10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2024

In between now and then, I will spend a week and a half in California, in the land where birding may mean walking on paved paths, or even on a wooden boardwalk built through the middle of a salt marsh. Instead, in this post I will wax philosophical, while sharing a few nice photos from that outing.

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Birds Livestock Sparrows Mexico 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2021

Fortunately, we have birds to look at, so let’s focus on them right now. I spent Saturday recovering from my red eye back from California but I did get out to coastal Queens on Sunday morning, though I didn’t see much. So that will be my Best Bird of the Weekend. At least, I hope he is.)

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Alaska California Birds New York 227

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

The Vermilion Flycatcher ( Pyrocephalus rubinus ) is usually found near the US – Mexican border but we were fortunate this year to find an adult male in northern California! The female of the species is beautiful in her own right but only the male had been seen here. Click on photos for full sized images. I was not disappointed!

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California Sacramento Wildlife Groups 109

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

In responding to Suzie’s post defending wildlife rehabilitation I began to think again about the areas in which animal rights and animal welfare overlap with the field of conservation, and the ways in which they don’t. Animal rights is concerned with preventing the suffering or even use of animals by humans.

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Animal Rights Rights New Zealand Animal 263

Critter News

DECEMBER 29, 2011

New legislation in California increases the misdemeanor penalty for animal neglect and makes it a crime to sell a live animal on any street, highway, public right-of-way, parking lot, or carnival. California SB 917 Two new laws in Oregon and California prohibit the possession, sale, trade or distribution of shark fins.

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Laws California Sharks Animal Neglect 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2021

One, the Steller’s Jay , was already an old friend — from my California youth — when I saw it there in 2014. Like many birds, this sea-level bird in California is a very high-altitude bird down here. In our coastal California garden, the Chestnut-backed Chickadee was a regular visitor.

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2014 California Mexico Rights 190

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2020

Alexander Brown , a California label whose proprietor is the country musician Zac Brown. It certainly makes an attractive mascot in its own right, but it’s also one that was chosen for a reason: as the company explains, the Barn Owl is a “guardian of the vine” and it welcomes the presence of these birds in its fields by installing nest boxes.

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2017 Barn Owls Rodents Owls 237

Critter News

OCTOBER 18, 2011

In eight months, the sale of foie gras will be banned in California. Apparently, this will happen in 8 months. I had no idea! Excerpted from The New York Times. It was served with veal tongue, yogurt, prosciutto, mustard ice cream and truffles. There was even a foie gras dessert: a brownie sundae with foie gras Chantilly.

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Foie Gras California Veal Protest 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2021

In October of 2017, I took what was my first trip to California as a birder. We’d arrived in San Francisco just in time for the very beginning of the record-breaking 2017 Northern California wildfires. The view of Tomales Bay from the picnic tables at Hog Island Oyster Company in Marshall, California.

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San Francisco 2020 California Blackbirds 232

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2021

COVID kept me from traveling internationally, and my only major domestic trip of the year was to California where I have birded quite a bit already. Let’s jump right in, shall we? Mountain Quail , 12 August, Lake Tahoe, California (2nd sighting and first in over a decade). All that said, 2021 was not a total loss.

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New York Birds California Owls 257

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2018

But only two states have more than one bird named for them: Hawaii and California, with nine and seven extant and eponymous species, respectively. I suppose a case could be made for renaming California’s two avian endemics – the Yellow-billed Magpie and the Island Scrub-Jay – after the state to pull it into a tie with Hawaii.

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2015 San Diego Family California Condor 113

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. I’m happy to say that the ones right on the other side of a low wall were not so large. Then, around 4:00 p.m., I liked their attitude.

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Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 197

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2021

At more than 15 million acres, California is the only other state with more than 5 million acres of wilderness. The photos are from Desolation Wilderness in the El Dorado National Forest in California. And it prohibits human infrastructure, e.g. , roads, buildings, dams, and pipelines, etc.

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Puerto Rico Alaska Protection Research 255

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2019

Corey definitely treated himself right this weekend, taking down his life Mountain Plover at Bolsa Chica in Southern California. I hope your transition to a new year involves as much of that last activity as you could hope for. Alas, I’m still stranded in the Northeast U.S.,

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2019 ALA Birds California 139

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2022

Less momentous, though just as exciting for me, were my outings during a brief trip to northern California. Perhaps it was right. Careful readers of my recent posts, and surely there must be at least one or two, will note that I have had some pretty exciting outings of late. Which explains the name.

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Sparrows California Woodpeckers Species 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Breeding bird surveys appears to show the resplendent Allen’s Hummingbird (like Corey’s capture, above) in decline—but not in Southern California, where examination of eBird data reveals that members of a residential population appear to be faring much better than their migrating brethren. (To sports championships ).

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Massachusetts Eggs Falcons Rights 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

For me, there was the Limpkin in Loxahatchee NWR in Florida, the Atlantic Puffin at Petit Manan NWR in Maine, the Falcated Duck at Colusa NWR in California. Predictably, the states I have lived in (California and Oregon) have the most species, as does nearby Washington. Naturally, a walk through one’s life lists triggers memories.

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Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 148

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2014

Many gringos make their way to Baja California Sur every year, although the majority are probably heading to Cabo San Lucas to party and test the human limit of tequila endurance. Gray Thrashers are not as conspicuous as the hummingbirds, but should not be difficult to find in the right places. A male Belding’s Yellowthroat.

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California San Jose Birds Mexico 222

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2023

Oh yes, straight from California and very much twitchable, a first year Heerman’s was found in early March hanging out at the cruise ship dock. Choice gulls have come to town and local birders have responded in kind. Our own version of Gullmania began with the first documented sighting of a Heerman’s Gull.

