10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

I was happy to read that the wood stork ( Mycteria Americana ), a bird near and dear to me, was down-sited from the status of endangered to threatened species. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, birds in the U.S. Photo: U.S.

North Carolina 195

North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 195

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I challenge that false notion and welcome those to visit Anhinga Trail in late winter and see one of the great wildlife spectacles of Florida. Regardless, it is still freshwater wetland birding in Florida at its best.

Wildlife 129

Wildlife Florida Miami Alligators 129

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2015

The invasive Burmese Python ( Python molurus ) is well established in the Florida Everglade. Another species of Python, the African Python ( Python sebae ) has established a small population in the 2,877-acre Bird Drive Area (BDA) in South Florida. Photo Credit: Invasive and Exotic Species of North America (www.invasive.org).

Pythons 180

Pythons Florida Mammals Reptiles 180

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

This spurred her to pursue a career in environmental education and wildlife nature tourism as a park ranger in Texas and as the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail Coordinator with Florida Fish and Wildlife. About half of all breeding Wandering Albatross nest on the Prince Edward Islands.

South Africa 263

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 263

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

While at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival I could not resist making the drive north to Daytona Beach one day to witness the awesome gull fly-in from the dump to the beach. But my failure to find a rare species doesn’t mean that I saw nothing of note.

Florida 191

Florida Panama Wildlife 2014 191

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2017

My friend Savanna and I rose at dawn, gulped down coffee and then hit the best birding hotspots on Cedar Key, wracking up hundreds of summer species before lunchtime. Many species had left for breeding in more northerly climates, and those that remained hid out in cool spots until saner temperatures reigned in the morning and evening.

Florida 136

Florida Wildlife Fish Game 136

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2016

While on a tour of Rookery Bay near the Florida Everglades, I was reminded of this lovely personality trait once more. Unlike many other estuaries in this part of Florida, Rookery Bay is protected by the Estuarine Research Reserve system, and remains almost entirely undeveloped.

Florida 142

Florida Mexico Protection Pelicans 142

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Southern Florida offers many unique wintering birds, but perhaps none more so then the sparrows that call different parts of Florida their winter homes. Tom Dunkerton tipped me off to an area on the Black Merritt National Wildlife Refuge where some of my target birds can be seen. There are always good birds to be found.

Florida 168

Florida South Dakota Sparrows Wildlife 168

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2013

He now wakes up to the choruses of Northern Cardinals and Northern Mockingbirds in sunny Vero Beach, Florida. This photo could have been taken in Florida’s Treasure Coast during the winter months or in South America during the same period. Please report banded and flagged birds to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Chile 189

Chile Peru South America Florida 189

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2012

In fact, prior to my visit to Florida in January for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, I had never seen an Anhinga at all save one lousy look in Honduras back in 2009. I must of mistaken flying Anhingas for ten different species over the next few days and I never really adjusted to seeing a cormorant-like bird soaring.

Florida 173

Florida Honduras Turkey Wildlife 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Birders are familiar with the National Wildlife Refuge System, which consists of more than 550 units distributed through all fifty states. National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs), which are managed by the U.S. Ding” Darling NWR in Florida. FWS calls WPAs the “Prairie Jewels of the National Wildlife Refuge System.”.

Factory 117

Factory Ducks North Dakota Nebraska 117

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2020

And in April, he sees the return of the many species he has seen in that month in years past – but, also, weirdly, a Virginia Rail, a reclusive marsh bird, flopping around the sidewalk in downtown D.C. (the In addition to his D.C.

New Hampshire 223

New Hampshire Washington Virginia United States 223

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2015

Many species that are currently common may stay that way, and some species will likely increase…and hopefully species besides House Sparrows , European Starlings , Rock Pigeons and Eurasian Collared-Doves , which those in North America know as the four avian horsemen of the apocalypse. Whats in it for birds?

North America 214

North America Birds Suffering San Francisco 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2011

The epicenter of large, charismatic, and often photogenic, fish-eating birds is in Florida, at places like Everglades National Park and Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, the only site in the park system that could convincingly be named for an exotic dancer. Who knew?). My personal favorite are the Tricolored Heron s.

South Carolina 157

South Carolina Alligators Florida United States 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I want to reach 500 birds in the ABA, get my Queens list to 295, see a total of at least 500 species, and get my World Life List to 1,100. But how did I see so many species this year?

