10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2022

The late November to early December was the beginning of a dry season and no one wore rubber boots, all birding was done in lightweight hiking shoes. In Inírida – on older maps Puerto Inírida, there is no need for cages, you can hear birds all the time! Birds The local birdlist has reached 462 species, and some 30 more are expected.

Colombia 249

Colombia Birds Cooking Fish 249

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2022

Running end-to-end across the northernmost section of the island, Trinidad’s Northern Range is the final outcrop of the mighty Andes after it bends eastward through Venezuela. The archetypical rainforest bird – Channel-billed Toucan. It almost looks as if the bird is underwater! Green-backed Trogon. Guianan Trogon.

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Woodpeckers Bats Venezuela 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

Birders follow different patterns of bird migration and their local activities and travel accordingly. It illustrates the bird richness per country. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands. 1201-1400 sp: Venezuela; China. 1201-1400 sp: Venezuela; China.

Equatorial Guinea 203

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 203

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

They are one of the most famous families of birds, and for good reason. Often taken for granted by residents of the islands, these feisty birds are only found within T&T and Venezuela – making them life birds for the majority of visiting birders. Most visible are the ubiquitous Copper-rumped Hummingbirds.

Trinidad 262

Trinidad South America Venezuela 2019 262

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2019

We chase birds, so we carry bird guides – in many ways, not too different from tourist guides. To paraphrase Keith Barnes, who wrote on world birding in 2008 ABA’s Birding magazine, if you can afford only one big tropical bird tour, let it be Ecuador. Still, is it hefty? Both “yes” and “no” apply.

Ecuador 155

Ecuador South America 2006 Birds 155

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

Having been penned in our house for the last month (and more), the last time we have been out birding seems like a distant memory. I was ardently working to finish a years-long project on the birds of T&T so those last few weeks have not been bird-less by any means. A tree that is loved by birds is also loved by the birder.

Trinidad 263

Trinidad Hunting Venezuela Woodpeckers 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2019

Or How a Serbian Suave Playboy Promoted Birding the Caribbean. Oh, the joys of slipping through the pages of a new book that has just arrived, the Birds of the West Indies by Kirwan, Levesque, Oberle and Sharpe. Having a tropical maritime climate, birding the West Indies comes with a lot of water, from sea spray to humid forests.

Saint Kitts and Nevis 166

Saint Kitts and Nevis Antigua and Barbuda Dominican Republic Cuba 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2011

It is a very small antpitta that lives in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia. Pululahua Crater This bird is fairly common here in the Puluahua Geobotanical Reserve and lives between 2000 and 2600 m.a.s.l.

Ecuador 175

Ecuador Bolivia Venezuela Peru 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2012

One attribute endowed in T&T by its geological parent Venezuela is a deep diversity of avifauna, including a lot of South American specialties. Many lapwings have bony spurs at their carpal joints that are apparent when the birds fly. So it should come as no surprise that Southern Lapwings abound there.

Venezuela 187

Venezuela South America Trinidad America 187

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2011

Not all bird species are equally spectacular. Just as we malign the little brown jobs nature churns out with such fiendish facility, we exalt the birds that bring something new and unusual to the table. These are the birds we usually value the most when we see them and remember most fondly in later years.

Bolivia 231

Bolivia Venezuela South America America 231

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2013

When was the last time you birded in the oldest forest preserve in the western hemisphere? He is gregarious, knowledgeable, and eager to get you on the birds, which was a bit difficult for most of the people in my group, which consisted of six people, considering I was the only birder.

Trinidad 196

Trinidad Birds Venezuela Protection 196

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

And where all those birds are? This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. And it raises a question: if all the birds are having a party over there, am I in the wrong spot? I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species. Why am I here?

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 2. It is at the top of my list of countries to visit specifically for birding. 5. On one list, it is the 27th country with the most number of different bird species. No plans yet, sigh.

2011 150

2011 Myanmar Bolivia Venezuela 150

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

Nick Sly, a friend of 10,000 Birds who writes intermittently at the thoroughly-recommended Biological Ramblings , is an ornithologist who graduated not so long ago from Cornell only to be cast out into the real world where he keeps a wry eye on all things biological! The youngest bird in this clutch is only two or three days old.

Eggs 269

Eggs Venezuela Porcupines 2008 269

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2011

A profound and deep understanding of birds is hard to complain about. Despite the vacant look in the eye of a Rock Pigeon , birds are not stupid…they cannot afford to be, or else they wouldn’t be here now. And the ultimate question, the one we may never know the answer to… what is a bird thinking ?

Emotional 212

Emotional Science Birds Mammals 212

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

The Beat Writers at 10,000 Birds are perhaps the single greatest conglomeration of nature writers ever to be assembled in the history of the internet. We are pleased to announce that such a stellar crew of scribes has yet another impressively talented member interpreting the natural world for the readers of 10,o00 Birds.

Brazil 160

Brazil Venezuela Iowa Guatemala 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2011

She contacted Corey to ask permission to use a Masked Trogon image from the blog for an art show and Corey agreed provided she would write a post for 10,000 Birds about how she is inspired by birds and nature. Luisa is currently preparing a show that will open on 10 February 2011 at Agora Gallery in Chelsea, New York.

Venezuela 243

Venezuela New York New York City 2008 243

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. Incredibly social, Smooth-billed Anis form monogamous pairs that build a communal nest where all birds share in the responsibilities of feeding and tending to the young.

Florida 198

Florida Virgin Islands Miami Breeders 198

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

But you are here for the birds. The curse of forest birding - a bird drought. Maybe the birds will come to you. They are the only birds able to fly backwards and the 340-odd species come in many different forms. Fantastic caterpillars, otherworldly insects, ghoulish spiders, tiny scattering creatures.

Colombia 279

Colombia Ecuador Bolivia Peru 279

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

There were three profound questions my birding group discussed while we birded Trinidad and Tobago, back in December 2012: (1) How many Bananaquits could fit on a banana? (2) 3) What was the best guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago? The bird guide question was a conundrum.

Trinidad 201

Trinidad Birds South America Research 201