10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

Weekends are much like birds, in that some are more prosaic than others. Were we to ascribe to weekends the taxonomy of birds, our days would likely resemble our lists: for every resplendent songbird or wild raptor would be ten ordinary gulls or pigeons, interesting in their own rights but hardly worth raving about. How about you?

2018 113

2018 Iceland Geese Birds 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2014

When I saw a Turkey Vulture soaring serenely over the frozen tundra of Rochester last month, I took the sighting as an example of how confused, in a potentially fatal way, some birds can get. Still, the poor bird may be in for some frigid nights ere warm weather settles in. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2014 195

2014 Geese Jamaica Turkey 195

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

So many sexy snow birds pop up this time of year: Snow Buntings , Snow Geese , Snowy Owls … But if you’re like me, you couldn’t get out to see them this weekend. Between work and shoveling, I had no chance to get out birding. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend'

2015 209

2015 Geese Birds Owls 209

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

I recently birded the Tualatin River NWR near Portland, Oregon, and made that my test case for a deeper dive into the Mobile Track. The refuge is a popular birding location , and it has 229 species observed and nearly 8,000 checklists submitted. During winter, the refuge is full of noisy Cackling Geese.)

Portland 264

Portland Oregon Washington Geese 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2016

Of course it also means that there is only one week left of birding to top up your year list and I am not really expecting to add anything new to my year list over the next week unless the tropical low that is buffeting the north-west of Western Australia throws something our way. It is quintessentially a Christmas bird! Common Snipe.

2016 163

2016 Geese Birds Ducks 163

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2018

For example, we’re entering that season where you have to decide if you’d rather be birding or be warm. I miss living close enough to the ocean to see these great little geese on the regular. Corey enjoyed an outstanding morning flight at Fort Tilden on Sunday with a variety of excellent birds. How about you?

2018 113

2018 Geese Birds Experience 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2013

Oh to be in Texas admiring the celebrity bird du jour , an incredibly unexpected Amazon Kingfisher ! Amazing encounters occur when amazing birders visit amazing places, but serendipitous sightings increase exponentially when so many amazing birders gather for an amazing birding festival. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2013 173

2013 Geese Texas Birds 173

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. Babita Tours has many years of experience organizing tailor-made wildlife tours for private groups in this wonderful country.

India 216

India Wildlife Tigers Eagles 216

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2016

I got my owl fix last weekend but spent the bulk of the week chasing a rare pair of Greater White-fronted Geese around Monroe County. Fortunately, I finally tracked them down yesterday, hiding out amidst teeming masses of Canada Geese. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend isn’t a rarity or a particularly difficult bird to see.

2016 100

2016 Geese Owls Birds 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2014

When asking “Where Are You Birding This Weekend?” The insightful point I meant to make is that springing forward means losing an hour of sleep, not an hour of birding. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was one of three great goose species he saw on Saturday during a day-long expedition in eastern Long Island.

2014 185

2014 Geese Birds Experience 185

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2016

These are the days when birds of one season overlap with those of another. I couldn’t quite turn a runt among Canada Geese at Genessee Valley Park into a Cackling , so my best bird had to be a flyover Sharp-shinned Hawk. What was your best bird of the weekend? Erratic weather patterns signal flux. Cherish them!

2016 102

2016 New York Geese Canada 102

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2013

Joseph Chiera is a Masters student in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in NYC and a “somewhat newbie” to birding. After taking an ornithology course last year, he was hooked and spends most of his free time birding or reading birding blogs. Of course, birding was on the itinerary!

Iceland 209

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 209

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2015

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was either of the two Cackling Geese that he found at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens on Sunday morning. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. Not anymore! How about you?

2015 108

2015 2014 Geese Birds 108

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

Don’t think we’ve noticed that most of you don’t play along with this game of sharing the best–meaning the coolest, rarest, fanciest, or dearest–bird species you’ve spotted in a given weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend? Your year will be much better for it! How about you?

2016 100

2016 2017 New York Birds 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

What qualifies a bird to be included in the top-5? This version extended the list a bit and it turned out that almost every fourth bird was an one-monther. Somewhat unfairly, the second criterion was that I described the observation at 10,000 Birds. Lesser White-fronted Geese, of course.

2018 121

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 121

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2018

I needed 4 more birds to round it up to 400, and as I said, I had only a few more days left. At home, I may find a new bird, perhaps two, but four? Last evening, Nikos Gallios, the owner and manager of Limneo 3Bs (bed, breakfast & birding) in Chrisochorafa Village asked me what my targets are? The solution? The Kerkini Lake.

Greece 189

Greece 2017 Pelicans Geese 189

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2014

On the same day that I journeyed out to eastern Long Island to enjoy birding Shinnecock Inlet in the fog I also explored the fields of Riverhead, where large flocks of geese congregate and where a Yellow-headed Blackbird had been reported recently amid a large flock of icterids at a Buffalo farm. ” What a bird!

Canada 211

Canada Killing Buffalo Geese 211

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Do you think that any event in our lifetimes will ever focus so much positive attention and excitement on nature or birding? Believe it or not, this icy tableau includes a Purple Sandpiper What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed.

Polar Bears 170

Polar Bears 2012 New York Geese 170

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2013

I wanted to bird among the blossoms. Despite all the people, the birds were incredibly active, rarely shy, and a reminder that natural wonders like the cherry blossoms interact with more than just us humans. Unfortunately for me and my future birding adventures, this amateur birder still struggles with the early morning wake-up.

