10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2017

Fortunately for me, a kind birder pointed out a ruby-throat in the process of building a nest at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge last week and the nest is relatively low and unobstructed. Make sure to swing by 10,000 Birds for updates! She sits tight in this video. Check out how her head-shape changes when she moves her feathers.

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Jamaica Wildlife New York City New York 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2021

Last weekend hosted many of the international organized bird watching festivities, but every weekend offers the opportunity for avian observation excitement. As serene as that sounds, seeing these birds now just reminds me that they’re on their way to warmer climes and won’t be back for many months. What did you find?

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Jamaica Turkey Birds Wildlife 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2011

Just like last year when I spent a goodly chunk of a Saturday at the end of May at Jamaica Bay I spent this past Saturday birding one of the premiere birding destinations of the northeastern United States, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

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Jamaica United States Birds Wildlife 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2020

Another month, another movement of the world’s birds from one point to the next. Corey enjoyed a morning walk on Saturday with three friends at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where they spotted over fifty species between mosquitoes and biting flies. It was easily Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend. How about you?

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2020 Pennsylvania Jamaica Birds 161

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2013

It is extremely unusual that we birders can still walk the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in November. Dunlins in basic plumage are among the most boring birds in the world. … Trips Jamaica Bay November shorebirds' I was very disappointed when I learned this.

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Jamaica Geese Ducks Canada 176

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2021

The only birds I’m willing to look at during a frigid March weekend are the ones outside my winter. But, of course, it was Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge that paid off the most when Corey carefully scanned the margins of the West Pond and turned up a surprise American Bittern. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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Jamaica Birds Wildlife Experience 166

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 24, 2020

I could definitely use better birding than the dull summer fare observed in the Southern Tier this weekend. Interestingly, the most common bird at our friend’s mountain cabin was, by orders of magnitude, Cedar Waxwing ; seeing waves of waxwings is never a bad thing. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

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2020 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 167

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

Whether your weekend is still rolling or you are already preparing for the next one, you probably saw some excellent birds during the first weekend of September. His wonderful family agreed to drive straight there before going home and Corey got a new Queens bird! Now that’s a Best Bird of the Weekend! How about you?

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2020 Jamaica Birds Family 154

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2014

Saturday morning, 30 August 2014, was a perfect time for shorebirding at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East Pond. While frustrating, it wasn’t too bad enjoying the birds that were there! The white rump would have worked too but this bird had no interest in flushing. And I never want to either. Good decision!

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Jamaica Bald Eagle Eagles South America 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2012

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Queens, NY, 3 August 2008 It was while watching flocks of shorebirds on Friday on Cape Cod (an adventure I will soon describe) that I first heard of a Red-necked Stint being found at Jamaica Bay. A quick word about both of these birds. Am I ever glad I waited until today to chase that stint!

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Jamaica 2008 New York Alaska 167

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2014

That will be the opening day of the 18th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. Who knows what great birds 2015 will bring? Like this past January, I will be leading field trips and spending the rest of my time birding. So, basically, I’ll be birding all the time.

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2015 Wildlife Florida Birds 193

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Don’t give up on the next season of birding just yet. That said, I gave up birding this weekend, not just because of work but in preparation for a MASSIVE trip Corey and I are embarking at the end of this week. Until Mute Swans took over Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, gallinules bred there. Stay tuned for details!

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2019 Breeders Jamaica Birds 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2018

Corey enjoyed shorebirds on the beach in the Rockaways, in the mud at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Wildlife, and on pavement at Floyd Bennett Field this weekend. But of all the shorebirds he saw he appreciated none so much as the Hudsonian Godwit he spotted on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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2018 Jamaica Emotional Owls 100

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.

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California Condor Falcons California Birds 169

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2019

Now that we’ve entered the third month of the calendar year, take stock: did your birding March come in like a lion or a lamb? My birding was positively sheepish during this busy weekend. He didn’t see a ton of birds but he did appreciate the number of Snow Geese flocking up at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

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2019 Lamb Lions Jamaica 114

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2015

Not everyone experiences a dip in bird activity during the nonmigratory months, but those of us who do are ready to see some new birds NOW! Corey will be out and about in the NYC area this weekend; if you are too, you’d be crazy to miss the 10th Annual Shorebird Festival at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.

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Jamaica 2015 Birds Wildlife 157

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2019

Even the birding is decent. Corey only birded for a bit on Saturday afternoon and didn’t see much that was terribly exciting. Of what he did see, a pair of Bald Eagles at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge was the highlight, a species that didn’t used to be around in June in Queens at all. How about you?

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2019 Bald Eagle Jamaica Eagles 114

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2019

If you’re devoting as many free hours to birding as we are this month, you have no time for preamble. i saw plenty of new birds this weekend, some of them in the process of making future new birds. Though I spied quite a few warblers, my best looks were of Scarlet Tanager , a bell-ringer of a bird any day.

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2019 Jamaica New York Birds 113

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

Those of you who visit this blog on more than the rare occasion are probably aware that I live in Queens and love living and birding here. You are also probably aware that Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, one of the best urban birding sites in the world, is on my regular list of spots that I like to stop by and visit.

