10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2020

As the cold fronts begin to sweep through the northern states ushering in a wave of seasonal change and color, South Florida becomes a gathering place for migratory birds far and wide across the country. Every day that the weather persists, the birds gather in larger and larger numbers — a “back up.”

Florida 261

Florida Miami Birds Falcons 261

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2017

When the news broke about a possible border wall through Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, I decided to make plans to visit before it got bisected by a concrete barrier. After all, each refuge has been set aside to permanently protect birds and other wildlife. Indeed, The U.S.

Texas 189

Texas United States Mexico Campaign 189

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2019

2018 proved to be one of my best birding years ever. In addition to spotting exciting new species in Florida, including the rare Snail Kite, travel across the country brought me into contact with birds in Oregon, California, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, and more. And the third trimester?

Bald Eagle 153

Bald Eagle Alabama Kansas Florida 153

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

Last week, I received an email from an American couple that has recently moved to Morelia; they found me right here on 10,000 Birds. Although birding is not their first reason for moving here, they are enjoying meeting the lovely locals, such as the Broad-billed Hummingbird and Vermilion Flycatchers. No, I would not.

Mexico 232

Mexico Birds Costa Rica Alabama 232

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Angela Minor has lived, traveled, and birded from the southern U.S. As a freelance travel writer, she authors the state park birding series at Bird Watcher’s Digest, writes for several travel publications including Blue Ridge Country, Smoky Mountain Living, World of Cruising, and serves as a field editor for Birds & Blooms.

Texas 187

Texas North America Alaska America 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2019

A straight shot to my bird feeder. My yard is a birding hotspot. The feeder dangles from a clothesline between two pine trees, beckoning a range of bird varieties. Eastern Bluebirds called from the branches above my head, while Ruby-crowned Kinglets buzzed in the holly bush a few yards to my right.

Agenda 146

Agenda Birds Louisiana North America 146

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2022

Maybe author Sy Montgomery is right when she says that “birdwatchers often look down on falconry,” and maybe not. In The Hawk’s Way, Montgomery is very good on the ethical dilemmas inherent in falconry, centered on both the bird and the woman, even if she never resolves any of them definitively.

New Hampshire 226

New Hampshire Chickens Hunting Falcons 226

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2021

According to the unwritten ancient rules of birding, whether your pelagic trip gets cancelled or not, as long as you go birding, there will always be highlights. While birding the dry forest and open country hotspot of Ceiba, Orotina , we spotted a Yellow-billed Cuckoo perched on a roadside grass stalk. A cancelled trip?

Costa Rica 217

Costa Rica ALA Peru Texas 217

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2014

That’s right…I used the punchline from one of the worst jokes in history for this one, but it seems strangely apt. One thing I’ve learned birding south Texas this spring is that birds are extremely fond of oranges, including birds you just wouldn’t expect to be into citrus (like the Swainson’s Thrush above).

Baltimore 207

Baltimore Texas Tennessee Woodpeckers 207

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

During the decade, I submitted 1,219 checklists and observed 555 bird species, all in the U.S. I started eBirding about the same time I started birding, and I made an early executive decision (a very good one) that any pre-eBird observations simply did not count. Birding trips to Florida , New Mexico , and Texas are obvious too.

Puerto Rico 153

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 153

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2018

When news later reached our little town (likely through a newspaper) that the bird-killing chemical was to be banned, my environmental activism was born. Images of wildlife coated in toxic goo haunted me; particularly the birds. But birds can fly so they’ll be fine, right? appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Texas 169

Texas Defenders Of Wildlife Bald Eagle Protest 169

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

Henry Philemon Attwater was born in Brighton, England and spent his early adult years in Canada, but the state of Texas – which he first visited at 30 and made his permanent home at 35 – has embraced him. This last is particularly poignant, if not a bit eerie, for the modern conservationist.

Chickens 126

Chickens Texas Louisiana Wildlife 126

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2019

Around here, it’s the Caribbean Sea and that’s also why we bird the Caribbean slope, we look for macaws, toucans, and Great Potoos in the Caribbean lowlands. I was recently reminded of the rich avifauna found in the Caribbean lowlands while guiding a small group of birders from Texas. Often seen at the right sites.

Costa Rica 173

Costa Rica Birds Woodpeckers Owls 173

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2014

For others, it is the desire to have a different birding experience from home without needing a passport. In the ABA region, southeast Arizona and the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas host many sites right along the Mexican border that fit this description.

Thailand 167

Thailand Birds 2013 China 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2014

When the proprietors of Costa Rica’s Finca Luna Nueva Lodge graciously invited Corey and me to visit, we were both thrilled at the prospect of awesome Costa Rican birds at an amazing ecolodge. Anyone attuned to Neotropical birding knows well that the Arenal area is famous for phenomenal birding, perhaps among the best in the world.

2014 217

2014 Costa Rica Birds Groups 217

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

DECEMBER 19, 2018

Last week, we quite impulsively jumped in a rental car and drove 2600 miles round trip to south Texas to pick up 34 new species. It just so happens, that there were some pretty decent priced flights out of Tucson, so Jeanne booked a couple of tickets, and then had to beat it back home from Texas. L ittle Big Year species – 1280.

Bahamas 113

Bahamas Tucson El Paso Texas 113

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2020

A bird of prey showed up in the tiny park across the boulevard from me yesterday, setting himself down on a park bench and ignoring a crowd of socially-distanced smart phone wielding photographers. Sadly, I did not, which is probably why I think a field guide to birds is a must in every household. ” people proclaimed.

