10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2023

Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In the human psyche, owls can be cuddly signs of good luck and benificence (as they are in Japan, and Harry Potter movies) and, at the same time, eerie and unsettling.

Barn Owls 113

Barn Owls Owls Serbia Finland 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

The Christmas Bird Count was the answer. The IWC census starts from mid-January following the logic that it is the period when the birds have reached their wintering grounds and are rather static, so the chance of double-counting the same flock is minimal. But it is so frustrating to pass the birds by without IDing them!

Geese 146

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 146

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2016

Though many people joke that the mosquito is the Alaskan state bird, in fact it is the much more pleasant Willow Ptarmigan. In 1955 – before Alaska was a state – the Territory’s leaders in charge of drafting a constitution allowed schoolchildren to choose what would eventually become the state bird.

Alaska 102

Alaska Finland Indiana Russia 102

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia). Absolutely thrilled!

Serbia 246

Serbia Owls Slovakia Bosnia 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

Joseph Chiera is a Masters student in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in NYC and a “somewhat newbie” to birding. After taking an ornithology course last year, he was hooked and spends most of his free time birding or reading birding blogs. This is truly a bird-lovers dream-destination.

Sweden 166

Sweden Denmark Geese Birds 166

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2012

They are popular birds, and are the National Bird of Finland. Fortunately this weekend I was lucky enough to visit Martin Mere in Lancashire, a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve. The site is an important wintering site of Whooper Swans , a large Arctic migrant that is found across the northern extent of Eurasia.

Finland 105

Finland Ireland Iceland Birds 105

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2012

Talking to Jan Södersved the editor of the Birdlife Finland magazine Linnut whilst we were both in Portugal in early October suggested that all of the owl species in Finland had had a very productive breeding season. Short-eared Owls do breed in Britain but every few years an ‘irruption’ of the like we are seeing occurs.

Barn Owls 181

Barn Owls Finland Owls Portugal 181

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2013

You may recall that the hosts Sweden had some pedigree in this competition when Abba won with “Waterloo”, but their Scandinavian neighbours have been guilty of some dreadful entries including , the shame of Finland, Lordi and “Hard Rock Hallelujah”.

Czech Republic 140

Czech Republic Sweden Pedigree Finland 140

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2024

Bohemian Waxwings are the rock stars of the bird world. No other bird on the British list has quite the same allure, or ability to tempt people to travel long distances to see them. For a start, they are extraordinarily beautiful birds, and there’s nothing else quite like them. It’s not difficult to see why.

Finland 213

Finland Estonia Bears Ireland 213

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

Pectoral Sandpiper courtesy Rónán McLaughlin With Irene’s sister Katia currently flying across the Atlantic for a reunion, we’re hoping that she too will prove to be generous and deposit large numbers of, preferably rare, migratory birds borrowed from the US East Coast or further north.

France 225

France Ireland Estonia Finland 225

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

February 2023 was a slow month for birding in Shanghai, at least for me – so slow that I almost put the Spotted Dove , possibly my least favorite bird here, on the cover. Not a cover species The Black Kite is not actually black, but of course, misleading bird names are not exactly rare. Maybe those should be protected too?

Birds 130

Birds Iraq China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2022

This year, it seems I wrote one post on birding in Shanghai each month – and I am still not even sure anyone is interested in these. Probably the most interesting bird this month was a Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher showing up in the Shanghai Botanical Garden. I know – sexism is very common in the birding world.

Finland 147

Finland Birds 2016 McDonalds 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2015

In reality I’ve returned from filming the second Champions of the Flyway Bird Race. Compared to the 135 participants of this, arguably the most grueling 24-hour birding competition in the world. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and is a crucial stop-over for migrating birds. And I had it easy.

Cyprus 258

Cyprus illegal Birds 258

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

I did not find much about this bird online except for a paper with the exciting title “A new quill mite Torotrogla emberizae sp. Given that this bird moves very fast and thus leads to bird photographers spending a lot of time getting mostly completely unusable photos, I think the parasitism is well-deserved.

Birds 209

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 209