10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2019

Slightly larger than Wales and about the size of the US state of Maryland, this country’s lure is its 703 bird species and three dozen Albertine Rift endemics among them. Ken Behrens is a tour guide for Tropical Birding, originally from Idaho, but now lives in Madagascar. This man is driven, but he gets the birds…”.

Rwanda 213

Rwanda Primates Wildlife Gorillas 213

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2017

If there’s one common theme to this week’s bird news items, it’s their collective bizarreness: The eagle has landed—on the drone, as France trains birds to take out drones that stray into restricted airspace. Scientists ponder the feasibility of genetically engineering chickens to lay the eggs of endangered bird species.

Penguins 100

Penguins Argentina France Stray 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2020

The real upside is that it is right by my house and the Tawny Owls occasionally stray into my oak tree at night. Despite the poor reputation of the wood, I have waved my binoculars at it on a few occasions and tempted some of the common woodland species out to my garden feeders. Likely all done by volunteers. Just try and stop me!

Litter 237

Litter Stray Industry Owls 237

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2020

November and early December can be a frustrating time here at Nanhui – on the one hand, there are fewer and fewer birds as migration slows down. On the other hand, it seems there is a better chance of getting some strays and really rare birds, such as the Ryukyu Minivet described in my last post. Here is a Little Bunting.

Stray 249

Stray Asia Industry Family 249

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2015

One of the joys of going home to my parent’s house in the UK is the array of bird feeders outside their kitchen. Being the only house in quite a large area gives them a great catchment area to draw birds from, and turns up more than the occasional rarity. I don’t feed birds much here in New Zealand. Kaka love apples.

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Birds Stray Woodpeckers 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2013

In truly absurd, I am not making this up news, villagers in Turkey recently accused a bird of being an Israeli spy. The bird in question, a Kestrel (its species wasn’t named), drew the attention of folks in Altinayva, Turkey because of the metal band upon its leg. But alas, my comedic skills are subpar.

Turkey 179

Turkey Austin ALA 179

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

For many in the birding community, Miami is a destination meant only for ticking off ABA-countable exotics such as Spot-breasted Oriole or Red-whiskered Bulbul. It was truly heart-warming to see the local birding community participate with so much enthusiasm and fervor. This bird was a life bird for him!

Miami 168

Miami 2015 United States Birds 168

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2018

It is a common bird of humid, lowland forest in Central and South America where it is usually found in the lower storey. rufifrons occasionally strays to southern Texas or Arizona, but on the whole, they are seldom seen north of the border. The Argentinian birds come from the B.c. The Rufous-capped Warbler, B.

South America 100

South America Argentina Stray Arizona 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

There are always stray cattle to watch out for, but we prefer to minimize the risk of hitting animals by leaving on road trips until a couple of hours after sunrise. They numbered in excess of 750 individual birds and that is a conservative estimate. The post A huge gathering of Galahs appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

Cattle 193

Cattle Stray Australia Birds 193

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. Great Kiskadee.

Costa Rica 177

Costa Rica Barn Owls Stray Dog Blackbirds 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2017

Dion, “The Wanderer” When it comes to being a Romeo on the run, few birds can match the Pectoral Sandpiper. In some cases the males strayed from their Alaska home base for a bit of far-flung sex tourism in Canada and Russia.). But if you asked the birds, they’d probably just say they do it all for the nookie.

Russia 101

Russia Rights Stray Alaska 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2013

The Montana Field Guide, a helpful online compendium provided by the state government, lists seven species. That is, in extremely precise mathematical terms, three times more species of hummingbirds than breed near the Olde Homestead. It certainly drew plenty of feeder birds over the winter. The ways of birds are mysterious.

Montana 214

Montana Alaska Stray New York 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2012

It was something like his fifth attempt at the bird. That made me wonder why someone would put so much energy into a species that is regular in New York and not a lifer. Birders are confused – is Anthony doing a big year or is he just a birding machine? Good reasons to stay local regardless of records and the like.

