10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Any day of birding in New York State that includes a sighting of a Vesper Sparrow is a better-then-average day. The precipitous plunge of Vesper Sparrow populations has been largely because of changing land use practices. What has caused the decline? They really stick out when you see them with other little brown jobs.

Sparrows 165

Sparrows North Dakota United States Downers 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

The night was understandably cool, not quite freezing but cool enough to warrant a sweater and jacket at this high elevation birding hotspot. At its 3,000 meter start, treeline habitats host Sooty Thrushes and other endemic birds of the high places, it is especially good for Timberline Wren. Blue-vented Hummingbird was one of them.

Costa Rica 228

Costa Rica Birds Farming Litter 228

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2022

In the previous period I wrote mostly book reviews (but of some really great books ), yet I cannot remember when the last time was that I wrote of birding itself? Perhaps in my December posts on birding Colombian Amazonia ? Driving with open windows (to hear the birds) becomes unbearable and I am heading out of this fish farm.

Breeders 215

Breeders Mules Farming Fish 215

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2019

Lots of birds, a lot of really cool birds! Some local populations of birds and animals couldn’t adapt to the radical ecosystem-wide changes and just died out but a fair percentage did survive and continue to persist where green space lingers. This is one heck of a sweet urban bird. Lesson’s Motmot.

Costa Rica 198

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Sparrows 198

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2020

That could certainly change at any time but for the moment, the distancing is paying off and although there are some driving curfews and restrictions, members of the birding community could still head out to watch birds. Based on eBird and Facebook reports, it looks like most local birders are sticking to yard birding.

Costa Rica 256

Costa Rica Birds Mississippi Woodpeckers 256

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 142

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 142

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

In Costa Rica, our July birding news usually consists of interesting sightings during the mid-summer tours. Where can I see Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow followed by a fantastic meal ? These and other important birding related questions come to mind and during a normal July, I would be personally and actively helping answer them.

Costa Rica 219

Costa Rica Birds Thailand Family 219

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2015

A rare bird is one we don’t see very often. However, that doesn’t mean that the bird species in question is necessarily endangered. None of these are rare in their normal haunts but seeing them in Costa Rica would be a major birding event. Lincoln’s Sparrow for example. Then there are the El Nino birds.

Costa Rica 161

Costa Rica Birds Panama Sparrows 161

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2015

A beautiful weekend for watching birds demands beautiful people watching birds. I enjoyed a nice selection of sparrows and raptors in Pennsylvania farm country, with a pair of bold and noisy Red-shouldered Hawks taking the prize. The bird was a Dickcissel and it was identified by voice as it flew over.

Pennsylvania 151

Pennsylvania 2015 Farming Birds 151

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

We conduct four Christmas Bird Counts in our part of Northern California, the first of which is the Fall River Christmas Bird Count coming up in just about two weeks. We began birding at Fall River overlook, a vista parking area overlooking a canyon. All in all, eight enthusiastic birders had a great time, and I got a lifer!

California 104

California Sparrows Birds Philadelphia 104

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

I only had a few days in California while visiting my brother at Berkeley, but we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to visit one of the most famous birding sites in the country: Point Reyes National Seashore. Add those life mammals to the life birds I already expected to see, and I was practically vibrating with excitement.

Seals 189

Seals Elephants Whales Whaling 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2014

On Saturday I awakened at 3:30 AM, tiptoed out of the house as quietly as I could, and headed north and west to Sullivan County, the first of three counties I planned to visit in a series of surgical birding strikes to see (or hear) the birds I had thus far missed this year as they migrated through New York City.

Breeding 153

Breeding New York Breeders Downers 153

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

Although it was nothing like going from New York to California or even Buffalo, New York to North Carolina, a change of location, however slight, can bring new birds especially in Costa Rica. In typical blackbird fashion, this common garden bird gave occasional, loud, ringing calls. Right at home. These were. Great Kiskadee.

Costa Rica 175

Costa Rica Barn Owls Stray Dog Blackbirds 175

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2020

On the northern birding calendar, October is a time for sparrows, cool weather, and tired fall leaves. It’s when Orange-crowned Warblers share the Goldenrod with lisping and chirping sparrows, when hardy Yellow-rumped Warblers dominate the Parulid scene. In Costa Rica, a lot of those birds fly right overhead.

Costa Rica 271

Costa Rica South America Colombia Paraguay 271

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2024

However – and I am not saying this out of misplaced national pride – there is one bird in the Netherlands that proves Jefferson wrong and Buffon right: the White-tailed Eagle (or Sea Eagle ). The grazers are glorified farm animals, but they have been labelled by some very irresponsible people as “wild”. It’s the only Dutch eagle.

Beavers 143

Beavers Netherlands Eagles Geese 143

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2018

Usually only several birds overwinter in Serbia – the biggest count ever was less than 10. There weren’t that many birds at all, they hated the sounds as much as I did. And then a bird of prey appeared in low flight through the tree crowns. And the bird I miss the most is the Redwing. Their claim to fame?

Moldova 120

Moldova Birds Serbia Greece 120

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

The birding around Lago de Yojoa in Honduras is frankly phenomenal, as I learned during a June 2018 birding junket organized by the Instituto Hondureño de Turismo. Peraza , could not sit still knowing that so many tasty target birds could be found within easy driving distance. EL RANCHO HOTEL Y RESTAURANTE.

Honduras 142

Honduras Birds Farming America 142

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. While birders up north are pishing up sparrows, digging the Autumn weekend at Cape May, or twitching vagrants, we are busy with kingbird flocks during our height of migration.

