10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

The chapter titles of Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds represent both ends of the spectrum: “A World Full of Poisons,” “Malaria,” “Forest Intruders,” “Lead Shock,” “Shot.” Conservation. It’s not easy.

California Condor 171

California Condor Falcons California Birds 171

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2022

Perhaps the star bird here is the Nonggang Babbler , which was first observed by professional ornithologists only in 2005. The birds are not closely related. The location not being Algiers but rather Nonggang in Guangxi province, China, close to the border to Vietnam. The similarities are a product of convergent evolution.

China 199

China Birds Vietnam Asia 199

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

The main attraction for birders here are the hornbills – I have written about them before , so this post will be more on the other birds I saw there in 2017. Anyway, it is a very cute-looking bird if you are big enough not to be among its prey of (mostly) insects. I have written about the hornbills of this area before.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2016

Something of the same sort may be in the works for Hawaii, with scientists considering unprecedented measures for the best of reasons. Since then, mosquitoes have flourished and begun to pose a serious danger to wildlife, including birds. In the meantime, you might want to book a trip to Hawaii to see ‘i’wi while you still can.

Hawaii 100

Hawaii Laws Birds Fish 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2018

Many were specifically established for migratory birds and are strategically positioned along one of the four major North American migration flyways. Others were established to protect specific bird species or subspecies. As a result, there are excellent birding hotspots in the system. Kilauea Point NWR (Hawaii).

Wildlife 214

Wildlife Las Vegas Texas Minnesota 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2024

Birders know that some of the finest birding locations in the country are on federal land , which include national parks , wildlife refuges , forests , monuments , and seashores , among others. These lands support countless birds, either year-round, as migratory stopovers, or as breeding grounds. But what else should birders know?

Virgin Islands 203

Virgin Islands Alaska United States Endangered Species 203

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2017

Controversies about federal public lands, including the 2016 occupation of Malheur NWR in Oregon and proposed bills in Congress to dispose of certain land, has focused attention on the value of federal lands to birds and birders. But if one focuses on specific types of birds, the results can be both illuminating and surprising.

Albatross 137

Albatross Hawaii Alaska Puerto Rico 137

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2015

Few birds are as ubiquitous in the United States as the American Robin. Found in all fifty states except for Hawaii, the robin is also the state bird of not just Connecticut, but Michigan and Wisconsin as well. Looks like these birds will remain symbols of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin far into the future!

Connecticut 166

Connecticut Wisconsin Michigan Hawaii 166

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

Whiskey Month at Birds and Booze: After going on hiatus last year, Birds and Booze’s Whiskey Month at 10,000 Birds is back and setting its sights on whiskeys all month long this February. Illustration of a Short-eared Owl from The Birds of Great Britain (1873) by English ornithologist John Gould (1804-1881).

Owls 200

Owls New York New York City Cuba 200

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Audubon guides to birds have been around since 1946. The first guide bearing the National Audubon Society imprint was Audubon Bird Guide; Eastern Land Birds , written by Richard Hooper Pough, and illustrated by Don Eckelberry. Plate 28 from Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds, by Richard H. Knopf, 1994/97.

North America 278

North America America Birds California Condor 278

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2016

While his poem was about the dubious nature of boundaries kept in check by surly New England yankees, the sentiment holds true in Hawaii, at least. Specifically, the state’s Big Island, where a new fence was just completed in the hopes of protecting an endangered bird. Sounds something like a win-win.

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Protection Feral Cats Hawaii Feral 133

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2014

I spent time with the Sooty Terns when I worked on Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals , in the north of Hawaii. They utterly dominated the island in numbers, cramming 100,000 or so birds into the thin strip of land either side of the kilometer long runway. Birds French Frigate Shoals Hawaii tern Tern Island'

Hawaii 166

Hawaii Albatross Breeding Species 166

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2013

The American Bird Conservancy announced a new study that feral cats prey on the endangered Hawaiian Petrel. Scientists might find it more challenging to seek out evidence of which bird species, particularly non-Arctic, island-bound species, are NOT preyed upon by birds. At the risk of sounding insensitive, duh.

