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 264

New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 264

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

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. That means that as of right now the yardstick I am holding does not exist because there are no yard sticks that are zero long. That will be much better, right?

New York City 164

New York City New York Walruses Birds 164

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2021

I didn’t plan on taking such a long break away from the Birds and Booze beat, but life got in the way the last several weeks, mostly on account of moving into a new home. And what could be better than a new bird-themed brewery opening up less than two miles down the road from me? Good birding and happy drinking!

New York 264

New York Boston 2019 Collecting 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Birds of Belize by Steve N. Howell and Dale Dyer and Birds of Costa Rica by Dale Dyer and Steve N. Howell joined the field guide roster this spring, very welcome in a year sadly sparse in new titles. Dale Dyer put in years working on his paintings for Birds of Central America , both in the field and in the museum.

Costa Rica 220

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 220

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2019

A hot weekend doesn’t necessarily make for hot birding, but things may be warming up on that front. One truth you learn in the birding business is that birds are always moving in one direction or another. Northern Mockingbirds , for example, are charming any time of year but abundant right now in my part of the world.

2019 138

2019 New York City Virginia New York 138

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2019

We’re still driving towards the depths of winter here in New York, but I just noticed that our days are getting longer. Spring migration will be here before you know it, right? Fortunately, I was able to spot one extremely quiet and still bird… I think it was frozen! What was your best bird of the weekend?

2019 113

2019 New York City New York Birds 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

The fact that this hour falls in the middle of the night means that most people sleep right through it, but I wonder what would happen if you observes a nocturnal bird like an owl during the hour that gets reset. I found myself in a beautiful part of New York that was so remote that birds apparently couldn’t find it.

2018 114

2018 New York City New York Jamaica 114

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2019

This month may have brought uncommon cold and rain to Upstate New York, but June went out on an exceedingly high note for us. Luckily, for birds, I didn’t have to, as a skulky Winter Wren sought shelter right outside my dining room window, adding a highly improbable third wren species to my yard list. How about you?

2019 131

2019 New York Shelters Birds 131

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2019

Growing up in Niagara Falls, New York, June was a celebration of summer. Growing up birding in Western New York was also a time when the old woods of the Niagara Gorge were punctuated with the songs of hidden Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos and the lazy notes of Eastern Wood-Pewees.

Costa Rica 201

Costa Rica Species Birds New York 201

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2018

The compelling contrarian positions put forth during Come@Me Week undoubtedly had many of you questioning your core beliefs about birds, birding, conservation, and even basic biology. New York state is burning right now, or at least the air feels as if it’s on fire. What was your best bird of the weekend?

New York City 100

New York City 2018 New York Birds 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2014

Imagine for a moment that you are a bird. You land, right? Almost every year there are a few birds that stick around at Bryant Park long after they are gone from the rest of the New York City area. And, for the record, when I say the birds were close I mean they were really close. Of course you do.

New York City 218

New York City New York Birds Sparrows 218

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Not professionally – these people come in SUVs and probably never recapture their gas money from the fish they catch (though come to think of it, neither do I with my bird photos). This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). One strange thing about Chongming is the inevitable presence of people fishing. End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2014

Assuming that your over-worked eyes are as blurry as mine at the moment, we should get right down to business and talk birds… The best of the many warblers I uncovered at Cobbs Hill this weekend was an entirely improbable Kentucky Warbler. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend'

New York City 195

New York City 2014 Kentucky New York 195

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2016

This calendar year is slipping away, but we still have plenty of time before the ball drops on December 31 to add more birds to our respective lists. We may not see as many 2016 species as Arjan Dwarshuis ( epic! ), but happiness is a journey, not a destination, right? Corey’s choice for Best Bird of the Weekend was an easy one.

2016 126

2016 New York Suffering Birds 126

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2022

Maybe author Sy Montgomery is right when she says that “birdwatchers often look down on falconry,” and maybe not. In The Hawk’s Way, Montgomery is very good on the ethical dilemmas inherent in falconry, centered on both the bird and the woman, even if she never resolves any of them definitively.

New Hampshire 218

New Hampshire Chickens Hunting Falcons 218

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2014

March Madness is on everyone’s mind right now, at least in the United States. Because of said snow, the smart birds are refraining from returning to Rochester; we’re dealing with a lot of confused robins and smug starlings. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend'

2014 164

2014 United States New York Birds 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2014

Many Northern Hemisphere birders see summer as the nadir of the annual bird watching experience. If you hadn’t noticed, summer is coming to an end and birds are taking once more to their migratory routes. I’m trying to decide where in Western New York to chase birds this weekend… got any ideas for me?

2014 158

2014 New York Birds Raised 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2014

Can the best bird of your weekend be one you didn’t see? Obviously, not seeing a desired bird can place the offender in the Worst Bird of the Weekend category. We’ve all been there, right? Instead, the best bird of my weekend was a Northern Mockingbird. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2014 183

2014 New York Birds Experience 183

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2016

Every year around this very weekend, new birds return from a far-too-long hiatus. That’s right… football season has finally begun. Early fall in Western New York seems to be a fortuitous time to find Northern Mockingbirds , as I observed many more than usual this weekend. How about you?