Costa Rica 164

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Farming 164

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

Odd habitats attract odd birds. Or rather, I should say that out of place habitats attract lost birds. Turf farms in wooded regions are wide open oases for grasspipers and other species adapted to natural lawns. One of the most frequently visited is a place created for fake birds of the large metal flying kind.

Costa Rica 162

Costa Rica Ecuador North America Peru 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2014

Yes there are birding sites and there are birds – but hardly much info about them (beside Fat Birder ). Local birding sites are well known – among local birders. Nevertheless, describing where to bird is easy. Nevertheless, describing where to bird is easy. Corn Bunting and Yellow Wagtail – common.

Serbia 180

Serbia Eagles Birds Sparrows 180

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2015

From the 1913 USDA Farmers Bulletin #513, Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard: “The bluebird is one of the most familiar tenants of the farm and dooryard. Its favorite nesting sites are crannies in the farm buildings or boxes made for its use or natural cavities in old apple trees. It was in 1926 that Thomas E.

Tenant 161

Tenant Farming Illinois North America 161

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

“Target birds” The term can foster excitement but is easily contentious. Aren’t all birds worth watching? There’s nothing wrong with appreciating and watching every bird but there’s also nothing wrong about going to great efforts to see lifers only found in dreams. Fiery-throated Hummingbird.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 203

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2014

I have participated in something like twenty Christmas Bird Counts since I started birding in 2005. And now for two years I have been a compiler for the Queens County Christmas Bird Count, which is a whole other pile of headaches. A Hermit Thrush at the Queens County Farm Museum was a nice find.

2005 154

2005 Birds Blackbirds Branding 154

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

We all have those days when we want to get out and go birding, but can never quite decide where we want to go. Mason Farm is one of the best places for birding in the region, and arguably in the state. Mason Farm is one of the best places for birding in the region, and arguably in the state. alls the better.

North Carolina 168

North Carolina Salamander Farming Tennessee 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2011

I’ve been to a lot of birding festivals—sometimes as a speaker, sometimes as a trip leader, and sometimes just because I love going to birding festivals. Last weekend I was in North Dakota attending The Potholes & Prairie Birding Festival in Carrington, ND. Carrington, North Dakota is farm and ranch country.

North Dakota 244

North Dakota West Virginia Farming Alaska 244

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2016

You see, we don’t just go outside and randomly watch birds during a set day in December. But then we remember that special birding moment when we saw a wood-warbler freezing it out with the rest of us (and thus sacrificing itself for the count) when it should be chasing bugs in Belize. It’s a bio-energetic, organic farm.

Costa Rica 235

Costa Rica 2016 Eagles Belize 235

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 ! It is possible to reach it on the Friday afternoon, sleep there and go birding at the crack of dawn on Saturday. Well, do you really? The Forgotten Road does not exist on the GPS screen either. Am I complaining about it?

Serbia 192

Serbia Turtles Birds Eagles 192

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2015

This year was my third year helping to lead trips at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. The list includes Bachmann’s Sparrow , Red-cockaded Woodpecker , Crested Caracara , Snail Kite , and, oddly, Whooping Crane. Continuing to release more birds into an environment that could not sustain them was a losing strategy.

Cattle 201

Cattle Florida Bald Eagle Endangered Species 201

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2019

Birds are singing and migrating, freshets are running, and trees are budding – yes, it’s time for all those things. And given what these birds have been through, this caution is certainly warranted. At last, it’s spring in the northern half of the world. What’s in a name?

North America 113

North America Vermont America Farming 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2013

In 1898, Hermon Bumpus published a paper about change in the morphology in a population of House Sparrows that he proposed was an example of Darwinian Natural Selection in action. House Sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) are introduced birds over most of their very large range. As you know, a lot of birds are killed in the U.S.

Killing 199

Killing South Africa Nebraska Collecting 199

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2019

Owling on Christmas Bird Counts is a peculiar business. Some counters are unfailingly resolute in their dedication to this thankless graveyard shift of the birding world, marching headlong year after year into the bleak winter landscape in search of their heard-only, nocturnal quarry. There’s the whole role of chance in owling, too.

2017 139

2017 Owls Game California 139

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

And this goal has to do with birds, and I assume since your perusing this here blog, that’s something that might interest you. Granted, a flexible work schedule helps, but still, my birding has been about focusing on those birds I still need to meet my goal rather than going out an regularly working a patch. So read on.

2016 141

2016 North Carolina 2015 Raleigh 141

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 224

2011 Birds Michigan Ohio 224

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Sometimes, I feel that competing bird conservation groups are trying too hard to get my attention and give the impression that just by sitting here on my futon and breathing, I have killed several birds. I just looked over at my husband–bam 5 birds dead. I’m now petting my rabbit Dougal, 6 more birds dead.

Rabbits 154

Rabbits Killing Canada Farming 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Sometimes, I feel that competing bird conservation groups are trying too hard to get my attention and give the impression that just by sitting here on my futon and breathing, I have killed several birds. I just looked over at my husband–bam 5 birds dead. I’m now petting my rabbit Dougal, 6 more birds dead.

Rabbits 113

Rabbits Killing Canada Farming 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2017

During the winter months, thousands of small wading birds frequent the mud flats of the Gulf of Nicoya as well as estuaries on both coasts. It adds that jackpot flavor to birding at every mud flat at any time so you better be on your toes and ready to recognize the odd bird out of the flock.

Costa Rica 101

Costa Rica Morals Breeders Sparrows 101

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There were no mammals, little game, and not many birds either. The reasons for this perceived lack of birds are threefold. California Quail are familiar birds to West Coast birders of North America, and Kiwis too now. Of the 130 or so birds brought to New Zealand 39 managed to establish themselves here.

New Zealand 161

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 161