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

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Not all birds are created equal. These are the kinds of birds even those barely cognizant of nature recognize, appreciate, and aspire to. These are the kinds of birds even those barely cognizant of nature recognize, appreciate, and aspire to. Central Africa has one of those birds. Lesser Striped Swallow.

Uganda 252

Uganda Africa Birds Penguins 252

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

DECEMBER 23, 2021

Fortunately, China still has lots of interesting birding locations left for me. But of course, it is also nice to remember past birding trips. One in November 2018 included a one-day birding trip in the Drakensberg area, a mountain range in the border area between South Africa and Lesotho. That does not make much sense, I know.

South Africa 222

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 222

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 24, 2017

No matter how much time you can spare, you MUST respond to the spectacle of migration taking place right now. Though it is still September and not really proper sparrow season yet, Corey still managed to turn up a nice Lincoln’s Sparrow at Kissena Corridor Park on Sunday morning, his first of the fall. How about you?

2017 124

2017 Virginia Sparrows Game 124

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 24, 2018

Ready for some contrarian birding commentary? The end of June may be superior in many ways to other times of year, or at least that’s what millions of schoolkids are thinking right about now. But no week is so good that we at 10,000 Birds can’t improve it. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2018 100

2018 Sparrows Birds Breeding 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2016

There are a lot of side benefits to birding. But, while we are making sacrifices for the avian quest, we also experience side benefits much less trying in nature. In tamer forests right above the falls at Niagara, I once had the benefit of meeting an adult son with his loving mother in the middle of the forest.

Birds 151

Birds Costa Rica Chickens Goats 151

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2019

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. Seeing the uncommon birds is key to reaching a big total no matter where one goes birding. San Vito and Buenos Aires.

Costa Rica 196

Costa Rica Species Birds New York 196

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 186

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 186

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2015

A weekend in which we observe both Valentine’s Day and the Great Backyard Bird Count is one most of us need to recover from, am I right? Actually the temperature is rather frigid in my part of the world, which meant that most birds weren’t willing to brave the subzero temps. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2015 161

2015 Birds Sparrows Experience 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

In Costa Rica, our July birding news usually consists of interesting sightings during the mid-summer tours. Where can I see Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow followed by a fantastic meal ? These and other important birding related questions come to mind and during a normal July, I would be personally and actively helping answer them.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Birds Thailand Family 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2024

And if you like birding, it’s a good place to spend time before or after meetings and explore. Late autumn 2022, I decided flying in a day early to do some weekend birding. It was David’s first time birding. Now it was a bit lighter, diurnal birds became vocal. A weekday would be better for timid birds.

Parrots 152

Parrots Woodpeckers Industry Fast Food 152

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Around this time of year, I keep an eye out for White-throated Sparrows landing around my home… they were right on time! Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a total surprise while on a family outing to Edgemere Landfill in Queens. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend'

2014 167

2014 Birds Sparrows Experience 167

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2015

Back in early March, Andrew Spencer asked me if I would like to go birding in western Mexico with him and another friend in May. Before I knew it, it was late May, and I was on the road in Colima, Mexico with Andrew Spencer and Nathan Pieplow on a birding adventure! Black-chested Sparrow is pretty sharp! Time flew by.

Mexico 171

Mexico Birds Owls Sparrows 171

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2014

Imagine for a moment that you are a bird. You land, right? Hordes of House Sparrows and Rock Pigeons are more than willing to push you around rather then let you have that choice morsel you just found. And, for the record, when I say the birds were close I mean they were really close. Of course you do. And the noise!

New York City 206

New York City New York Birds Sparrows 206

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2017

But no matter where you are, you undoubtedly have good reasons to get out and enjoy nature right now. Every year, I look forward to the arrival, brief as it is, of White-crowned Sparrows to my feeders; this weekend, a gorgeous pair dropped in for breakfast. What was your best bird of the weekend? But did you? How about you?

2017 100

2017 Kentucky Birds Sparrows 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

I dipped on one of my favorite birds from this area, the Lesser Roadrunner , as well as the marvelous Sparkling-tailed Woodstar (a long-tailed hummingbird). But the day did provide me with a parade of some of Michoacán’s most colorful birds, some of them migratory, and others local specialties.

South America 185

South America Sparrows Mexico Bears 185

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.

