10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

My British total was a mere 172 species – not bad, but not very good. Every one of my 171 species was a bird that I found myself. It keeps a monthly record of sightings, so I can tell you that it was in February that I recorded my highest monthly species total (106), while my lowest total was in August (39).

Estonia 225

Estonia Portugal Greece Barn Owls 225

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

APRIL 5, 2024

Nor have I chased particular birds, either: almost all the birds I have seen have been encountered during a normal day’s birding, not a targeted twitch for a particular species. A lone Whooper Swan on a grey January day in Norfolk As for the ducks – I’m now up to 15 species.

Spain 130

Spain Eagles North America Ducks 130

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

China is not that well-known for its hornbills, but in Yunnan province, on the border to Myanmar, some species can be found. This is not due to its breeding habits, which it shares with the other hornbills – though those habits could well be described as appalling. Visiting the family.

Myanmar 239

Myanmar Singapore China Collecting 239

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. Strangely, there do not seem to be many papers on this species. In one paper , you can find fascinating sentences such as “The new species is most similar to D. You can see why here.

Sri Lanka 212

Sri Lanka Birds Taiwan Cats 212

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Out of just under 200 bird species I observed this year in SE Europe, there are 6 threatened species. point to just one problem source, one over-abundant and highly invasive species – Homo sapiens. point to just one problem source, one over-abundant and highly invasive species – Homo sapiens.

Serbia 201

Serbia Greece Montenegro Bulgaria 201

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2022

Logging roads have opened up vast areas to commercial hunting, leading to industrial-scale poaching and a more than 60 per cent drop in the region’s Forest Elephant population in less than a decade. Other primates include Chimpanzee and Putty-nosed Monkey, several duiker antelope species, etc.

Central African Republic 288

Central African Republic Congo Gabon Gorillas 288

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2024

Interestingly, these juveniles look more similar to another species, the Pale-billed Parrotbill, than the adult babblers – and they sometimes are part of the same flock. If you want to see how this species builds its nest, see here.) These roads are much less of a hindrance for the Pin-striped Tit-babbler , a mid-story bird.

Burma 190

Burma Birds Vietnam Laos 190

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2023

In total, there are eight species of hornbills in Borneo – the best place to see them seems to be the Kinabatagan River area (also known as Sukau). Another item they feed on is hunting edible bird nest swiftlets, which are quite common in edible swiftlet houses in Sabah, Malaysia ( source ).

Rhinoceros 126

Rhinoceros Singapore Transported Hunting 126

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Instead of going on about zip lines and other modern, adventure tourism attractions, the birding crowd talks about taking photos of Resplendent Quetzals , seeing dozens of hummingbird species, and the seemingly odd absence of raptors in Costa Rica but nope, we don’t really talk about extinction. Resplendence.

Costa Rica 217

Costa Rica Species Panama Birds 217

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2020

Just yesterday I learned that the Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ) is the only breeding bird found in New York that has been documented nesting in every month of the year. This bit of trivia was given in an article in my local bird club’s monthly newsletter about the ongoing breeding bird atlas in New York State.

2017 234

2017 Barn Owls Rodents Owls 234

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2022

From one side, the reserve is under the attack of spreading arable fields, from another by numerous wind generators and it is no easy task to support the surviving breeding birds within its borders. After my trip, I followed the news of this species closely. He asks if the wind generators can influence the bird numbers? Males reach 1.2

Gazelles 255

Gazelles India 2012 Pakistan 255

Critter News

AUGUST 22, 2010

In 2000, around 1,000 breeding pairs were known, but by 2009, the number had plummeted to just 120-220 pairs, a decline of 88%. During that time, adult survival appeared unchanged and breeding success was reasonable, but the recruitment of young birds back into the adult population was zero in all but one of the years studied. "The

Species 100

Species Myanmar Endangered Species Russia 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Yes, Germans were a particularly supersticious breed in the days of old, and would not dare to use the word devil even when cursing. And then we have the terms “Eule“ and “Kauz“, but the assigning of the various species into these two categories is not consistend and lacks taxonomic base and reason.

Germany 180

Germany Birds Hunters Owls 180

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Two more aspects contribute to bird diversity: these are the inner city waters, so hunting is forbidden, and the Danube rarely freezes, and even then it would be the last water to freeze. Yes, other species easier to spot in winter include the Long-eared Owl and the Peregrine , but I am not going to discuss their whereabouts openly.

Serbia 297

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Ducks 297

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 297

Austria Factory Asia Battery 297

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2021

Surrounded by coral reefs filled with fish, sea turtles of three species plus the common visits of Manta Rays: it is a pretty exciting place for anyone who likes to skin dive. The most common two species here are the Black Noddy – a kind of tern and the Bridled Tern. They both nest here in good numbers. Brown or Common Noddy.

Sea Turtles 249

Sea Turtles Birds Marine Life Fish 249

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2022

Munkajarra Wetlands is always a good location for the various duck species and you can expect to observe Plumed Whistling-Ducks , Wandering Whistling-Ducks , Pacific Black Ducks , Hardheads , Grey Teal and sometimes Radjah Shelducks and Pink-eared Ducks. Dragonflies photobombing on the right as we approach. Purple Swamphens.

Geese 196

Geese Ducks Breeding 2015 196

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

” Writing about owls means writing about roughly 250 species (I counted 245 on the 2022 Clements spreadsheet, but I might have missed a few, and we all know that each classification system is different). The chapters on courtship and breeding and roosting and migration are the longest, which isn’t surprising.

