10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

A Eurasian Blackbird is checking for the remaining maize seeds. A Common Chaffinch is singing, while one male Blackbird chases the other from his precious maize seeds. There are more than 1100 plant species, the most valuable being the 76 endemics. The longer I sit, the more focused I become. The waiting is on.

Serbia 263

Serbia Bears Birds Mammals 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2021

Yellow-hooded Blackbirds and Yellow-chinned Spinetails were ubiquitous as expected, along with a few shorebirds in some isolated ponds. The area is known for being a breeding area of the enigmatic Rufous Crab-Hawk and it was the first place I saw the species, many years ago. As always, an adult Scarlet Ibis shines like a beacon.

Sea Turtles 249

Sea Turtles Bats Turtles Trinidad 249

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Similarly, descriptions of species repeated across volumes do not lose their accuracy with each publication. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 206

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 206

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2020

Striated Heron in breeding plumage – extra plumes and blue lores. Two species of icterids populated the area, the presence of either was a direct indicator of the degree of water present. Red-breasted Meadowlarks controlled the drier sections while Yellow-hooded Blackbirds occupied the more flooded areas. Great Blue Heron.

Livestock 205

Livestock Ducks ALA illegal 205

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2019

I like seeing as many species as possible on my life list, year list, state list, patch list, any kind of list. But even in summer I can usually count on 60+ non-endemic species per visit, and in winter, a decent effort can usually result in 80 or more species. Which can also be said for the Yellow-headed Blackbirds.

Ducks 115

Ducks Blackbirds United States Pelicans 115

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

So, to cut things short, there is sickness all around me, and I have thus decided to have my February post whistle to that tune as well and give an update to the mysterious die-off amongst our Eurasian Blackbirds that occurred around my home turf in Heidelberg last summer – blogged about here.

Germany 159

Germany Blackbirds 2006 Denmark 159

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2017

Now that I can travel, I have perversely discovered the charms of really working over one spot of habitat across the seasons and the years; as such I’m on a mission to find 100 species of bird in Socrates Sculpture Park, a bit of Queens between the East River and Vernon Boulevard where artists create open-air displays. Why an asterisk?

New York 103

New York New York City Illinois Wisconsin 103

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2015

The Blue-winged Teal ( Anas discors ) is not that common in California except along the coast, so I was pretty excited to discover several pair and a few non-paired individuals of the species at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge on the day I had reserved photo blind #2. Click on photos for full sized images. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0_Yi28mT0o.

Sacramento 151

Sacramento Wildlife North America Ducks 151

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2018

Flock after flock of blackbirds, ducks, geese, raptors flapping their way north. The birds also need it because this is when they build nests and breed. If you already know the songs of American Robin and Eurasian Blackbird , then you already know what the national bird is doing. But that’s up in the temperate north.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Blackbirds Texas Geese 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2022

The juvenile Chinese Blackbirds get older but still look kind of stupid. Some of the more conservative Light-vented Bulbuls in my compound were trying to make the wearing of a tie mandatory for the species. But the stars of the month were some breeding Eurasian Tree Sparrows. So, I took these photos for them.

Birds 147

Birds Sparrows China Abandon 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

But something happened, and it happened many times: Something has been killing our Blackbirds. We interrupt this blog post for an important message: This is the kind of Blackbird I am talking about, the Eurasian thrush that is Turdus merula, and not the American group of iconic Icterids you might have had in mind.

Blackbirds 154

Blackbirds Germany Shelters Rodents 154

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

After writing this last sentence, I looked up the species in the HBW and found the sentence “Song poorly documented” in the appropriate section, while with regard to calls, the description is that “call is a two-note raspy nasal ‘ryeeh-reh’”. These birds have too much taste.

Singapore 147

Singapore Mountain Goats Birds Giraffes 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular. Curassows are such stately birds.

Brazil 208

Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2014

When they turn into fledglings feather color plays a part, although the feathers of fledglings differ markedly from those of their parents, which differ from those of their species a year old, two years old, in non-breeding plumage, in winter/summer plumage, etc. “You don’t have many breeding warblers down there, do you?

Wildlife Rehabilitation 217

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Georgia Kentucky 217

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2012

Most bird species cannot live by black oil sunflower seed alone. The other thing that baffled me is that birds are the most colorful in the summer–all that crazy breeding plumage. Another time to consider taking your feeders down for a limited time is if you get a blackbird takeover when their young leave the nest.

Blackbirds 219

Blackbirds Birds Baltimore Breeding 219

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts. Brewer’s Blackbirds often joined the hordes of Red-winged Blackbirds flitting in and out of the taller grasses and few shrubs. Yes, it takes a village to locate a Sprague’s Pipit.

North Dakota 135

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 135

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2022

The Chinese Blackbird is among the most common birds in our compound. This is often the case in birds – for the young birds, it is more important to be invisible than to impress the other birds of the same species. The Red-flanked Bluetail is only in Shanghai in winter, as it breeds far further North – even further than Beijing.

Birds 162

Birds Fish Germany China 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2012

Have you ever enjoyed one of those brilliant birding expeditions, the outing where every target species takes its cue with machine precision? The lush pastures of the Aripo Livestock Station sustained herds of happy Buffalypso , a special breed of T&T beef cattle named for their Water Buffalo heritage and Calypso-happy country.

Trinidad 176

Trinidad Birds Fast Food Cattle 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2015

An American Redstart sang half-heartedly, a Ring-necked Pheasant ran from me, and Gray Catbirds , Red-winged Blackbirds , and American Robins were everywhere. I saw a Willow Flycatcher , several Northern Mockingbirds , and a bunch of Yellow Warblers.

