10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2013

I decided to spend my day Friday birding the heck out of my home borough to see how many species I could track down for the day. Nonetheless, I ended up with 124 species of birds in Queens in the just-over-twelve-hours I spent birding. Still, any day in New York City with 124 species is a day well worth experiencing!

Jamaica 151

Jamaica New York City Oakland Bats 151

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2012

Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge, 15 March 2009 It was at about 1:30 AM on Saturday morning that I startled awake and found myself sitting in an empty subway car in an unfamiliar location. John from A DC Birding Blog , and Patrick from The Hawk Owl’s Nest at Jamaica Bay at 8 AM Saturday morning for some birding.

New York 166

New York Honduras Jamaica Geese 166

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2011

I am used to seeing young Gadwall at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, sometimes under less-than-ideal circumstances , but I rarely get a chance to see an entire brood of ducklings close enough to get some pictures. Anas strepera is a common and widespread duck, breeding across northern Europe and Asia, as well as central North America.

United States 162

United States North America Jamaica Asia 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2013

Now that passerine migration has largely wound down the attention of this New York birder has shifted to seabirds, shorebirds, and the occasional trip looking for breeding birds. There were actually quite a few more shorebird species roosting and feeding out in the marsh proper but they were distant and will not factor into this post.

Eggs 148

Eggs New York Wounded Jamaica 148

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

I was fortunate enough to spot the individual in this post at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where it was foraging in bushes and small trees between four and fifteen off of the ground. The Cape May Warbler is considered a Species of Least Concern by Birdlife International because of its large range and large and stable population.

Tigers 159

Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2019

That fallacious family name seems to have encouraged all manner of knaves, dunderheads, and miscreants when time came to label species. Most of the warblers south of the border escaped this ignominy; those Basileuterus and Myiothlypis species generally appear exactly as advertised. NAMED FOR PEOPLE. NAMED FOR PLACES.

Rights 113

Rights Connecticut Tennessee Nashville 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2011

The little stiff-tails are almost year-round at Jamaica Bay though almost all leave to breed in the summer and in the depths of winter, when the ponds are almost completely frozen, they tend to head for open water. I can see why you thought you had found a new breed with this one. Do you think it is the female?

Ducks 154

Ducks 2011 Jamaica Deer 154

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. Can you guess how we spent our time?

New York City 165

New York City New York Jamaica Seals 165

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Nonetheless, this bird is one of the most interesting species in the avifauna of southeast Florida for many reasons — an interesting biology that parallels that of several pigeon species in the Old World Tropics as well as its limited distribution in the state. Is this the closest equivalent to a tramp species in the Americas?

Florida 169

Florida Miami Bahamas Mexico 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2011

The Tree Swallows nest in Jamaica Bay, in the nest boxes, good old reliable Tree Swallows. I had discovered a new breeding species — or a new breeding species had discovered me. They hover near the bridge, near their nests. She could watch them for hours. Sure enough, Cliff Swallows.

New York City 166

New York City Turtles Jamaica New York 166

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Gannets and Boobies (Sulidae) Black-and-white gannets breed on the cold, rocky coasts of the northern and southern oceans.

2011 155

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 155

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 145

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 145

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 156

2011 New York Deer Birds 156

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2011

On Saturday I met up with Seth and we headed out to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge where we nearly froze to death and I refused to wear gloves because it is April and gloves aren’t necessary. Spotting 57 species of birds in the couple of hours we put in to seeking out birds was never so ho-hum in my life. How exciting.

New York City 166

New York City New York Walruses Birds 166

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2011

They breed across Canada and Alaska’s boreal forest near ponds and lakes, using nest holes made by woodpeckers, almost exclusively flickers. Because of is huge range and large and growing population it is classified as a Species of Least Concern , great news for those who like to feel the gaze of the Bufflehead upon them.

2011 150

2011 Ducks Deer New York 150

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2011

But, as with so many other species, these birds have been left to do their own whistle blowing. West Indian Whistling Ducks are the largest of the eight different whistling duck species. They are found in the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, Antigua, Barbuda and Jamaica.

Antigua and Barbuda 232

Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Jamaica 232

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2012

But Gotham’s many parks have some very suitable habitat for birds from the family Picidae and a birder in any borough of New York will generally find at least a couple of species during an average morning’s birding. If you are going to see any single species of woodpecker in New York City, this is likely the one you will see. (I

New York City 254

New York City New York Woodpeckers New Jersey 254

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 221

2011 Breeders Breeding Deer 221

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2017

(Like the ladies’ man above which Corey photographed a few years ago at Jamaica Bay in NYC.). Instead, they make a wide circuit of many different breeding sites, apparently geared more towards brief hookups with whichever females are in the area.

Russia 101

Russia Rights Stray Alaska 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2012

Nassau County, New York, March 2009 After having fully explored the trail around the West Pond at Jamaica Bay , we four bird bloggers agreed to load up Patrick’s car and head over to Jones Beach to see what kind of birds we could find there and some other locations in Nassau County. And what a look at a life bird!

New York 160

New York Butcher Birds Geese 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2016

I started out my birding life sitting on Benches 2 and 7 at the Jamaica Bay NWR West Pond, my Peterson’s in my lap, studying Green-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, and the occasional Pintail. The publicity material says 84 species, but I counted and recounted, and I only see 83. Plate 37, Eurasian, Green-winged, and Baikal Teal.

North America 161

North America Asia Europe America 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2021

The mosquitoes and other biting insects often make natural areas almost unbearable, the heat keeps many breeding songbirds from singing much, and migration doesn’t happen much at all except for southbound shorebirds. Starting a month with a new species for Queens was awesome, but it was just the beginning! What’s going on?

Jamaica 264

Jamaica Birds New York City New York 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2018

When you compare the species richness not per country, but per square kilometre, that is when you get a more realistic picture, and then those tiny tropical countries rightfully stand out in the spotlights. Best timing here is the dry season, June to September, when most birds are breeding (3). Mongabay.com has done exactly that.

Rwanda 224

Rwanda Equatorial Guinea El Salvador Costa Rica 224

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

In southern Africa, there are two species. Outside of the tropics, nesting would usually take place in the spring (in the southern hemisphere, spring and the height of the breeding season occurs before Christmas); these pictures were taken in March as the weather in Cape Town is beginning to cool. How do we know this?

2011 170

2011 Deer Africa Peru 170