10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 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. 140 birds). My name is Nikos Gallios. and up to 9000 pairs forms in the north of the lake.

Greece 262

Greece Wildlife Boars Otters 262

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2021

My readers are already familiar with Beljarica Backwaters, as described in half a dozen posts here at 10,000 Birds. It all started well three decades ago, when I intensively birded the Danube Backwaters by kayak. Now, I have mixed feelings: cautious and by experience mistrustful, but happy. White-tailed Eagles in Beljarica.

Serbia 272

Serbia Deer Protection Boars 272

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2024

Bird Day is a lovely, little jewel of a book. The idea is to portray one bird for each hour of the day in words and art, presenting the diversity, beauty, and wonder of avian life. Angell’s black-and-white illustrations bring sparks of energy and visual clarity to the fascinating bird behaviors described by Huber.

Chicago 171

Chicago Barn Owls Penguins New Zealand 171

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

There’s something wonderfully primeval about the Northern Bald Ibis: it has the look of a bird that really ought to be extinct. The fact that it’s not is quite surprising, as this curious bird has come very close to the brink. Sadly, they no longer breed in Algeria, while in Turkey no free-flying birds remain. (In

Morocco 215

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 215

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 247

New York City Birds Illinois Science 247

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Birding in the Caribbean is about islands, beautiful beaches, extra special endemics, rum, and smiles. It could also be much more, maybe less, it all depends on how you want to rock an international birding trip. Go to Costa Rica and you will be looking at other birds but you can still get in some Caribbean slope birding.

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Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2022

If you think it is rather pretentious to start a birding blog post with a Kafka story, I fully agree with you. Anyway, the story is not quite how I remembered it, to be honest, but fitting enough to describe the almost claustrophobic birding experience in ever-shrinking Nanhui. I just want to point out it could be much worse.

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Raccoons Birds Oregon China 204

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

It is near a river, attracting some birds that like to eat wet food. As the national bird of Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, the African Fish Eagle is usually very busy whenever it stays in these countries, giving speeches, opening shopping centers, etc. The birds I asked about this pretended not to be related to anyone though.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

After Jason recently asked ChatGPT for birding advice, the management consultant in me – constantly thriving for efficiency improvements – immediately thought of the next step. The Seasonal Spectacles: Shanghai’s birding scene comes alive during the spring and autumn migration seasons.

China 159

China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

Hannah Buschert was first exposed to birds and birding during a required ornithology course at Oregon State University and she quickly caught the birding bug. This is Hannah’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Hannah and Erik ready to see some birds! I love to go on cruises.

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South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 261

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2022

Jeff Gordon resigned as president of the American Birding Association, effective November 30, 2021. In my view, the ABA faces other questions too, including its role in today’s birding community. There are countless field guides and other birding books, websites, blogs, tour companies, and podcasts. That is essentially my view.

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2019 Legislation 2017 2018 275

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2017

The year 2016 is done and gone and 2017 beckons us onward, bright and new and shiny, hopefully full of birds. Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful 2017, full of amazing birds and experiences. As for Mike, well…at the beginning of a new year, every bird commands attention. How about you?

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2017 2016 New York Birds 124

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

If you like birds on posts, if seeing “little brown jobs” posing nicely in the distance as you drive or walk along a dirt road only to have it fly away as you approach makes you deliriously happy, then North Dakota is the place for you. I wanted to see prairie birds and I wanted to experience a new state.

North Dakota 134

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 134

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2022

Some, according to her, consider it a form of slavery; a 1982 book in my library, The Birdwatcher’s Companion cites “the sentimentalist element of the wildlife protection movement” as deeming falconry to be comparable to cockfighting.). She herself is a vegetarian, one of the sort that mourns even roadkill.

New Hampshire 202

New Hampshire Chickens Hunting Falcons 202

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2014

I am not dissatisfied with guides who do not manage to find the target bird, if they do try with all their heart. I will equally recommend a guide who finds the target bird and the one who does everything within birding ethics to find it and fails. What makes a good bird guide?

Birds 203

Birds Botswana Free Range Leopards 203

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2017

Birders derive “value” from birding. But does the value of a particular trip come from the number of birds seen, viewing a particular species, seeing an endangered species, catching a glimpse of a rarity, adding a lifer, or something else? How much do birders value a birding experience?

Oregon 170

Oregon Washington Birds Chad 170

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Galápagos: A Natural History, Second Edition by John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin gives the traveling naturalist the tools needed to fully appreciate and experience the Galápagos Islands. There are changes in where to find the birds. I wish I had read this book. They complement Kricher’s text.,

2006 239

2006 Tortoises Sea Lions Sea Turtles 239

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. The post The top-5 birds of 2018 appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

2018 116

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 116

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2013

I am back home and recovered from the Birding Rally Challenge in Northern Peru (Rally). Well, I will start by saying I am not new to non-stop birding; some friends and I tried to break the 24-hour record number of birds in Florida (Big day). Photo: Peru Birding Rally. Photo: Peru Birding Rally.

