10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2023

Like the recently posted entry on birding Kabul, this isn’t really much of a birding post – it features just two or three really bad (= taken with a mobile phone; = I do not really want these photos to be associated with me as a bird photographer at all bad) photos. Then, lunch break near the river with my hosts.

Afghanistan 189

Afghanistan Birds Goats Transported 189

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2024

For a while I was considering together with Jacob, whom I met on Helgoland during my month of volunteering at the bird observatory there, to meet up for a short birding outing on a weekend. We still focused on the birds of course and saw quite a good number of species, although few were unexpected.

Squirrels 200

Squirrels South Africa Germany Ducks 200

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 181

Chicago Barn Owls Penguins New Zealand 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2014

Yes, the Tufted Duck is the ideal suject for this blog: it is reasonably common here in Germany and not hard to photograph, yet to you it is probably the subject of countless day dreams scanning through endless flocks of Lesser Scaup. Birds Germany Ring-necked Duck Tufted Duck waterfowl'

Germany 171

Germany Ducks North America America 171

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2021

Recently, many people have been telling me that they are very tired of photos of dry birds. So, here’s a collection of wet birds. A wet Blackcap (Visselhoevede, Germany). Even though this bird is definitely wet, it still feels a bit like cheating to include it in this post.

South Africa 175

South Africa China Africa Birds 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2020

Here`s another entry in the category “Rejected topics for bird-related coffee table books”, following my recent “Blue Birds” post. With remarkable accuracy, each of the photos below shows exactly two birds. Almost abstract bird patterns. Blue Tit (Visselhoevede, Germany, Jul 2018).

South Africa 205

South Africa 2018 2019 China 205

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2023

Yibin is a typical smallish Chinese city (which in China means slightly above 850,000 people in the metro area, which would make it the fifth-biggest city in Germany but does not get it into the top 100 in China). As sound photography has not been invented yet, I will therefore focus on the other birds encountered here.

Italy 189

Italy Birds China France 189

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2024

Winter birding in Bonn generally appears to be rather bleak, but I can’t really complain with the Wallcreeper that spent several weeks just outside the city. Now that this bird has seemingly moved on, I had to find other species to distract me, but fortunately that was not too hard.

Birds 207

Birds Ducks Groups Species 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

The Collins Bird Guide covers Europe, North Atlantic islands, much of North Africa and the Middle East. The Collins Bird Guide 2nd edition from 2009 was a much hated taxonomical revolution/nightmare, changing just about everything. I am still annoyed that no birds are where they used to be. the Corn Bunting plate).

Europe 255

Europe Birds Woodpeckers Ireland 255

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

That is very cold for the south of Germany. This thrush is extremely common in urban and suburban Germany and one of the most conspicuous bird species here, comparable to the American Robin in North America. A few dead birds were collected by authorities and sent to a laboratory for investigation.

Germany 160

Germany Blackbirds 2006 Denmark 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2024

On the one hand, they are very easy to see in Germany, swimming in public parks or teaching pensioners how to eat bread. On the other hand, their white color and their considerable size made me see them as somewhat arrogant birds – the white Golf convertible of the bird world.

China 215

China Iceland Whales Whaling 215

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

The only bird-related activity I can think of is looking at bird photos I took in Singapore in 2015, and adding some irrelevant comments to them. Presumably, birds living in Singapore do not understand German. Writing this post, I have been in lockdown in my Shanghai compound for 60 days. “Odd, me?”

Singapore 222

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 222

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

For those still reading on after this introduction, this is about Barn Owls I have seen in Germany in summer 2018 and winter 2019 – rural Northern Germany, to be more specific. In December 2019, I found a roosting barn owl on my last day in Germany. The post Another post about owls appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Owls 171

Owls Barn Owls Germany 2018 171

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2020

The coronavirus has locked us all in, literally, doing something that was totally unthinkable only a few months ago: it has prevented us from birding abroad! It can still be an entirely opposite end of a continent, but – if you are residing in Europe – the flight can be as short as one (from Germany) to two hours (from UK).

Serbia 317

Serbia Sanctuary Birds Bosnia 317

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2021

It is a well-known birding spot, and a low-budget alternative to Baihualing. While Baihualing is much better for birds, foreigners are currently prohibited from going there, presumably as we all carry Covid-19, even if like me we have been in China the whole year. Anyway, another topic I wanted to mention in this post is birds.

China 263

China Birds Zebras Germany 263

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2023

The first half of September (covered in my previous post ) was very productive, but the second half delivered some even better birding. These birds were omnipresent on the bushes and fence posts on the upper land of the island during the first weeks of my stay. We did see Eurasian Skylark , in addition to Horned Lark , as well though.

Birds 218

Birds Adoptable Groups Species 218

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2020

When it comes to one’s most exciting bird sightings, of course, it all comes down to context. I wouldn’t change my central Mexican endemics for any other region’s birds. So my favorites for 2019 includes a good number of birds that are rather common elsewhere, but were firsts for me. But it still is not easy.

Austria 148

Austria Spain 2019 Birds 148

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2024

Here in the UK the Austrian manufacturer Swarovski dominates the quality end of the birding market, outselling by a sizeable margin its German-based rivals, Zeiss and Leica. So if someone has Swarovskis hanging round their neck, there’s a fair chance that they take their birding seriously.

Austria 202

Austria Factory Branding Germany 202

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2019

Birdwatchers tend to like the rare, the exotic – yet many common birds are exciting as well. With that in mind, I would like to introduce what might be the 20 most common birds of Shanghai. Barn Swallows are pretty much anywhere in the world (I just saw them back in Germany). A thoroughly modern bird. to be continued).

