10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

The first weekend in November will see birders from all over the Empire State descend on Long Island for the 66th Annual Meeting of the New York State Ornithological Association ( NYSOA ). Concerned about climate change and birds? Interested in local bird status and distribution? Birding New York'

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New York Family Birds Rights 163

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2013

The next day many New York birders celebrated Independence Day by mobbing the flats where they all dipped. After we returned home an email went out that the bird had been refound in the evening in the same spot as it had been found on the evening of the 4th. Elegant Tern in New York State. Many birders rejoiced.

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New York South America 2013 New Jersey 150

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

That’s right, I, along with my family and some really good friends, was camping. Our campsite was gorgeous North Lake State Park in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York, where the air is crisp, the forests are largely intact, and the bears force you to be careful about leaving food out when you go to sleep.

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New York Cooking Chipmunks Owls 175

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2014

On Sunday morning I was out birding across several Queens hotspots with my friend Seth. He’s a big fan of the grasshoppers and crickets that swarm over the landfill in autumn and he actually was talking about how he wanted to see birds too. Not a bad bird for number 306 on the Queens list.

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New York New York City Rights Family 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2017

Now, those of you familiar with my tendency to chase birds in New York and knowledgeable of the spate of Great Gray Owls we have had in 2017 might question why it took me to nearly the end of March to make a trip upstate to see one. I, on the other hand, enjoy living with my family and would like to keep doing that.

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New York Owls Beavers Puerto Rico 101

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2021

I knocked down several first birds of spring this weekend (not literally) but will always give Best Bird honors to a Saw-whet Owl , especially one showing as well as the one Ivy and I located at Owl Woods on Easter. Corey was extremely pleased to finally get out and about birding again after his family all caught COVID and recovered.

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Texas New York Birds Owls 173

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

Thank you, goddess of birding luck and text group people).* My inner self felt stuck in an area between disbelief and total joy and the voices near me were echoing this state of mind: “Oh My God,” “I never thought I would see this bird,” “Look at that bill!” “How did that bird get here?”

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Birds Compassion Eagles Science 261

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

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

At least I didn’t have to travel far for great birds; my whole family thrilled to the sight of an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk chowing down on an unspecified rodent in our yard. Corey enjoyed his weekend at his parents’ house in the Hudson Valley though he didn’t see too many birds. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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2020 New York City Rodents New York 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2020

As one season begins to shade ever so slightly–or perhaps heavily, depending on your latitude–new birding opportunities open up. If you focus on first of year (FOY) birds, February always has something fresh and fun to offer. Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding? How about you?

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2020 Jamaica New York Owls 153

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. I tend to get angry when I have not seen the number of birds I think I should have and when I am angry I type fast and crazily. Besides, suffering brings birds, right?

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New York City New York Walruses Birds 164

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Sure, they’re always a dependable, can’t-miss tick whenever you need them to be there, whether it’s the first day of the year, or the first few minutes of a Big Day or Christmas Bird Count. But there’s no getting around the fact that the starling is likely the most detested bird on the continent – as far as birders are concerned, anyway.

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Farming New York Breeding Unwanted 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2018

Most Americans celebrated a long weekend filled with a lot (maybe too much) food, family, and shopping. My family actually pays attention to eagles too, which makes them more interesting to see. My family actually pays attention to eagles too, which makes them more interesting to see. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2018 114

2018 Bald Eagle New Jersey New York 114

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2020

New York City is the hottest of hot spots, and not in the fun, eBird meaning of the term but in the “holy moly our health system is going to collapse” meaning of the term. Over the years I’ve seen a variety of open-country birds there, including Bobolinks , Vesper Sparrow , and American Kestrel.

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Bald Eagle New York City Birds New York 189

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2011

There were three of us that made the trip to the famed Black Dirt region of Orange County, New York yesterday. We were there for the birds! And our first stop specifically for birds was the viewing platform on Oil City Road that overlooks Liberty Marsh. More impressive was the agricultural scenery. … a.

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New York Bald Eagle New Jersey Cattle 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2020

Those of us in the United States are celebrating Memorial Day Weekend, normally a time to gather with friends and family for barbecues, beach outings, and other fun group activities. Perhaps for those of us in the northeastern United States the number of birds this weekend has been a bit of a disappoint though. How about you?

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2020 United States Breeders Birds 163

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2014

We chatted for a bit more and then I hung up and returned to the family. He agreed to stay on the scene keeping tabs on the bird while I made my way to Jacob Riis Park and an appointment with a skulky Ammodramus sparrow. We gradually closed a circle around the patch but the bird had managed to sneak out of it.

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Sparrows New York Abandon Abandoning 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

This, 2022, has been a curious year for books about birds and birding. Despite the absence of two major publishers—Lynx and HMH–from the new title publishing scene (hopefully not permanently), we were happily surprised to read and peruse many excellent books. But this is more than a coffee table book. Highly recommended.

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Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 233

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!

