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. Seeing a Rufous Woodpecker for the first time, I thought it looked kind of weird. “Odd, me?”

Singapore 235

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 235

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2023

When birding Sabah, Borneo, one almost inevitably passes through Kota Kinabalu, the biggest city and the destination of almost all international flights. While no birder would come here just for the birds of the city, some of them are worth spending a few hours on. There, you may find the Java Sparrow.

Zebras 214

Zebras Thailand Philippines Birds 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

Sukau birding essentially means staying in a more-or-less comfortable lodge on the banks of the Kinatabagan river, and taking boat tours on more-or-less rickety boats on the river. So, just photos of the birds themselves. Why that makes Mr. Graydon worthy of having a bird species named after him is a mystery to me.

Birds 229

Birds Eagles Elephants Rhinoceros 229

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

As usual, birds seem to like these off-the-way places best – eBird lists 337 species based on a little more than just 100 checklists. So if for example, you look for Asian Pied Starling , you get “No matches” even though this is the exact name used on several other bird pages and in many bird guides.

Birds 173

Birds Woodpeckers Kangaroos Madagascar 173

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

I visited Tengchong in late 2020 and wrote about it – but I also went there earlier, in 2017, and this post shows some photos I took during that trip, along with the usual comments that seem to be much more about ridiculing my fellow humans (especially ornithologists and the like) than providing useful information on birds.

China 193

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 193

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2023

Also, isn’t exactly the part of the bird that I would think of as the throat black rather than white? The Silver-throated Bushtit also moves fast (though not quite as fast as the warbler) – but the photographer’s job was a bit easier as the adult birds had to return to a nest (birds have not invented mobile nests yet).

Birds 147

Birds Asia Battery Woodpeckers 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2011

Short answer: The woodpecker is most likely not crazy and noshing on the house is not what the woodpecker has in mind. Woodpeckers could be pecking on homes for a variety of reasons, all of which can drive a non birder a bit batty. So, why do woodpeckers peck on human made structures?

Woodpeckers 262

Woodpeckers Owls Blackbirds Raised 262

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

Guyana is an Amerindian word meaning “land of many waters” but it could just as easily mean “land of many birds”. Before I delve into some of these avian treasures let me give you a few non-birding reasons to visit this gem of South America. Not a great look for a middle-aged birding dude. Wilderness. Guyana is WILD.

Guyana 279

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

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. The Blue Whistling Thrush is presumably named for its loud human-like whistling, and possibly for being blue. I have written about the hornbills of this area before.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2023

I also only managed to see rather common bird species at Shennongjia, a nature reserve in Hubei province, China. If this does not put you off from reading this post, you are hopeless anyway, so just proceed … The Brown-breasted Bulbul might well be the most common bird at Shennongjia, so it seems appropriate to start with it.

China 181

China Birds Eggs Woodpeckers 181

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2022

According to a local African superstition that I just made up, it is not harmful to eat toxically colored birds if you eat them in the dark. Colonial history reflected in bird names. Unfortunately, the Fork-tailed Drongo is not the honest and god-fearing bird one could wish for.

South Africa 197

South Africa Africa Birds Cape Verde 197

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2022

Habitats: Check Birds… well, more presumed what the possibilities are, than actually checked… Sleeping: Check Getting around: Check I will come back to these topics in a while. But there was one more thing I evaluated, the human infrastructure, the potential guides among the national park employees. It sounded birdy and I was game.

Serbia 254

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Romania 254

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2024

Given how far Hokkaido is from Europe, it seems a bit surprising how many bird species wintering on this Japanese island have a name starting with “Eurasian” Or how many of these species I have also seen in my parents’ garden in Germany. Like the Eurasian Nuthatch. People tend to eat more food when in company.

Research 130

Research Germany Iran Humane 130

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 186

Fox Kuwait Bosnia Afghanistan 186

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2022

As you have probably realized by now, in my posts on 10,000 Birds, I generally scrupulously avoid giving any practical hints for birding at the specified location. However, if you mostly just want to see photos of birds such as this Black-throated Bushtit , you might as well stay here. Or at least like birds.

Birds 147

Birds Humane Family Germany 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2021

Both were too small for a human hand and too deep to see what was inside, so he called PMWC and was asked to bring the entire section of trunk to the center. Volunteer Moya Kinnealy reached in nearly to her elbow and removed four tiny Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Sounds like a sitcom! They’re called ‘habitat poles.’”.

Wildlife 263

Wildlife Philadelphia Wildlife Rehabilitation Woodpeckers 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2024

I contemplated how the birds were able to achieve such acceleration after sleeping all night without an ounce of caffeine. Once the swifts ascended well above the canopy, they began to look like birds again. Meanwhile, the forest edge was awash with birds. The birds were for the most part playing hard to get, though.

Guyana 223

Guyana Parrots Trinidad Woodpeckers 223

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

But here is the truly tragic part: I was not birding during those years! My hosts had arranged for me to stay in a beautiful private home, high on a ridge overlooking the city, and the forested area surrounding the home attracted some very noisy (and, for me, exciting) birds. The White-throated Magpie-Jay: such a beautiful bird!

Birds 166

Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

In 2007 I was working in a university building that was just begging for bird feeders. This was where I set up my bird feeders, just one at first, then expanding as everyone expressed delight in seeing the Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Downy Woodpeckers. There were no dead birds for weeks. ©2012 Donna L.