2012 143

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 143

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

There is another area of the Queens County CBC where a team will also likely see Monk Parakeets , Myipsitta monachus , but I am seriously determined to count that bird for my area, Coastal Flushing, a section of northeast Queens, New York, that includes Whitestone, home of one of the loudest invasive bird species in the U.S. And cell towers.

Chicago 199

Chicago New York City New York Illinois 199

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

Oil begins to wash up on the beaches throughout May and June of 2010 May 6, 2010 Oil washes ashore on the Chandeleur Islands off the Louisiana coast, an important nesting and breeding area for many bird species. June 2, 2010 BP apparently bans workers from showing dead or dying wildlife and from talking to the press.

2010 232

2010 Louisiana 2012 2011 232

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

the same few states always come to mind first…Alaska, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Modoc National Wildlife Refuge, CA. Humboldt and Del Norte Counties offer top-knotch birding, and a suite of species that can’t be found in the rest of the state. When one thinks of taking a birdcation somewhere in the U.S.,

California 198

California San Diego Birds Oakland 198

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2011

The vast majority of Baltimore Orioles that breed in North America return to the tropics between Mexico and northern South America for the cold half of the year. A trip to the coastal plain may net you up to seven species of warblers, from the omnipresent Yellow-rumps to Chats and Cape Mays. Instead I saw a flash of orange.

North Carolina 140

North Carolina 2011 St. Louis Baltimore 140

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

Corey encountered a bunch of winners, but 24 Common Redpolls at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, in almost the exact same spot he saw them a couple of years ago, feeding on birch inflorescence by the East Pond, were easily his best birds of the weekend. On Sunday at Kissena Park I saw five species of sparrows. No time to take a picture.

2011 154

2011 New York Deer Birds 154

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

I got to see a beautiful female and owlet on a trip to a secret nest location near Howard Prairie Lake (human-made nest structures have enhanced local breeding for these huge owls whose nest success is boosted to 83% on artificial platforms vs. 66% at natural sites). The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY.

2014 187

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 187

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2012

Jake lives in southern Florida, so he and his friends had to be interested in learning about these birds, which they saw everyday, right? And then I showed them the one photo that was not taken in Florida, an image of baby American Robins in a nest in Central Park. There is nothing as deadly as 15 bored 4-year olds.

Birds 211

Birds Owls Switzerland Lions 211

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2012

Platalea ajaja is a marvelous bird and I was delighted to make its acquaintance - for only the second time in my life – at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge’s Black Point Drive when I was attending the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in January.

Wildlife 178

Wildlife New Jersey South America United States 178

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

It is one of several species in the Mallard -complex of ducks, along with American Black Duck , Mexican Duck , and quite a few others. You find them in the south from Florida to Texas and down into Mexico, occasionally as far north as the Carolinas in the east and up the Mississippi River as far north as Illinois. Mottled Ducks.

Ducks 166

Ducks Florida Illinois Mississippi 166

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2021

Decades later, Richard Pough’s Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds (I happily own the 1948 edition) included nest and egg descriptions for each species as well. And photographs of feathers in the species accounts, which surprised me. Text retrieved from the Hathitrust Digital Library. The first is accomplished well.

Eggs 228

Eggs Birds United States Sparrows 228

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2019

Whooping Crane, Florida. There is a small resident population in Polk County, Florida, in the middle of the peninsula, mostly on protected land, and once in a while they show up in a place where they can be easily observed. John James Audubon first heard the sparrow in July, 1944, on a buffalo hunt in North Dakota. ” [[link].

2018 155

2018 New Jersey Michigan North Dakota 155

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

This bird spent the 2011-2012 winter at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge in northern California, migrated someplace exotic and distant in February, and returned to the same pond at the beginning of this month. Southern Cassowary with chicks by Duncan Wright Carlos Sanchez was particularly appreciative of a new bird for him in Florida.

2012 147

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2011

Orlando is so rich in roadside and overhead birds that I kept a list of species seen from the car which ran to 30+ on the first morning and included a Bald Eagle nonchalantly sitting on a street lamp by a Target store. There are more at the Orlando, Florida post on Redgannet. Get yours today! What a show … er … show-off!

2011 116

2011 Alligators Florida Deer 116

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2017

The Crossley ID Guide: Waterfowl covers every residential, migrating, vagrant, exotic, and introduced swan, goose, dabbling and diving duck in North America (Canada and the United States): 62 Species Accounts on four swan species and one vagrant subspecies; 15 goose species; 46 duck species; plus accounts for hybrid geese, ducks and exotics.

Ducks 117

Ducks North America Geese Hunters 117