10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

This is how it looks like: Or at sunset: A species I did not come for from Shanghai is the Black-crowned Night Heron. Its species name graydoni is in honor of Philip Newenham Graydon (1864-1940), a British planter in Sabah. Why that makes Mr. Graydon worthy of having a bird species named after him is a mystery to me.

Birds 206

Birds Eagles Elephants Rhinoceros 206

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

This is also why you very rarely find a photo of a giraffe on top of one of these posts – the other reason of course being that a giraffe photo would be relatively pointless in a birding blog. If I was an ornithologist aiming for a grant, I would now definitely highlight the need for more research on this topic.

Singapore 147

Singapore Birds Mountain Goats Giraffes 147

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 203

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers. This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway). End of side note.

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

En route they will be “birding in nearly every country in mainland North and South America,” and, as they say on their excellent blog , “Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way.

South America 179

South America San Diego Mexico America 179

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

Bird blogging in May always gives me the creeps. In its natural old-world range, the House Sparrow offers an interesting identification challenge and has vagrant potential since it is a polytypic species with a highly complex taxonomy. Anyway, this current taxonomic classification has interesting implications to German birders.

Sparrows 209

Sparrows Italy Asia Austria 209

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

Peripatetic ornithologist Nick Sly has long been a friend of the blog here and has contributed such classics as Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult and Forpus passerinus and the Ornithologists of Masaguaral. Please read and then vote for either Nick or Maria’s research! Juncos breed in much of the U.S.

Panama 201

Panama Research Investigation Chickens 201

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2013

It was on the island of Trinidad, at the Aripo Agricultural Research Station, where all of these photographs were taken. Trinidad is the northern limit of the range of the Red-breasted Blackbird , though it is unclear if the occasional birds that show up in Tobago are wanderers from Trinidad or northern South America or are breeding there.

Blackbirds 166

Blackbirds Trinidad Costa Rica Nicaragua 166

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 168

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 168

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2017

New research in The Auk suggests that small drones may be a good way to count songbirds. In England, there’s a 14-year-old blogger whose life list already includes more than 4,400 bird species. (!! Bad news: The massive Common Murre die-off along the U.S. I know, right?!)

Penguins 100

Penguins Chicago Zoos Game 100

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. I don’t know much about prairies, but I have discovered that there is more to them than just grass, and that they are home to hundreds of butterfly and bee species and thousands of moth species.

North Dakota 134

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 134

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 142

North America Sparrows America United States 142

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2014

They have been here for several months and are currently changing into their breeding plumage and fattening up. It won’t be long and we will watch them fly off into the sunset as they make their journey north to breed. It changes into its breeding plumage and heads off, but has never been seen back in Hong Kong!

Japan 173

Japan 2012 2013 China 173

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2013

The positions of sun and moon don’t change, they can still see features of the landscape and we know some bird species have mental maps of rivers, mountains, and coast lines. The photograph of Cory’s Shearwater is from this blog post. Birds Navigation Olfaction research Sheawater' So maybe that.”

Investigation 188

Investigation 2013 Research Humane 188

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2011

Among these white-headed/dark-winged gulls formerly lumped into the genus Larus , there were 18+ recognized species the last time I checked, sharing similarities that make telling them apart for the amateur birdwatcher very difficult. 1998), then the proper name for this species is L. fuscus – should be separated as species.

2011 157

2011 Cyprus Deer Species 157

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

MARCH 31, 2014

She has contributed many pieces to 10,000 Birds and writes about her birding adventures on her blog, newbirder.tumblr.com. The park is home to not one, not two, but large three colonies of breeding seabirds: the Brown Noddy , Magnificent Frigatebird , and Sooty Tern. Now, I don’t want anyone in the blogging audience to be alarmed.

Birds 174

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2012

A whole bunch of you responded and shared your best birds either in blog post form, email form, or in our comments. I even managed to shoot a video with hands trembling of excitement, probably a first of the species. I have chronicled the experience on my blog. Then we watched an adult and a chick feeding along the poolside.

2012 133

2012 Ghana Ireland Birds 133

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

China 217

China Birds Pythons Eagles 217

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

However, if you are just reading this blog because you do not have anything else to do, there are many suggestions for alternatives for you in “The To-Do List” by the Felice Brothers. The falcon breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China but winters in Southern and East Africa. Still as impressed as before?

Falcons 233

Falcons Japan China South Africa 233

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2021

In fact, it is so good that it merits two separate blog posts. White-browed Tit Warblers breed in high-altitude scrub, with a preference for junipers. In fact, indeed one or two of the Japanese-language bird books I own have this species on their cover. .” This is the second part. Also common: Common Rosefinches.

China 264

China Birds Species Raised 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2023

That comes at a price – the HBW describes the species as “stocky and fairly sluggish” and – with a critical undertone – continues to state that the species is “generally less agile in flight than are most flycatchers”. Why the Latin species name is cyaniventer (meaning having a dark blue belly) remains a mystery to me though.

