10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2019

In the birding world, May is the beautiful time. With birds bedecked in their breeding best and filling the air with song, this is migration at its loveliest. A wonderful variety of bird species are waiting to be seen and among them are many a birder’s favorite avian group, the wood-warblers. Habitat at Las Brisas.

Costa Rica 173

Costa Rica Species Belize New Jersey 173

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

The Collins Bird Guide covers Europe, North Atlantic islands, much of North Africa and the Middle East. The 1st edition from 1999 was a complete revolution in just about everything, but predominantly the quality and realism of illustrations, showing what a field guide could be and seriously raising the threshold for other publishers.

Europe 246

Europe Birds Woodpeckers Ireland 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2020

Do you want to help endangered birds? How about helping with conservation of cool tropical birds by listening to innovative electronic music? The brainchild of music producer, bird lover, and environmentalist Robin Perkins, this digital album is his second guide to birdsong.

Costa Rica 223

Costa Rica Nicaragua Cuba Mexico 223

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2021

The beginning of August raises all kinds of mixed feelings, especially if you live in a temperate zone north of the Equator. I added yet another new Monroe County bird in the form of a Stilt Sandpiper this weekend, which is the only way this species earns my Best Bird honors. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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Birds California Raised Wildlife 262

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

Since then he has traveled the globe, his passion for birds growing with each new encounter. I had just ended my ten-day birding adventure in Ecuador (which is a story for another time) when I decided, since I had an amazing time, to prolong my trip a bit longer before heading back to Europe. Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

Colombia 208

Colombia Birds Raised Ecuador 208

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

10,000 Birds is running a series of articles by and about tour guides, tour companies, eco-lodges, and other birding travel organizations. We want to help the birding tourism industry come back strong from the COVID pandemic. Birding Experiences is a Costa Rican company owned and run by enthusiastic birdwatchers from Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 239

Costa Rica Experience Experiments Nicaragua 239

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2023

May is a busy month for birds migrating through Shanghai – and of course, last May was completely missed due to the lockdown. So, I spent a lot of time birding this month, and to keep this post at a manageable length, it mostly only covers the first half of May. The video is notable for the bird basically refusing to move at all.

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Birds Raised Cattle Mammals 130

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

The only bird-related activity I can think of is looking at bird photos I took in Singapore in 2015, and adding some irrelevant comments to them. Presumably, birds living in Singapore do not understand German. Writing this post, I have been in lockdown in my Shanghai compound for 60 days. “Odd, me?”

Singapore 209

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 209

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

The Great Backyard Bird Count kicked off yesterday, and will continue throughout the weekend before ending on the 15th. The idea is simple: birders from around the world count birds at least one time for at least fifteen minutes, and submit their data through eBird or the Merlin Bird ID app. The highlights? A fine start to GBBC!

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Florida Birds Pelicans Geese 243

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2023

This park protects the largest remaining tract of dry deciduous forest in the west of India, offering visitors 37 species of reptiles, 38 species of mammals and, not to be forgotten – almost 300 bird species. We’re here for the birds!” The largest reptile is the Indian Mugger Crocodile.

India 147

India Lions Boars Mammals 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

If you followed Dorian’s adventures on his Big Year blog, Biking for Birds , you are familiar with many of these stories, but not the major one, the internal journey that was going on inside Dorian’s mind as he pedaled and birded: his history and multi-year struggle with alcoholism and related addictions.

Birds 203

Birds Los Angeles Massachusetts New York City 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The poster bird of this area is the near-threatened Black-necked Crane. The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area.

China 167

China Mongolia Birds Russia 167

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

Last month, I birded my favourite local patch, Beljarica – the best eBird hotspot in Belgrade city and the 3rd best in Serbia – four times. One consequence of being near the city is the widespread feeding of birds with what is junk-food for them – bread. With more than 30 birds, Black Storks became truly common.

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Serbia Birds Boars Otters 258

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

We might have limited space but we make up for it with a massive amount of biodiversity including well over 900 bird species on the official Costa Rica bird list. With good reason, lots of birders visit Costa Rica and we also have a good sized local birding community. The sightings raise several questions.

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Costa Rica Latvia Albatross Netherlands 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2023

Chinese Penduline T**s are not particularly woke birds. White’s Thrush is described as “burly” on eBird – not entirely unjustified, I guess, but this description fails to capture the way the intricate patterns of the bird make for great camouflage and also for its own kind of beauty. Maybe the grandparents help.

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Birds Blackbirds Indonesia Bhutan 185

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

With my favorite Shanghai birding place at Nanhui getting gradually destroyed under the watchful eyes of the local government favoring Tesla over terns, I have been searching for some alternative Shanghai locations with less ongoing construction, fewer people, and hopefully more birds.

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Cats Birds Kittens Transported 207

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2020

I’ve always birded from home for as long as I can remember. I may not have known their correct species names (I thought Tropical Mockingbirds were roadrunners) but I knew they existed. Now, every day I end up subconsciously birding from before my eyes open in the morning. Tropical Mockingbirds on a neighbor’s tree.

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Birds Raised Owls Humane 212

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2021

Perhaps his first attempt at raising a family – I’ll be checking on him in a few days! What I’m not looking forward to is the flurry of rare bird reports of elaenias. Some birds chose to sit quietly together, perhaps getting to know each other’s quirks and habits before settling down to raise a family.