Feral Cats 150

Feral Cats Feral Cats Hawaii 150

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2014

obsessing over World Cup matches), here’s some bird news to peruse: Loss of suitable habitat , instead of insecticides, seems to be the culprit in declining numbers of grassland birds. Know what else kills grassland birds? officials are considering bird-friendly building regulations. Planning on birding Kenya?

San Jose 160

San Jose Parrots Kenya Paraguay 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2016

Many states choose their representative bird based on common, native birds spending part or all of the year within the states’ borders. South Dakota went a different way, designating the Ring-necked Pheasant as the state bird in 1943. In Hawaii, they are found as high as 11,000 feet !

South Dakota 100

South Dakota Hawaii United States North America 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2018

At last count, there are 25 species of birds named for U.S. But only two states have more than one bird named for them: Hawaii and California, with nine and seven extant and eponymous species, respectively. Good birding and happy drinking! states, with varying degrees of geographical relevance (sorry, Tennessee Warbler ).

2015 113

2015 San Diego Family California Condor 113

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2013

One of the nice things about living in New Zealand and being the beat writer for that place is that I can pretty much make sure Corey feels jealous of my year list year in year out, regardless of how few birds I have seen and how many he has seen. The Black-footed Albatross.

Albatross 157

Albatross Hawaii North America California 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

The “ Class of 1967 ” includes 36 species of birds, and they range from those delisted due to recovery to those lost to extinction. The class also includes some of the most iconic endangered birds, including the California Condor, Whooping Crane, and Puerto Rican Parrot.

California Condor 102

California Condor Endangered Species Bald Eagle Parrots 102

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2011

But the islands of Hawaii have two species that breed in considerable numbers, and the highlight of my time spent working on Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals was spending time with these birds. It is also a very attractive bird, as I hope you will agree. Here three birds are dancing but a pair hasn’t yet formed.

Albatross 173

Albatross Hawaii New Zealand United States 173

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

I bring this up not to boast (well, not much) but because I think that this approach to wildlife travel is somewhat neglected in birding circles. Read most accounts of how birders see birds outside their patch and one way or another, they’re tourists. Nothing forms bonds like rolling around in bird…uh… waste.

Uganda 160

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

“That bird! That bird, chase it! Shearwaters scattered at our approach and the wind howled in our ears but it couldn’t dampen Wilfredo’s focus, nor his vocal insistence to “follow those birds”! As the prop motor revved and ocean spray flew by, I wondered, “Which birds”?

Costa Rica 263

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 263

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Alvaro Jaramillo, brilliant bird guide and proprietor of Alvaro’s Adventures , just tackled this thorny topic on the ABA Facebook page. So while we are dealing with Hawaii and all, let’s change how one rule is applied! They should be treated more like banded and released birds at a banding station, NOT LIKE INTRODUCTIONS.

California Condor 150

California Condor Rescue California Game 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Virgin Islands not part of the American Birding Association’s ABA Area ? The addition of Hawaii eliminated any notion that the ABA Area is defined by geography or ecology and the inclusion of the territories of Washington D.C. This makes sense: why should political subdivisions within a nation apply to a national birding organization?

Puerto Rico 186

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands United States Hawaii 186

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2011

The honeycreepers of Hawaii now have a family tree, with researchers from the Smithsonian having used DNA to map the entire family. Good news for an endangered family of birds!

Family 160

Family Hawaii Research Birds 160

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2013

To try to manage the invasive Brown Tree Snake on Guam, which has forced many of Guam’s bird species to extinction and as a way to try to keep the snakes from Hawaii. This article is fascinating.

Guam 151

Guam Mice Hawaii Species 151

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2012

Hawaii’s state bird, the endangered goose known as the Nene , has recovered from a population of a mere 30 birds in 1952 to over 2,000 today. The problem is that they seem to find the area around Lihue Airport irresistible so they have to be moved. Clearly there aren’t too many Nene but more habitat is needed.

