10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2024

When not climbing, he collected species, and thus a number of birds are named after him. Three of them can be found on Mount Kinabalu, and local bird guides speak admiringly of colleagues who have seen all three of them on one day (we only managed two). This is particularly acute in Indonesia ( source ).

Birds 215

Birds Indonesia Breeding Charlotte 215

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2017

I was recently reminded of how heavy (in my mind and heart) that second reason weighs when I got a copy of “Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago” by J. Phillipps: A field guide to the birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali (1993): based on taxonomic order from 1975 with some changes on colour plates for practical reasons.

Brunei 150

Brunei 2009 2016 2014 150

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

But first, not thinking of proper research, I made no difference between questions, nor were the mentioned destinations really visited or only dreamed about. Also, the island of New Guinea appeared as a whole, or as its parts, the eastern independent country of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the western West Papua province of Indonesia.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

I’ve never been to the Indonesian Archipelago, but I really like the birds there. Lynx Edicions, the ornithological (and now mammal) publisher that gave us the Handbook of the Birds of the World , has now published Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea , by James A. So, this is no ordinary bird guide.

Indonesia 121

Indonesia Brunei Birds Malaysia 121

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Kenya 264

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 176

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 176

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

You know there is probably some evil backstory if Wikipedia talks of a “complex” legacy of Raffles – further detailing that “he was ultimately an imperialist benefiting at the expense of the indigenous peoples” So, I guess this is another bird name that should be changed eventually.

Los Angeles 176

Los Angeles Birds Woodpeckers Owls 176

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2023

Otherwise, why would eBird call it a “heavily built, flat-headed dark blue bird”, which sounds more like a description of a robot or a piece of machinery than that of a beautiful bird? Apparently, in many regions of Indonesia, songbird contests are frequently held.

Malaysia 130

Malaysia Indonesia Lifestyle Japan 130

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

And in my customary environmentally friendly approach to recycling bird photos, I have collected some of them in this post. Apparently, soloensis stands for “Discovered in or native to the Solo River valley” (Wikipedia; the Solo river is a river in Indonesia). It is not a bird I am ever likely to find boring, though.

Falcons 233

Falcons Japan China South Africa 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2024

Frankly, Ho Chi Minh City is not a place you would go to specifically for birding. But if you are there anyway (at the start of a longer birding trip) and have an afternoon to spare, then why not? This indicates that the bird is aware of where the predator is looking.

Vietnam 130

Vietnam Zebras Birds Sparrows 130

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2023

For birders, the Wolongshan area is like a poorer cousin of Balangshan – due to the lower elevation, the bird species here are more common and thus less interesting. I can confirm that the Indian Blue Robin – as stated by the HBW – tends to sing from deep cover – not ideal behavior for a bird photographer.

Hamburgers 198

Hamburgers Birds Science China 198

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2023

The person who named this bird apparently cleverly chose the name Yellow-rumped Flycatcher to distinguish the bird from the Narcissus Flycatcher, which is also yellow-rumped. In Chinese, this bird is called White-browed Flycatcher, which introduces some (possibly undesirable) logic into the world of bird names.

Monkeys 147

Monkeys Birds South Korea Owls 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2015

As 2015 comes to a close and birders the world over start thinking about what 2016 will bring we here at 10,000 Birds would like to take a moment to celebrate our best birds of 2015. Each Beat Writer was given the opportunity to share their Best Bird of the Year for 2015 and, as usual, we had some pretty solid birds.

2015 180

2015 Costa Rica Birds Sparrows 180

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red.

Birds 197

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 197