10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2014

Across the world’s northern oceans, 24 species of auklets, murres, puffins, guillemots, and related seabirds make a living catching food beneath the waves and breeding, often in large colonies, on coastlines and islands. Unlike the southern hemisphere’s penguins, however, alcids can also use those flipper wings to fly.

Penguins 217

Penguins Puffins 2008 Sharks 217

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2013

Twenty two species are distributed among six genera, depending on what happens to be extinct, and for the most part one grebe is like another. This makes Grebes vulnerable to climate change and the predation of invasive species. It is easy to see how Minks set lose in a welcoming habitat could eat an entire species.

2010 198

2010 South America 2011 Argentina 198

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

Penguins here! <pause> There are few bird names that will elicit great big smiles and Penguin is one of them. I’ve been fortunate to see two Penguin species in the wild (African and Galapagos) and have dreamed of seeing more–maybe even all! The full-length species accounts are not repeated.

Penguins 277

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 277

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2015

The birds were not as plentiful because we were there during the tail end of the summer when most species had already flown south. Although they were not there in late September, I now know where Whimbrels, Surfbirds, and Wandering Tatlers breed. These are birds I regularly see in tropical regions as non-breeding visitors.

Alaska 156

Alaska South America Penguins Owls 156

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). Donna’s BBOTY – an African Penguin.

2014 183

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 183

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

I did that with Peacocks & Picathartes – Reflections on Africa’s birdlife (published by Penguin Random House South Africa ). And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa South Africa Kenya 264