10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2015

(This photo is actually of a TK seen a few days later, but it was at our favorite birding gas station pit stop that we also stopped at on our first day. Excellent 10,000 Birds posts have been written about Pico Bonito and Honduras by Corey and Carlos , so I’m going to focus on some of my most memorable experiences.

Honduras 253

Honduras Birds Costa Rica Groups 253

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

“Target birds” The term can foster excitement but is easily contentious. Aren’t all birds worth watching? There’s nothing wrong with appreciating and watching every bird but there’s also nothing wrong about going to great efforts to see lifers only found in dreams. Fiery-throated Hummingbird.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 203

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. It also ranges widely from Mexico south to western Ecuador. Ain’t I great?

Costa Rica 176

Costa Rica Turkey Ecuador Hunting 176

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2011

I enjoy fishing almost as much as I enjoy birding. This is not a surprise as both pastimes tap into my primeval desire to hunt. I don’t need to kill something to feel the rush of the hunt. The one exception would be the thrill that birding brings. You see for me, birding is all about the quest. But I digress.

Ecuador 150

Ecuador South Africa United States Hunting 150

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2017

Last week I wrote about the interesting hunting habits of our local Harris’s Hawks. Given the scavenger feeding habits of the Turkey Vultures , the small mammals and birds that are on the menu for the Zone-tailed hawks are lulled into complacency by the lack of threat from the vultures.

Tail Banding 100

Tail Banding Turkey Paraguay Mexico 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

Nineteenth and early twentieth century naturalists collected birds on long and arduous exploratory expeditions in the New World. A Guan was collected in 1876 in a mangrove forest near the border between Peru and Ecuador. A large and striking bird like this would be hard to neglect in a museum collection. Photo: Adam Castillo.

Collecting 270

Collecting Peru Neglecting Hunting 270

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2013

My post last week where I defended game hunting as a conservation tool has, unaccountably, encountered a certain amount of push back. Who would have thought that a post defending hunting game in general would have not been universally acclaimed? I will address two of them in the new year, namely, “Is hunting moral at all?”

Tigers 175

Tigers Hunting Game Protection 175