10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

Birders follow different patterns of bird migration and their local activities and travel accordingly. It illustrates the bird richness per country. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands. 1101-1200 sp: Mexico; Argentina; DR Congo (Kinshasa), Tanzania, Kenya; India.

Equatorial Guinea 188

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 188

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

It must indeed have been a bit kafkaesque for a bird that is clearly primarily purple to wake up one morning, see itself in the mirror and learn that it is now a Grey-headed Swamphen. In 2013, it was even included in the birdwatching list of the American Birding Association. The post The Metamorphosis appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

China 254

China Florida Kenya India 254

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2020

I wrote previously about the prolific birding that is to be had in the small town of Baringo, Kenya. One of my top ten bucket list birds made itself very visible even before the sun broke over the horizon. Their level of precision for such a large bird was astounding. The lake itself is a whole other pot of gold.

Kenya 154

Kenya Fish Trinidad Eagles 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

Memorable encounters with Mammals: Part I Most birdwatchers enjoy seeing mammals, but the trouble with mammals is that they tend to be much more challenging to see than birds. I remember the guide on my first Kenyan birding safari remarking that “birding groups always see far more mammals than those who come just to see animals.

Fur 176

Fur Bulgaria Otters Estonia 176

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2021

Last year there was a spate of books specifically about bird “behavior” – though one might well say that every book about birds, from field guides on up, is about behavior in some way or another. The page or two of text for each bird has some good stuff, not all pertaining to migration. A “broad spectrum,” indeed.

Alaska 197

Alaska Breeding Kenya Africa 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

The first time I went was for my Masters Field Trip, studying tropical ecology in Kenya (otherwise known as the best month of my life). 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. Conservation Africa Offbeat Birding volunteering'

Uganda 160

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Ethiopia, a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Its great diversity of habitats hosts an incredible bird count of over 900 species, including Africa’s 2nd highest list of endemics and near-endemics (after South Africa).

Ethiopia 235

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Game 235

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2013

Mousebirds (order Coliiformes) are one of the perennial puzzles in bird systematics. They do not look or act much like any other birds (my photo above shows a Speckled Mousebird , Colius striatus , in Nairobi, Kenya). But to what other birds are mousebirds related? But to what other birds are mousebirds related?

Kenya 171

Kenya Parrots Africa North America 171

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2016

By the time this post publishes, I’ll be on an airplane heading back to the United States following a truly remarkable two week visit to Uganda as part of a group of western birders visiting there to promote the inaugural African Birding Expo. The enigmatic Shoebill is perhaps Uganda’s most famous bird.

Uganda 158

Uganda Africa Squirrels Tanzania 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Hugh, who years ago helped me find my first Pauraque in the Rio Grande Valley , visited Peru as part of the 2014 World Birding Rally, where he stopped thinking of himself as an experienced birder. This is his first contribution to 10,000 Birds. You can see the world’s smallest passerine and the Western Hemisphere’s biggest flying bird.

Peru 254

Peru Birds South America Owls 254

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept of Birds and People , Mark Cocker and David Tipling’s book that, in 592 pages, explores the intersection of just that—birds and us. Nor have I overlooked “sightings” of birds in movies mouthing other birds’ calls. I’m not sure why.

Birds 205

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 205

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Pink-backed Pelican by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours. This attractive (for a lark anyway) species is restricted to the dry savannah Somali-Maasai biome of north-east Africa (northern Tanzania, Kenya, southern Ethiopia and Somalia).

Africa 202

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 202

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2015

My only sighting until this year had been a distant speck on a far off koppie in Kenya, but this pair (they live in pairs) came very close to my safari vehicle in Madikwe in South Africa. Literally ‘rock-jumper’ in Afrikaans, this tiny antelope is rarely found far from rocky outcrops (or koppies) or mountainous outcrops.

South Africa 100

South Africa Kenya Leopards Africa 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2016

and dreaming of a place where the heat is moderate, beer snake-cold and birds innumerable… Let’s say, where the average annual maximum varies from 22 to 24 degrees Celsius / 72 to 75 Fahrenheit and where some 700+ bird species – 24 of them endemic – are waiting for an intrepid birder… Answer to the riddle?

Africa 125

Africa Uganda Gorillas Rwanda 125

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species. Why am I here?

Sri Lanka 256

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 256

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 2. It is at the top of my list of countries to visit specifically for birding. 5. On one list, it is the 27th country with the most number of different bird species. No plans yet, sigh.

2011 150

2011 Myanmar Bolivia Venezuela 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2015

” Without diminishing the importance of any local Big Days, although Big Day birding has been popular and reaching new heights in North America for more than a decade, major attempts at truly breaking the world record have only taken place the past few years. Talk about mega birding (and mega skills of course)!

Costa Rica 164

Costa Rica South Africa Kenya Ecuador 164

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Which, naturally, got me to thinking about the newly erected order Suliformes, a development I mentioned in my December column, 2010′s Top 10 Developments in Bird Taxonomy and Systematics , but which I thought deserved further examination, for it’s one of those stories that defines the era in which we are living and birding.

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2012

It’s a mini-Africa Week at the moment on 10,000 Birds, with Adam talking about spectacular bee-eaters in his post and James discussing the diminutive African Pygmy-geese. Kibale National Park, in the west of the Central African nation of Uganda, is home to a 13 primate species, from Common Chimpanzees to bush-babies.