Peru 256

Peru Birds South Africa United Kingdom 256

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

But, sometimes an appreciation of birds and birding requires more than a reference book with images of birds and facts about their identifying field marks. There are large avian handbooks and small ‘how-to bird’ guides, and quite a few excellent books of both types have been published.

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Birds North America Breeding America 114

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 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. It also currently works with two other bird and mammal hides in Europe.

Wildlife 169

Wildlife Greece Mammals Reptiles 169

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

I bring this up not to boast (well, not much) but because I think that this approach to wildlife travel is somewhat neglected in birding circles. Read most accounts of how birders see birds outside their patch and one way or another, they’re tourists. Volunteering provides a very different experience to tourism though.

Uganda 160

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 160

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.

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Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 201

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

“Gamebirds” to some, cool, cryptic understory birds to the birding people, grouse crouch protected as unfettered winds sway the top of the tall prairie grass. Then there are the ones that live in PA , the state bird, “the grouse” that a great many non-birders are aware of, my Uncle Fred was one of them.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

It stops those thousands of migrating birds flying across the Gulf of Mexico and directs them right onto the trees, fields, sanctuaries, beaches along the Bolivar Peninsula, where they hopefully find food and fresh water. And us, the birders who travel here from March to May to worship the birds as they seek to survive.

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Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 201

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2015

I am within one of Florida’s sub-tropical zones, and my birding experiences have expanded, with life birds galore. Almost every lunch break I head out onto the beach, looking for birds along the sand. I know what everyone is thinking: “Erika, you are birding at absolutely the worst time of day. Why bother?”

Florida 157

Florida Birds Mice Breeding 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2019

The data and modeling are complex, but the story these numbers tell us simple: Audubon scientists used over 140 million data points to analyze which North American bird species would be most affected by climate change. Many datasets were compiled directly from citizen science efforts, including Christmas bird counts!

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Science Florida Fox Protection 115

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2016

Did you miss your chance to see Angry Birds in movie theaters? To wit: In an experiment informally called the “Cheetos Challenge,” a scientist investigated whether magpies or crows would be quicker to develop a taste for Cheetos—and which birds would ultimately steal them from the others. Look out below! In the U.S.,

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Bald Eagle Puffins Eagles Pigs 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2011

Would you believe my best bird of the weekend was a Screaming Piha ? but my best bird of the weekend was in Baltimore, specifically the Aquarium. The Baltimore Aquarium boasts, among its many phenomenal attractions, a tiny but terrific rainforest populated by some outstanding birds. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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Puffins Baltimore 2011 Washington 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2014

After wrapping up our time in the highlands of Honduras, Chris Lotz (owner of international bird tour company Birding Ecotours ) and I arrived at the deservedly famous Pico Bonito Lodge. However, for me, there were birds to be seen. Photo by James Adams. For the hardcore birder, Pico Bonito has plenty to offer.

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Honduras Monkeys Birds America 162

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

An unfortunate side effect of birding in the developing world, is the amount of habitat destruction you are likely to see. The neighbors had advised me, from experience, that planting trees without excluding the local free-ranging livestock would be an exercise in futility: first challenge overcome.)

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ALA 2016 Free Range Livestock 184

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa).

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Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Birds 235

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

The volume and variety of wood-warblers that are regularly seen in spring migration there rival or best anywhere else in the world that the birds are seen. No, in fall there are less birds, mostly those caught out over the lake as dawn broke. Wood-warblers drip from the trees, feed on the boardwalk, and sing at close range.

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Ohio Birds 2013 Massachusetts 177

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2017

I was given my first real field guide to the birds of Europe by my parents, a guide beyond the species found at backyard feeders and city ponds. However, all my keen travel plans and strategies frequently hit a snag roughly two-thirds into the book when I got to the page depicting a fine, delicate bird: the Azure Tit.

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Europe Birds Kazakhstan Russia 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2017

Only, once I got there, I discovered that the coffee, while good, can’t compare to the birds. Our group saw over 400 birds on our 15-day tour of the Pantanal, Cerrado and the Amazon (Cristalino Lodge). I have a thing for birds with large eye-rings (also for birds with ‘spectacles,’ a similar look).

Brazil 142

Brazil Birds Los Angeles Tigers 142

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

2014 has been a good year for us at 10,000 Birds. We’ve traveled to lots of places, seen lots of great birds, and met lots of great birders. So, as we’ve done for the last several years we thought we would share our Best Birds of the Year with you. Below are our Best Birds of the Year. What was yours?

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2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 183

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2012

The family Picathartidae consists of two very unusual birds; White-necked or Yellow-headed Picathartes , endemic to the Upper Guinea forests of West Africa; and Gray-necked or Red-headed , restricted to Lower Guinea forests of Central Africa. White-necked or Yellow-headed Picathartes, Bonkro, Ghana.

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Sierra Leone Ghana Cameroon Equatorial Guinea 262