10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2021

And what symbolizes freedom better than birds if not the liberty and choice to look at them? My holiday weekend took me to a part of the Southern Tier of New York where I can count on seeing both old-fashioned Fourth of July bunting and plentiful Indigo Buntings. Corey spent the weekend in his hometown and saw some nice birds.

New York 248

New York Birds Breeding Experience 248

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

Not only have we completed Birding Tourism February , but we’ve also collectively made it through what is usually one of the least exciting birding months of the calendar year. This is not to say that fantastic birds cannot be found in February, but rather that we’re mostly picking through the remainders of the last season.

New York City 238

New York City Charlotte New York Jamaica 238

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2021

As August comes rushing to a close, the doldrums of the last few weeks have already started to give way to a new mass movement of birds. Corey is loving the California birds but his Best Bird of the Weekend was a bird that doesn’t really belong in southern California. Move with them! How about you?

California 264

California New York Birds Experience 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2021

May is a time for birding. We have the slow weeks and months for reading, writing, and dreaming about the birds we’d rather be seeing. Corey enjoyed getting out early and birding both days this weekend, and has the lists to back him up. After that, what else could be his Best Bird of the Weekend? How about you?

New York 250

New York Sparrows Birds Breeding 250

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

The silver lining to these frigid winters is that birds are very active around my house, so I can enjoy cool cold-weather birds like Red-breasted Nuthatch from a warm perch. Corey enjoyed a long weekend in Narrowsburg, New York, along the Delaware River at the New York-Pennsylvania border. How about you?

Bald Eagle 192

Bald Eagle Delaware New York Pennsylvania 192

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2021

Another couple of months of a little more or less light at dusk every day will soon trigger that global migration of birds we all eagerly await. What I have is a typical Upstate New York winter, so this weekend was about adding more typical Upstate New York winter birds. How about you?

New York 173

New York Birds Experience Experiments 173

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2021

This has been the oddest May migration in memory, at least around upstate New York. The beauty of May, however, is that there are always birds, even if they’re not the ones we expect! Instead, his Best Bird of the Weekend was a Black Tern offshore in the Rockaways, his first in Queens in quite some time. It did not.

New York 212

New York Birds Experience Experiments 212

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2020

Sliding into mid-August in New York feels like the easing into a Jacuzzi: the heat may be intense to start, but the good times are just getting started. Corey spent most of Sunday driving to the Adirondacks for a week in the mountains, but he did get out birding in Queens on Saturday morning. How about you?

2020 260

2020 Jamaica New York Birds 260

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2021

So many different factors contribute to the quality and quantity of a birding adventure that one would be hard-pressed to predict the very best time to watch birds in a particular area beyond a vague three or four week window. My weekend was fantastic, considering I’m already two owls into the new year. Which one is that?

Birds 218

Birds New York Owls Experience 218

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2021

Fortunately, we have birds to look at, so let’s focus on them right now. Fortunately, we have an expansive view of weekends here at 10,000 Birds so I can choose one of the birds I saw in California on Friday before I flew out as my Best Bird of the Weekend. So that will be my Best Bird of the Weekend.

Alaska 213

Alaska California Birds New York 213

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

Our campsite was gorgeous North Lake State Park in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, where the air is crisp, the forests are largely intact, and the bears force you to be careful about leaving food out when you go to sleep. And, of course, as I do sometimes, I managed to sneak in a bit of birding. How cute is this?

New York 174

New York Cooking Chipmunks Owls 174

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2020

I know that June has a poetic reputation for perfect days , but July in upstate New York may offer the ultimate summer nights. The stifling temperatures of a New York City heat wave did what even the height of the COVID epidemic failed to do: they prevented Corey from doing a single dedicated birding outing this weekend.

2020 158

2020 New York City New York Birds 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2020

But 2020 clearly resists the storylines of more predictable years, as those of us birding New York state discovered this weekend. My initial foray to track down a Hoary Redpoll resulted in windblown Common Redpolls and little else, so I ended Sunday’s birding in favor of football. How about you?

2020 157

2020 Nashville New York Birds 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

The end of September doesn’t necessarily mean the end of what you might enjoy about September birding but it definitely signals the beginning of what you love about October. Corey had a few really good birds this weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend? Hopefully, you’re looking forward to the month ahead!

2020 216

2020 Connecticut Virginia New York 216

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2021

Really, the worst part of birding mid-September in upstate New York is the realization that, in a couple of weeks or so, the excitement of migration is over for us. Corey added two year birds to his list this weekend, a Dickcissel and Clay-colored Sparrow. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

New York 167

New York Birds Sparrows Experience 167

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2020

With hope, this was a memorable one for you, even if the birds weren’t particularly rare. However, many of the bird’s field marks were obscured because it flew far below me as I walked across the bridge I’ll always know as the Tappan Zee. What was your best bird of the weekend? Another weekend is in the books.

2020 225

2020 New York City Whales Whaling 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2021

July in New York City is generally an unpleasant experience. This is why New Yorkers in summer have fled the city for the mountains upstate, the beaches on Long Island, or, really, anywhere, for as long as New York has been a metropolis. Not only that, but the birding is typically not great either.

Jamaica 264

Jamaica Birds New York City New York 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2021

I knocked down several first birds of spring this weekend (not literally) but will always give Best Bird honors to a Saw-whet Owl , especially one showing as well as the one Ivy and I located at Owl Woods on Easter. Corey was extremely pleased to finally get out and about birding again after his family all caught COVID and recovered.

Texas 165

Texas New York Birds Owls 165

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2011

Melanerpes lewis is, to put it simply, a really cool bird. Second of all, Lewis’s Woodpeckers are birds of the west and they rarely stray to New York State. In fact, the bird is the fifth recorded in the history of the state,* and the first spotted in the Empire State since 2001. What a bird!