Houston 201

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 201

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2020

But my experience suggests there is a fair amount of geographical overlap between the two ranges in my area. Its insect-like buzz reminds me most of the Grasshopper’s Sparrow’s song. However, in the right habitat I can actually get tired of hearing the lilting song of our endemic Slate-throated Redstart.

Mexico 328

Mexico Honduras South America America 328

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2017

June may be the gateway to summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but the birding still delivers the thrills of spring migration when you have access to the right birds’ breeding grounds. Corey had a surprising wealth of birds to choose from for his Best Bird of the Weekend. How about you?

2017 101

2017 Louisiana Birds Breeding 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In September, I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to an increasingly popular destination for birding: Honduras. Chris Lotz, the owner of the international bird tour company Birding Ecotours , invited me to join him on a familiarization trip that included several highland sites as well as Pico Bonito Lodge.

Honduras 207

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 207

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. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2012 169

2012 United States New York Birds 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Birds can be enjoyed in a wide variety of ways. Those of us who chase rare birds for our counties, states, or other human-made geographical distinctions watch birds for more reasons than the twitch. For example, we might just enjoy the calls and antics of those White-throated Sparrows while searching for a Harris’s.

Costa Rica 176

Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 176

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

The Durango Highway is arguably one of North America’s great birding roads due to the great variety of habitats, the spectacular mountain scenery of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the numerous Mexican endemics one can target. There are many dusty side roads in this area, many of which offer productive birding.

Mexico 186

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 186

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 234

Virginia Boston North America 2020 234

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

Last week a mystery bird from New Jersey rightly caused a fair bit of confusion among birders of the Garden State and beyond. The bird was a sparrow, that much was clear, but it didn’t seem to fit any of the easily boxes the other North American sparrows can be fairly easily sorted into. New Jersey mystery sparrow.

New Jersey 214

New Jersey North Carolina Sparrows Connecticut 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

That’s right, I, along with my family and some really good friends, was camping. It was big, private, right next to the lake, and well-maintained. It also had nesting Gray Catbirds , fledgling Chipping Sparrows , singing Red-eyed Vireos , and a patch of jewel weed that attracted Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Mom has a bug!

New York 174

New York Cooking Chipmunks Owls 174

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

There is GISS and there is Birding by Impression and they are not the same. GISS—general impression, size, shape—is intuitive, the result of an unconscious cognitive process derived from experience in the field. Experienced birders can identify birds using GISS; all birders can identify birds if they adopt the BBI approach.

Birds 168

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 168

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2016

You don’t know how hard it is to see a common bird until you try to get someone else to see one. This is the lesson I learned at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival back in January when a young birder, Noah Kuck, let me know that he really wanted to see a Carolina Wren. Well, maybe not right. I spished.

North Dakota 116

North Dakota Birds Florida Wildlife 116

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2011

Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a wicked Chuck-will’s-widow at Prospect Park on Saturday. My own best bird was Caspian Tern , right on time along Lake Ontario. For those of you playing along at home, this gives me 17 new ABA birds for a total of 467 as of May 1, 2011.

2011 157

2011 Mississippi ALA Sparrows 157

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 162

New York City New York Walruses Birds 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

The birding around Lago de Yojoa in Honduras is frankly phenomenal, as I learned during a June 2018 birding junket organized by the Instituto Hondureño de Turismo. Peraza , could not sit still knowing that so many tasty target birds could be found within easy driving distance. EL RANCHO HOTEL Y RESTAURANTE.

Honduras 131

Honduras Birds Farming America 131

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

At the tail end of my birding expedition today I was fortunate enough to have a close encounter with an extremely confiding, cooperative, and curious Carolina Wren. I quickly swung my leg over the log so I was straddling the log facing the bird and snapped a quick shot before it scurried under the log.

2008 167

2008 Sparrows Rights Experience 167

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

This diversity makes for a very unique birding experience. One where you get to enjoy the many different local desert birds, right along side the birds that make the warm salt waters they home. Here are a few of the birds we spotted last weekend. Black-throated Sparrows. Brown Pelicans.

Mountain Lions 100

Mountain Lions Mules Sheep Lions 100

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

DECEMBER 19, 2011

We here at 10,000 Birds thought this would be a perfect time to look back and figure out what each of us considered our Best Bird of the Year, just like we did last year. Not only did we not expect to see this seabird this far inland, it was a life bird for me! We would like you to join in!

2011 176

2011 Birds South Korea North Dakota 176