10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2013

Lastly, due to its previous inaccessibility to humans and the absence of natural predators, the wildlife is bizarrely unafraid of humans, allowing for a truly unforgettable experience. The boat-trip over to the island is far from uneventful and the pelagic birding is very rewarding. Red-billed Tropicbirds nest on these craggy cliffs.

Whales 258

Whales Whaling Sharks Marine Life 258

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Visiting this area for the first time after seeing it for month was a crazy experience. And there aren’t just cool birds rocking up, migratory bats do too. It was the start of the shark season, which meant I saw my first Great White Shark attacks on Northern Elephant Seals , but it was also the best season for whales.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2016

The other day, Redgannet, when sharing the 10,000 Birds combined bird list for 2016 , mentioned that I had made some sort of notable contribution by submitting 25 checklists in one day. The reasons for this protocol are as unique as this unique type of birding. That sounds exciting, like there’s some sort of story there.

Whales 100

Whales Whaling North Carolina Mammals 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2013

Our time on the island was spent looking at birds, exploring, picnicking, throwing rocks in the water, and admiring a very cooperative Santa Cruz Island Fox. Then the birds showed. Sooty Shearwaters and a Western Gull fly back the aftermath of a Humpback Whale breaching. Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae.

Whales 150

Whales Whaling Dolphins California 150

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

Usually, it’s “Bird eating fish” but here we have a case of a “Bird-eating fish.” Now and then individual catfish of various species hunt nearer the surface and larger catfish such as the American Channel Cat will take a duck or other water bird. pigeons, Columbia livia ).

Fish 199

Fish Birds Whales Whaling 199

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

JULY 7, 2015

Birds of California , the new volume in the ABA series, arrived the day I returned. Every bird book seems to be about the west coast this month!) Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast is designed to be a quick, handy resource for use on whale watching and one-day pelagic trips.

Dolphins 162

Dolphins Whales Whaling Porpoises 162

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 182

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 182

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

Here a fledgling Chipping Sparrow , which is one of those confusing, streaky, brown birds, gets stuffed by an adult. And, of course, as I do sometimes, I managed to sneak in a bit of birding. Fortunately the birds mostly came to me and I just had to keep my binoculars and camera handy. How cute is this? Mom has a bug!

New York 174

New York Cooking Chipmunks Owls 174

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2016

The Ross Sea is the most productive stretch of water in the Southern Ocean, teeming with large predatory fish, whales, seals, penguins and other animals that form the last intact marine ecosystem on Earth. There are 11 species of birds that breed in the Ross Sea region. Enough History – Back to the Future. Now you know.

Russia 165

Russia Penguins Whales Whaling 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

This place is such an epic birding location that one cannot possibly do the city and its surrounds justice in one post. These birds, and their closely-related counterparts, the Drakensberg Rockjumper, constantly find themselves on the most-wanted list of pretty much every visiting birder. And rightly so. But by George is it worth it!

South Africa 236

South Africa Penguins Birds Africa 236

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. Further to the east, Asian Openbill displays the same special feature but is mostly a white plumaged bird.

Africa 233

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 233

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2012

Birding has been an all-consuming interest for Patrick Cardwell since boyhood days spent in a wildlife-rich environment. In this epic post, Patrick depicts just how dynamic the pelagic birding is off Cape Point in South Africa.

Albatross 177

Albatross Penguins Dolphins Whales 177

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

If there is one thing that Kiwis care about, it’s birds. No, wait, not birds. One thing visitors love to see in New Zealand is Kiwi, the national (sort of) bird, and they also enjoy seeing some of the other birds the place has to offer. At sea there are also New Zealand Sea Lions and Southern Right Whales.

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Penguins Sanctuary Birds 157

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Grief, friendship, gratitude, wonder, and other things we animals experience. Sea lion mothers wail when watching their babies being eaten by killer whales. After publishing my stories I got emails from people all over the world who had seen similar behavior in various birds and mammals. A Grateful Whale. by Marc Bekoff.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2013

I had my first swim with Inshore Bottlenose Dolphins in Northland’s Bay of Islands back in 2000, and it was a tripy experience. So if you are after a unique dolphin experience you could do worse than this New Zealand speciality. Birding dolphins marine mammals New Zealand endemic' South Banks Peninsula.

Dolphins 154

Dolphins Sharks New Zealand Albatross 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2021

When you bird afar and wander wide, you carry a field guide to the birds of the region you are exploring, a pair of binoculars, likely a camera, perhaps a spotting scope and a tripod too, plus clothing, medicines, toiletries, electronics, money and documents… Did you notice the missing item? Yet, those bird guides are hefty.

Madagascar 233

Madagascar Mammals Lemurs Seychelles 233

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically.

Delaware 176

Delaware New Jersey Research Eggs 176

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

I was lucky to visit India several times, but as a keen birder I carried along only a bird book, and even upgraded it to a new edition between the trips. Larger species, that is, excluding dolphins and whales. The post Mammals of South Asia (Lynx Edicions) appeared first on 10,000 Birds. cm Weight 0.4

Asia 173

Asia Mammals Sri Lanka Bhutan 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2020

Faithful 10,000 Birds readers will remember Suzie as our wildlife rehabilitation beat writer. Suzie wrote about her experiences as a bird rehabber in Flyaway: How A Wild Bird Rehabber Sought Adventure and Found Her Wings (2009) and used those experiences as the source for her fictional children’s book, Hawk Hill (1996).

Wildlife Rehabilitation 246

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eagles Wildlife 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2017

North America is aflame with eclipse fever right now, which provides yet another opportunity to wonder what life would be like if the average citizen felt a fraction as much passion for birding as is devoted to countless sports, media, celebrities, fashion, or even the rare astronomical phenomenon. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2017 100

2017 North America Whales Whaling 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

It was a good birding year. Many sad and unfortunate things occurred in 2016, but the birding was good. I started the year in Florida, traveled to India with the ABA in February, combined family and birding in an August trip to California, and in-between saw very good birds in New York and New Jersey. 1) Dusky Eagle-Owl.

2016 108

2016 India Ducks Birds 108

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

I like pelagic birding. Being on a boat surrounded by the endless blue of the ocean is a wonderful experience, especially when the waves aren’t too high, the sun isn’t too bright, and the birds are showing. The other pelagic bird that we saw in numbers on the chum slick we created was Wilson’s Storm-Petrel.

Whales 173

Whales Whaling New York Dolphins 173

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

This, I am told, is seawatching , a birding activity in which one stands in one place, sometimes for hours, and watches for birds of the sea and lake and river. It is acceptable to point out other sea creatures–dolphins or whales or dragonflies–but the main goal is the observation and identification of the birds.

Ducks 225

Ducks Groups Species North America 225

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2021

I must ashamedly admit that prior to this mission, I had never been birding on the island before. Chacachacare was also the site of a US Army base, a leper colony, and before that, a whaling station. Sure enough it was a place I always wanted to visit for birding, but things never fell into place. Tropical Parula.

Trinidad 170

Trinidad Netherlands Columbus Whales 170