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

JANUARY 29, 2020

But here is the truly tragic part: I was not birding during those years! The third weekend of January, I travelled to the coastal city of Acapulco to give a seminar on family finances at a church there. These turkey-sized birds, named for their raucous calls, can muster an impressive level of volume.

Birds 158

Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 158

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 157

2018 2015 Birds 2019 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Of course Africa could not to be left out of the pink weekend so I have researched all African species whose official or alternative names include the word “pink”. Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Pink-backed Pelican. There are certainly some stunners involved.

Africa 202

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 202

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 134

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 134

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 146

New York City New York Birds Breeding 146

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). A cryptic species? Interestingly, Ramirez et al.

Louisiana 192

Louisiana Mississippi America Pelicans 192

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 192

Birds Buffalo New York Pelicans 192

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

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. Curse the lumpers who stole species status from the white-shielded Caribbean race of coot! Such awesome creatures.

Puerto Rico 104

Puerto Rico Birds Woodpeckers 2017 104

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

AUGUST 2, 2015

Birding in Florida is unique in that so much of that state’s plenty is evident even to the casual observer. There are few places in the United States where simply driving around can leave you with a list of 30+ species, many of them large and spectacular. One had a cluster of recently fledged birds and their nonplussed parent.

Owls 194

Owls Florida Tenant United States 194

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. Finally, my 2012 Year List easily exceeded the 500 species I had hoped to see.

2012 142

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 142

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

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 211

India Iran Pakistan Afghanistan 211

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Located about 20 miles from Lakeview, Oregon, and sitting at an elevation of 5100 feet, this 208 acre lake is home to many species of fish, including Largemouth Bass, Crappie and Bluegill. With shore side access limited to the northern end of the lake, that protection allows for a large population of water based birds.

Dogs 102

Dogs Mules Deer Oregon 102

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 177

Albatross Penguins Groups New Zealand 177

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. 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.

Africa 233

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 233

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 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 !

Fish 142

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 142

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 189

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 189

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 178

Birds Pelicans Falcons Parrots 178

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. Somehow I forgot that the last time I predicted what the next ten species I would see in Queens would be was back on 30 December 2013, when my list was sitting at 302. Sooty Shearwater – This will take some more dedicated seawatching.

2013 160

2013 2010 2012 2011 160

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 180

New York City Birds Owls Fox 180

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 176

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 176

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 248

Greece Woodpeckers Boars Eagles 248

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

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

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2019

The week of President’s Day this year found me, my family, and some close friends spending a week in a beach house on Tybee Island, a low-lying, barrier island just east of Savannah. Not that doing my birding on Tybee Island was some kind of horrible chore but the 5.2 How did I find so many species? square miles (8.3

Georgia 171

Georgia Cats Neutering Birds 171

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

The trip was not a birding trip except that I am a birder and every trip involving me becomes a birding trip. In the time we spent on Culebra I saw 49 species of birds, not bad for an island outside of the wintering grounds for most neotropical migrants and only measuring eleven miles square.

Puerto Rico 106

Puerto Rico Birds Sea Turtles Chickens 106

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2014

I’m in Sydney for a week of family, birding, diving and enjoying the subtropical climate. To celebrate this I thought I’d do a shout out to the great birds of Sydeny. Birds so good you can’t help but see them unless you try very hard. Australian Pelican. Australian Pelican. Fairy wrens.

Penguins 196

Penguins Pelicans Parrots Australia 196

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

JULY 6, 2019

The trend at this time of year is a downturn in shared lists and birds reported, nevertheless, 12 (is this a record?) beats have still managed to share 82 checklists and accounted for 737 species. Spot-billed Pelican – Pelecanus philippensis. Portland Audubon Bird Sanctuary. Portland Audubon Bird Sanctuary.

2019 118

2019 Jamaica Eggs Woodpeckers 118

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

We have recently done another camping and birding trip just to the north east of Broome. You don’t actually have to go too far from Broome inland to find taller trees and different bird species. You don’t actually have to go too far from Broome inland to find taller trees and different bird species.

Birds 165

Birds Owls Pelicans Species 165

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2013

In fact, the last one was back on 15 May 2012 when my Queens list stood at 289 and I guessed what my next eleven birds would be that would get me to 300. Now my Queens list stands at a whopping 302, which means I have actually added thirteen species since my last predictions. This was a pair of relatively uncooperative birds at St.

2012 158

2012 2013 New York City Jamaica 158