Monkeys 166

Monkeys Uganda Primates Cameroon 166

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2020

Last night in the moments before sleep took over, I felt an urge to shine some light on some LBJ’s (Little Brown Jobs) or LBB’s (Little Brown Birds). What better selection than the various birds of the Kenyan highlands, right? The post A Selection of Kenyan LBJ’s appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Sparrows 186

Sparrows Mammals Game Parrots 186

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 14, 2012

Ethiopia , a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa, has firmly established itself as one of Africa’s top birding destinations. Not much was known about Ethiopia’s birds and there was no decent fieldguide. Addis Ababa is a good a site as any for this bird.

Ethiopia 263

Ethiopia Eritrea Africa Mammals 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

As visitors’ and the public’s interests expanded from the Big Five, and an appreciation for lesser mammals, birds and smaller wildlife has became more widespread, the term Little Five was coined. Prime destinations for seeing African Elephant in the wild include Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda.

Buffalo 195

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 195

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2020

After being home for just over a month, I’ve been doing two things to keep my birding sanity. Firstly, I’ve been birding the heck out of our backyard, and encouraging people to do the same (both here and elsewhere ). The post A Walk in the Desert appeared first on 10,000 Birds. Speckle-fronted Weaver.

Kenya 218

Kenya Owls Hunters Ostriches 218

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. A few years ago, in the American Birding Association FB group I posted a question: Where would you go if funds weren’t a problem? Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

4%: Mexico, West Papua (Indonesia), New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya. Interestingly, the respondents felt no need to further elaborate why, presuming that everyone knows why they should bird Costa Rica. Australia is understandable: good infrastructure, moderate prices and easiness of finding birds, combined with 350 endemics.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Corwin tells the story of the Maasai of Kenya, whose culture involved disdain for and slaughter of lions. It's important to note that Corwin doesn't think he has all of the answers. We can stop using animals and "allocate resources" to educate Homo sapiens worldwide to change their relationship to the animals around them.

Polar Bears 100

Polar Bears California Condor Bald Eagle Lions 100

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. The study does not state where the birds took their smoking breaks.

Eggs 164

Eggs China Birds Mammals 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2022

I usually do not write much about traveling to and from birding places but my friend and I arrived in Malelane in the afternoon. Fortunately, we were there for the birds, not for the room. The Lilac-breasted Roller is the national bird of Kenya, but of course, this does not help it pay its bills in South Africa.

Swaziland 147

Swaziland Landlord Birds Sweden 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

Placing one hand over his pate, as he was wont to do, and pointing at the others as he spoke with the finger of his other hand, Isaac stated in his semi-elvian voice, colored with the British Colonial Accent he grew into as the son of a South African Brit exiled to Kenya, the following: “Eric, shut up. Your argument is invalid.

Humane 165

Humane Lions Buffalo Hunting 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

It was only during the preparation of that post I truly realized how many images I had of these little brown birds! To follow on from that, I decided to include a few other often-overlooked birds from my travels to Kenya. Several larger, cryptic brown birds were also on the table. appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Kenya 201

Kenya Groups Washington Game 201

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

In my younger days I always kept year lists: my best ever year was 1986, when I topped the 1,000 mark thanks to trips to Australia, Kenya and various European destinations. Both counties are among the best in Britain for birds, but to knock up a big total without travelling far you really have to live on the coast.

Estonia 216

Estonia Portugal Greece Barn Owls 216

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

These charismatic, colorful and finely formed birds are favorites amongst birders from experts to novices, and lie within the group of birds whose beauty even non-birders really appreciate. Besides being colorful and energetic, another plus of these lovely birds is that they are relatively easy to track down.

Africa 262

Africa Gabon South Africa Uganda 262

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2014

What are the world’s most distinctive birds? That question could be answered in several ways, but a new paper released this month — Global Distribution and Conservation of Evolutionary Distinctness in Birds (Jetz et al. It’s important to understand that the evolutionary distinctiveness ranking proposed by Jetz et al.

Madagascar 274

Madagascar Comoros South America Ecuador 274

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, experts have determined that the current rate of bird extinction is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times the background rate. Globally, 1,313 bird species of a total of count of 10,064 are threatened, a frightening 13% of the total.

Endangered Species 183

Endangered Species Species South Africa Morocco 183

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2015

This time it is the Old World that has misnamed a group of birds, or in fact several groups. It all comes back to a split in one of the great bird families, the Turdidae, or thrushes. Once upon a time, when I started birding, this great family included a wide range of species collectively known as the robins and chats.

Mozambique 161

Mozambique Zambia Zimbabwe Namibia 161

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

After publishing my stories I got emails from people all over the world who had seen similar behavior in various birds and mammals. These birds can learn to pull a string to retrieve a short stick, use the stick to pull out a longer one, then use the long stick to draw out a piece of meat. Empathy Among Elephants.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

Reddit Animals

DECEMBER 15, 2023

aethiopicus , but today that scientific name is restricted to the desert warthog of northern Kenya, Somalia, and eastern Ethiopia. the warthog is not really a dangerous animal but the tarantula is less dangerous.the warthog goes straight to third pushing the gigantic spider to fourth ​ ostrich: Ostriches are large flightless birds.

Africa 40

Africa Buffalo Ostriches Animal 40