North America 237

North America America 2020 Hawaii 237

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

Author Sherrida Woodley thinks deeply about dearly departed birds. Raised in and around the West Texas steppe country where temperatures reached 100 degrees with regularity, he began life as the Dust Bowl and Great Depression converged. An eyas was what he was after that day he worked the Texas draw, a young nestling about to fly.

Falcons 190

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 190

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2019

It ended with little fan fare; in fact I did not even go chasing birds on the last two days of 2018, as I am just plain tired. Not of the birds, but the seemingly endless early mornings, rarely sleeping in my own bed, and the pressure, mostly self imposed, to find yet one more bird. Overall World Ranking as per eBird.com 79th.

Costa Rica 138

Costa Rica Tucson South Africa Bahamas 138

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2017

At 10,000 Birds, readers who haven’t been here before might correctly surmise that this platform talks about anything bird-related. As for myself, since I live in Costa Rica, I usually put the focus on birding and/or birds in this small yet very bio-rich country. Spectacled Owl triangle.

Costa Rica 156

Costa Rica Birds Owls Tennessee 156

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2019

We see a closer shot of the river itself, hawks flying across the span, and then we see that brown line again, close up, a wall of brown panels filling the right side of the screen, continuing into the distance, no end in sight, while a white pick-up truck drives parallel to it at the far left of the screen.

Advocacy 268

Advocacy Mexico United States Texas 268

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2014

I was at the Blue Heron Wetlands in Titusville, Florida, during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival hoping to connect with a Purple Gallinule that the field trip I co-led with Laura Erickson failed to find. Then I saw a pair of birds, the pair pictured above, and I suddenly had a dilemma on my hands.

Feral 185

Feral Florida Ducks Texas 185

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2018

We have escaped the clutches of the Bahamas, and are finally back “home” in Tucson, Texas. 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. Now to the fun part, a few of the bird pictures!!

Bahamas 130

Bahamas Costa Rica Abandon Abandoning 130

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2013

Blue-gray Tanager is a bird reasonable to expect in the U.S. If and when one does show up in a feasible place, brace yourself for the coming “birds have wings” debate. If you’ve been exposed to the birding scene for very long, you have no doubt come across the phrase “Birds have wings.

Birds 190

Birds Mexico Texas Groups 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Mike had just invited me to Nikon’s Prostaffer Retreat that was to be held at a ranch in south Texas. I went on to tell him that I’d seen these birds in Central America but that I needed to see them in the US too. Its interesting to note that, although the bird just crosses the US border, two distinct races can be found.

Owls 156

Owls Texas Arizona Pigs 156

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

Hannah Buschert was first exposed to birds and birding during a required ornithology course at Oregon State University and she quickly caught the birding bug. This is Hannah’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds. Hannah and Erik ready to see some birds! I love to go on cruises.

South Africa 264

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2011

Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a wicked Chuck-will’s-widow at Prospect Park on Saturday. My own best bird was Caspian Tern , right on time along Lake Ontario. For those of you playing along at home, this gives me 17 new ABA birds for a total of 467 as of May 1, 2011.

2011 157

2011 Mississippi ALA Sparrows 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

And Flamingos and Hornbills and a Secretarybird and birds with names like Hamerkop and Thick-knee and Eremomela (which I know is a scientific term, but which, when pronounced correctly, reminds me of a Yiddish term of endearment my grandmother used). And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa.

South Africa 254

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 254

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

You ever notice how rare bird alerts (RBA) differ from state to state? How come we call them RARE BIRD ALERTS ? How come we call them RARE BIRD ALERTS ? This is considered a rare bird chiefly because it shows up so infrequently. This is considered a rare bird chiefly because it shows up so infrequently. I think so.

Colorado 176

Colorado Birds Texas California 176

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

As 2013 draws to a close we here at 10,000 Birds thought that it would be a great idea if we, like we did in 2010 , 2011 , and 2012 , shared our Best Birds of the Year. We also want to know what YOUR Best Bird of the Year was. Now on to the Best Birds of the Year for those who write on 10,000 Birds! Sound good?

2013 168

2013 Birds Costa Rica India 168

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

In Costa Rica, sandpipers are locally known as “correlimos”, which to me sounds something along the lines of “little runners” and that sounds about right. Looking for these birds in Costa Rica isn’t as straightforward as some sites up north. Buff-breasted Sandpiper by Always a birder! .

Costa Rica 158

Costa Rica Farming Texas Cattle 158

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

There are many charismatic endangered birds that capture people’s hearts and imaginations: the colossal California Condor , the evocative Red-crowned Crane , and the adorable Spoon-billed Sandpiper come to mind. This is a short series that brings attention to these incredible birds, and my various adventures to try and see them.

Brazil 224

Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 224

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2012

During the last week, I received some terrific photos from two readers who had encountered a very distinctive duck at Brazos Bend State Park in Texas. Take a guess, then check out the link after the photos to see if you’re right! They weren’t quite sure about its identity, but I bet you have some ideas.

Ducks 167

Ducks Texas Rights Birds 167

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2023

The second thing to note is that this is an excellent and courageous book that tackles a group of birds whose field identification has stumped the most skilled birders. ” This builds and expands on a classic series of articles by Bret Whitney and Kenn Kaufman that appeared Birding magazine between 1985 and 1987.* known-identity).”**

Los Angeles 225

Los Angeles North America America Species 225

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 255

Peru Birds South America Owls 255

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Where its range sneaks across the border into the southern tip of Texas, it inflames the passions of everyone who would gaze upon it. See, Tropical Parula is something of a totem bird for me. The week before our annual trip, I learned that a Tropical Parula was being seen at a roadside reststop near the tiny town of Sarita, Texas.

Texas 166

Texas Family Birds Groups 166