10,000 Birds

JULY 14, 2020

I recently drove from my home in Portland to Conboy Lake NWR in southern Washington for a birding day-trip. According to eBird , just over 200 species have been observed at the refuge and just under 1,000 checklists have been submitted. When I arrived in the morning, there were many birds and no people.

Washington 173

Washington Portland Birds Deer 173

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2020

With 18 species of native Psittacids to choose from, birding in Costa Rica is always a thrill, especially for someone who grew up in parrotless Niagara Falls, New York! Fancy bird like this Brown-hooded Parrot are common in many forested parts of the country. Like 99% of parrots, this is a colorful bird with a loud voice.

Parrots 278

Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 278

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2022

In the world of birding, we have our stars, the birds that lift our spirits and provoke oohs, aahs, and admiration. These are the birds that make us race to the nearest park, scan refuge headquarter trees with anxious eyes, and turn some of us into temporary paparazzi.

Costa Rica 289

Costa Rica Nashville Tennessee Turtles 289

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2022

and I am taking my observation-sofa position next to a glass wall, overlooking bird feeders in the misty cloudforests of the Cordillera de Talamanca. I met Serge five years ago, when he invited me to a mad bird race all the way from the Caribbean to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It is 6.40

Costa Rica 253

Costa Rica Panama Squirrels Nicaragua 253

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 14, 2021

This is the second post in the Birding crème de la crème series (the first, focused on southern Asia, is here ). The bird-richest region of Africa is its equatorial East: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi (unlike the rest, the last one, Burundi, is politically unstable and not recommendable). SERVIR Africa Workshop.

Africa 230

Africa Kenya Uganda Tanzania 230

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2019

Costa Rica is well known for national parks and other protected areas than offer access to tropical ecosystems dripping with biodiversity. Lots of birds, a lot of really cool birds! Our birding was particularly productive for the Central Valley but still gives an idea of what can be found in and near urban areas of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Sparrows 203

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2021

In birding circles, Costa Rica is better known for protected areas, quetzal tours, and glittering displays of hummingbirds than the things that fly in urban spots. I mean, who comes to Costa Rica to bird on city streets? The birding in Costa Rica is certainly much more exciting in mature forest, in larger areas of green space.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Falcons Farming Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2017

We walked some of the trails at the reserve, and I had spotted a large bird hovering in mid-air, almost like a helicopter, just with more flapping. Peering through my binoculars, I saw a white bird with black spots on the undersides of the wings. Life-bird for me! Historic buildings at Elkhorn Slough.

Research 102

Research Birds Virginia Protection 102

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2017

Birds begin to filter down through this southern part of Central America by August but the biggest avian movement happens during the third and final weeks of October. We might not get the variety of a New Jersey autumn but we do get major numbers of species that winter in South America. Some of the Birding Club at Selva Bananito.

Costa Rica 180

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Farming 180

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

“Target birds” The term can foster excitement but is easily contentious. It would be uber cool to lay eyes on a rare lifer, on species that only seem to live on the pages of a field guide but isn’t that somewhat discriminatory? Aren’t all birds worth watching? Looking for Bare-necked Umbrellabird ?

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 203

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 158

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2017

At 10,000 Birds, readers who haven’t been here before might correctly surmise that this platform talks about anything bird-related. As for myself, since I live in Costa Rica, I usually put the focus on birding and/or birds in this small yet very bio-rich country.

Costa Rica 169

Costa Rica Birds Owls Tennessee 169

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

What qualifies a bird to be included in the top-5? eBird doesn’t offer such an option, so I used the second best: the species was observed in one month only. This version extended the list a bit and it turned out that almost every fourth bird was an one-monther. The post The top-5 birds of 2018 appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

2018 121

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 121

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Beside birds, in this park you stand a chance of spotting the Eurasian Lynx , Brown Bear and Gray Wolf ! Even among the protected areas of Serbia, the Iron Gates National Park (in Serbian: Djerdap) stands out as better preserved. Well, do you really? So, yes – it is possible, but by no means easy.

Serbia 209

Serbia Turtles Birds Eagles 209

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2016

Here it goes: Second: Get to know your birds. I used to bird almost exclusively by kayak and since I published a few papers on birds of that area, I made the stats on how much I paddled (published in the “Methodology” chapter). The tricky part of the IBA process is trying to protect it.

Protection 137

Protection Eagles Jamaica Farming 137

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2015

It’s the end of June and up north, the birds are busy with their young, and taking full advantage of the summer’s arthropod bounty. So is classic, comfortable birding at Rancho Naturalista , and lowland rainforest birding in the Sarapiqui area. Blue-crowned Motmot – a common bird of hotel gardens.

Costa Rica 162

Costa Rica San Jose Birds Owls 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2017

It was already dark in mid-October when we arrived to the Costa Rican birding mecca of Rancho Naturalista to have dinner on the veranda but then were interrupted with a call: There’s a Mottled Owl at the other side! Lisa Erb, the manager and owner, but also a former bird guide, perfectly understood her guests.

Costa Rica 180

Costa Rica Woodpeckers Farming Owls 180

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2016

I’ve been to the Sounds before, but I had never visited them specifically to bird, which means I hadn’t seen the specialities there. Marlborough Sounds has a pretty special endemic, the King Shag , a species that isn’t just endemic to New Zealand but endemic to just the Sounds. This trip was to rectify that.

Charlotte 126

Charlotte New Zealand Seals Fur 126

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2011

Besides the avian attributes of flight, feathers and laying eggs, potoos are quite possibly the most unbird-like birds in the world. This bird’s gape is impossibly large and cavernous and is used to net beetles, moths, insects and even small birds. The first is not always evident at fist glance - its mouth.

