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 186

Italy Birds China France 186

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 253

Europe Birds Woodpeckers Ireland 253

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

APRIL 12, 2014

From a European blogger, you therefore probably expect to see posts on species that you know as European vagrants from your field guides and long to find on your local patch. We already have enough Aythya hybrids to deal with amongst our own species, we don’t need any North American genes messing our minds up any further!

Germany 170

Germany Ducks North America America 170

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 218

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 218

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 262

China Birds Zebras Germany 262

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 214

Birds Adoptable Groups Species 214

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

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.

Austria 146

Austria Spain 2019 Birds 146

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 211

China Iceland Whales Whaling 211

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 231

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 231

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 210

Birds Germany India 2018 210

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. The little red bit on the crown on this photo indicates that it is a male bird.

Woodpeckers 230

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 230

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. Today`s species are just the first 10 by alphabetical order. A thoroughly modern bird. That is a bit unfair to this species.

Germany 127

Germany Cattle Blackbirds Birds 127

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2021

Not too many highlights, not too many species … hard to say whether this is just the usual nostalgia for a better but probably nonexistent past or a real phenomenon. The latter is possible, as the undisturbed areas of Nanhui keep shrinking, leaving less and less space for birds. Somehow, for this bird it is ok.

Birds 232

Birds Humane Japan Ducks 232

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2022

” Funny how the difficulty of breeding a species can be illustrated in simple monetary terms. 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).

Birds 147

Birds Australia Sheep Zebras 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2021

Sure, it’s entirely possible that there are some superhuman larophiles out there among the uppermost pantheon of elite birders who can identify this gull to species by its shadowy outline. Good birding and happy drinking! The post Brown’s Brewing Company – Helles Rebuke appeared first on 10,000 Birds. Well, good for them.

Germany 259

Germany New York Bears Rights 259

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

APRIL 6, 2022

The week on the cusp between March and April was the first week in which failed to pick up any FOY species for the year 2022. This following week, in which I did take a longer trip, I again picked up four FOY species.). Many simply show beautiful, interesting, or cooperative birds I have seen.

Blackbirds 182

Blackbirds Germany Sparrows Adoptable 182

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

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 190

2019 Japan Birds Owls 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2023

There are 17 different species of them, a few of them endangered, particularly some island endemics. A characteristic of most but not all Paradise Flycatchers is the long tail of the male bird (tail length is thought to be a criterion by which females select their partners – please insert your own pornographic joke here).

Japan 130

Japan China Guinea Germany 130

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2024

After my previous post on my sighting of a Wallcreeper near Bonn, I guess I shouldn’t write a second post on the same bird. However, I visited the same site again to see the bird, and was surprised with two unexpected sightings. I was impressed how the bird was found it as it was incredibly well camoulaged.

Falcons 203

Falcons Owls Eagles Species 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2024

Then sometimes when you see these birds actively regaining their energy and getting ready for defending territories and breeding, they give the impression that their migration had just been a short jog around the block rather than a marathon across desert, mountains, and oceans.

Soreing 174

Soreing Owls Woodpeckers Eagles 174

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2020

I feel that like most bird families (with the obvious exception of pheasants), buntings are somewhat underrated. They lack both the flashiness larger birds and the “I am more of an expert birder than you” appeal of warblers. In other words, they are my kind of birds. Yellowhammer. Cape Bunting. Golden-breasted Bunting.

South Africa 177

South Africa China Germany Family 177

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2017

However, one of the little sweet candies Germany still enjoys today from its own disastrous colonial past is the Common Guillemot, or Common Murre. Germany has only one high seas island it calls its own, the mighty (from a birding perspective) island of Heligoland.

Germany 100

Germany Denmark Namibia Breeding 100

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. Crazy, I know. And you know what? Well, that is actually quite easy to explain.

Germany 100

Germany 2016 Hamburgers Austria 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2024

Although the bird was found a while ago, it had still been seen the day before I went to check out the site with my mother (not a birder but interested in birds), who, in an unlikely coincidence, came across this species a few days earlier when looking through my bird guide and decided that she would really want to see this species.

Reptiles 210

Reptiles Falcons Species Groups 210

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 218

Dissection Birds Research Europe 218

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. Species List. What was left?

2017 100

2017 Germany 2012 2013 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2016

I am not entirely sure whether most birders outside Germany know or realize that Germany still has a decent population of one of Europe’s most attractive and desired bird species: the Great Bustard Otis tarda. Never mind the slight over-exposure: look at this bird!

Germany 101

Germany Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2015

Germany is currently experiencing something for which the English have no nice expression. We call it a “mouse gradation year” I was not able to find a catchy English term for “gradation year” – it’s what happens when a certain species showing population cycles reaches a peak year.

Fox 164

Fox Rodents Gophers Germany 164

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

From the time he can remember, every camping, hiking, or simple trip outside was focused on finding wildlife with herps, mammals, birds and native fish as his primary interests. When it comes time to for me to plan a vacation I first figure out what herps occur in the area and then what birds and mammals I can also find.

Salamander 138

Salamander Germany Birds Blackbirds 138

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2012

Here in Germany, we don’t wish we had. Yes, Germany has parrots, or parakeets to be more precise. Unlike North America, Germany has never had naturally occurring psittacines that went extinct, and the one we have is a true and complete invasive alien introduction. Because we never have had. Very stupid thing to do.

Germany 244

Germany Netherlands Zoos Geese 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2016

One of the most impressive birds in North America is the Golden Eagle. In fact, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology , “The Golden Eagle is the most common official national animal in the world – it’s the emblem of Albania, Germany, Austria, Mexico, and Kazakhstan.” ” The bird is massive.

Albania 101

Albania Mexico Eagles Kazakhstan 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2013

Mike invented Corey a few years ago to firstly promote the idea of a multi-authored bird blog and secondly so he could make up extremely productive birding trips to make the blog more exciting to read. Here in Germany, we are currently experiencing the darkest winter on record, since sunlight hours were first recorded in 1951.

Germany 145

Germany Birds Pandas Kittens 145