DC 214

DC Washington Birds Geese 214

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Back on Friday, 12 February, I was dismayed when I read the weekly New York City Rare Bird Alert email. Why would a bird like that being reported in Queens dismay me? Despite my best efforts and despite seeing around 200 Canada Geese , I had no luck with the Specklebelly. The locale where I found the bird.

Puerto Rico 129

Puerto Rico Geese Canada Porpoises 129

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2014

Among birders, wildlife photographers, and nature enthusiasts, it is renowned for its incredible concentrations of birds at the end of the dry season. Raptors such as Savanna Hawk , Snail Kite , and Black-collared Hawk and up to five species of kingfisher also join the bonanza in one of the world’s great birding spectacles.

Brazil 165

Brazil Birds Blackbirds Paraguay 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

In a recent post, Corey listed five things to do when it is too cold to go birding and one of those things is planning birding travel. Here in Portland, Oregon, it is more frequently too rainy rather than too cold to go birding, at least comfortably. Thus, my “good birds” are likely the opposite of an eastern birder.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Portland United States Puerto Rico 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2011

Sometimes a bird is better off going it alone. We know that big birds like waterfowl such as ducks and geese benefit from the flying-V. But according to a study published in Nature , flying in a messy flock does birds like pigeons no favors.

Pelicans 162

Pelicans Geese Ducks Experience 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

A couple weekends ago I headed out to the Carolina Bird Club’s winter meeting in Nags Head, North Carolina, on the cusp of the Outer Banks. As such, it’s generally one of the best attended meetings and boasts the best bird list with field trips that range inland as well as up and down the barrier islands.

North Carolina 178

North Carolina Owls Geese Alligators 178

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Colusa NWR was beginning to fill its impoundments during this drought, and there were quite a few ducks and geese present. Most of the time the birds were concentrated on the invertebrates they all seemed to be locating and gobbling up continuously. It appears that the egret is holding its own.

Wildlife 160

Wildlife San Francisco Sacramento North Dakota 160

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

While at Jones Beach State Park on Saturday, co-leading the digiscoping field trip (with Clay Taylor from Swarovski Optik ), I had a couple of experiences that made me wonder exactly how it is that birders find birds. The bar was covered with shorebirds, gulls, geese, and cormorants. Not easy, right?

New York 169

New York Birds Sparrows Geese 169

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

Birding that starts with the largest eagle of the continent certainly bears promises… The next stop is the town park in Opovo, north of Belgrade, where local bird expert Ceda Vuckovic reported one, locally rare, Short-eared Owl. I observe them, but feel I still lack experience to tell with certainty the SEO from LEO in flight.

Serbia 247

Serbia Owls Rodents Eagles 247

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2011

Last weekend we went exploring to see what bird-life had moved into the area during the Wet Season and as always we had a great day out with plenty of surprises. Now there was still a bit of pressure on for Grant to find me a good bird, as I had found us something really special for his birthday recently.

Cattle 160

Cattle Birds 2003 Geese 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Looking down on the Hudson River from 212 feet in the air is an experience worth having and there is plenty of time to look down at the river or at the gorgeous views in every direction on the 1.28-mile Northern Parula And what about the birds? mile long walkway.

Transported 157

Transported New York City New York Birds 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2017

The 118 th Christmas Bird Count (CBC) began yesterday and I’m sure many of you have at least one count scheduled in the next few weeks. If your CBC experience is anything like mine here in eastern New York, you’ll be counting an awful lot of crows. Here’s to uncommon crows, happy drinking and good Christmas bird counting!

New York 124

New York Portland Washington Geese 124

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2024

A first-winter Red-breasted Goose at Cley, North Norfolk As a general rule, geese are birds of subtle, even dull, plumage. All the so-called grey geese – Greylag, Bean, White-front, Lesser White-front, Swan – look very much alike, and it takes experience to identify them by their calls and their shape and size.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2012

He’d like to thank his mom, his agent, and of course the Birding Academy. This bred both indifference, and on the flip side a tendency to overly pester the few charismatic birds they did come in contact with. Does anyone here have personal experience visiting the Charles M. ” This weekend, remember a bird you love.

Montana 169

Montana Geese Blackbirds Canada 169

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

All the local avian characters have been extra-antsy despite the weather, all contending for best bird of the weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. Where Are You Birding This First Weekend of March 2011?

2011 159

2011 New York Deer Birds 159

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2016

One of the most camouflaged birds in Australia is the Tawny Frogmouth and we often hear them at night when we are camping in the bush, but the chance of seeing them is less likely. The dam was very full and there were numerous species of birds present. At the base of where the leaves started there was a bird.

Shelters 100

Shelters Geese Australia 2010 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Which, naturally, got me to thinking about the newly erected order Suliformes, a development I mentioned in my December column, 2010′s Top 10 Developments in Bird Taxonomy and Systematics , but which I thought deserved further examination, for it’s one of those stories that defines the era in which we are living and birding.

2011 159

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge : Open to migratory bird hunting (youth only). The Refuge is now home to nearly 200 species of birds, over 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of insects, fish and plants. This is an Urban Refuge ! Why would you open it up to hunting?

Fish 147

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2021

10,000 Birds is running a series of articles by and about tour guides, tour companies, eco-lodges, and other birding travel organizations. We want to help the birding tourism industry come back strong from the COVID pandemic. That’s what makes us such good company: No birds to be seen at the moment?

Birds 246

Birds New Jersey Guatemala France 246