New York 177

New York Stray Vermont Marine Life 177

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2017

These temperatures make for perfect birding/camping weather and because that is one of our favourite pastimes we decided it was time to go and explore a bit more of northern Australia during July. Many of the native plants were flowering, which also aided in the search for pollen eating birds! Red Kangaroos. Ring-tailed Dragon.

Australia 100

Australia Kangaroos Cattle Reptiles 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2014

Since I have started to bird by kayak, it took me a lot of time to realise that paddling is not the synonym for birding and that I can bird without a paddle, although I cannot paddle without a pair of binoculars. To avoid the predator, the duck – dived, and that was the only time ever to observe this species doing so.

Serbia 244

Serbia Stray Dog Protection Botswana 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2018

What was the weirdest place you ever birded? The disappearance of vultures has allowed other species such as rat and [stray] dog populations to grow. Oddly, I saw no rats, only a mongoose or two and a few stray dogs. Some smelly sewage ponds? Oh, don’t bother responding. A war zone? Then you are worse than me.

India 136

India Stray Dog Cows Rats 136

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

In North American birding, east versus west is the most basic geographic division of the continent. It’s easy for West Coast birders to covet the variety of wood-warblers back east, while eastern birders may lament the dearth of hummingbird species on their side of the continent. Good birding and happy drinking!

Pelicans 113

Pelicans India Vermont San Diego 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2013

New World populations of the widely distributed Sandwich Tern ( Thalasseus sandvicensis ) are treated by some authorities (including the British Ornithologists’ Union) as a distinct species: Cabot’s Tern ( T. Proposal 2013-A-7 would split the Sage Sparrow ( Amphispiza belli ) into two species: Great Basin Sage Sparrow ( A.

2013 191

2013 Sparrows Owls Stray 191

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2013

Smooth-billed Ani ( Crotophaga ani ) is a widespread and ubiquitous bird in disturbed grassy areas throughout much of the neotropics, including most of the Caribbean Islands. It is one of three species of ani ( Groove-billed and Greater Anis are the other two) and together form a unique branch in the cuckoo family.

Florida 198

Florida Virgin Islands Miami Breeders 198

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2013

In each instance they start with a striking anecdote — my particular favorite took place on the University of Montana campus, where in 1964 an American Crow learned to call and taunt stray dogs into causing perhaps the most adorable college riots of the decade.

Humane 147

Humane Emotional Stray Dog Science 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2012

The species ranges north well into Canada in the summer months, but in the winter they make for the southern coasts or down to Mexico. Migration makes them vulnerable to straying: Accidental Hoary Bats have been found as far afield as Bermuda and Iceland. P.S. Back to actual birds next week! Shoot, it’s not working!

Bats 178

Bats Iceland Stray Fur 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2019

Birders know that the pairing of farms and birds represents more than mere bucolic romance – it’s a match borne out of a real avian dependence on these man-made landscapes. And of course, there are Cattle Egrets ( Bubulcus ibis ) and several species of cowbirds that rarely stray too far from livestock.

Vermont 120

Vermont Belgium Farming Europe 120

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2018

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick’s Day, a holiday that offers plenty of excuses for drinking, but few prospects for straying from the well-worn celebratory routines. I happened on a whiskey that commemorates a slightly later and lesser-known Hibernian monk who’s got something Paddy certainly does not – a hagiography with a good bird miracle.

Blackbirds 106

Blackbirds Wounded Stray 2013 106

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

As the story goes, way back in the late 19th Century and organization called the American Acclimitazation Society was working hard to introduce every one of the 600 species of birds mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays to North America. The AAS released some hundred European Starlings into Central Park in 1890 and 1891.

India 158

India Stray Dog United States Stray 158

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2012

Well, the American Birding Association’s Bird of the Year — the Evening Grosbeak – deserves no less. Before we dive in, just take a moment to admire this incredible bird. For centuries, many birds were assigned to these families based primarily on their bill structures. But what is a finch? But not all.