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Jamaica New York City United States Wildlife 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2018

Car troubles keep shutting my birding plans down, but at least I got out with the family to cut down our Christmas tree. Lacking any other worthy candidate, any one of the six is his Best Bird of the Weekend. What was your best bird of the weekend? We skipped that tree, however, in favor of a shaggy Austrian Pine. How about you?

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2018 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2018

The fact that this hour falls in the middle of the night means that most people sleep right through it, but I wonder what would happen if you observes a nocturnal bird like an owl during the hour that gets reset. I found myself in a beautiful part of New York that was so remote that birds apparently couldn’t find it.

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2018 New York City New York Jamaica 114

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2018

In New York, by the third weekend in April one expects to be awash in wood-warblers, overwhelmed by orioles, and generally boggled by birds newly arrived from the neotropics. Of course, it never works out that way and the steady stream of April arrivals is nothing like the flood of bird-life that courses north in mid-May.

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Jamaica Birds New York Wildlife 101

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2018

Countless flocks of frigid, sodden birds must be wondering whether they took a wrong turn somewhere. Corey had a large variety of birds to choose his Best Bird of the Weekend from this week and had a hard time making his selection. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

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2018 Jamaica Sparrows Bears 113

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2015

He yelled a relatively unintelligible explanation as he ran to the car, abandoning his family, and sped to Jamaica Bay where he parked and ran out to the breach of the West Pond where he relied upon the kindness of other birders, who let him use their scopes while he got his breath back. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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2015 Jamaica Canada Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

This last year of the twenty-teens was a monumental birding year for me. I saw 863 species of birds, bringing my life list to 1,820. I birded Uganda, which was my first time on the continent of Africa. Such travel brings a lot of birds and the 863 species I saw this year is the most species I have ever seen.

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2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 137

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2018

Either way, birders gotta bird, so make the most of whatever the season offers. Corey spent time on both Saturday and Sunday morning looking at shorebirds on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. What was your best bird of the weekend? There are more than one in the photo above: can you find them all?

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2018 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2015

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was his first Gull-billed Tern of the year at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. How about you?

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2015 Jamaica Birds Hunting 165

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2015

Corey had quite a few species to choose from this weekend but decided that his Best Bird of the Weekend was the simple Tree Swallow. In particular, he picked one of the many that has already staked out a claim to a nest box at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. What was your best bird of the weekend? Spring is here!

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2015 Jamaica New York Birds 179

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

Last weekend a Sora was spotted at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and I had no time to go see it. Having only seen three Sora in my decade-plus in Queens I was hoping against hope that the bird would last through the week so I could go see it this weekend. To make a not very long story even shorter, we saw the bird.

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Jamaica Wildlife Birds 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2011

When someone regularly birds the same spots that you do but manages to get much, much, much, better images. Check out these shots of fish-eating birds at Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge! Do you know what is really annoying?

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Fish Jamaica Birds Wildlife 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2017

More migrants means more birding fun. Corey’s Beat Bird of the Weekend was a singing male Mourning Warbler at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge that was chosen despite it giving a brief awful look. What was your best bird of the weekend? How did y’all make out? Still though, Mourning Warbler! How about you?

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2017 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2017

But any time of year is the right time to pay attention to uncommon avian behavior, even from common birds. For example, I saw all kinds of special species this weekend, but nothing impressed me more than displays of the tyranny of tiny birds. Any of those dowitchers, gorgeous in the juvenile plumage, was his Best Bird of the Weekend.

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2017 Jamaica Birds Wildlife 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2018

Of course I saw tons of Bald Eagles chilling on the ice at Irondequoit Bay, but the bird that thrilled me most this weekend was my second Northern Shrike for the year. Corey had some good birding in Queens this weekend but nothing topped his third-ever sighting of a Tundra Swan in his home borough. How about you?

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2018 Bald Eagle Philadelphia Eagles 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2015

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend could have been any of a multitude of species spotted on the East Pond of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. What was your best bird of the weekend? Tell us in the comments section about the rarest, loveliest, or most fascinating bird you observed. How about you?

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2015 Baltimore Jamaica New York 145

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

The good news for those of us who like both birds and sports is that a team with an avian avatar looks likely to make it to the Super Bowl again. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend is one he considered long overdue, his first Buff-breasted Sandpiper in Queens ever! What was your best bird of the weekend? Number 305!

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2014 Arizona Jamaica Birds 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2018

The question isn’t whether you went birding this weekend, because everyone who wasn’t part of the Royal Wedding was out chasing birds. Not only did I bag the beautiful bird I expected, but I also encountered a tasty species I never expect there until I see it every year: Olive-sided Flycatcher. How about you?

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New York City 2018 Jamaica New York 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2014

When I saw a Turkey Vulture soaring serenely over the frozen tundra of Rochester last month, I took the sighting as an example of how confused, in a potentially fatal way, some birds can get. Still, the poor bird may be in for some frigid nights ere warm weather settles in. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

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2014 Geese Jamaica Turkey 180