China 147

China Hunting Birds illegal 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

The USVI are smaller and have fewer habitats and, as a result, fewer bird species. Much of the research regarding Caribbean ecology and ornithology has been conducted in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has a checklist of 269 species, 207 of which are migratory and the USVI has a checklist of 149 species, 124 of which are migratory.

Puerto Rico 146

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Hawaii United States 146

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2023

For example, a researcher and presumed ornithologist set out with two hypotheses related to the Ashy Drongo (and another drongo species) and wrote a paper about it. For them, God probably was the one instructing the drongos to mob one species but not the other. Why show photos of species as boring as this Ashy-throated Warbler

China 176

China 2017 Birds Indonesia 176

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

For this reason, the species is evaluated as Vulnerable.” The Rufous-tailed Robin used to be called Swinhoe’s Robin but apparently, somebody decided that there were already too many bird species (6, according to the HBW) named after him. The Eurasian Hobby was another notable raptor of the month.

Birds 191

Birds China Eggs Owls 191

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2012

Skimming through the myriad of posts in my blog reader yesterday I came across a post from the ever-watchful guys at the Raptor Persecution Scotland blog that left me cold with anger. Over the last 25 years they have recovered to the extent that they may now be Britain’s commonest raptor and breed in most of their former areas.

Industry 189

Industry Research Raised Killing 189

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

The species also has something of a criminal record – the HBW reports that “Black-throated T**s [have also been] observed to steal nesting material from other species in central China” ( original source ). Taking photos of such a rare species is a bit of a double-edged sword.

China 147

China Birds Breeders Species 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

Over the next few days, the Alpine Accentors ( Prunella collaris ) will arrive on their high-Alpine breeding grounds – it is time to start singing, despite that the treeless Alpine landscape is still under metres of snow. all Alpine Accetor photos digiscoped (c) Dale Forbes. all Alpine Accetor photos digiscoped (c) Dale Forbes.

2011 203

2011 Breeders Breeding Deer 203

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Having come back to the blog in whatever form and persistency, the overarching subject of language in birding seemed to be a suitable and deserving theme since bird names were part of my original beat. Yes, Germans were a particularly supersticious breed in the days of old, and would not dare to use the word devil even when cursing.

Germany 172

Germany Birds Hunters Owls 172

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

His summers during college were spent as a biological technician, monitoring breeding birds for Point Reyes Bird Observatory in Eastern Oregon, and also five seasons in Black Hills, SD, working for the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. Over time the hobby grew into a career. He attended Iowa State University where he earned his B.S.

Brazil 160

Brazil Venezuela Iowa Guatemala 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

For my new book, due out in 2012 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, I’ve been researching sandhill crane hunting. Hunting sandhill cranes in Kentucky is a bad idea from a public relations standpoint, considering the growing cadre of birders and nature enthusiasts for whom cranes are a touchstone species. I overlooked the date.

2011 239

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 239

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2011

I missed some very common species. Some were glaring misses since I started the year with a goal of 600 species (while working). Bicknell’s Thrush is a bird that is important to me because I grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, one of the places that it breeds. Today, in 2011, there are 956 or is it 957 species?

New York City 157

New York City New York New Hampshire Research Center 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2014

Mai Po Nature Reserve : world famous locale for shorebirds, waterfowl, waders, and wetland birds; wintering grounds for certain endangered species. The combination of these scheduled and informal birding efforts culminated in an amazing 135 species seen, many of which were lifers for me! Do your research. SPECIES LIST.

2014 207

2014 Eagles Asia Groups 207

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

The guide covers 747 breeding residents or regular migrants, 29 introduced species, and 160 vagrants, a total of 936 species. Honeyeaters are “active, noisy and pugnacious” and there are a lot of them–76 species–in Australia. Additional measurements are given for certain species, like penguins.)

Australia 105

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 105

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

Basically, this species is so dimwitted, it doesn’t know how to survive. Because, Pink Pigeons are not capable of doing the tasks required to create and bring up children of the species. And, as we find out in a blogged coda to the episode , they can’t even take care of their eggs. On the WCS web page, Ms. I know, that’s harsh.

Mauritius 101

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2011

Even if you don’t live in the summer range of a particular species, you may have opportunities to observe it while it passes through, especailly if you live in an active flyway, like I happen to. Way back when I started what turned out to be my thesis research (on humans), it became important for me to learn about bird migration.

Research 187

Research Humane Compassion New York 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2012

It covers 70 seabird species, explaining specific identification points with over 900 photographs and highly detailed descriptive text, all backed by an expertise based on years of research in the field, examination of museum specimen, and knowledge of ornithological literature. First of all, what are tubenoses?

North America 158

North America Albatross America Species 158