10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

The Steller’s Jay ( Cyanocitta stelleri ) is one of the ubiquitous birds seen at Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California. They are a non-migratory species found in western coniferous and mixed-coniferous forests, breeding from Alaska, western Canada, and the United States south through western Mexico to Nicaragua.

Nicaragua 174

Nicaragua Alaska United States Canada 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

Birds know habitat. They don’t read treaties or draw maps or build walls and, as far as we can tell (since we can’t talk to birds, yet), they have no concept of political boundaries. Robert Gallardo’s self-published Guide to the Birds of Honduras came out in 2015, and is the first bird field guide dedicated to that country.

El Salvador 235

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 235

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2016

Birders concerned with ticking off bird species from a list in North America already know all about the AOU Supplement. In this case, it augments and clarifies previous knowledge regarding the classification of the birds in North America.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica 2016 South America Panama 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2015

Mountains are a boon for birding. Although marching up and down and up and down can be a literal pain, the feathered rewards come in the form of super cool local species that rarely or never make it down to lower elevations. Bird the high elevation habitats of the Talamancan Mountain Range and the regional endemics rule.

Costa Rica 150

Costa Rica Panama Nicaragua Honduras 150

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2017

Unless those non-birding folks happen to be duck hunters or love to go fishing, they tend to stay away from the marshes, the riparian zones, the bottom lands. See the birds? There are two main wetland areas in Costa Rica, one in the Tempisque River floodplain, and the other in wetland areas associated with Lake Nicaragua.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Birds Ducks Pelicans 100

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 159

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. It is the first bird field guide to every country of Central America (plus the islands governed by those countries).

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2021

I’ll be honest: As much as I enjoy writing for 10,000 Birds, there is an element of anxiety to the commitment. The rains have ended, the sun is back out, and new species arrive each week from up north. Every plant is blooming, and hummingbirds, our most colorful birds, are everywhere. Suddenly, it is mid-October.

Nicaragua 259

Nicaragua Mexico Guatemala Nashville 259

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2021

Of course, I also go there several other times each year; I have, after all, seen 160 species at this endemic-rich site. The reason for this annual pilgrimage is a single species, the Sinaloa Martin. All sightings southeast of the species’ Puerto Vallarta-to-Los Mochis breeding area are of migrating birds.

2016 264

2016 2015 Nicaragua Mexico 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

And, for all our complaints about brown and gray plumages, gulls can be beautiful birds (well, some more beautiful than others, and Heermann’s Gull is one of my favorites, with one N at the end or two). In a birding world that celebrates identification, there are surprisingly few articles and books on gull identification.**

North America 212

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 212

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

But you are here for the birds. The curse of forest birding - a bird drought. Maybe the birds will come to you. They are the only birds able to fly backwards and the 340-odd species come in many different forms. Fantastic caterpillars, otherworldly insects, ghoulish spiders, tiny scattering creatures.

Colombia 279

Colombia Ecuador Bolivia Peru 279