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New York Boston 2019 Collecting 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2018

Nothing much tops birding in autumn. There are more birds in autumn than at any other time of year. Nice weather, lots of birds, and the potential for rarity. So, of course, I’ve been out and about looking for birds as often as family and job allow me to. No wonder I keep birding the Rockaways!

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New York City Birds New York Sparrows 141

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2019

Corey spent the first half of the weekend finishing up his family trip in southern California and the rest of it getting back to New York and recovering from a red eye. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed.

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2019 New York Birds California 127

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Audubon guides to birds have been around since 1946. The first guide bearing the National Audubon Society imprint was Audubon Bird Guide; Eastern Land Birds , written by Richard Hooper Pough, and illustrated by Don Eckelberry. Plate 28 from Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds, by Richard H. Knopf, 1994/97.

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North America America Birds California Condor 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2021

When the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (or SARS-CoV-2) acquired the name COVID-19 (short for “coronavirus 2019”) last February, many birders couldn’t help but notice the coincidental similarity between that abbreviation and name of one of the most familiar of all passerine families – Corvidae.

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2017 Italy Argentina Massachusetts 254

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2019

My extended family from The Bronx visited us this weekend for some upstate festivities. What could be better than the New York State Fair, especially after a Bald Eagle deigned to circle overhead in honor of everything that makes the Empire State great? What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2019 126

2019 Costa Rica Bald Eagle New York 126

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

I am shocked to be writing this post already, and doubly shocked that I’ve seen six new species for Queens since I guessed what my next five Queens birds would be just eight months ago, back in March. It’s been a good year for birding in Queens! Fortunately, there are birds to help.

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New York City Birds New York Blackbirds 152

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.

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Costa Rica Species Birds New York 201

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2019

2018 proved to be one of my best birding years ever. In addition to spotting exciting new species in Florida, including the rare Snail Kite, travel across the country brought me into contact with birds in Oregon, California, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, and more. I did not fall into that category.

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Bald Eagle Alabama Kansas Florida 149

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2019

Zach Schwartz-Weinstein is a writer, teacher, organizer, and birdwatcher who lives in upstate New York. The racial politics of bird nomenclature are on the minds of many these days, thanks to a proposal authored by Robert Driver to amend the American Ornithological Union Checklist to change the english name of McCown’s Longspur.

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Birds North America Cooking Campaign 260

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

Over Memorial Day weekend (23-25 May) my family and I spent the weekend along the Delaware shore enjoying the beaches, natural areas, and tourist traps that make visiting the shore such a delight. The sunrises alone made getting up, out, and about so early worth it but the birds made it even better. This one will have to suffice.

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Delaware New York Birds North Carolina 176

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2015

Over the last five or six years, Common Ravens have been sighted with increasing frequency in New York City, part of a resurgence throughout the Northeast after more than a century of regional extirpation. They’ve also recently nested in the Bronx and nearby in New Jersey. But let’s back up for a minute.

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New York City New York 2015 New Jersey 254

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2019

If you’re not finding mid-June birding all that exciting, you’re definitely not alone. Worry not, though, because you’ll find plenty of avian-themed excitement in our Bird Renaming Week extravaganza, which you’ll be pleased to know has already begun. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2019 113

2019 Virginia New York Birds 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2012

Early on Saturday morning I dropped my family off at the airport. From that point on I was birding, except for a brief interlude on Saturday night when I ate dinner and spent the night at my folks’ house in Saugerties. Pacific Loon , Red Crossbill , Ruffed Grouse and a whole big bunch of other birds! Not pictures?

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New York Deer Birds Woodpeckers 129

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

The winds this weekend in western New York must have been favorable for migration, because the only nonresident I could track down was a Swainson’s Thrush. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was one of the several Black Vultures that went overhead during a family hike to Anthony’s Nose in the Hudson Valley.

2015 160

2015 Bears New York Birds 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2015

Actually, signs that winter won’t release its icy grip so readily are also apparent… my traditional Easter family hike was canceled on account of snow. Our travels this weekend took us on the New York State Thruway, which passes through Montezuma NWR. What was your best bird of the weekend? Spring is here!

2015 187

2015 Jamaica New York Birds 187

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2020

For the last several years, my first out-of-town trip of the summer takes me to the east side of Lake George in northern New York, for a relaxing mid-June weekend with my family at a lakeshore cabin belonging to a family friend. Good birding and happy drinking! Bolton Landing Brewing Company: Paradise Bay IPA.

New York 156

New York 2017 Adoptable Family 156

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2016

March forth, my friends, to birds and greatness! March marks the time when raptors and owls begin to migrate through western New York; with hope, I’ll find a few this weekend. Corey and family will be visiting central New York and enjoying what avifauna the Capital Region has to offer. How about you?

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New York 2016 Birds Owls 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2015

Just like we did last year my family spent this past weekend camping at North Lake State Park, up in New York’s gorgeous Catskill Mountains. And, not surprisingly, the breeding birds present were largely the same species as last year which was not a problem at all! It’s about birds!

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Birds New York Family Sparrows 162