10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

. “By examining the genetics, we have shown conclusively that the Italian sparrow is of mixed origin – it is a hybrid of the house sparrow and the Spanish sparrow,&# Dr Saetre told BBC Nature.

Sparrows 154

Sparrows Science Breeding Species 154

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

Sparrows, on the other hand, seem to make the most of the lamb-like weather left over from the end of March and make their move northward while wistful, wood-warbler-wishing birders have seen few of their quarry. In the New York City area the number and variety of sparrows a birder can see in mid-April is astounding.

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Sparrows New York City New York Fox 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2011

I never would have thought that a film that focused entirely on North American sparrows could be so delightful. After all, there is only so much sparrow that non-birders can take and this film is chock full of sparrows! As such, it is neither for the faint of heart nor the non-birder.

Sparrows 164

Sparrows North America United States America 164

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. Corey did just this in this 2011 posting about Vesper Sparrow Pooecetes gramineus in New York State. They utilized GIS (geographic information systems) technology to pinpoint breeding bird location to a level far beyond the usual block-based geographic model.

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Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 219

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2021

What I enjoy–almost more than any other moment of my birding year–is that special spring day when White-Crowned Sparrows deign to visit my humble home en route to their boreal breeding grounds. Happily, the sparrows finally arrived this weekend and have strutted around my feeders enough for me to fully admire their beauty.

New York 250

New York Sparrows Birds Breeding 250

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2014

In addition to the Veery I saw or heard a pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoos , some cooperative Eastern Kingbirds , Swamp Sparrows , Warbling Vireos , Wood Thrush , Cedar Waxwings , a Worm-eating Warbler , and, well, you get the idea: it was awesome! Grasshopper Sparrows don’t seem to sing terribly loudly but their song carries a long way.

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Breeding New York Breeders Downers 152

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2022

In July 2011 a Henslow’s Sparrow was found in Ames, N.Y., Although Henslow’s had been reliably found in nearby Sharon Springs for many years, the last documented sighting was in 2008, and the sighting startled longtime birders, waking them up to the fact that breeding sites in the state were rapidly being lost.

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Birds Sparrows Connecticut New York 261

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2022

Snowy Plovers also breed half an hour north of my home, so we have those in common. Las Mesas is the only place I’ve found for which the Black-chinned Sparrow is a reliable species, but this adorable bird, perhaps my favorite local sparrow, always seemed to position himself with some severe backlighting… until this trip.

San Diego 241

San Diego Turtles Mexico Sparrows 241

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2022

Rufous-collared Sparrow. We have House Sparrows too but this bird is much more common. This is our usual sparrow, the one that sings a cheery song from a roadside wire, the ones that forages on the ground. Hedgerows seem to provide important breeding spots for this smart looking bird. Chestnut-capped Warbler.

Costa Rica 250

Costa Rica Birds Sparrows Woodpeckers 250

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2020

That still leaves 11 Warblers that breed in Michoacán. Like the Common Yellowthroat , the Yellow Warbler breeds no further south than the central Mexican highlands. I must admit that I had the idea the Grace’s Warbler , common in our pine forests, were also at the southern edge of their breeding range here.

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Mexico Honduras South America America 327

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2023

The last time I was here, the National Park Director, Dr Theodoros Naziridis, told me they were waiting for a really high water level to pull the floating concrete raft (intended for breeding of pelicans) further away so the pile of rocks it was anchored to could become a foundation for the new wooden platform.

Greece 220

Greece Pelicans Birds Stray Dog 220

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Ring-billed Gulls in Breeding Plumage Ring-billed Gulls in Breeding Plumage By Corey • March 8, 2011 • 3 comments Tweet Share It should come as no surprise to readers of 10,000 Birds that I do not love gulls.

