10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

This last year of the twenty-teens was a monumental birding year for me. I saw 863 species of birds, bringing my life list to 1,820. I birded Uganda, which was my first time on the continent of Africa. Such travel brings a lot of birds and the 863 species I saw this year is the most species I have ever seen.

2019 137

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 137

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2021

The Guinness toucan is easily the most iconic bird mascot in beer history, but the storied Dublin brewery also boasted an ostrich and a pelican in its colorful, avian advertising menagerie of yesteryear. Good birding and happy drinking! A note of caution about this beer’s alcohol content: at a walloping 8.3

India 257

India Ostriches Porcupines Rabbits 257

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2019

Ivy and I scored some rare vagrants at Montezuma NWR–which has been awful for shorebirds this summer–best of which was her first American White Pelican chilling in the same score view as a Sandhill Crane. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2019 120

2019 Costa Rica Pelicans Birds 120

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2019

It’s never too late or too early to buy a children’s book about birds. It’s been a few years since my last roundup of children’s bird books, and children’s book writers, illustrators and publishers continue to produce picture books that feature avian protagonists. First, the board books.

New York City 144

New York City Pelicans Birds New York 144

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2020

Having finally found a Black Vulture for my Queens list , an important tick both because it was long overdue and because it was the tenth bird since my last set of predictions, it is time, once again, to look at what might be coming to my Queens list. Either way, the odds of actually getting a Brown Pelican in Queens are pretty low.

2018 158

2018 2015 Birds 2019 158

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Its mostly found on the ground in thickets or the edges of dense vegetation and usually in small family parties. Pink-backed Pelican. Its a pelican that is restricted to freshwaters whereas Great White also enjoys the marine zones.

Africa 204

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 204

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. Scott Barnes, N.J.

North Dakota 135

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 135

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2016

With all my recent traveling up and down the eastern United States, I have had almost zero time to bird in my “home territory.” Escambia Bay was fairly calm, and it was easy to pick out the dark silhouettes of Brown Pelicans floating on the water. Bay Bluffs Park in Pensacola, FL looks out over the beautiful Escambia Bay.

United States 100

United States Florida Pelicans Birds 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. And, the birds are awesome. Ringer Anhingas and darters , cormorants and shags , frigatebirds , gannets and boobies , pelicans , and the tropicbirds all share a characteristic found in no other living bird: Their feet are totipalmate.

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2017

As birders, we tend to spend more time in wetlands than most of our peers, neighbors, and family members. Unless those non-birding folks happen to be duck hunters or love to go fishing, they tend to stay away from the marshes, the riparian zones, the bottom lands. See the birds? Of course not, it’s rainforest!

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Birds Ducks Pelicans 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Spoonbills and ibises are stocky, colorful wading birds with distinctive bills: downcurved and pointed in the case of ibises, flat and paddle shaped in the spoonbills (above is my shot of Roseate Spoonbills ( Platalea ajaja ) near a breeding colony in Louisiana). Birds ibis Roseate Spoonbill taxonomy and systematics'

Louisiana 193

Louisiana Mississippi America Pelicans 193

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

If those 16th Century Spanish sailors knew the kind of grief with which they’d be saddling this remarkable group of birds for all time, perhaps they would have had something resembling empathy for those who will be forced to live with the ramifications of their irreverence. Who doesn’t prefer the outlaw to the imbecile?

Birds 193

Birds Buffalo New York Pelicans 193

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

Happy New Year, 10,000 Birds readers and writers! Everyone is looking back on their best birds of 2019, so I thought it would be a good idea to look at a book that looks back a little further: Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City , by P. The Bronx also has a special place in birding history.

New York City 147

New York City New York Birds Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2015

Birding in Florida is unique in that so much of that state’s plenty is evident even to the casual observer. It’s a family vacation, sure, but there’s always time for birding and in Florida, the birding often finds you. One had a cluster of recently fledged birds and their nonplussed parent.

Owls 196

Owls Florida Tenant United States 196

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Corey was lucky enough to meet Carlos while birding in Ecuador , where Carlos was dragooned into accompanying the horde of Queens birders for the day, an encounter that somehow didn’t turn him off of all things New York. If you have been out birding in southeast Florida there is a good chance that you have run into him in the field.

Miami 161

Miami Florida Birds Pelicans 161

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Back in December when my family and I were in southern California we planned a day trip out to Crystal Cove State Park in southern Orange County. And Crystal Cove is the perfect beach for a birder with family in tow. But, honestly, the best bird of the day was spotted as we walked back to the car through the coastal scrub.

California 134

California Family Pelicans Rights 134

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2017

We had high hopes for our first morning’s birding with our main goals being the two hummingbirds that are most easily found in the east, the Antillean Crested Hummingbird and the Green-throated Carib. I shall never grow tired of being in places with Man-O-War Birds. Such awesome creatures. Photo by Mike.). How could I resist?

Puerto Rico 105

Puerto Rico Birds Woodpeckers 2017 105

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

Two-thousand-twelve was a pretty darn good year for me birding-wise and otherwise. Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I went to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. Mottled Duck ?

2012 143

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 143

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2013

The Spring Wings Festival , held this past weekend, was the perfect way for a birding-festival newbie like me to get into the swing of things. Its small size, laid-back nature, and ample opportunities to get up close and personal with birds make it a good fit for experienced birders, but also for people looking to get their feet wet.