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Raised Breeding South America Family 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2021

Are 12s right for birding? Or have you ever birded with 12s? With such a background, my decision to test the new birding frontier of Swarovski 12×42 extra-wide FOV binoculars didn’t appear strange at all – to me, at least. If you spot a small bird with, e.g., 8s, you will walk towards it until you get a better view.

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Birds Raised Rights Experience 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2021

Yes, I know you are not interested in boring semi-autobiographical descriptions of individual birding trips. These are unrelated birds that have a socially polygynandrous mating system. I am generally fairly hopeless with regard to Bird ID via sound, which is a reason for me to like the Chinese White-browed Rosefinch.

China 180

China Birds Sheep Monkeys 180

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

But it seems the birds like this habitat, probably as this is a rare more open area on these otherwise mostly heavily forested hills. The monastery is quite large compared to a bird guide (Bella from Alpinebirding on the left-hand side). And compared to birds, for that matter. Please consult your own bird guide for more details.

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Birds Germany India 2018 200

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

If you’ve birded in Spain, possibly more than once, and are considering another Mediterranean country to quench your thirst, look to the east. Steve Dudley, a bird guide and author of the Lesvos birding guide, once told me: “Greece is THE premier birding location in Europe for me [and for yours truly as well].

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Greece Spain India Europe 239

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2024

On the other hand, their white color and their considerable size made me see them as somewhat arrogant birds – the white Golf convertible of the bird world. And now we get to the part of the post in which I briefly and unscientifically mention a few research papers on the species to have a reason to post a few more of my photos.

China 201

China Iceland Whales Whaling 201

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2022

It is not particularly big but has a reported 430 bird species including migrants, though during my short stay it seems I missed most of the key attractions among them. It goes like this: While fishing, the bird tucks its head down and uses its wings to create a shady area. Pel’s Fishing Owl, where were you?

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South Africa Africa Birds Research 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Audubon guides to birds have been around since 1946. The first guide bearing the National Audubon Society imprint was Audubon Bird Guide; Eastern Land Birds , written by Richard Hooper Pough, and illustrated by Don Eckelberry. Plate 28 from Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds, by Richard H. Knopf, 1994/97.

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North America America Birds California Condor 278

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2023

So, not much that is not to like about hummingbirds, particularly as they also frequently perch (unlike hummingbirds), which makes the life of the bird photographer so much easier. The somewhat shoddily edited Wikipedia entry on sunbirds states that there are 145 species in one paragraph and then talks about 146 in the next.

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Indonesia Asia Species Raised 168

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2020

Typical of the species. The last time I had seen a Summer Tanager was during a Christmas Bird Count in 2012. Sightings in Trinidad have been sporadic, 38 to be exact since the formation of the T&T Bird Status and Distribution Committee. This is an immature bird, as evidenced by the yellow wash on his underparts.

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Trinidad Birds Squirrels 2012 193

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

With the lockdown lasting until the end of May (ironically thus pretty much including the whole spring migration – the divine sense of humor is a rather malign one, I am afraid), June still had the freedom of birding anywhere in Shanghai, not just inside a smallish compound. Accessorizing for birds.

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Singapore Mountain Goats Birds Giraffes 147

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.

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Dissection Birds Research Europe 208

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

There’s something wonderfully primeval about the Northern Bald Ibis: it has the look of a bird that really ought to be extinct. The fact that it’s not is quite surprising, as this curious bird has come very close to the brink. Sadly, they no longer breed in Algeria, while in Turkey no free-flying birds remain. (In

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Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 213

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2013

Both of these species show gregarious flocking behavior except when nesting. It was great fun watching them raise their young that summer. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. Birds goldfinches Lesser Goldfinch West Coast' You can hear the intricate call of the Lesser Goldfinch here.

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California Species North America Oregon 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

By Martin Garwood Martin has been interested in birds from an early age and has traveled extensively in pursuit of different species. He recently set up a charity, High Weald Swifts, to promote conservation in the UK of this now “red-listed” species. He has a particular passion for Swifts. It was a male Kestrel.

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Shelters Cattle Wildlife Hunting 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

This was actually the place where the late Richard ffrench spent much of his time as a music teacher, amassing countless observations of birds that would later form the basis of one of the essential birding guides for Trinidad and Tobago. The subtle white edging to the gape of this bird indicates it is near breeding time.

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Trinidad Birds Parrots Falcons 193

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

After Jason recently asked ChatGPT for birding advice, the management consultant in me – constantly thriving for efficiency improvements – immediately thought of the next step. The Seasonal Spectacles: Shanghai’s birding scene comes alive during the spring and autumn migration seasons.

China 158

China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 158

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2023

Our Christmas Day in Broome was much like any other Christmas day in that we did a bird list for the day. We usually expect to see over one hundred bird species around the local area during the day and this year was no different. However, we had a beautiful surprise put on by Mother Nature, which really started our day off well.

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Raised Species Rights Birds 159

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2023

With my recent relocation to the central forests of Trinidad, I have been afforded the incredible opportunity of observing three oft-confused species in close proximity to one another. In reality these species are rarely in the same place at the same time, however! Streaked Flycatcher Two Streaked Flycatchers posture to each other.

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Trinidad Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 143

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2019

Lots of birds, a lot of really cool birds! Some local populations of birds and animals couldn’t adapt to the radical ecosystem-wide changes and just died out but a fair percentage did survive and continue to persist where green space lingers. The Emerald Tanager is one of those cool ones.

Costa Rica 189

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Sparrows 189