10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

Although it was nothing like going from New York to California or even Buffalo, New York to North Carolina, a change of location, however slight, can bring new birds especially in Costa Rica. In typical blackbird fashion, this common garden bird gave occasional, loud, ringing calls. Right at home. These were.

Costa Rica 177

Costa Rica Barn Owls Stray Dog Blackbirds 177

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

And this goal has to do with birds, and I assume since your perusing this here blog, that’s something that might interest you. in the nearly two years since I’ve been here I’ve been steadily climbing towards 200, a fair goal for a county in the center of North Carolina. I won’t feel bad. So read on.

2016 141

2016 North Carolina 2015 Raleigh 141

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

Our hotel was along the coastal highway less than ten minutes by car from the Cape May – Lewes Ferry, which means it was also ten minutes by car from Cape Henlopen State Park, a marvelous birding hotspot that combines beaches, saltmarshes, and scrub pine forest in perfect proportions for a visiting birder. This one will have to suffice.

Delaware 177

Delaware New York Birds North Carolina 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2015

I think some of the antagonism towards listing in birders comes from the mistaken belief that one’s list is nothing more the basest commodification of birds, living beings with incredible life histories reduced to a number. For the most part, the birds come to you when they come to you. I tend to see things the other way around.

North Carolina 198

North Carolina Falcons Florida Birds 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2015

June is an interesting time to bird in northwestern Maine. Sure, the birds are out there, but to see them you have to face…the dreaded…black flies. I hoped to see warblers, warblers, warblers, plus classic northeastern species I had had no opportunity to look for while living in North Carolina. Kennebago Lake.

Birds 159

Birds North Carolina North America Woodpeckers 159

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2011

There was a time, a few years back, when I had some really good luck getting on a run of first state records for North Carolina. I’m not much of a serious twitcher, at least not statewide, but even I’m not immune to the pull, especially when a rare bird is regular and reliable. It stuck around for about a week.

North Carolina 154

North Carolina Sparrows 2008 Hunters 154

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2015

Birders head to Costa Rica to see stunners like Resplendent Quetzal , Three-wattled Bellbird , Orange-collared Manakin , fancy hummingbirds , tanagers, and literally hundreds of other birds. This bunch of possible Costa Rican crypto birds can be grouped into four main categories: (1). Bird species that require further research.

Costa Rica 218

Costa Rica Species South America America 218

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2013

On a Big Year, every species counts equally, even the lowly House Sparrow. Ali Iyoob is looking to break the North Carolina Big Year record of 351 this year. Follow his adventures at Greg and Birds. I’m not at all sure what his goal is other than seeing lots of birds but Canada is a big country so I bet he succeeds!

2013 204

2013 New Jersey Los Angeles North Carolina 204

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2013

The general public is out and about, birds and animals are raising their young, and human/wildlife interaction is at its peak. Got to finish browsing for the fawns and collecting chiggers,” wrote Becky, from an island off North Carolina. A robot that feeds baby birds so I can take a nap,” wrote Jodi in Massachusetts. “A

Wildlife 250

Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Oklahoma New York 250

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2013

It’s one of the subtle joys of doing Christmas Bird Counts to be assigned the same area over and over again over the years. I’m living and birding in North Carolina. The birding was fairly conventional as winter birder in central NC goes. We all knew that area well, and were rewarded for it.

North Carolina 160

North Carolina Missouri Blackbirds Sparrows 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2012

I realize that listing is a reviled in birding culture as it is celebrated, and more listing even more so, but hear me out here. I mean to make the argument that county listing is birding at its most pure, the ultimate combination of the two warring angels that sit upon each one of our shoulders. A fine bird for the county.

McDonalds 167

McDonalds South Carolina North Carolina Jordan 167

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birding / Half Hardy Half Hardy By Nate • March 10, 2011 • 2 comments Tweet Share This past Monday I was running around with my son in my backyard after work. Instead I saw a flash of orange.

North Carolina 140

North Carolina 2011 St. Louis Baltimore 140

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2018

In a recent post, Corey listed five things to do when it is too cold to go birding and one of those things is planning birding travel. Here in Portland, Oregon, it is more frequently too rainy rather than too cold to go birding, at least comfortably. Thus, my “good birds” are likely the opposite of an eastern birder.

San Francisco 100

San Francisco Portland United States Puerto Rico 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2018

To celebrate spring migration, I usually review an exciting new bird book. You can blame the nice people at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who took it upon themselves to send me a review copy of the Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Southeastern North America by Seabrooke Leckie and David Beadle. Moths are more than bird food.

North America 100

North America America Oklahoma Missouri 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2015

My friend Paul Taillie and I had to meet an intrepid bunch of birders for the inaugural Outer Banks Big Day field trip at the Wings Over Water festival in eastern North Carolina. We were setting the bar for what someone hitting all the good spots on North Carolina’s famous barrier islands could reasonably accomplish.

North Carolina 150

North Carolina Rattlesnake Sparrows Owls 150

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2014

This past weekend I headed out to eastern North Carolina with a group of friends to try our hand at a Rarity Roundup. But many of us racked up lots of county ticks from underbirded counties, and a great time was had by all in the birding and fellowship. So it goes with rails in coastal North Carolina.

North Carolina 166

North Carolina Sparrows Groups Ducks 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Since 2016, writers at 10,000 Birds have been contributing checklists to a joint eBird account called the “10,000 Birds Collaborative.” The writers at 10,000 Birds span the globe, but I am particularly interested in the lists for the United States, as that is my “beat.” For the United States, there is also a state list.

Rhode Island 114

Rhode Island United States West Virginia Puerto Rico 114

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2014

I had been contacted by Bill at Birds & Beans Coffee, a wonderful shade-grown distributor I’d been using for a few years, to help do a breeding bird survey on a local organic farm. Barn Swallows lined up on the wires outside his cattle barn and Grasshopper Sparrows sang unseen from uncut hayfields. But it gets better.

North Carolina 162

North Carolina Farming United States North America 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2016

So, in a simple version of the world of a bird, there are two sexes, male and female, and males chose females and females chose males as mates. And this brings us to Zonotrichia albicollis , the White-Throated Sparrow. The result is that sparrows with this gene have different mating preferences than other sparrows.

Rats 107

Rats Sparrows Birds North Carolina 107

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2018

The return home included a total of 5 ½ hours of flight delays, one missed flight, and we subsequently missed the entire town of Charlotte, North Carolina. We did however gain an extra night, at our expense in Miami, Florida, all of which was in the dark, so I could not even run out and put a couple of birds on a Florida State List.

Bahamas 128

Bahamas Costa Rica Abandon Abandoning 128

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2012

There’s really no more quintessentially southeastern bird than the Pine Warbler. In October our resident Pines are supplemented by birds from farther north resulting in actual factual flocks of Pine Warblers congregating in pine stands and parks anywhere in the Piedmont of North Carolina and undoubtedly across the entire region.

North Carolina 144

North Carolina Jordan Raised North America 144