10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Young birds, at least in captivity, become mature after 5 years and start breeding after 6 or 7 years. This species qualifies as Critically Endangered because extensive habitat destruction and capture for the cagebird trade are causing extremely rapid and continuing population declines. My OCD would not stand that!

Costa Rica 248

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 248

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

This being an uncommon species in upstate New York, I appreciate having an abundance of Cliff Swallows to look at. Bank and Barn Swallows also migrate through in huge numbers, maybe even the majority of the individuals of these common species that breed in North America. By morning, they are probably in Panama.

Costa Rica 330

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 330

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Spring is in the air, and all around the Baja desert I am seeing a plethora of species, all looking for love, in what appears to the right places. A member of the small Ptiliogonatidae family of silky-flycatchers, of which there are only three other species besides our local Phainopepla , Phainopepl nitens.

Costa Rica 107

Costa Rica Panama Nevada Guatemala 107

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

Nothing against the Rocky Pigeon but let’s be honest, if a breeding plumaged Blackburnian Warbler hops into view, It’s pretty easy to forget about that pigeon, Warbling Vireo , or even a Pine Warbler when you can treat the good old retinas to a striking combination of red-orange, black, and white.

Costa Rica 184

Costa Rica Emotional South America Birds 184

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

In light of spring’s recent arrival, do you ever find yourself wondering how some species are able to withstand freezing, wintery days and yet still thrive in summer’s heat? Juncos breed in much of the U.S. This kind of detailed genetic and developmental work has traditionally relied on model species in the lab (aka chickens).

Panama 220

Panama Research Investigation Chickens 220

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2015

However, that doesn’t mean that the bird species in question is necessarily endangered. The same goes for some bird species commonly encountered by many an American and Canadian birder. At least looking for them can result in encounters with Galapagos Shearwater , storm-petrels, and other pelagic species.

Costa Rica 162

Costa Rica Birds Panama Sparrows 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

But my failure to find a rare species doesn’t mean that I saw nothing of note. One bird in particular got my pulse racing for a bit before I figured out I was looking at the most common species on the beach, albeit in a form that is exceedingly odd.

Florida 203

Florida Panama Wildlife 2014 203

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America covers 827 species, including resident, migratory, and common vagrant birds. The end result is that the whole “biographic” area (NCA plus southern Mexico and northern Nicaragua) is home to 41 endemic bird species.

El Salvador 235

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 235

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2013

Trinidad is the northern limit of the range of the Red-breasted Blackbird , though it is unclear if the occasional birds that show up in Tobago are wanderers from Trinidad or northern South America or are breeding there. You can also find Red-breasted Blackbirds in Costa Rica and Panama and south to Peru and Brazil.

Blackbirds 167

Blackbirds Trinidad Costa Rica Nicaragua 167

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

Above is a photo that I got with my Wingscapes BirdCam when I visited Canopy Lodge in Panama last year. They are species that breed in the US and then spend the winter in Central and South America, eating what’s avialable–especially fruit. Is it a convenience issue?

Nigeria 251

Nigeria Birds Belize South America 251

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2016

In her book, “ On a Wing and a Prayer, “ Sarah Woods describes the bird that captured her interest when she first visited Panama: “At more than one metre tall and able to kill a monkey with a single swipe of its powerful, knife-like talons, [H]arpy [E]agles are incredibly hard to find.” A Harpy Eagle.

Panama 100

Panama Grizzly Bear Porcupines Eagles 100

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. New World Vultures.

California Condor 190

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rican, and Panama , just published in October, is a field guide that was ten years in the making. Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. SPECIES ACCOUNTS.

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

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 197

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 197

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 228

Costa Rica Species Panama Birds 228

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2022

However, the truth about birding trips is that one rarely sees every single bird, especially on trips to places with bird lists that surpass 900 species. These are the infamous “false rare” bird species of Costa Rica; uncommon birds assumed to be rare because they are so infrequently encountered. Right, say what?!

Costa Rica 259

Costa Rica Birds Panama Rights 259

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2020

The book offers numerous facts about many species, findings of hundreds of research projects, notes on trends and exceptions from the norm, but little that captures the poetry of winter bird behavior or ignites a passion for change.

Research 176

Research Birds Hoarding Sweden 176

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. These vary according to species.

North America 208

North America America El Salvador Nicaragua 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Those would be migrants like Red-eyed Vireos, Swainson’s Thrushes, Scarlet Tanagers , Blackburnian Warblers , and Eastern Kingbirds along with less common species like the sublime Cerulean Warbler. Look to the sky and a constant movement of swallows pass overhead, mostly Barn and Cliffs but also Northern Rough-wings and Banks.

Costa Rica 151

Costa Rica South America Panama Morals 151

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2011

Last night I saw my second plover species of the year, a Common Ringed Plover. Smith is the Staff Scientist Emeritus with the Smithsonian’s Tropical Research Centre in Panama. The first I saw was its doppelganger, the Semipalmated Plover. Somewhere in the middle, there was supposedly a small zone of hybridization. Dr. Neal G.

Research 175

Research Europe Iceland Panama 175

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2021

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Costa Rica: A Field Guide covers 113 damselfly species and 170 dragonfly species, a total of 283 species. Wait–that adds up to 290 species, but the book only covers 283. .* Wait–that adds up to 290 species, but the book only covers 283. Paulson, William A. INTRODUCTION.

Costa Rica 263

Costa Rica North America Family America 263

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

DECEMBER 15, 2012

This bird represented only the second documented record of this species in Florida. 2012 has certainly been a bumper year for me with an estimated year list of around 3,000 species after extensive travels to South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Russian Far East, United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala and Panama.

2012 156

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 156

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2015

The title is a bit deceptive, for while photographs are a huge part of the book, it is grounded in the 239 species accounts written by woodpecker guru Gerard Gorman. Chapters on taxonomy, distribution, anatomy and morphology, habitat, behavior, breeding, plumage and moult, food and foraging, flight, calls, drumming, and conservation follow.

Woodpeckers 252

Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 252