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Breeding 2011 Deer New York 145

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

Seaside Sparrows were singing on both sides and occasionally popped up to give us a view before diving deep back into the Spartina grass, hopefully getting ready to nest. Seaside Sparrow. At the end of the road, we found two Nelson’s Sparrows who quickly flew out to a tiny bit of land in the channel. Eastern Meadowlark.

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Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 200

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2022

But the stars of the month were some breeding Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Taking the famous statement that Mao was 70% right, 30% wrong (Deng Xiaoping), his decision regarding sparrows certainly falls under the second category. But indeed they vanish somewhere once the people pretending to try and catch fish appear.

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Birds Sparrows China Abandon 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrows and Stripe-headed Sparrows are also fond of this brushy grass habitat. Stripe-headed Sparrows , when they sing, sound like someone squeezing a rubber ducky as fast as they can. And they sing a lot! Among the birds contributed by the lowland Thorn Forest habitat is the Thick-billed Kingbird.

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Mexico Lamb Nicaragua Sparrows 231

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2022

A few Eurasian Tree Sparrows land by my car as I am scanning for Purple and Squacco Herons , Pygmy Cormorants and Black-necked Grebes in their brilliant breeding plumage. Unlike the wide open Centa, birding in Sakule (cover photo) is mostly done from the embankment. Of which you will be reading soon.

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Breeders Mules Farming Fish 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2023

Fortunately, there are a few more such breeding species than most Shanghainese are aware of. While the HBW states that it breeds at 300 – 2450 meters, in Shanghai – where such elevations are not available outside of the upper floors of a few highrises – it makes to with an altitude of about 0 meters as well.

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Birds Eggs Breeders Breeding 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrows can become cuter by feeding among Coral Tree flowers, which reflect the color of their crown. The coolest part of the White-striped Woodcreeper is its bill, but they usually keep that part of their body, indeed their entire body, close to the whatever tree trunk they are searching for food.

Colombia 212

Colombia ALA Canada Mexico 212

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2015

Here in New York we have breeding harriers along the coast and in open country upstate but we get more in migration and quite a few wintering wherever there is habitat to support them. On Sunday morning I was working my way through a flock of sparrows at Edgemere Landfill in Queens, one of my favorite birding locales. Northern Harrier.

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Sparrows New York Mammals Owls 233

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2019

Start with Eurasian Tree Sparrow , an unlikely high-ranked target for anybody watching birds in Shanghai. Still, a bird that has its moments – and I am always surprised how this sparrow really seems to enjoy human presence, however destructive it may be. It looks fairly flashy in its breeding plumage, much less so in winter.

Latvia 121

Latvia Birds Sparrows Abandon 121

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

I love sparrows, so seeing a feather-worn Vesper Sparrow this past July filled my heart with joy. We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts. Baird’s Sparrow was one of those elusive creatures.

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North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 134

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2019

And some Falcon , most likely mixed breed, because it belonged to falconry, not the skies. In the 70+ episodes, I noticed only the homing Ravens (caged/domesticated) and Pigeons (domestic – in pie). Yes, there were Chicken , too (I remember the chicken soup, not the birds). Why would any birder ever want to visit Westeros? Partridges.

Chickens 161

Chickens Falcons Birds Geese 161

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Instead, they are summer visitors, moving up to Colorado in the warm months to breed before returning to wintering grounds in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. During the summer breeding months, Lark Bunting males – a sparrow species – are jet black, their white wings contrasting beautifully with the dark bodies.

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Colorado Legislature North America New Mexico 101

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area. Unfortunately, I did not manage such a photo this time.

China 167

China Mongolia Birds Russia 167

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2017

Newburgh is a little over an hour north of New York City so I figured I could get a visit in to a few great locations for breeding birds that I hadn’t yet seen this year. Once I stepped out of the car the sightings piled up quickly: Grasshopper Sparrow , American Kestrel , Savannah Sparrow , Willow Flycatcher , Eastern Meadowlark.