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Costa Rica Factory Transported Fish 230

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2022

Jonathan also works as a birding guide up in Baja California, if anyone is interested.). That’s me on the right. His main project is monitoring the Snowy Plover population there. Snowy Plovers also breed half an hour north of my home, so we have those in common. In case you were wondering.

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San Diego Turtles Mexico Sparrows 252

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2022

With all the fish guts and pieces it wants, the dark-backed gull from California is probably happily lost and loving it. Robert Dean, artist and co-author of The Birds of Costa Rica responded right away saying that yes, with that large bill, he thought it must be a Pacific.

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Costa Rica Fish Belize Nicaragua 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2019

Though Corey arrived in Southern California late Friday night, he didn’t get much birding in this weekend other than dipping on a Nazca Booby at Dana Point after delaying his departure to go look for it to accompany his family to the beach.

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2019 Birds California Raised 121

Animal Ethics

JULY 14, 2012

Whether individuals have legal rights depends on the laws and other legal background (e.g., the United States) citizens meeting certain requirements have the legal right to vote or run for elected office; in other countries (e.g., Libya) citizens do not have these rights. First, moral rights, if there are any, are universal.

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Rights Morals Los Angeles Libya 40

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

I also spent a week in northwestern Costa Rica on a family vacation, a long weekend in Barbados, a week in Georgia, and two week-plus-long trips to visit relatives in southern California. Let’s get right into it, shall we? Let’s get right into it, shall we? I’m not sure, but I’m going to try!

2019 139

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 139

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

Last week, I received an email from an American couple that has recently moved to Morelia; they found me right here on 10,000 Birds. you could try Rosarito in Baja California, only two hours south of the border. And in Mexico, anywhere near a coast, other than Baja California and Sonora, is tropical.

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Mexico Birds Costa Rica Alabama 219

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2015

They were right! In 2013, California voted to add this tiny estrildid finch to the California state list, and the ABA Checklist Committee also followed suit. Red-masked Parakeet is found in several major cities in California and Florida. Birding California parakeets Florida parakeets Miami birding'

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Los Angeles Miami San Francisco Florida 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2022

As I mentioned last week, upon my return last month from California, where I had birded a couple of hours each day, I was ready for a bit of a break. Then, to my right, I saw an enormous flowering agave plant. Oh, no, I didn’t stop birding entirely. That would be absolutely crazy.

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Mexico California Woodpeckers Sparrows 147

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2022

He lamented that he had barely been able to travel during the year — only one trip from New York to California, poor boy — and then went on to give an impressive list of vagrants and first-of-state birds. But it wasn’t until 2021 that I figured out where they are most common: right around our church!

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Mexico Birds Virginia Barn Owls 222

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

Jonathan Vargas is a young biologist, whose current work centers on monitoring the Snowy Plover populations in northern Baja California. Birding on Lake Cuitzeo is a real challenge right now, because what little water has gathered in the center of the lake is surrounded by extensive mud flats. So trusting. Even trusting in flight!

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Ducks 2020 Eggs California 255

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2017

This large reserve has its namesake mountain range running right down the middle of it, and virtually no roads. Both California and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were busy fliting around the surrounding under-brush. And then the somewhat uncommon California Gnatcatcher. Last Saturday was just exactly that kind of day.

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Eagles Mexico California Woodpeckers 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2020

Kroodsma waited for years for the right opportunity to record its different songs, a “cascade of sweet and liquid notes,” one naturalist said, “like the spray of a waterfall and sunshine.”. He had long wondered, Kroodsma says, how many songs, exactly, the Canyon wren has in his repertoire. It’s a good life!

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Virginia Boston North America 2020 245

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2013

I’ve spent a fair bit of time on the ocean on right side of North America. It’s pass was brief and fortunate only for those few who happened to be in the right place at the right time. These birds nest in Baja California, and drift up into US waters occasionally in the late summer.

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San Diego Los Angeles California North America 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2017

Although some of the most popular Pacific pelagic trips depart from Monterey Bay in California, there are also regular trips out of Half Moon Bay, California; Newport, Oregon; and Westport, Washington. Channel Islands NP , also in California, supports most of the other 50%. The target birds tend to be similar.

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Albatross Hawaii Alaska Puerto Rico 138

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2020

Her narrator is Gabriel, 23, raised in Northern California by an American father and a Uruguayan mother. Yes, that’s right – she adds an epilogue. Despite the consanguinity-thing, Gabe and Alejandra move to California, where everything is euphoria and post-doctoral fellowships. “We

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Uruguay 2001 Bald Eagle Science 154

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Back in December when my family and I were in southern California we planned a day trip out to Crystal Cove State Park in southern Orange County. After all, what better way to take advantage of southern California’s sunshine than to spend some time on the beach? Not a bad shorebird haul, right? Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus.

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California Family Pelicans Rights 134

Critter News

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Outcry is growing against one of California’s top wildlife officials after a photo of him holding a dead mountain lion surfaced online last week. Hunting mountain lion is legal in Idaho, but illegal in California. KCRA 3 could not reach Richards for comment.

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Mountain Lions Lions Humane Society Of The United States Idaho 100

Animal Ethics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

In issuing its condemnation of established cultural practices, the rights view is not antibusiness, not antifreedom of the individual, not antiscience, not antihuman. It is simply projustice, insisting only that the scope of justice be seen to include respect for the rights of animals. Might does not make right; might does make law.

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Animal Rights Movement Animal Rights Rights Los Angeles 40