10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

My review copy (well, actually a contributor’s copy—more on that later) was waiting for me when I returned from the ABA birding tour of Thailand and Malaysia (more on that in a separate post) in early March. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family.

North America 142

North America Sparrows America United States 142

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2022

Wrynecks are fascinating because they are woodpeckers, taxonomically and evolutionarily, yet they do not share many behaviors and anatomical features of most members of the Picidae family. But they are woodpeckers: the genus Jynx of the subfamily Jynginae of the Picidae family. They are beautiful, but in a different way.

Woodpeckers 224

Woodpeckers Hungary Thailand 2014 224

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2012

On the way I managed to sneak in a manic day of birding in and around the capital of Thailand, Bangkok. I must confess I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, as the related Australian White Ibis is something of a trash bird in Sydney, but this species is extremely rare in Thailand or for that matter South East Asia.

Thailand 153

Thailand New Zealand Terrapins Asia 153

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Pardalotes are actually their own family, and a family entirely endemic to Australia. Insofar as they relate to other bird families, they are perhaps closest to the thornbills, another family that is mostly Australian but reaches as far as Thailand and Fiji. A Spotted Pardalote ! What a treat!

Australia 170

Australia Fiji Hunters Family 170

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2011

Many a birding trip starts with a longish drive from the airport to the first birding site with these common roadside birds being the first taste you get of a country’s wildlife, and I feel that many bird trip reports, interested mostly in mega-rarities, gloss over the amazing experience this first drive can give.

New Zealand 172

New Zealand Birds Thailand Falcons 172