10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

I should have known that birding High Island meant I would be 20 minutes away from a place where hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and waterbirds rest, feed, breed, and generally have a good time. I love American Avocets and I rarely see them in such marvelous breeding plumage, so I was in heaven. Clapper Rail. Back to the Flats.

Houston 228

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 228

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

It breeds in a broad and not quite coherent band from Iceland in the west through central Europe and southern Scandinavia all the way to eastern Russia, wintering in Africa, parts of India, and Southeast Asia to Australia.

Germany 179

Germany Russia Iceland India 179

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

The breeding season is longer, starts earlier. “Many long-distance migrants arrive so late on the breeding grounds that they have little opportunity to respond to warming conditions by nesting earlier.” The mechanism by which this is happening in at least some species of birds is very interesting. ” GannetCam.

Taiwan 196

Taiwan Iceland United States Humane 196

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2012

Some individuals travel 25,000 miles per year from their breeding grounds on the tundra to wintering grounds near the bottom of the world and back. The four Pluvialis plovers are sometimes called “tundra plovers” because of their breeding range.

Family 196

Family 2007 Iceland Louisiana 196

10,000 Birds

MAY 29, 2011

Most of the breeding birds returning here will arrive within the next 10 days to two weeks. Late this week I sorted through three hundred trying, unsuccessfully, to find the odd Iceland Gulls that turn up each year. My favourite spot will be frantic with shorebirds soon, arriving, displaying, breeding and disappearing to nest.

Bald Eagle 126

Bald Eagle Iceland Owls North America 126

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

This shearwater is a Mediterranean endemic, breeding from Sardinia and Corsica to the Adriatic and the Aegean. I asked if the butterfly stood a chance of returning to the shore, to find out that it is a long range migrant, braving the winds of the North Atlantic while traveling all the way from Africa to Iceland!

Greece 244

Greece Malta Croatia Birds 244

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

The best birds we came up with on our circuit of each island was Great Cormorants in breeding plumage, very nice birds to see but not the rare gulls for which we were hoping. The islands have long been abandoned and now host heronries in the summer and a horde of gulls in the winter.

New York City 166

New York City New York Jamaica Seals 166

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Some birds breed in flocks, at least in part to avoid predation. The same massive gull flock that would bring tears of joy to the eyes of some birders (indeed, this flock contained both Iceland and Slaty-backed Gulls ) strikes fear into the hearts of others. Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota. Fort Baker, Sausalito, CA.

North Dakota 164

North Dakota LACS Oakland Falcons 164

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2014

First was an awesome stay in Iceland. Finland is a great place to see a variety of different species, many of which flock to the north to take advantage of the extended daylight during the breeding season. Between finishing one graduate program and beginning another, he embarked on a whirlwind tour of Europe.

Finland 174

Finland Estonia Birds Europe 174

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

Though these plovers are common on the North Norfolk coast, their nearest breeding grounds are far to the north. A few do breed in Europe, on the extreme north-east of European Russia. Today many thousands spend much of their year there, arriving in September and not departing for their breeding grounds in arctic Russia until late May.

Geese 200

Geese Russia Breeding Unwanted 200

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

A lovely looking and distinctive sounding bird (so they say, I sadly have not seen one…yet), the Kirtland’s Warbler can only be found during its breeding season in Jack Pine forests 5 to 20 years old in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. William Rapai (pictured left) is a newspaper reporter and editor who is clearly also a birder.

Michigan 241

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 241

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2024

Pinkfooted Geese in North Norfolk – winter visitors from Iceland My British list is, in fact, merely an East Anglian list, as I haven’t (so far) ventured out of the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. Wader watching in spring is always exciting, as so many of these birds are transformed when they acquire their breeding finery.

Spain 130

Spain Eagles North America Ducks 130

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2011

A couple of weeks ago I posted a series of pictures of what I called “ Ratty Summer Gulls &# – gulls that are just plain ugly, especially when compared to, say, breeding plumage birds. All of the pictures were taken on a single trip to Jones Beach in June.

Iceland 167

Iceland Breeding Rights Birds 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

Three helpful sections precede the Introduction: Photo and silhouette comparisons of gulls that breed in North America (see illustration above), Basic Anatomical Terms illustrated with four diagrams, and a very selective Glossary. I particularly like the nutshell image and silhouette pages, the latter reminiscent of The Shorebird Book.

North America 209

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 209

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2014

It breeds in Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard and overwinters (singly and at mountain top hot springs – if Hollywood is to be trusted) along the coasts of northern Europe. discovered that the usual flock of several thousand Pink-footed Geese was wintering in the Broads National Park.

Geese 219

Geese Barn Owls Serbia Sheep 219

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2011

At the same time as he was doing his study on Kumlein’s (Iceland) Gulls and Thayer’s Gulls Smith supposedly gathered data on both Common Ringed and Semipalmated Plover (which both nested in the area) and the hybridization of the two species. It is worthy of a much longer look than this one here.

Research 175

Research Europe Iceland Panama 175

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2020

The lump into Iceland Gull means it is now part of a lengthy Iceland Gull species account, illustrated in one small drawing, giving more room on the page for a larger Lesser Black-backed Gull. These are the species that immediately come to my mind, and I probably missed some. any East/Central North American splits?

North America 238

North America America 2020 Hawaii 238

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

So, yes, Thayer’s Gull is in the book, but the reader is cautioned that the gull with be lumped with Iceland Gull “in the near future.” And, this has nothing to do with this comparison, but I’m hoping that the 8th edition will include a note about the breeding Mississippi Kites in Wareham, N.J.,

North America 188

North America America 2017 Birds 188

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

The way Harrison explains it, its current “lump” with Iceland Gull is not satisfactory; he follows Malling Olsen (Danish field ornithologist and gull guide author) in keeping it as a full species “pending further study” (p. I was interested to see that Thayer’s Gull is maintained as a species here!

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Groups Family 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

Stood high on a sea wall, north wind blowing strong in my face, scouring the dark sea, the occasional cries of Iceland, Glaucous and Herring Gulls as they dive past along with the unmistakeable smell of salt and fish locate me even with eyes closed. Secretive, silent and undetectable outside of its breeding season, found only in the U.S.

2012 157

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 157