Nevada 165

Nevada Birds Barn Owls Cows 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Grey Hypocolius is a Holy Grail of Middle Eastern birding. Part of its attraction lies in it being a monotypic bird in the family Hypocoliidae – there are no other bird species in its genus and family. No, birds are way too smart for that stupid trick. Soon, the bird leaves her bush.

India 213

India Iran Pakistan Afghanistan 213

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2018

Taking advantage of my son, Desmond, having this past Friday off from school our small family decided to do a three-day trip somewhere. Now, going into this trip I knew it wouldn’t be a birding-centered journey. And while the weather dampened the bird activity quite a bit we still managed to enjoy ourselves immensely.

Family 100

Family Monkeys Deer Pelicans 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Here and there, spits of pale sand became playgrounds for families and dogs, or hunting areas for Great Blue Herons. I’ve been doing a lot of freelance photography recently, and I wanted to use this opportunity to just look and bird without worrying about light or my shutter speed. A view of East Bay.

Bald Eagle 154

Bald Eagle Florida Alligators Fish 154

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

With shore side access limited to the northern end of the lake, that protection allows for a large population of water based birds. This is a bird that I have no memory of when I was a kid growing up here. In a 3 mile stretch of grassland, with sprinklers flowing, I counted well over 100 of these dark birds.

Dogs 103

Dogs Mules Deer Oregon 103

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

And the famous Wandering Albatross has the largest wingspan of any living bird, nearly 12 feet across in the largest individuals. ” The higher waterbird clade is a wonderfully diverse group consisting of loons, penguins, tubenoses, storks, Suliformes , herons and ibises, pelicans , the Shoebill , and the Hamerkop.

Albatross 178

Albatross Penguins Groups New Zealand 178

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2011

The order Suliformes holds a lot of special birds from anhingas and darters to cormorants and shags as well as frigatebirds, pelicans, and tropicbirds. But the sleekest of the sulids may be found in the family Sulidae. While this bird shares the Galápagos with two other boobies, the Red-footed Booby ( S.

Ecuador 180

Ecuador Peru Hunters Pelicans 180

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

The magnificent history and diversity of birds on Earth came into sharper focus this month with the publication of 28 new scientific papers in Science and other journals. One of the central papers, Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds (Jarvis et al. American Flamingo photo by Dick Culbert).

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Common Nightingales were singing, a squadron of Dalmatian Pelicans was in the air and everything was exactly where it should be, including myself. At mid-day, we took a boat tour of the heronries and the pelican islands with Nikos. Dalmatian Pelican © Dusanka Stokovic-Simic. In that count, my wife and I passed for locals.

Greece 190

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 190

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 235

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 235

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

(In which the author, rather than jumping out of his 13th-floor window out of his frustration over his long lockdown, describes a final 15 Australian birds, whether or not anyone is interested). This photo of a pair of Little Corellas looks like it could easily be on the cover of a romance novel published specifically for a bird audience.

Birds 179

Birds Pelicans Falcons Parrots 179

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 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. That’s what makes us such good company: No birds to be seen at the moment?

Birds 240

Birds New Jersey Guatemala France 240

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge : Open to migratory bird hunting (youth only). The Refuge is now home to nearly 200 species of birds, over 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of insects, fish and plants. This is an Urban Refuge ! Why would you open it up to hunting?

Fish 143

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 143

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

I should add that the Big Owls taking over NYC social and even hard print media, dominating conversations with my nonbirder friends and family, are not the only owls in the five boroughs, but like a musical, the closer you are to Broadway, the closer you are to fame and fortune (and maybe even a higher quality rodent for dinner, who knows?).

New York City 181

New York City Birds Owls Fox 181

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Way back on 16 May I managed to see my 312 bird species in Queens to add to my Queens list. Whimbrel – Undoubtedly this is the easiest bird left for me to find in Queens. Sedge Wren – This is a bird that rarely shows up on the coast in fall migration. Sooty Shearwater – This will take some more dedicated seawatching.

2013 160

2013 2010 2012 2011 160

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. This is the story of the pelicans of New Zealand. So what were these Australian birds doing in New Zealand?

New Zealand 177

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 177

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2022

In fact, I was already embarrassed two months ago, when the pandemic and at-home duties had forced me to write about the same michoacano birds for a couple of years running. (It’s It’s a good thing that I can access some 300+ michoacano birds! New places, new birds! ” Of course, I birded every moment I could.

Turkey 162

Turkey Spain Mexico Agenda 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2016

I dipped a bird recently – possibly a lifer. First I noticed a red cap – a male, then striped flanks and pale-red undertail, but couldn’t see its wing because some part of the bird remained hidden by a branch at any given time. I opt for the bird richest section of the lake, visible from the eastern dyke. What to say?

Greece 249

Greece Woodpeckers Boars Eagles 249

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2023

There are plenty of birds along the edge of the highway still and also on the highway. Black-winged Stilt near and on the highway There are still over forty species of birds to be found along the highway across Roebuck Plains, but the tall vegetation can be problematic. All three species of Ibis are now present.

Pelicans 147

Pelicans Australia Fish 2019 147