Owls 210

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 210

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2023

Swifts are aplenty, one is likely to see Gray-rumped , Band-rumped , or Short-tailed Swift hunting insects each morning. One step away from swifts are hummingbirds, and at least 13 species of these winged jewels flutter about from sunrise to sunset. Interesting.

Trinidad 229

Trinidad Barn Owls Owls Reptiles 229

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

The islands of the Caribbean are home to 176 species of endemic birds unevenly distributed across the region. Some islands host one or two species, others more than twenty. For some species, conservation actions are well underway and we are seeing some measure of positive impact as a result.

Grenada 130

Grenada Parrots Trinidad 2010 130

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2023

The Great Egret was in breeding plumage and courtship posture–bright lime green lores, head bending down and then snapping up, long, impossibly delicate plumes waving over its body as if possessed by independent spirits. I thought about those plumes and about how fortunate we were to be seeing this egret in all its glory.

Connecticut 147

Connecticut Washington Legislation Hunting 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2023

To be honest, both the robin and the flycatchers shown above remind me of the easter eggs I hunted for as a child – the same strong colors in front of a green background, same time of the year (feel free to insert your own Proust Madeleine reference here) … Bluethroats apparently are good at imitating other birds.

Monkeys 147

Monkeys Birds South Korea Owls 147

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 216

Birds Eagles Elephants Rhinoceros 216

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

For once, eBird gives a good description of the Asian Glossy Starling, calling it a “Fierce-looking, large songbird” As are humans, this species is fairly urbanized – it “sometimes enters urban areas to roost, e.g. in Singapore” (HBW). Lucky ducks. “Odd, me?”

Singapore 219

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 219

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. To show how adaptive this species is, the following photograph was sent to me by one of my readers and I use it with her permission. www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fNo6B5gUI.

Hunters 175

Hunters Hunting North America Game 175

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2019

a British expat birder who was living in Belgrade, for a suggestion: “The top species is undoubtedly White-tailed Eagle. commented further: “With a little work some species can be seen quite easily such as the divers, scaup, scoter, Goosander , Garganey and Long-eared Owl. Black Storks migrate along and breed in the Danube flood zone.

Serbia 249

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Breeding 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2011

Bald Eagle image is by Francois Portmann and is used with permission You know, I’ve been thinking about this whole dustup over hunting cranes in Tennessee and now Kentucky. I think it’s time to hunt Sandhill Cranes. We’ve always hunted Bald Eagles. There was a lot of hunting for Bald Eagles—it is traditionally a game species.

Bald Eagle 255

Bald Eagle Eagles Hunting Kentucky 255

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red.

Birds 206

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 206

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The number of people who hunt waterfowl in the US has declined since the mid 1990s. From the abstract of the study: Current waterfowl populations provide liberal hunting seasons, but waterfowl hunter numbers have declined since the mid–1990s. This has resulted in a reduction of the number of duck stamps sold.

Ducks 212

Ducks Hunters Hunting Wildlife 212

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2021

From there, we entered a side tributary full of Ringed and Amazon Kingfishers , with Chestnut-fronted and Scarlet Macaws in flight… and then the noise: groans, croaks and grunts… and the smell… of this 65 million years old species, so old that the last dinosaurs must have fed on them! Black-collared Swallow by Tyler Ficker.

Dolphins 260

Dolphins Colombia Otters Birds 260

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

According to the HBW, there are 41 species of African Barbets and 34 species of Asian Barbets. There are also 14 species of New World Barbets and 2 species of Toucan-Barbets (all in South America). Might have something to do with the fact that they were hunted here until quite recently).

South Africa 204

South Africa Africa India China 204

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2015

Further down the road, we reach a derelict building with a large veranda hidden among the trees – an abandoned hunting lodge (if I were in a situation to invest, I would choose to upgrade this into a luxury wildlife lodge). Birds included common species such as Black Drongos , Jungle Babblers and a Hoopoe.

Tigers 237

Tigers Dogs India Snow Leopard 237

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2014

Many may find the inclusion of the Osprey into a post on German eagles odd, but the German name of the Osprey translates to “Fish Eagle”, and German birders would find it self-evident to include the species here. Ospreys have shown a remarkable recovery in Germany. Go Eagles!! all the way to Saxony. Short-toed Snake Eagle.

Eagles 168

Eagles Germany Breeding Hunting 168

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2018

There are an additional 1,200 acres of surrounding protected refuge, supporting a documented 525 bird species! In the park proper, 358 species have been recorded. One of the highlights of birding in this Texas state park is the chance to see five owl species that breed here. Stygian Owl. Photo by © Hector Bottai.

Texas 152

Texas Owls Barn Owls Hunting 152

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2019

And here in Europe, they are the real deal, an indigenous species and not domesticated animals gone wild. When I reached the levee earlier that morning, I met an elderly hunter from whom I learned that there was an ongoing duck and pheasant hunt, but no one was shooting from, nor towards the embankment, hence I should be safe there.

Serbia 245

Serbia Otters Boars Eagles 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

As you’ll remember, Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources unanimously passed its sandhill crane hunting proposal. The public comment period on the Kentucky sandhill crane hunting proposal ends AUGUST 1 2011. Here are six top reasons to protest this hunt. Why put additional pressure on a recovering species?

Kentucky 260

Kentucky Hunters Hunting Protest 260