10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

As devoted readers of 10,000 Birds know, the writers can be members of the 10,000 Birds Collaborative group on eBird. 688: Horned Puffin. Good Birding in February! The task of providing the monthly summaries of the Collaborative’s observations has passed from Redgannet to me, after five years of his heroic work.

United Kingdom 220

United Kingdom Costa Rica United States Puffins 220

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2024

As for birds, well, I wasn’t paying much attention back then. Moving to the present, while I was on the Sequoia Audubon Club trip I described last week , I mentioned to one of the organizers that I was hoping to see some ocean birds passing by the coast, as those would give me my best chance at lifers for this region.

California 202

California Sea Lions Marine Life Puffins 202

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

She contributes regularly to Ontario Nature , reviews books for Birding, and also blogs about her misadventures in bird identification while offering trenchant analysis of avian coiffures on her own blog Birds and Words. This is Julia’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Happy puffins.

Puffins 182

Puffins Whales Whaling Bald Eagle 182

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

I love puffins. Before my trip to Washington the only species of puffin I had ever seen in the wild was the puffin of the Atlantic Ocean, the appropriately named Atlantic Puffin. At $55 a head, and free for toddler Desi, the chance to see puffins from a comfortable boat seemed too good to ignore.

Washington 174

Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 174

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2014

The first time I saw a puffin, it was a revelation. I’d seen pictures of them, of course – the stocky, flamboyantly-beaked little seabirds who always seem to be wearing expressions of sympathetic concern – but I’d never seen one “in bird” (the avian equivalent of “in person”). I wanted more birds.

Puffins 274

Puffins Eggs Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle 274

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2020

David Sibley’s sketch of an Atlantic Puffin. Sibley – author of the famed Sibley Guides that sat on my bookshelf and essentially taught me how to identify birds – is collaborating with Audubon for a series of how-to drawing guides. As soon as the video ended, I started another, this time for Atlantic Puffins.

Puffins 160

Puffins Branding 2018 Florida 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2015

I have been working in the avian world for 25 years, but last summer I was out-birded by a 14-year-old girl. I was there for Arts and Birding , a five-day adult course in photography, videography, sketching, painting, writing, or any combination thereof … plus lots of birding. Kress himself.

Puffins 264

Puffins Birds Groups West Virginia 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2018

ANILCA lands are not just vast, they are critical for an extraordinary variety of birds. Many locations have been designated Important Birds Areas (IBAs) and/or have been recognized by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Many of these breeding birds disperse throughout North America, utilizing all four major flyways.

Alaska 221

Alaska United States Puffins Wildlife 221

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2017

The newly designated protected zone, which promises to minimize disruptions to the birds’ habitat, stretches 12 miles from the Northumberland coast to the North Sea. feeding ground for Arctic , Common , and Roseate Terns , as well as the #2 site for Sandwich Terns and the third-most important site for Atlantic Puffins.

Puffins 100

Puffins Protection Suffering Birds 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 210

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 210

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2017

I was pleased to discover that Hooded Warblers can be found consistently at my mother-in-law’s home, but they weren’t my best bird. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was any of the five Atlantic Puffins he saw on Eastern Egg Rock off the coast of Maine. What was your best bird of the weekend?

Puffins 103

Puffins 2017 Laws Birds 103

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology.

Dissection 234

Dissection Birds Research Europe 234

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2017

Crested Puffin (California, USA). Checkered Woodpecker (Buenos Aires). Great Coucal (Accra, Ghana). Greater Leafbird (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). Masked Water-tyrant (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Red Wattled Lapwing (New Delhi, India). Plain Parakeet (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Yellow-billed Shrike (Accra, Ghana). Happy New Year.

Ghana 129

Ghana Malaysia Brazil Puffins 129

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2011

Would you believe my best bird of the weekend was a Screaming Piha ? but my best bird of the weekend was in Baltimore, specifically the Aquarium. The Baltimore Aquarium boasts, among its many phenomenal attractions, a tiny but terrific rainforest populated by some outstanding birds. What was your best bird of the weekend?

Puffins 164

Puffins Baltimore 2011 Washington 164

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2016

Which, in the bird world, means babies. And who doesn’t love cute baby birds? And, of course, no list of bird cams would be complete without Audubon’s Puffin Loafing Ledge. Okay, so the Puffins aren’t back yet … but you won’t want to miss them when they return!). Which means spring fever.

Bald Eagle 106

Bald Eagle Puffins Connecticut Falcons 106

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2018

I haven’t had much time to bird. After looking for different species every day for the first six months of the year, lately I can’t manage to actively search for any kind of bird unless I’m traveling. That’s when I discovered Nicky Fijalkowska, bird-knitter extraordinaire! but it still sucks.

Birds 116

Birds Puffins Alaska Canada 116

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

This shouldn’t have to be stated, especially in a book on bird evolution by an evolutionary biologist with a Ph.D. How Birds Evolve: What Science Reveals about Their Origin, Lives, and Diversity by Douglas J. Futuyma is a synthesis of theory and research about evolution and birds. that’s three birds).

Science 228

Science Albatross Research Birds 228

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2012

Two-thousand-and-eleven was a pretty darn good year for me, birding-wise. Sure, I didn’t leave the United States but my first trip to the Pacific Northwest allowed me to see lots of new birds and spending the beginning of the year in southern California didn’t hurt the ol’ year list either. Those birds are big!

2011 174

2011 Puffins United States New York 174

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

The full title of this exceptional book by Marie Read is Mastering Bird Photography: The Art, Craft, and Technique of Photographing Birds and Their Behavior. As a birder who photographs, rather than a bird photographer, this never occurred to me before and I find the idea intriguing.

