10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2013

When you move on to Montana, you discover that there are worse things that one species of tiny screaming mammal tricking you each year as you try to cope with an influx of songbirds and a winterized memory bank that contains only Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos (and only about half their calls at that.) You sigh and move on.

Chipmunks 184

Chipmunks Squirrels Rodents Montana 184

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

JULY 30, 2015

The Barn Swallow ( Hirundo rustica ) is one of the most widespread and popular birds. They are still among the coolest birds on my list. This is quite a remarkable fact if one thinks that this is the only (and first to do this) migratory bird to change its breeding and migratory habits. Chicks in nest in Wyoming.

South Dakota 169

South Dakota South America North America America 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2012

The species was extinct, a vanished part of the vanishing prairie — and not for the first time. In the 1950s the species was unofficially regarded as extinct by most biologists, a small part lost in the general tumble and disarray of the entire ecosystem they’d inhabited. You couldn’t see it. But this is real life.

Ferrets 189

Ferrets South Dakota Wyoming Captive Animal 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2011

Now, here in Colorado this is the season for the high-country birds. One of the birds I will focus on this summer is one of my favorites even though they can be difficult to reach. These birds capitalize on a quick breeding season and usually have young out by mid-July in most cases.

Colorado 169

Colorado Breeders Wyoming Breeding 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

The landscape known as the Crown of the Continent extends from northern Idaho and Wyoming through Montana to the Canadian border, linking the Greater Yellowstone and Salmon-Selway ecosystems and including Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

Legislation 174

Legislation Montana America Wyoming 174

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

And reports of birds nesting – not owls, of course, those weirdo snow fetishists, but other birds nesting – light up my life. Most exotics, at least in the bird world, stick close to their point of arrival and barely hang on – or don’t – over the generations. And of Wyoming. In 1998 W.

Montana 136

Montana 2011 New York Bahamas 136

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Last week we were in the Teton Valley, getting ready to head over to Wyoming, and Yellowstone National Park. As it turns out, many of those very birds that I had hoped to find, all had the same idea, and had moved out of the park as well. I would have to say the most common bird in the park, must be the Common Raven.

Wyoming 106

Wyoming Wolves Grizzly Bear Mountain Goats 106

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2016

I opened the year in California and even though I flew out in the evening on New Year’s Day I did see some species out there that I would otherwise not have seen for the year. Winter birding around New York City was just so-so but I did add one species to my Queens list. Aaaarrrgghhhh!

2016 135

2016 Puerto Rico New York City New York 135

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.” Citizens), it would do well, with 107 species.

Rhode Island 114

Rhode Island United States West Virginia Puerto Rico 114

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2014

What are the world’s most distinctive birds? That question could be answered in several ways, but a new paper released this month — Global Distribution and Conservation of Evolutionary Distinctness in Birds (Jetz et al. The Oilbird today lives only in South America, but fossils of similar species are known from Wyoming.

Madagascar 278

Madagascar Comoros South America Ecuador 278

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2018

With Wyoming and South Dakota in our rear view mirror, we look toward Colorado, and a hot spot I have been anxious to visit. This area also is where I hope to fill in a few target birds, like the newly spilt Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, Pinyon Jays and Prairie Falcons. This all mixed in with a very nice bunch of birds.

Colorado 113

Colorado Texas Trinidad Albuquerque 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2012

Shawn Billerman is a graduate student at the University of Wyoming studying birds, though his degree will likely use fancier words than that. The world of birds is full of odd and interesting behaviors. One of the more interesting aspects (in my opinion) of breeding in birds is their mating strategy.

2002 168

2002 North America 2000 2009 168