10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

The danger of reviewing a field guide to the birds of an exotic country you’ve never been to is that you become obsessed with visiting that country, no matter how far away and how expensive it may be. Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? I’m already looking up birding tours of Borneo and pricing airfares.

Brunei 174

Brunei Birds Asia China 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2017

Way back in the days when blog posts still got a lot of comments, I wrote a piece on why field guides that arrange species in a more or less strict taxonomic order regularly frustrate me. Taxonomy is constantly changing and so does the order of species in field guides. Phillipps, Q. & van Balen, N. Brickle & F.

Brunei 153

Brunei 2009 2016 2014 153

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2015

Since this is the season of love and harmony and all things nice, I sincerely and originally had planned to write an equally nice, loving and harmonic post on a beautiful group of birds that’s mostly found in SE Asia, the broadbills. Gone, bird magic. Even the group’s namesake feature, the broad bill, is ill-chosen.

Groups 105

Groups Asia Species Birds 105

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

I’ve never been to the Indonesian Archipelago, but I really like the birds there. Lynx Edicions, the ornithological (and now mammal) publisher that gave us the Handbook of the Birds of the World , has now published Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea , by James A. So, this is no ordinary bird guide.

Indonesia 125

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 125

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with.

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Madagascar 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

Sometimes I just want to hug eBird, or more specifically, whoever writes the short species descriptions (even though I am not the typical hugging kind of person, trust me on this). The Plain Sunbird is the plain vanilla version of the otherwise often very colorful family (ok, a very low-budget sort of joke). “Dull, me?

Los Angeles 183

Los Angeles Birds Woodpeckers Owls 183

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2023

Otherwise, why would eBird call it a “heavily built, flat-headed dark blue bird”, which sounds more like a description of a robot or a piece of machinery than that of a beautiful bird? Apparently, in many regions of Indonesia, songbird contests are frequently held.

Malaysia 130

Malaysia Indonesia Lifestyle Japan 130

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2012

I also love bird identification. And I believe there’s a place for taxonomy, and there’s a place for bird identification. The place for bird identification is a field guide and a field. I’ve been birding for 30 years now, and for the last 20 year, I’ve mostly birded in the same geographic regions.

Indonesia 234

Indonesia Family Asia Species 234

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2013

In celebration of the upcoming I and the Bird look at the heron family I invite you to consider the White-faced Heron ! New Zealand, where I live, am the 10,000 Birds Beat Writer of, and of which I very occasionally actually write about, is home to several species of heron. It wasn’t always this way.

New Zealand 148

New Zealand Indonesia Cattle Guinea 148

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

As 10,000 Birds’ New Zealand beat writer, I sometimes should write about New Zealand birds, but today I thought I’d talk about a bird that people thought was one but almost certainly wasn’t. It is one of the many species that went extinct in New Zealand, only for once it didn’t.

New Zealand 178

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 178

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2012

They are not flying cats nor birds with whiskers. Catbirds are a group of rather distantly related species all named for the fact that they make sounds that remind some of a cat meowing. The Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis is a common bird across most of North America, excepting the far west and northern Canada.

Papua New Guinea 181

Papua New Guinea Ethiopia Guinea Cats 181

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

What could motivate gunmen (I cannot call them hunters) in two states to deliberately kill North America’s tallest and most critically endangered bird? It may be as sick as deliberately targeting an endangered species for death. No one who witnesses a morning rise of sandhill cranes can fail to be moved by the magic of these birds.

2011 241

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 241

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

The year 2016 was not a particularly birdy year for me, mostly because I didn’t get to go on business trips to Indonesia or Kazakhstan, as was frequently the case during the last few years. I therefore finished the year on a high note, seeing quite a few species I scarcely got to see during the previous years.

2016 101

2016 Germany Italy Netherlands 101

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2014

In a funny twist of fate, it seems that 2014 will be much the same as 2012 and 2013 have been, with family trips to somewhere in France and business trips to Indonesia and Kazakhstan. However, I really want to focus more on lifers instead of year birds, particularly in Indonesia. See more than 500 species.

2014 145

2014 France Germany Indonesia 145

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

As 2012 draws to a close we here at 10,000 Birds thought that it would be a great idea if we, like we did in 2010 and 2011 , shared our Best Birds of the Year. We also want to know what YOUR Best Bird of the Year was. Now on to the Best Birds of the Year for those who write on 10,000 Birds! Sound good?

2012 146

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 146

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2015

As 2015 comes to a close and birders the world over start thinking about what 2016 will bring we here at 10,000 Birds would like to take a moment to celebrate our best birds of 2015. Each Beat Writer was given the opportunity to share their Best Bird of the Year for 2015 and, as usual, we had some pretty solid birds.

2015 184

2015 Costa Rica Birds Sparrows 184