10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2021

It was an unexpected bird tour, without too much planning and aimed at a few target species, of which we saw most, but the main one eluded us… Early morning, leaving the last houses behind… and a Little Owl awaits us on a traffic sign. Also along the Tamis River, our next hotspot was a fish farm in the Sakule Village.

Serbia 237

Serbia Birds Romania Eagles 237

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2021

With travel restrictions still in place, going on a birding trip outside of China is still not a practical option. Fortunately, China itself has a large number of bird species and habitats. The first stop was Wolongshan, a place known more for its giant pandas than its birds. Bird photography for extremely lazy people.

China 264

China Pandas Birds Zoos 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2022

Today, along with teams in a few other parts of Costa Rica and elsewhere, I will be birding for a cause, watching birds to help one that only lives in Costa Rica, the Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow. Although this endemic is high on the most wanted list of many visiting birders, unfortunately, it’s not an easy bird to see.

Costa Rica 236

Costa Rica Sparrows Raised Birds 236

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2021

Birding in Costa Rica wouldn’t be complete without a fine cup of coffee (or two). It’s why, before any birding jaunt, I brew fresh coffee in the pauraque calling pre-dawn hour, and why I bring that coffee with me. Venturing further into the forest, we did a bit of birding on a trail that leads to a waterfall.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Farming Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2021

June can be a hit-or-miss month for birding. You may, if fortune favors you, hit good weather or birds. I’ve continued my inconsistent effort to pick off the species I need for my Monroe County list. The post Best Bird of the Weekend (First of June 2021) appeared first on 10,000 Birds. Rumor (i.e.

Sparrows 220

Sparrows Birds Farming Experience 220

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2020

And this doesn’t mean you are obsessed or a little bit too much into birds because keeping track of a year list actually comes with some side benefits. Yeah, many of us living the birding life do so anyways because we can’t help it. Lifers are in caps and the most outstanding species are in bold. Go birding!

Costa Rica 260

Costa Rica 2020 Morals Farming 260

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Popple] One of the great things about birding is its continuing ability to surprise. After many years pointing binoculars at birds they can still shock you with unseen – sometimes unrecorded – behaviour, baffle you with an unexpected vocalisation or just turn up in oddly unexpected places. Places, too, can surprise. I was wrong.

Koalas 222

Koalas Birds Zoos Hunters 222

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2017

Cedar Waxwings ( Bombycilla cedrorum ) have the unfortunate distinction of being the undisputed poster-birds for avian intemperance. I’m not sure the cidermakers of Wyndridge Farm Cidery of Dallastown, Pennsylvania had any of this in mind when they chose a Cedar Waxwing to adorn the label of their Wyndridge Crafty Cranberry Hard Apple Cider.

Farming 100

Farming Pennsylvania Rabbits Fox 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

In common with so many other volcanoes, Poas also houses farms, people, and forests full of birds. Eastern Meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles , and a few other birds are at peace with the cows but for most birds on Poas, the forest is where life is living large. Poas Volcano isn’t just a mountain built with magma.

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Costa Rica Birds Cows Hunters 258

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. Passing through the high oak dominated rainforests of Quetzal National Park, this road can also turn up Unspotted Saw-whet Owls and other species of the night but is much more birdy during the day.

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Costa Rica Birds Farming Litter 220

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.

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Costa Rica Birds Mississippi Woodpeckers 251

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2024

Bird Day is a lovely, little jewel of a book. The idea is to portray one bird for each hour of the day in words and art, presenting the diversity, beauty, and wonder of avian life. Angell’s black-and-white illustrations bring sparks of energy and visual clarity to the fascinating bird behaviors described by Huber.

Chicago 178

Chicago Barn Owls Penguins New Zealand 178

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

When looking for birds in Costa Rica, the Central Valley isn’t the first place that comes to mind. Tongues and patches of green space host birds but most birders leave as soon as they can. Why linger when you can go where the birding is better? I can’t blame them, I would too.

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Costa Rica Sparrows Birds Rodents 253

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2021

In April, many birds come to Shanghai, stay for a day or two and decide to move on. Maybe the birds know something. On the other hand, in April, some other species start breeding here in Shanghai. On Tianmashan, a little bird pool (with attached restaurant) has had few visitors this month. Long live The Cure.

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Birds Farming Alaska Breeding 176

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 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. Welcome back to the paradise of birding in the Arenal region of Costa Rica!

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica San Jose Liberia Farming 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

In Costa Rica, our July birding news usually consists of interesting sightings during the mid-summer tours. These and other important birding related questions come to mind and during a normal July, I would be personally and actively helping answer them. Which tours saw the most roosting owls?

