10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

And it looks even better in my hands while I dream about a visit to regions of Brazil I had scarcely heard of before being provided with a review copy of the first volume of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil.*

Brazil 218

Brazil Wildlife 2011 Birds 218

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2017

Aisholpan Nurgaiv is a graceful, rosy-cheeked 13-year old girl with a magic smile who makes living on the edge of nowhere and forever look like the easiest experience in the world. It’s a gripping scene, especially as Aisholpan struggles to capture the lively young bird on the small cliff ledge as the parent eagle flies overhead.

Eagles 103

Eagles Mongolia Hunters Hunting 103

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2019

Last year I reviewed The Feather Thief , an enjoyable tale centering on the use of feathers in the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying, and how that led to the theft of priceless bird skins by one obsessed young man. The late Victorian age was not a good time to be an egret!

Industry 122

Industry Virginia Portland Campaign 122

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

It’s my fantasy and it’s yours: Quit the job, say good-bye to the family, and bird. British birder Chris Gooddie, my new birding hero, not only dreamed the fantasy, he lived it. That’s Pitta, people, not Antpitta, which is what I foolishly first envisioned, having never birded beyond the Americas.)

Hunters 207

Hunters Sri Lanka Asia Solomon Islands 207

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. I chalked up 132 species in a pretty relaxed eight days, during which birds shared the agenda with culture. What has changed in the meantime? eBird bar chart. #2 2 Baranda fish farm.

Serbia 174

Serbia Birds Bulgaria Farming 174

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. It provides goals and a definite direction for your birding travels and thoughts; sometimes it even becomes the basis of a book!

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2011

As part of the Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil giveaway we asked readers of 10,000 Birds to name the bird in Brazil that they would like to see more than any other species. It is a really neat bird that I have not seen before. It would mean that I was birding in a really cool place! Come quickly!”

Brazil 222

Brazil 2011 Birds Wildlife 222

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

Time to give away a wonderful book on 10,000 Birds! This offering is actually hard to part with: a copy of Wildlife Conservation Society Birds of Brazil: The Pantanal and Cerrado of Central Brazil signed by both John Gwynne, who managed the project, and Guy Tudor, eminent neotropical bird artist and art director of the project.

Brazil 192

Brazil Wildlife 2011 Deer 192

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

At Sea With the Marine Birds of the Raincoast opens with the unexpected appearance of a Laysan Albatross. Having shown us the bird, the boat, and the water, Fox then introduces herself: “Albatrosses, petrels, fulmars, puffins and gulls live out their lives along these transect lines; my job is to count them all.”.

Fox 100

Fox Albatross Geese Bald Eagle 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

I new him because we enlisted his Dryfus Lion and one of his tigers to carry out experiments with bones (this is something archaeologists do). I find it astonishing that people argue of whether feral cats are bad for birds in North America. How many wild birds are eaten by either feral Cats or “outdoor Cats?”

Feral Cats 257

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 257

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! Really well.

New York 210

New York Woodpeckers Jordan 2011 210

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Sometimes, when I’m writing trip reports about far off places (relative to most of my readers) I wonder what exactly people make of some of the birds I mention seeing. Is a Coua a bird or a city in Brazil? Is a saw-wing a bird or an engine part? Is a logrunner a bird or a black market timber trader? What a treat!

Australia 174

Australia Fiji Hunters Family 174