Birds 199

Birds Ethics 2019 Experience 199

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2013

Joseph Chiera is a Masters student in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in NYC and a “somewhat newbie” to birding. After taking an ornithology course last year, he was hooked and spends most of his free time birding or reading birding blogs. Of course, birding was on the itinerary!

Iceland 197

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They looked out their windows and across their patios and up from their apartment terraces and saw–birds. This is a delightful book, large (8-1/2 by 11 inches), filled with Sibley’s distinctive artwork and an organized potpourri of research-based stories about the science behind bird’s lives.

2020 264

2020 Birds Groups North America 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2017

BIRDING WITHOUT BORDERS: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World. The most impressive photograph in Noah Strycker’s new book is not one of a bird, but of the author. He’s standing next to a pile of several dozen birding guidebooks — the stack is fully as tall as the 5’9” Strycker himself.

Sri Lanka 144

Sri Lanka Birds Cleveland 2014 144

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2013

One of our best-loved and most photogenic seabirds the Atlantic Puffin was the main victim, presumably starving as food was driven into deep water to avoid the turbulent waves higher in the seas. Dead Gannet (above) and Atlantic Puffin(below). Birding Birdtrack Britain migration puffins spring'

Puffins 166

Puffins 2013 Breeding Owls 166

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2016

This Bald Eagle, photographed by Corey, was after Blue-winged Teal in Florida, not Atlantic Puffins in Maine. Did you miss your chance to see Angry Birds in movie theaters? There may be strength in numbers, but for birds, there’s also increased speed, according to a recent study that suggests the larger the flock, the faster it goes.

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle Puffins Eagles Pigs 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2016

The upside for me, not to take away from my day with 27 different bears, was the next 6 days all by myself on Kodiak Island, recording as many new bird species as I could find. I had prepared a target list of birds that I had hoped to photograph, which, in looking back now was really quite ambitious. Horned Puffin. Pacific Wren.

Grizzly Bear 154

Grizzly Bear Alaska Bears Puffins 154

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2014

Across the world’s northern oceans, 24 species of auklets, murres, puffins, guillemots, and related seabirds make a living catching food beneath the waves and breeding, often in large colonies, on coastlines and islands. Atlantic Puffins ( Fratercula arctica ), Witless Bay, Newfoundland © David J.

Penguins 233

Penguins Puffins 2008 Sharks 233

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2016

The icing on the cake has been getting to join this exceptional group of writers, and avian enthusiasts here on 10,000 Birds. In an effort to look back on the year, I have added, and deleted, written and scratched off, a list of birds that would represent my “Best Ten Birds” of 2016.

2016 100

2016 Grizzly Bear Puffins Mexico 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2017

Newburgh is a little over an hour north of New York City so I figured I could get a visit in to a few great locations for breeding birds that I hadn’t yet seen this year. But there were even cooler birds to see! I had really wanted to get to the grasslands but life (and puffins ) had forced me to wait.

Wildlife 126

Wildlife New York Sparrows New York City 126

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

However, I am here to make the case for birding California. With the largest state list by a considerable margin and a mind-boggling diversity of habitats, I reckon we have some amazing birding to offer. So if you are thinking of doing some birding out this way, here is a quick run-down of some of the state’s best birding areas.

California 208

California San Diego Birds Oakland 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2018

At Duncansby Head, just a few miles south of Dunnet Head, I got to see birds nesting, and gathering along the steep cliffs, in numbers that I can not even imagine. Now, dont get me wrong, there have been some nice birds, and locations in between, but these two experiences are just so hard to put out of my mind. Flying in formation.

Puffins 100

Puffins Wildlife Reserve 2003 Farming 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2014

You’ve probably heard of many different kinds of bird cams—web feeds that spy on the inner lives of birds. There are hawk cams , falcon cams , puffin cams , tern cams , heron cams , and even Osprey cams. Johnson notes that the nest’s location near lighting means that the birds are observable day and night.

Boston 191

Boston Puffins Massachusetts Science 191

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

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. Read most accounts of how birders see birds outside their patch and one way or another, they’re tourists. Nothing forms bonds like rolling around in bird…uh… waste.

Uganda 162

Uganda Sharks Africa New Zealand 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2012

This indoor-centric, sedentary activity could never be combined with birding, and clearly conflict is inevitable… or is it? The rules seem a bit complex at first, but the basic gist is that you watch videos of birds, identify them, and correct ids earn you moves around the U.S. The second is the Surprise!

Game 181

Game Birds Puffins Owls 181

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

I purchased my first Sibley— The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America —in 2003. Am I willing to give up the field guide which bears the mud and dirt of so many falls on so many birding trips? Am I willing to give up the field guide which bears the mud and dirt of so many falls on so many birding trips?

North America 171

North America 2003 Birds America 171

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2011

Here is just a small handful of some of the wonderful images that have moved me this year: The subtle brown hues in mclaudio’s (Italy) Dotterel ( Charadrius morinellus ) image wonderfully place the bird within a habitat – and imagined landscape – context. Great job Xato (UK). www.youtube.com/watch?

2011 203

2011 Puffins Costa Rica Netherlands 203

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

On the plus side, it’s almost time for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, and by all accounts, it’s shaping up to be a very finchy winter across much of North America. Now if you’re a regular 10,000 Birds reader (and the cool kids are, amiright?) Image by David Morgan. And hey, maybe that’s you – we don’t judge here.)

Bald Eagle 141

Bald Eagle Puffins 2012 Baltimore 141

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2013

Clocking more than 50,000 miles per year, the birds appear to have cornered the market on the world’s longest annual migration. And that’s just the birds–you can spy on everything from panda bear cubs to beluga whales. Birding Birds terns video' You may already know how awesome Arctic Terns are.

Bald Eagle 189

Bald Eagle Pandas Puffins Bears 189