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Costa Rica Birds Thailand Family 211

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2022

It is not particularly big but has a reported 430 bird species including migrants, though during my short stay it seems I missed most of the key attractions among them. It goes like this: While fishing, the bird tucks its head down and uses its wings to create a shady area. Pel’s Fishing Owl, where were you? UysI and G.

South Africa 147

South Africa Africa Birds Research 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

As mentioned earlier in these pages , wind farms and eagles don’t always go well together—the birds, which often scan the ground for prey instead of looking straight ahead while they’re flying, thus don’t see wind turbines until it’s too late. It’s not just eagles, either; other bird and bat species also fall victim to the turbines.)

Eagles 165

Eagles Bald Eagle Farming Obama 165

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

On that glorious day, I observed ten critically endangered birds, representing 8% of their Costa Rican, or 2% of their global population!! In my previous post , I dealt with Rancho Naturalista Lodge itself and birding within their private reserve. But, let’s start at the beginning.

Costa Rica 233

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2020

Don`t worry – after having written about birding Shanghai in April a few weeks ago, I will not continue this theme for longer – not that much to write about in June and July. But May is a good time for birding here, and thus worth a post. A cuckoo species with a sense of honor, being a non-parasitic cuckoo.

Birds 163

Birds Tigers Farming Eggs 163

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

Usually, maize is on the menu, only occasionally carrion or dead trout from a nearby fish farm. The next morning, through Yellowhammers and Eurasian Skylarks singing all around me, I went birding. Yes, yes, I know, not countable – it’s not a bird. Never mind, it’s not a bird. Yet, not the bear, I’ll have to return for it.

Serbia 264

Serbia Bears Birds Mammals 264

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.

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Washington Portland Birds Deer 160

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2019

As with any home inhabited by birders, we have kept track of all species heard or seen, night and day. Although that may sound as if we stand out there at all hours like a bino wearing sentinel watching the trees, most of our birding is typical yard list stuff; just keeping eyes and ears out for whatever avian things come our way.

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Costa Rica Barn Owls Birds Parrots 156

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 198

Africa Kenya Uganda Tanzania 198

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 276

Costa Rica Nashville Tennessee Turtles 276

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2024

There’s also a much greater variety of species of deer living here now than than there were four or five hundred years ago, for along with our native Roe and Red Deer we also have large populations of Fallow, Sika, Reeves’s Muntjac and Chinese Water Deer. Reeves’s Muntjac , a highly successful invasive species in the UK.

Fur 206

Fur Deer Boars Estonia 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2012

Familiar birds across the European countryside are suffering precipitous declines. In order to boost food production across Europe, the wholesale ripping up of hedgerows, draining of wetlands and ploughing over of meadows has robbed farmland birds of their homes and food.

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Farming Turtles Suffering Europe 158

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Global Big Day has become an annual collective event in May that encourages thousands of people to watch birds on the same date. As far as promoting birding goes, the only thing better might be October Gobal Big Day ! We had a lot of rain in some parts of the country, some places had landslides, and birding was somewhat limited.

Costa Rica 267

Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Owls 267

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. The Emerald Tanager is one of those cool ones.

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Costa Rica Birds Parrots Sparrows 194

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 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.

Costa Rica 239

Costa Rica Sanctuary Bats Woodpeckers 239

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 225

Costa Rica Panama Squirrels Nicaragua 225

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

White-tailed Kite in action- a classic airport species in Costa Rica. 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. I wonder where they come from?

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Costa Rica Ecuador North America Peru 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2023

The birding delights of the estuary are a 30-minute drive from the Lisbon international airport. So close, you would think there’s nothing one can do to improve the location of this fantastic birding spot. I like to close the year with a visit as birds are like English pensioners in Benidorm – they flock in winter.

Portugal 181

Portugal Geese Suffering Farming 181

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 268

Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 268

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2015

As a result, some of the most popular and exciting birding destinations in the world run on Tico time. Having visited quite a few outstanding ecolodges in my blessed life, I’ve learned that exceptional birding destinations must first and foremost harbor exceptional, accessible birds. Are there hummingbirds?

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Costa Rica Birds Farming 2014 249

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 ?

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Costa Rica Panama Birds Eagles 202

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2023

As mentioned in my previous post , we were hosted for an afternoon session at Jonathan ‘s farm. Coming off a high from our morning boat ride, excitement was high as we pulled into the farm compound. On the slow crawl into the farm, the first sighting was a small group of Green Ibis – a new species for me.

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Farming Guyana Birds South America 218