New York 184

New York Woodpeckers Jordan 2011 184

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

In 2007 I was working in a university building that was just begging for bird feeders. This was where I set up my bird feeders, just one at first, then expanding as everyone expressed delight in seeing the Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Downy Woodpeckers. There were no dead birds for weeks. I hoped it was an anomaly.

New York City 246

New York City Birds Illinois Science 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

Whiskey Month at Birds and Booze: After going on hiatus last year, Birds and Booze’s Whiskey Month at 10,000 Birds is back and setting its sights on whiskeys all month long this February. Illustration of a Short-eared Owl from The Birds of Great Britain (1873) by English ornithologist John Gould (1804-1881).

Owls 197

Owls New York New York City Cuba 197

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2020

This past weekend was both Global Big Day and World Migratory Bird Day, and yet I had to deal with snow and freezing cold. Suffice to say, migrants were having no part of the Arctic chill enveloping Western New York, which means we’re still mired in the first wave of spring arrivals. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2020 164

2020 New York Birds Experience 164

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

Win a Copy of Hawks at a Distance Great Horned Owl Taking a Deer Leg Cats Are Still Public Enemy Number One, For Birds Crossley ID Guide Giveaway Winners.Or These Blasts From The Past Bald Eagles are Getting Spoiled… Help Save Migratory Birds! • Explore These Related Posts More Habitat for Snowy Plover? Thanks for visiting!

Experience 162

Experience Experiments Deer 2011 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

At least I didn’t have to travel far for great birds; my whole family thrilled to the sight of an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk chowing down on an unspecified rodent in our yard. Corey enjoyed his weekend at his parents’ house in the Hudson Valley though he didn’t see too many birds. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2020 164

2020 New York City Rodents New York 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2021

“This beautiful and singular bird, although a constant resident in the southern extremities of the peninsula of Florida, seldom extends its journeys in an eastern direction beyond the State of North Carolina.

New York 261

New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 261

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2023

Christian Cooper comes on screen about two-and-a-half minutes into The Central Park Effect , appreciating a Prothonotary Warbler at ‘the Point’ while telephoning a friend with the news (this is pre-text group), a nice hint of the collegial networks that underlie Central Park birding. Memoirs are rare in the birding world.

Emotional 218

Emotional Birds Minneapolis Nepal 218

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

If you followed Dorian’s adventures on his Big Year blog, Biking for Birds , you are familiar with many of these stories, but not the major one, the internal journey that was going on inside Dorian’s mind as he pedaled and birded: his history and multi-year struggle with alcoholism and related addictions.

Birds 203

Birds Los Angeles Massachusetts New York City 203

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2020

I hate to obsess about weather, but June temperatures in New York have taken us all on a roller coaster ride with sweltering highs and frigid lows within days of each other. Corey got out looking for birds at Jamaica Bay on Sunday morning and is he ever glad he did! What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2020 163

2020 ALA Jamaica New York 163

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2020

The birds we encountered up on the lake this weekend could only be described as mundane. Corey enjoyed a foul-weather seawatch on Saturday morning and birded a couple of locations Sunday morning before leading a walk for New York City Audubon in Forest Park. Don’t worry… we’ve got 11 months to go!

2020 161

2020 New York City New York Birds 161

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2011

Of course, that is just my perspective and I have been known to think that birds that don’t show up until May are late if they aren’t here by mid-April. I tend to get angry when I have not seen the number of birds I think I should have and when I am angry I type fast and crazily. Besides, suffering brings birds, right?

New York City 162

New York City New York Walruses Birds 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

Richard Fried spent 2011 doing a New York State Big Year and managed to top the record of 350 species which was only set in 2008 by Scott Whittle. Richard totaled 352 species, an impressive number, by seeing almost all of the regularly occurring New York birds and the vast majority of the rarities that showed up in 2011.

New York 171

New York Puerto Rico 2011 Japan 171

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2020

The birding is just that good, or at least can be. I was quite pleased to pull my first New York state warblers for the year from the early bird menu. Corey enjoyed a wave of neotropical migrants over the weekend and had a hard time choosing his Best Bird of the Weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2020 160

2020 New York Birds Sparrows 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2012

Nassau County, New York, March 2009 After having fully explored the trail around the West Pond at Jamaica Bay , we four bird bloggers agreed to load up Patrick’s car and head over to Jones Beach to see what kind of birds we could find there and some other locations in Nassau County. And what a look at a life bird!

New York 160

New York Butcher Birds Geese 160

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

Mid-September conjures up visions of migrating shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl all joining together under ideal natural lighting for one perfect moment of birding. At other times, unfortunately, September can make you feel like all those birds did meet, but nobody invited you along. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2019 176

2019 New York City New York Birds 176

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2020

I don’t have a proper post ready for you today, meaning there’s no customary Birds and Booze story and review for now. No, I haven’t lost track of the calendar — though that’s quickly becoming a more common experience in our new reality — but occasionally life gets in the way of blogging, which is what happened this week.

Collecting 263

Collecting Connecticut New York Industry 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Sure, they’re always a dependable, can’t-miss tick whenever you need them to be there, whether it’s the first day of the year, or the first few minutes of a Big Day or Christmas Bird Count. But there’s no getting around the fact that the starling is likely the most detested bird on the continent – as far as birders are concerned, anyway.

Farming 178

Farming New York Breeding Unwanted 178

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2019

With hope, your memories of birding in 2019 will evoke wonder, excitement, and satisfaction for years and decades to come. I recently despaired of ending this calendar year without seeing a single Wild Turkey when that species used to be so reliable in my part of New York. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2019 136

2019 Nevada Turkey New York 136