10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

The official Ontario bird checklist, produced by Ontario Field Ornithologists , June 2022 listed 506 bird species**, putting it in the top tier of U.S. Small Species Accounts: Each species is allotted one page (with certain exceptions) offering basics–bird names and size, one or two photographs, and a one-paragraph description.

North America 220

North America Birds Owls America 220

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2014

The second edition of the National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition has one of the longest book names in bird bookdom: National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition: Now Covering More Than 1,000 Species With the Most-Detailed Information Found in a Single Volume.

North America 178

North America America Birds Family 178

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

The Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America by Nathan Pieplow is innovative, fascinating, and challenging. The guide covers 520 species of birds regularly found in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, including, interestingly, a number of exotic species. But, first the basics.

North America 175

North America America Birds New York 175

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2024

When a birder uses the word, we usually refer to a species that canbe mostly or exclusively found in a single country. Which means that the large country of Mexico boasts (according to one list) 127 endemic bird species, while the famous birders’ destination of Costa Rica has only 6. It doesn’t seem fair at all.

Costa Rica 196

Costa Rica Mexico North America Lions 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2024

Being a westerner — raised in California, and now living in western Mexico — I was perhaps most excited about the migratory birds that breed in eastern North America. This was only my fourth encounter with the species (all on the east side). It was by far my best (and longest) view of this species.

Mexico 205

Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 205

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2012

Howell continues his tradition of giving clarity to what most birders find intimidating with Petrels, Albatrosses & Storm-Petrels of North America: A Photographic Guide , just published by Princeton University Press. This is the first field identification guide on tubenoses in North America.

North America 159

North America Albatross America Species 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

JUNE 1, 2022

All right, I’ll admit it. I’m feeling pretty good about myself right now. Then there was the Northern Cardinal that turned up at the pre-Columbian Tres Cerritos ruins on the lake’s north shore. So yes, this appears to be a breeding population.]. I have seen two Godwit species at Lake Cuitzeo.

Mexico 229

Mexico 2018 Ducks Breeding 229

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Yet they also bring up questions, which I’m going to talk about right now before diving into the specifics of the guides themselves. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed.

Costa Rica 223

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 223

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2020

Niagara Falls State Park, right above the cataracts, is where I used to bike to on May days to see dozens of fantastic chestnut Bay-breasted Warblers whispering from the canopy, American Redstarts and Tennessee Warblers and Nashville Warblers filling the woods with song. One of the common species of middle elevation habitats in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Nashville Baltimore 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2023

What are the best field guides for birds in North America? Birders often venture into various habitats, such as forests, wetlands, grasslands, or coastal areas, to encounter different bird species. The primary objective of birding is to identify bird species based on their physical characteristics, behavior, and vocalizations.

United States 147

United States North America Birds America 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2023

That’s 18 species in one book. The third thing to note about Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax and Pewees is the care authors Cin-Ty Lee and Andrew Birch have taken to present their identification expertise in a way that is understandable by birders of every level.

Los Angeles 220

Los Angeles North America America Species 220

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2020

Perhaps one of my reasons for going to the lake was that it guarantees more species in one day than any of my other sites. But I am also always eager to get a better handle on the migration dates for our wintering species, and April is a great month for that. How on earth do they breed so quickly up north?)

Mexico 169

Mexico Breeding Ducks North America 169

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

The muted colors of Blackburnians, Black-throated Greens, and Blackpolls fit right in with the dull greens and golden highlights of the early fall vegetation. This being an uncommon species in upstate New York, I appreciate having an abundance of Cliff Swallows to look at. Birds Can Fly Right Over Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 327

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 327

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2019

Our big month of bird movements in Costa Rica, the 10th month of the year, is when most of the swallows, Scarlet Tanagers , thrushes, and other species on the South American express push through. Some stop right in front of our place in the urbanized intermontane valley where the majority of Costa Ricans reside. What do they eat?

Costa Rica 263

Costa Rica Nicaragua Birds Panama 263

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

In June, I visited North Dakota for the first time. Like any birder visiting a new place, I had a target species list I was hoping to seek out during the one day I had available between business commitments. They had two world-class datasets on which to draw the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, and the North American Breeding Bird Survey.

Species 177

Species Science Los Angeles Birds 177

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

There is much to enjoy and appreciate here and I only wish I could have tested out some of these species accounts in pelagic waters before writing about them (sadly, the 10,000 Birds pelagic to Antarctica was canceled this year). SCOPE & SPECIES ORGANIZATION. It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Family Groups 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them. Many fly through these Texas hotspots, transforming physics into magic right before our eyes! Then, I learned that over 400 species of birds have been identified in and around these islands.

Texas 184

Texas North America Alaska America 184

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2020

One of the ways I could describe the unique mix of birds I can see here in southwestern Mexico, would be to divide our species into five categories. The invasive species are few, but, unfortunately, very numerous. But there is a final group of species here, about which I have not written very much.