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Wildlife New York Sparrows New York City 115

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2019

While the Northern Hemisphere hasn’t progressed even a third of the way through calendar spring, we are now entering the beginning of summer for the teeming masses of birds staking out breeding grounds. Here’s hoping for more than House Sparrows and starlings! Be there to greet them!

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2019 Birds Sparrows Breeding 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Usually there would be numerous Great Egrets , ducks and cormorants, Hen and Western Marsh Harriers , an extrovert Eurasian Sparrowhawk , possibly a more introvert Northern Goshawk too, half a dozen to a dozen White-tailed Eagles (three breeding pairs, plus numerous immature birds).

Serbia 291

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Ducks 291

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2020

“Oh, sweet Canada, Canada, Canada” is perhaps the best-best known of birdsong mnemonics in North America, familiar to birders as an aid to remembering the voice of the White-throated Sparrow ( Zonotrichia albicollis ). There are some who claim that the thinly whistled tune of this boreal songster also fits the line “Old Sam Peabody”.

Canada 158

Canada Beavers Sparrows North America 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2018

Speaking of gifts, I finally tracked down that Henslow’s Sparrow that’s been singing its heart out dawn and dusk in a highly inconvenient field. The photo above portrays the field at Beatty Point, but you probably can’t see the sparrow, which made me wait far too long before popping out from cover. How about you?

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2018 Sparrows Birds Breeding 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2017

In order for introduced birds to become countable in the high-stakes world of official bird-counting, they must establish a self-sustaining breeding population (think everybody’s favorites, the European Starling and the House Sparrow ). Over time, Pearson’s prediction proved accurate.

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New York New York City Illinois Wisconsin 103

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

While this is a very charismatic bird, the Southern Grey-headed Sparrow emphatically is not. On Quora , one question asked (presumably not by a sparrow) is “What does he mean by I have a beautiful soul?” ” This sparrow does not want to hear it has a beautiful soul.

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Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2014

Pygmy Cormorant – winter (it breeds in Serbia, but overwinters in Belgrade). Goosander and Red-breasted Merganser – Belgrade in winter; otherwise, the first one breeds in Serbia. White-tailed Eagle – year round (breeds inside the city). Spanish Sparrow – still ill-numbered but, since recently, breeding near the city.

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Serbia Eagles Birds Sparrows 171

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

The bird was a sparrow, that much was clear, but it didn’t seem to fit any of the easily boxes the other North American sparrows can be fairly easily sorted into. Superficially, it resembled the Black-chinned Sparrow of the southwestern United States with its gray chest and chestnut streaked with black back.

New Jersey 213

New Jersey North Carolina Sparrows Connecticut 213

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

Every species account (well, most every account) includes information on habitat and talk briefly about range and distribution (there are no range maps in this guide); it is usually noted if the species breeds in Ontario, and often noted if it is migratory or residential year-round. © 2023 by Chris Earley and Scott & Nix, Inc.,

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North America Birds Owls Canada 199

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2018

Most birders, attuned as they are to the rhythms of the natural world, probably noticed when migration ended and bird breeding began in their areas. However, local birders have been reporting an unexpected Henslow’s Sparrow that I wouldn’t mind getting my eyes on this weekend.

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Honduras 2018 Mexico Birds 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2014

Is this a Song Sparrow ? Some are impossible to mistake ( Blue Jay s, with their big heads, bright red gapes, and bright yellow gape flanges); or House Sparrow s (whose sweet little chirps become less endearing once one realizes they almost never, ever stop). “You don’t have many breeding warblers down there, do you?

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Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Georgia Kentucky 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Add more than 350 pairs of White Pelicans to that picture, numerous herons and up to 700 pairs of Pygmy Cormorants breeding in the same reedbeds (cover photo)… It must be bursting with activity in spring, but I was there in mid-September. Checking the birds on the stork’s nest, I found both House and Spanish Sparrows.

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Greece Pelicans Geese Breeding 252