Family 178

Family Guatemala Stray Groups 178

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2017

On a recent visit to Tokyo, Japan, I came across a beautiful bird that I took to be a White’s Thrush , Zoothera dauma. My Japanese field guide, published in 1982, calls my bird White’s Ground Thrush and prefers the Turdus genus. Where there is a description of one of the birds, the author fails to mention which one.

Sri Lanka 100

Sri Lanka Japan India 2005 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2013

From Owls in the Family to Wesley the Owl , the narrative in which a human interacts with another species and learns a bit about life along the way has long been a popular and affecting one. This is a pretty good model of the modern environmental ethic of self-restraint and respectful watching.

Stray Cat 171

Stray Cat Stray Zoos Owls 171

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2015

It is a good place for South African birders, as several species are found here and nowhere else in South Africa, and it holds a small number of endemics that it shares with the Mozambique lowlands. The park did have a pack of African Wild Dogs, or Painted Wolves, the species I had gone to Africa to see.

South Africa 147

South Africa Elephants Africa Lions 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Monk Parakeets , of course, have managed a beakhold in several cities across the continent , and Florida mantains a menagerie of Psitticids though it’s sort of unclear how many of them are self-sustaining and how many are sustained only by a constant seeding of escaped cage birds and smuggler’s losses. Because they are loud.

Parrots 221

Parrots Mexico United States Stray 221

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2012

In any case, the species does come north into U.S. Ringer Galapagos Shearwater ( Puffinus subalaris ) is split from the very widespread Audubon’s Shearwater complex ( Puffinus lherminieri ), which likely contains other cryptic species. waters every year after breeding.

Falcons 173

Falcons Parrots California Breeding 173

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

E.g. I remember trying to enter my local scrubland once, just across the car park behind the last apartment building and there, awaiting me, was a territorial pack of stray dogs barking at an intruder – me. Finally, the list of birds mentioned in the examples include: Acorn woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus. How did I know that?

Animal 115

Animal Bears Stray Dog Blackbirds 115

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2012

Like several of my favorite NWRs, this one was established as a haven for migratory birds, most notably waterfowl, during the bad old days when uncontrolled hunting and habitat loss had put the future of even species we now think of as common in doubt. As a result, early migration season is an excellent time to visit.

Wildlife 170

Wildlife Montana Geese Bald Eagle 170

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2012

First, it was really close to the road, close enough that the birds in the nest, if it was a nest at all, would feel the wind from the larger, faster passing semis. and in the world of birds, a pair of eagles qualifies. This make sense in a certain way; a species of carnivores that over-concentrated in space would go extinct.

Eagles 177

Eagles Bald Eagle Coyotes Mississippi 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2012

No Snow Geese or swans yet, and no Sandhill Cranes , but it did renew my taste for some of the simpler, homier pleasures of birding. With all my traipsing about this year I’ve actually been shamefully lax on birding Montana. It’s not only the big, predatory birds that I have to look forward to.

Bald Eagle 110

Bald Eagle Montana Owls Italy 110

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2011

Now that I have added ten more birds to my Queens life list we must revisit the list and predict my next ten birds in Queens (and see how my last set of predictions turned out). Queens, the finest borough in New York City, as I may have mentioned before, is where I have now seen a whopping 279 species! Did I do better this time?

Jamaica 157

Jamaica Owls 2010 New York City 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The problem of free-roaming cats — and their predation on birds and other wildlife — is hotly contested in communities across the country, and it triggered a lively exchange in the hearing room. And she has a North American bird book that has so far taught her how to recognize a sparrow. … “I understand the objection,” she said.

Feral Cats 215

Feral Cats Feral Cats Minneapolis 215

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

There is a very distinctive smell found on seabird colonies, where thousands upon thousands of birds come to breed and, coincidentally, deposit large quantities of waste. Arriving at the colony the head lights go off and we move into position below the birds (trying not to fall over the cliffs and into the sea) coordinating everyone by radio.

Breeding 185

Breeding Stray Seals Whales 185