Hawaii 151

Hawaii Birds 151

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2011

Last week I introduced the Great Frigatebird , one of five species of man-o-war bird. Here I’ll finish off what I started, looking at the lives of these amazing birds, using the pictures I took working on Tern Island in French Frigate Shoals, Hawaii. In summary then, these are awesome birds!

Albatross 162

Albatross Birds Hawaii Philippines 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2011

Whereas American birders may be familiar with Sooty and Bridled Terns as stormwashed vagrants to their shores, and might get the Aleutian Tern on a pilgrimage to Alaska, the Grey-backed Tern is a much more rarely seen bird. It does occur in Hawaii, which is where I saw it, but everyone knows birding in Hawaii doesn’t count.

Hawaii 166

Hawaii Alaska Eggs Species 166

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2017

27, 2015 Christian Gutierrez, Raymond Justice, and Carter Mesker went on a camping trip to Ka’ena Point Natural Area Reserve on Oahu, Hawaii. The young men had severed the birds’ legs in order to remove the tags. In the following days harrowing photos of dead birds and severed body parts were posted on social media pages.

Albatross 214

Albatross Honolulu Hawaii Killing 214

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2012

One time I did see tem was with the aid of night vision gear – certainly unusual birding, and the air I photographed here were an early arrival found during routine maintenance of their nesting boxes, a lucky find! Pretty neat bird though. Birds banded on Tern island have also been recorded feeding in Alaska.

Albatross 126

Albatross Hawaii Japan New Zealand 126

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2013

If you are a migratory bird in Europe and western Asia, this is your sweet spot. This grim scenario is a fact of life for millions of migrating songbirds, raptors, and other birds each year. Volunteers with the Committee Against Bird Slaughter sneak into a grove where a farmer has just placed lime sticks to snag unwary birds.

Cambodia 143

Cambodia Slaughter Slaughtered Cyprus 143

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2019

It’s part of modern birding. Make a bird list for anywhere, anytime and on a hand held device! Note birds the old fashioned way (that would be writing on paper) and submit those observations back at the homestead or wherever you have a connection. Going birding in Hawaii? Don’t have a connection? No problem!

Costa Rica 292

Costa Rica Thailand Species Hawaii 292

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Most of the books about extinction, including Fuller’s Extinct Birds (now, ironically, out of print), describe what was lost and look for explanations, scientifically and historically. The idea of Lost Animals was conceived after the publication of Extinct Birds (2001), a 400-page, four-pound book on 75 extinct species.

Animal 265

Animal Mammals Hawaii Dolphins 265

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

By the time you read this post I will still be in New York but I’ll be looking forward to leaving for the 2011 Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio. Personally, I think that they should have had to go to the back of the line and not cut in front of Alaska and Hawaii. I know I have forgotten other Ohio-based bird bloggers.

Ohio 179

Ohio Cleveland United States Stud 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2016

Irruptions of Snowy Owls in 2011 and again in 2013 found these Arctic birds wintering well south of their usual range , in some cases straying down to Bermuda and even Hawaii. (I Many North American birders have, over the last few years, received a rare treat. I know, I’m still scratching my head about that one.).

Owls 100

Owls Hawaii Stray North America 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2012

There cannot be many ABA area breeding birds harder to get than those that only breed on the remotest tips of the north of North America and then fly off to places that aren’t on the major continental flyways. You can encounter them from Hawaii across to French Polynesia and Fiji.

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North America Fiji Hawaii America 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2011

Last time I talked about the amazing Great Frigatebirds , today I’ll introduce the birds that give the island its name, the terns. Today the airstrip still dominates the island, with the narrow strips of greenery on either side providing the space for the thousands of nesting birds that make the island its home.

Hawaii 172

Hawaii Breeding Wildlife Eggs 172