2016 100

2016 New York Falcons Birds 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2013

One sighting that came right on schedule for me was that of Ospreys on their nests all along the perimeter of Montezuma NWR. Corey’s selection for Best Bird of the Weekend this weekend was easy. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend' How about you?

2013 158

2013 New York Birds Experience 158

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2014

After all, while I like to believe that I am a pretty good bird blogger I’ve never written anything like a field guide. The book I am writing is the New York edition in the new series of American Birding Association field guides. Yeah, I’m kind of surprised too. And the references I use!

New York 203

New York New Jersey Colorado Pennsylvania 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2012

I found the experience of authentically aggressive heat rather refreshing, but much prefer my moderate New York summers! My best bird of the weekend was Western Wood-Pewee … actually, no, that was Nate’s best bird for reasons that may never be adequately explained. How about you?

2012 169

2012 United States New York Birds 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2016

What a weekend, right? All my favorite birders were out at festivals, doing Big Days, or just racking up scores of awesome birds in the field. Corey had a host of birds to choose from this weekend what with it being the middle of May, the peak of spring migration in New York. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2016 100

2016 Jamaica New York Birds 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2020

Last week I wrote about my first experience with a new site that a friend thought looked promising when he saw it on Google Maps. My friend was right. This experience of finding an entirely new, but very birdy, site is nothing unusual for me. And E-Bird only listed a couple of high-quality sites back then.

San Francisco 164

San Francisco 2020 Experience Experiments 164

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 202

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 202

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

This last year of the twenty-teens was a monumental birding year for me. I saw 863 species of birds, bringing my life list to 1,820. I birded Uganda, which was my first time on the continent of Africa. Such travel brings a lot of birds and the 863 species I saw this year is the most species I have ever seen.

2019 140

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 140

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2014

It was a very pleasant experience. When everyone is using tapes on a bird, it will tape the bird out”, I observantly pointed out to him. I told him where I last had the bird and he stumbled over to the spot, looking forlornly at the slope that the warbler had previously occupied a few minutes earlier. .”

San Francisco 226

San Francisco New York Experience Experiments 226

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2020

Kroodsma waited for years for the right opportunity to record its different songs, a “cascade of sweet and liquid notes,” one naturalist said, “like the spray of a waterfall and sunshine.”. How long does the bird stay aloft, and how many dives does he do? Like he does, say, for the Canyon wren. Does he have favorite places to dive?

Virginia 248

Virginia Boston North America 2020 248

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

What that meant for me, birding wise, is that I could get out for a few hours in the morning and then get home and get to it on my laptop without having to worry about things like showering, getting dressing, or commuting. The first bird that came into view made me think. And this bird was way out over the water.

New York City 201

New York City New York Battery Experience 201

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. She gave me a peak through her scope and, sure enough, the bird was different. Not easy, right?

New York 168

New York Birds Sparrows Geese 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2019

It’s never too late or too early to buy a children’s book about birds. It’s been a few years since my last roundup of children’s bird books, and children’s book writers, illustrators and publishers continue to produce picture books that feature avian protagonists. First, the board books.

New York City 153

New York City Pelicans Birds New York 153

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? Not likely, right? Believe it or not, this icy tableau includes a Purple Sandpiper What was your best bird of the weekend? Still, we each know what we like and focus our faculties accordingly.

Polar Bears 168

Polar Bears 2012 New York Geese 168

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

Not only am I suffused with the pleasant warmth that comes with watching one’s favorite sports team clinch the playoffs, but I also managed to shake off a scant night’s sleep to chase some birds this morning. My best bird of the year so far is selected from the plentiful waterfowl spotted at and around Montezuma NWR.

2011 168

2011 2012 New York Birds 168

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2011

Perfect weeks like the hot (but not too hot) one we’ve just enjoyed here in western New York remind me how good summer is for so many things other than birding. My best bird of the weekend was the energetic Red-tailed Hawk that appears to live right beside the pool my kids and I visit.

2011 162

2011 Jamaica New York Birds 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2012

The water this Northern Pintail is in has human poo in it, which completely ruins the experience of seeing this bird. The majority of diehard birders do not care where they get their birds. There is a caste of birders, however, that do not subscribe to this way of birding…no. Oh wait, it doesn’t.

San Francisco 215

San Francisco Birds North Dakota Oakland 215

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2013

Back in 1979 New York State birders were pleased with the first record of Mississippi Kites in the state when two visited Staten Island and spent nearly two weeks fattening up on the periodical cicadas that emerged in great numbers that year. Trips cicadas Mississippi Kite Staten Island'

Mississippi 174

Mississippi Brazil New York City New York 174