Costa Rica 256

Costa Rica Jamaica Eggs Cooking 256

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2012

Back in the 1980s, it became popular for biologists to consider plant secondary compounds in understanding inter-species relationships and other ecological matters. The first thing I learned was that most animal-plant interaction did not involve mammals, or even birds. Birds use potpourri, and apparently, to good effect.

2001 154

2001 New York City Birds Research 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2018

At Duncansby Head, just a few miles south of Dunnet Head, I got to see birds nesting, and gathering along the steep cliffs, in numbers that I can not even imagine. Now, dont get me wrong, there have been some nice birds, and locations in between, but these two experiences are just so hard to put out of my mind. Flying in formation.

Puffins 100

Puffins Wildlife Reserve 2003 Farming 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2018

Our trip to Costa Rica has come to an end, and sadly, it ended with one of the best weeks of birding in the entire year. I have to send out a huge Thank You to 10000 Birds Beat Writer in Costa Rica, Patrick O’Donnell for all his help in our planning as well as providing some amazing contacts.

Costa Rica 200

Costa Rica San Jose Chinchillas Family 200

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Bird Surprises Bird Surprises By Bill • March 8, 2011 • 9 comments Tweet Share Sometimes we watchers see birds do things that surprise us—things birds are not supposed to do.

2011 238

2011 Birds Michigan Ohio 238

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2017

Yet, as a team participating in a bird race, we had our schedule, to appear at the lodge at 6.30 Not many birds, two Ruddy Turnstones , one Willet , a fishing boat in front of the beach with a small flock of Brown Pelicans surrounding it, several Magnificent Frigatebirds above it… and several smaller flocks of noisy Scarlet Macaws above us.

Costa Rica 178

Costa Rica Pelicans Owls Woodpeckers 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2018

The countrysides were incredible, the people were as hospitable as anywhere we went, and there are some fantastic birds. The last week found us start off in Hull, at the Spurn Bird Observatory. So, you can imagine the excitement when one of the birds was sporting a few colored bands! It was an all around quality experience.

South Africa 100

South Africa New Zealand Costa Rica Qatar 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2012

Most tourists that visit Broome take a tour of the Pearl Farm at the creek and learn about the cultivation of pearls that were Broome’s first industry. Our visit to Willie Creek was not to visit the Pearl Farm, but to go and see if our pair of Beach Stone-curlews were in their usual spot.

Senegal 160

Senegal Industry Singapore Litter 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2013

In short, the accepted view used to be that a small breeding population of Egyptian Vultures inhabited Southern Africa, but has vanished facing the spread of towns, roads and farms. It was not the first note I have published, but was the only one about a bird I have never laid my eyes upon!

Sudan 245

Sudan Macedonia Botswana Serbia 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2021

The very best wetland birding around Belgrade, Serbia, is not to be found in the locally famous and tourist-promoted Obedska or Carska Bara Ramsar areas, but at Beljarica Backwaters and the fish farm triangle of Centa, Baranda and Sakule villages, in the Tamis River floodplain. mi ahead of Beljarica, bus No.

Farming 264

Farming Birds Fish Boars 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. This bird is represented in an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph. Can’t say that it is a particularly obvious name from seeing the bird.

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2017

I am a birder and I can claim that out of Serbia’s total of 350+ bird species, highly urbanised inner city areas of Belgrade hold almost 100 birds, while the outskirts have more than 200 species. eBird says that, at the time of writing (April 2017), there are some ten hotspots that have crossed the 100 bird species mark.

Birds 213

Birds 2017 Eagles Otters 213

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

Here are some of the things I learned reading Birds in Winter: . Birds who store food in advance of winter (corvids, t**s, and nuthatches) have a larger hippocampus (the brain structure that regulates memory) than non-storing birds do. Author Roger F. The book is organized logically by seasonality.

Research 187

Research Birds Hoarding Sweden 187

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

There are few more vexing questions in birding than the question of whether or not a bird counts. Even the most free-wheeling of birders don’t usually consider going to a zoo or a chicken farm a form of birding, but just because they choose to distinguish doesn’t mean they keep a list. Or perhaps not.

Species 188

Species New Zealand Zoos Chickens 188

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. I chalked up 132 species in a pretty relaxed eight days, during which birds shared the agenda with culture. With 154 eBirded species, the Beljarica shares the 4th place on the list. What has changed in the meantime?

Serbia 181

Serbia Birds Bulgaria Farming 181

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Counting the Birds I was in my teens when I undertook my first bird-survey: it was field work for the British Trust for Ornithology’s The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. The breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland. Published in 1976, The Atlas was, I believe, the very first work of its kind.

Ireland 241

Ireland Turtles Geese Farming 241

Animal Ethics

MARCH 29, 2008

In the greater Yellowstone ecosystem alone, over half of the elk migratory routes and three-quarters of the antelope routes have been destroyed by sprawl, oil and gas development, and farming. Migratory birds protect forests and crops from insect pests; butterflies, bats and other migratory species are important pollinators.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York United States illegal 40

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2011

But, as with so many other species, these birds have been left to do their own whistle blowing. West Indian Whistling Ducks are the largest of the eight different whistling duck species. With assistance from the Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT) a boardwalk and nature centre have been established.

Antigua and Barbuda 241

Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Jamaica 241

Animal Ethics

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Farm animals also benefit from the humane farming movement, even if the animal welfare changes it effects are not all that we should hope and work for. How far do we go in protecting them? Such an obligation would make us the protectors of all species, and the destroyers of every ecosystem on earth.

New York Times 40

New York Times New York Vegan Vegetarian 40