New York City 165

New York City New York Blackbirds Collecting 165

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

eBird doesn’t offer such an option, so I used the second best: the species was observed in one month only. They do not build nests, but occupy old nests of Rooks and breed colonially among them. Red-footed Falcon’s breeding range starts less than 50 mi north of here and I hope that some will choose to join a local rookery and stay.”.

2018 116

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 116

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

Avocets, Black-necked Stilts , and Spotted Sandpipers breed at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Flocks of Bushtits made their noisy way through the bushes and a large number of Yellow-headed Blackbirds , which easily increased by ten-fold the number of Yellow-headed Blackbirds I had ever seen, flushed from one reed-bed to another.

Las Vegas 197

Las Vegas Nevada Birds Blackbirds 197

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

Third, observing and photographing breeding birds and their young have become acts of ethical confusion as birders, photographers, and organizational representatives debate the impact of our human presence on the nesting process. Some chapters focus on one species (Yellow Warbler), some on several related species (Chickadees and Nuthatches).

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2011

Eagle Lake, Lake Almanor and Clear Lake have all been identified as Audubon California Important Bird Areas (IBA), meaning that they provide essential habitat for breeding, wintering, and migrating birds. The boat trip also offered some good looks at the Yellow-headed Blackbirds nesting along the shores.

California 214

California Eagles North America Breeding 214

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Every part of the world has it’s suite of parking lot staples, those urbanish species that seem to prefer to linger about humanity subsisting in no small amount to the magnanimity, or more likely the laziness, of humankind. The western half of the continent sees a lot of Brewer’s Blackbirds mixed in.

North Carolina 183

North Carolina Fast Food Sparrows Birds 183

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2016

As a result, I had 15 species in the first hour. Laight has recorded some 100 species here, including Slavonian (Horned) Grebe and Red-rumped Swallow (the first is a rare migrant/wintering species only, while the second one is an uncommon breeder). Other herons, egrets, gulls and terns are a surprise at this time of the year.

Turtles 111

Turtles Serbia Breeding Breeders 111

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. The guide covers 1,433 species, the number of birds documented at the end of 2014, the cutoff point for the book.

Bolivia 169

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 169

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

… leaving the remainder of the birds on the Cyprus Species List (over 380 species) are either migrants or accidentals. the first three found only in the Troodos and Paphos forests). That’s quite a lot! As it happens though, Blackcaps may provide a modern example of how this can occur.

Cyprus 157

Cyprus Breeders Protection 2000 157

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2016

Leeds Castle’s most showy “blackbird” is the Jackdaw , Corvus monedula. The Black Swans were adopted to the trust’s coat of arms and breed here during the northern winter. Strangely, the Indian Peafowl is not mentioned on eBird’s Hotspot list which shows the 67 species that have been seen there.

Collecting 100

Collecting South America Blackbirds Adoptable 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2017

In early August this year, I saw 77 species here (69 on the lake, plus 8 more in the surrounding areas) but barely more than a thousand individuals. In my homeland, some 800 km / 500 mi further north, these ducks are common on migration but very rare in the breeding season and I realized that these are my first young birds – ever.

Greece 181

Greece Killing Pelicans Eagles 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.

North America 143

North America Sparrows America United States 143

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

The Red-winged Blackbirds that were busy staking claims to breeding territory by singing from bushes, trees, and marsh plants were not groggy at all. But Red-winged Blackbirds weren’t the only birds that returned in numbers. Needless to say, I was a bit groggy when I met up with them. But we weren’t done yet!

New York 162

New York Honduras Jamaica Geese 162

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

High overhead, swallows are going over and in the fields, blackbirds move in undulating flocks. However, even now, the ancient movements of birds between summer breeding grounds and tropical wintering places have been taking place in Costa Rica. Last Friday, we paid a brief afternoon visit to Villas San Ignacio.

Costa Rica 144

Costa Rica South America Tennessee 2019 144

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

Red-winged Blackbirds , within arms-reach, glisten in the morning sun and puff out their red shoulder epaulettes like proud military generals. Nearly every species of heron and egret in North America forage only feet away, some of them in their dazzling breeding displays.

North America 217

North America Factory Alligators Trafficking 217

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2014

We set the standard at 74 species, one short of my hoped for 75, but not bad for a first attempt. The north wind also brought flocks of Double-crested Cormorants and Brant , the latter the first ones back this fall from their breeding grounds in the far north. It was a marvelous day and I can’t wait to do it again in 2015!

2015 178

2015 Philadelphia Geese Blackbirds 178

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

A flock of Red-winged Blackbirds , over a thousand strong, fly overhead in several waves towards their feeding grounds. Hundreds of both Glossy and White Ibis commute overhead, along with Great and Snowy Egrets , Little Blue and Tricolored Herons , and Black and Turkey Vultures.

Wildlife 127

Wildlife Florida Miami Alligators 127

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2011

Reason 1: Territory This is the time of year when a variety of birds are setting up breeding territories. There are several species of birds we enjoy for their songs-- American Robins, Carolina Wrens, Wood Thrushes and maybe even Red-winged Blackbirds. So, why do woodpeckers peck on human made structures?

Woodpeckers 261

Woodpeckers Owls Blackbirds Raised 261

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

ALWAYS assume there is some other bird species in there that you have not found yet. Here is a flock of endangered species. Some birds breed in flocks, at least in part to avoid predation. In the case of these Tricolored Blackbirds , they are formed for DEFENSE. Certain flocks of birds really grab your attention.

North Dakota 161

North Dakota LACS Oakland Falcons 161