Germany 128

Germany Cattle Blackbirds Birds 128

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

But it seems the birds like this habitat, probably as this is a rare more open area on these otherwise mostly heavily forested hills. The monastery is quite large compared to a bird guide (Bella from Alpinebirding on the left-hand side). And compared to birds, for that matter. Please consult your own bird guide for more details.

Birds 213

Birds Germany India 2018 213

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2021

Fortunately, China still has lots of interesting birding locations left for me. But of course, it is also nice to remember past birding trips. One in November 2018 included a one-day birding trip in the Drakensberg area, a mountain range in the border area between South Africa and Lesotho. That does not make much sense, I know.

South Africa 234

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 234

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2021

Nope, definitely not one of those… The classification of beer styles can be a pretty thorny issue in its own right, and I suspect Helles requires some explanation to most casual drinkers outside of Germany. Good birding and happy drinking! The post Brown’s Brewing Company – Helles Rebuke appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Germany 261

Germany New York Bears Rights 261

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2021

He found some solace when, at age eleven, he became entranced with birds – specifically, with a Green Woodpecker — and that sighting, he says, “took me to another, safer world.” . More Birds Than Bullets: My Life With Birds is his account of the centrality of birds in all of these endeavors, and in his life.

Fox 178

Fox Kuwait Bosnia Afghanistan 178

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2021

The latter is possible, as the undisturbed areas of Nanhui keep shrinking, leaving less and less space for birds. Bramblings at Nanhui enjoy staring vacantly into space … … and accusing bird watchers of not paying enough attention to them. Somehow, for this bird it is ok. They are just too attractive.

Birds 236

Birds Humane Japan Ducks 236

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2023

Now, try to imagine Germany having Joseph Goebbels as a Chancellor around the year 1970, more than quarter of a century after WWII – unimaginable, isn’t it? Why should something so unimaginable in Germany be possible in Serbia? It is getting hot in the sun, but this place is bursting with birds, I cannot decide where to look!

Protest 179

Protest Protesting Protesters Germany 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2022

For some reason that I do not quite understand myself – given that I really rather dislike children and am not too positive about the rest of humanity either – I recently put up a little display of bird photos inside my Shanghai compound, which I share (as the only foreigner) with about 1700 Chinese. Some Birds of Shanghai.

Birds 162

Birds Fish Germany China 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

So, this post just shows 25 birds I spotted at Nanhui (coastal Shanghai) in October 2019. One of the birds seemed somewhat incompetent in handling the seeds of the local trees. Always interesting to see the same species both in Germany (in my parents’ garden) and in Shanghai. After a few days, they left again.

2019 192

2019 Japan Birds Owls 192

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

The little red bit on the crown on this photo indicates that it is a male bird. For this species, this is unfortunate as some of its behavior is well worth describing ( Wikipedia ): “These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads through almost 180 degrees. Kind of like a diesel version.

Woodpeckers 233

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 233

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2022

I saw them at Ayers Rock which while I was there had the worst floods in memory (my parents in Germany thought I must be traveling under a bad star, as they heard about these floods in the German news and knew I was there at that time). Talking about Australian birds means coming back to honeyeaters – the White-plumed Honeyeater now.

Birds 147

Birds Australia Sheep Zebras 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2014

Whether the inspiration to this post came from Germany winning the U19 European football championship yesterday right on the heels of our (adult) team winning the world cup (Yes! or from Coreys small series on national birds is left for you to decide. Ospreys have shown a remarkable recovery in Germany. Four stars!!),

Eagles 168

Eagles Germany Breeding Hunting 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2022

Do birds use odors and a sense of smell to communicate with each other? The Secret Perfume of Birds: Uncovering the Science of Avian Scent focuses on this last question, but you might find yourself fascinated by the first two, which come early in the book but linger on in the imagination as author Danielle J. ” (p.

Science 223

Science Research Birds Turkey 223

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2022

So I let myself be inspired, instead, by my rotating “Best of Birds” screen saver photos, accumulated over the years. Many simply show beautiful, interesting, or cooperative birds I have seen. After contributing almost 100 posts to 10,000 Birds, I’ve kind of lost track.

Blackbirds 184

Blackbirds Germany Sparrows Adoptable 184

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

Birds wanting to make more birds often do crazy stuff, and birders are well accustomed to encountering splendid plumage features, impossible feather structures, crazy dances, mad calls and complex songs on the birds they watch. I’m glad Germany managed to hold on to some of her large white chunks of plastic garbage.

Germany 154

Germany Birds Europe 154

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2017

This special place in a birder’s heart or on a list of best birds of the year certainly pertains not only to their extravagant lifestyle but also to the fact that most birders – particularly visiting birders – often struggle with finding them. You see, we get two different subspecies of dippers in Germany.

Germany 100

Germany 2016 Hamburgers Austria 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 222

Dissection Birds Research Europe 222

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2017

I started keeping year lists – not just blogging about them but really keeping track of what I see each year – as late as 2012, roughly 30 years into my birding career. I was able to maintain the new structure in the 2014 list , and this was a mighty fine birding year in all aspects. What was left? The blogging element.

2017 100

2017 Germany 2012 2013 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2015

Germany is currently experiencing something for which the English have no nice expression. The specificities of languages … Anyway, so Germany this year is essentially filled with mice, like the one shown here, which – so far as I know – is a vole where you come from. You’re not a vole or a gerbil.

Fox 164

Fox Rodents Gophers Germany 164