one at Phinda Private Game Reserve , where I worked in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Typically these birds hunt at night and are very shy.

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Owls Fish Botswana Barn Owls 246

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?). Saxicola rubetra.

Greece 189

Greece Serbia Hunters Cows 189

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2014

While many people were saying, “OMG COOL” others were thinking “that’s too Big Brother-ish for me” and a few said, “Oh hey, wait, what about birds?” And we would know what to watch for if the eagle didn’t like it and would back the drone off. What if the bird attacks?

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Bald Eagle Mississippi Eagles Ducks 194

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2019

From his time hunting, Brian knew where rafts usually sheltered from the wind on the Santa Rosa Sound, and we strolled down the shore towards the black dots in the distance. Excitement gathered in my chest as we approached the first clump of birds: Redheads! View of the Santa Rosa Sound shoreline.

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Bald Eagle 2019 Florida Hunters 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

” these brown, long-tailed, noisy birds are small enough to hitch rides on backs of the real deal. This spectacular, turkey-like bird roams the floor of tropical forests from eastern Mexico south to northwestern Ecuador. Although this big bird isn’t on our menu, Ornate and Black-and-white Hawk-Eagles relish it.

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Costa Rica Turkey Ecuador Hunting 171