New York City 261

New York City Birds Illinois Science 261

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2023

The last time I birded Longcanggou, a national forest park in China’s Sichuan province, was in November 2021. Now, 14 months later, the place has changed – unfortunately, for the worse, at least as birding is concerned. Shame on the researchers. But haven’t we all done these things?

Eggs 174

Eggs China Birds Mammals 174

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Sometimes I feel a bit like this about winter birding on Shanghai’s Tianmashan hill. The call of this bulbul seems quite similar to that of the Collared Finchbill to me, though given that I grew up listening to alternative and independent music rather than to bird song, this is not a very meaningful observation.

Birds 147

Birds China Killing Reptiles 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2021

Ideally, it should be one even less relevant than previous ones (like the one on wet birds, the one on blue birds, or the ones just showing birds eating or sleeping). Then I had an idea – a post based on birds starting with the same letter. I was just wondering about another topic for a post. Are you still with me?

South Africa 334

South Africa China Nevada Africa 334

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2023

Christian Cooper comes on screen about two-and-a-half minutes into The Central Park Effect , appreciating a Prothonotary Warbler at ‘the Point’ while telephoning a friend with the news (this is pre-text group), a nice hint of the collegial networks that underlie Central Park birding. Memoirs are rare in the birding world.

Emotional 228

Emotional Birds Minneapolis Nepal 228

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

Two weeks ago I wrote a post entitled, “How do Birds get their Color?” ” This got me thinking about eye color in birds. As humans we place exceptional value in the beauty of an individual’s eyes. I have been wondering if it is the same with birds.

Birds 265

Birds Humane Breeding Pelicans 265

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They looked out their windows and across their patios and up from their apartment terraces and saw–birds. This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives.

2020 264

2020 Birds Groups North America 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

The NYC owls have little to do with the book in front of me except that it too is about birds and people. The 26 essays in When Birds Are Near are all about the real-life and emotional spaces where people overlap with birds. The essays range widely in place, bird, and voice, though the emphasis is on the North American.

New York City 198

New York City Birds Owls Fox 198

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Pre-pandemic, we’d routinely be in Tobago – birding, guiding, and generally having a blast on the smaller island. With a change in location comes a slew of new backyard birds – some of them are familiar, others less so. The first birds I photographed on the island turned out to be a pair of Palm Tanagers.

Trinidad 214

Trinidad Woodpeckers Species Humane 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2020

Fortunately, I live in Trinidad and Tobago – a twin-island nation that boasts the second highest density of bird species in the world. Activity was quite muted, the birds were quietly and unhurriedly going about their business. I wish them well – as the fisherfolk informed me that poaching of these birds continues.

Trinidad 242

Trinidad Pelicans Humane Fish 242

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2018

– Birds are indeed dinosaurs, yet, are indubitably not. Knowledge is knowing that a bird is a dinosaur. Humans have always classified organisms in a variety of ways, depending on need. Some sort of ancient fish-with-feet is the ancestors of humans. Therefore, humans are fish with feet, right? Think about it.

Monkeys 144

Monkeys Gorillas Whales Whaling 144

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2013

Some of those mysterious creatures were birds. The most obvious place that cryptozoology and ornithology overlap is in the area of Lazarus taxa and would-be Lazarus taxa — the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Eskimo Curlew, Pink-headed Duck , and the like — birds that no one doubts existed once, whether or not they exist today.

Apes 161

Apes Birds Woodpeckers Primates 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2021

Whether it is birding tourism or simply spreading awareness about biodiversity, it is always with the aim of getting us humanoids to treat nature a little (ideally, a lot) better. As a rule, any tree which sprung up at the fenceline was left alone – as it was highly likely it was planted there by bird droppings.

Opossums 264

Opossums Barn Owls Hunting Reptiles 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2012

New research has added some more insights , as well as giving clues that may be used to make better helmets for humans.

Woodpeckers 157

Woodpeckers Research Humane 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2018

Happy Second Day of the New Year, 10,000 Birds friends! I came late to bird feeding. Jim Carpenter is the founder of Wild Birds Unlimited, the popular bird feeder and seed franchise. There is a lot of information out there about feeding birds—web pages, pamphlets from bird feed retail stores and Audubon centers.

Birds 182

Birds New York City Squirrels New York 182

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2022

In early 2021, I spent a lot of time going through my bird photos before finally submitting 50 of them to the “Bird Photographer of the Year” competition held in the UK. This photo: Clearly, a fake – if such a bird really existed, wouldn’t many more people know about it?

China 230

China India South Africa Homelessness 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Germany is underrated as a birding destination. We have, for instance, very beautiful birds, like European Bee-eater , Blue Tit , and Kingfisher. Then of course, we have amazing birds such as Wallcreeper , Hoopoe , and Black Woodpecker. And since the year 2000, we have an even greater bird, the… Greater Rhea !

Germany 254

Germany Birds 2000 South America 254

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2022

Bird names say much about human perception, they can also give us insight into the people who invented names for official bird descriptions. Sunbittern also works because what else could that bizarre and ancient bird be called? Sunbittern also works because what else could that bizarre and ancient bird be called?

Costa Rica 272

Costa Rica Pennsylvania South America Panama 272

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2021

In birding circles, Costa Rica is better known for protected areas, quetzal tours, and glittering displays of hummingbirds than the things that fly in urban spots. I mean, who comes to Costa Rica to bird on city streets? In the final bits and pieces of green space that dot a typical human dominated landscape? That makes sense.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Falcons Farming Woodpeckers 264