Mexico 201

Mexico Birds Honduras United States 201

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 14, 2015

The distribution of color morphs is unequal in the Snow Goose population, with the maximum number of blue-morph geese occurring in mid-continent breeding and wintering areas 1. At about the 2:03 mark you will notice a Ross’s Goose moving behind the dark morph goose from right to left and another following behind. v=DYNb-0vYTE8.

Sacramento 200

Sacramento Geese North America Wildlife 200

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2019

Between our many residents and migratory species, birding in central Mexico is a joy. For example, I have commented before on how common names in English may make sense up north, but do not down south. But in the winter, both species head for Mexico. But it can also be a challenge. How do I know these are Western Sandpipers ?

Mexico 141

Mexico United States North America Ethics 141

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

The hope and claim is that transferring this process to gull identification works more easily and just as accurately (at least for species) as an examination of plumage and molt patterns. Species Accounts. Gulls Simplified covers 25 species. From the Laughing Gull species account.

North America 205

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 205

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2014

Green-tailed Towhee s breed in species-rich shrub communities within shrub-steppe habitats, and disturbed and open areas of montane forest, often created by forest fires 1. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. Click on photos for full sized images. Birds Green-tailed Towhee Mountain Bird Festival towhees'

North America 204

North America Oregon Birds Owls 204

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

They say so right here in the Preface of Oceanic Birds of The World: A Photo Guide —seabirds are “some of the most challenging of all birds to identify.” And, for many of these species, you need a boat that goes very far from shore, to extremely remote areas. Howell and Kirk Zufelt certainly think so. And, you need a boat.

Albatross 164

Albatross North America Birds Groups 164

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2015

In the morning, still sleepy, we enter the jungle, where a sounder of Indian Boars (a long-maned subspecies Sus scrofa cristatus ) is watching us, standing among the first trees, right next to the road. Birds included common species such as Black Drongos , Jungle Babblers and a Hoopoe. One White-eyed Buzzard has turned its back to us.

Tigers 243

Tigers Dogs India Snow Leopard 243

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2018

So many species that change eye color or leg color as they age. Gulls of the World: A Photographic Field Guide is a successor, or companion, as the author terms it, to Klaus Malling Olsen’s classic guide, Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America (Helm, 2004*). So many birds of white and gray touched with black.

2004 157

2004 North America America Europe 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

I purchased my first Sibley— The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America —in 2003. A guide that feels so right in my hands? David Sibley notes in the Introduction that the order has been changed in some places so similar species could be placed next to each other for comparison purposes.

North America 168

North America 2003 Birds America 168

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

A nice bird for sure, a bird with an evocative name and one that would be a lifer for many birders from North America, but not the bird we had hoped it to be. Pelagic waters being a sort of unexplored unique goldmine with potential to produce sea wanderers from far and away, some of those other birds could also be rare species.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

For mankind to snatch away a species’ very existence is wrong on so many levels that I can’t begin to explain them. However, despite our best efforts to wipe them off the face of the earth, some of the more vulnerable species have managed to hang on. this species breeds. this species breeds.

Albatross 211

Albatross Endangered Species Geese Alaska 211

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2014

I’m going to start with a specific example: species accounts for Common Tern and Arctic Tern. How have these species accounts changed from The Sibley Guide to Birds , published in 2000 (heretofore called Sibley One) to The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition , published in March 2014 (and heretofore called Sibley Two).

North America 244

North America Birds Species America 244

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. Of the native breeding species, 112 are endemic or “very nearly endemic.”

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2013

Bushtits ( Psaltriparus minimus ) are the only New World representative of the long-tailed t**s ( Aegithalidae ) and they are primarily limited to the western parts of North America and the highlands of Central America. The male and female of the species look very similar but they are easy to tell apart.

North America 188

North America Breeders America Breeding 188

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2021

The holidays started early this year, with the first night of Hannukah coming right at the end of Thanksgiving weekend! Colombia is one of those countries that Dragan’s dreams are made of: it has 1,965 bird species – more than any other country in the world. Each image is accompanied by a page of prose detail on the bird (e.g.,

Birds 245

Birds Colombia Collecting Bald Eagle 245

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. Here’s the kicker though.

California Condor 187

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 187

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

Nearly every species of heron and egret in North America forage only feet away, some of them in their dazzling breeding displays. Right in the open. Red-winged Blackbirds , within arms-reach, glisten in the morning sun and puff out their red shoulder epaulettes like proud military generals. A young Bobcat!

North America 230

North America Factory Alligators Trafficking 230

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

The Durango Highway is arguably one of North America’s great birding roads due to the great variety of habitats, the spectacular mountain scenery of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the numerous Mexican endemics one can target. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains.

Mexico 198

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 198

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2012

When songbirds endeavor to head hundreds or thousands of miles south they are risking everything in order to find a place that they can winter and hopefully survive in order to head back north and breed. No other predator that I know of in North America kills and sometimes leaves its prey entirely intact, uneaten.

Feral Cats 189

Feral Cats Cats Killing North America 189