10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Perhaps those people have never had to personally experience increasingly erratic climate patterns. Still, I was nervous when I pushed a collection of highly-qualified friends (four ornithologists and a botany professor) to accompany me to the small San José de las Torres reservoir, just above the city of Morelia.

Ducks 130

Ducks Mexico California Fish 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2021

When you mention “Africa” to a birder, it is likely that at least two thirds will instantly think “Kenya”, and for a good reason: it is home to over 1,060 bird species and boasts many globally important birding areas. Each site gets from 2 to 5 pages (but mostly 3-4). Endemics are indicated with a bracket “(E)”.

Kenya 258

Kenya Africa South Africa Penguins 258

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

Each time, a small notebook tagged along with me, and I would note the bird species I spotted, then put it away. I keep year and life lists on eBird, which helps scientists collect and analyze movement and population trends, but most of my daily lists originate in areas I tread on a weekly or even daily basis.

Florida 256

Florida Birds Mississippi Laws 256

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2020

Rather than belabor the obvious, I’ll just point out that the global pandemic may have spawned a new wave of birders, but collectively we’ve seen far fewer species of birds. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. 2020 is almost over… finally.

2020 153

2020 Birds Industry 2011 153

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

In 2018, there were 1,745 birds living in 92 different zoos and collections. They were my target species, and I remember being delighted in not only seeing them well, but finding feeding flocks that were remarkably unconcerned about being watched.

Morocco 215

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 215

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2021

I don’t know whether head brewer Chris Schell – a Delmar native with a decade of craft brewing experience – is a birder or not, but each beer is adorned with trippy, vaguely sci-fi depictions of birds by Boston artist Ian Tartasky , some of which seem to be identifiable to species.

New York 260

New York Boston 2019 Collecting 260

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

Of course, birds only represent a sliver of the near-infinite flora and fauna that, collectively, grows, blooms, dies back, and lapses into dormancy over the course of a year. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was his favorite species, a Green Heron , at the Great Vly in his hometown of Saugerties, New York. How about you?

2016 154

2016 New York Birds Collecting 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

Solid Air: Invisible Killer- Saving Billions of Birds from Windows is the summation of Dr. Klem’s expertise, experience, and professional life–what we scientifically know about bird and glass collisions, a handbook on how to prevent them, and, not insignificantly, the story of a remarkable career.

New York City 247

New York City Birds Illinois Science 247

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

Fortunately, I had managed a collection of very bad photos before the bird flew off. But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species. As it turned out, these were not the only bad photos to help me flesh out my 2022 year list that day (species 201-211, on February 12th). And then the bird was gone.

Mexico 176

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 176

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

Osborn, a passionate field biologist who participates to the core of her being three re-introduction projects aimed at saving three very different, endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala)*, and California Condor. She crafts her prose with a visual immediacy that bring you directly into her experience.

California Condor 169

California Condor Falcons California Birds 169

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

And my decision to take this as a learning experience led to some interesting conclusions — and even some pretty cool birds. Although I had earlier seen my first Gadwalls for the season, my real finds for the day were two species which supposedly should not visit the Mexican highlands: one Black-bellied Plover , and several Dunlins.

Blackbirds 210

Blackbirds Shelters Ducks Mexico 210

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Myers, a professional birding guide in “real life,” summarizes the etymology and history of all common bird names (of bird families and groups, not all 10,000-plus species). The guide covers 265 of Maine’s 461 bird species: common nesting species, common migrants, and wintering birds.

Sri Lanka 216

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 216

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2017

But does the value of a particular trip come from the number of birds seen, viewing a particular species, seeing an endangered species, catching a glimpse of a rarity, adding a lifer, or something else? How much do birders value a birding experience? This includes bird-watching experiences.

Oregon 170

Oregon Washington Birds Chad 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2018

It was easy enough to participate, all anyone had to do was watch birds and record the number of species identified using eBird. Those who did so on May 5th automatically became part of the biggest day of collective birding in 2018; Global Big Day ! We logged an awesome 225 species! More than 680 species identified!

Costa Rica 155

Costa Rica 2018 Colombia Collecting 155

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2013

The 1,500 km route included a great diversity of habitat types, elevations along the west and east facing slopes of the Andes, jaw dropping landscapes, contrasting microclimates, cultural diversity and a potential list of well over 1,000 species. Other teams had member with lots of experience in the western lowlands.

Peru 256

Peru Birds South Africa United Kingdom 256

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

In fact, if I remember correctly, it was 2013 when I first noticed (from an office window) a huge collection of sticks at the crown of a large immortelle tree. Although relatively common here they’re notoriously difficult to see well – a phenomenon clearly not unique to this species ! Once we arrived at a suitable (i.e.

Trinidad 207

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2021

(The White-tipped Dove is actually called, in Spanish, the Paloma Arroyera , or “Gully Dove” And sorry, I have yet to get a photo of this shy species. Like most of the species on this list, this tiny highland bird prefers to make its presence know by singing, rather than by being seen.

Trinidad 173

Trinidad Emotional Transported Mexico 173

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 24, 2015

I was upstate again this past weekend, collecting Desi from his week with his grandparents, and took a couple of hours early Sunday morning to visit my favorite Saugerties birding spot, the Great Vly. I was reminded by this experience to bird every bird and to trust my gut. And the pointy bill is the clincher.

Tennessee 156

Tennessee Experience Experiments Collecting 156

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

per cent of individuals of a species at a given time” and a vagrant bird as a bird that shows up outside of this range (p. The accounts cover vagrancy patterns for the family as a whole, reasons for vagrancy, documented examples of vagrancy for specific species and reasons that might account for those incidents.

Birds 255

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

His topic was the report recently issued by the Audubon Society where the organization claimed 314 species of birds in the United States and Canada are threatened by climate change. If 314 species are threatened in the United States and Canada then the numbers world wide must be absolutely staggering. Get involved!

New York City 208

New York City New York United States Canada 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. I had point blank life views of this tricky species from within a few feet. Dry and dusty Camino La Noria.

Mexico 186

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 186

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2020

Every other year or so, we experience the lightest of frosts, nothing killing, and our warmest temperatures (in the 80s and 90s) occur in late spring. It doesn’t seem to offer food or shelter for birds; but, being the tallest tree on the block, is an important stopover for lots of species. And nothing more.

Birds 154

Birds Woodpeckers Madagascar Nashville 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2014

The lure of an staggering number of species at a particular location is a draw for many people. In fact, the number of “heard only” annotations next to a species names is more frequent in bird list resulting from rainforest birding than birding in any other habitat type. Birding in the Amazon Rainforest has its pros and cons.

Peru 181

Peru Birds United Kingdom South Africa 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2011

On a recent family trip to Jones Beach, on New York’s Long Island, I had the opportunity to observe a small flock of gulls bathing, resting, and preening in some shallow brackish water that had collected behind the beach. I need to go find some sparrows or some other species that are really easy to deal with… a.

New York 177

New York Collecting Sparrows Experience 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2015

However, the owners’ collective commitment to certified organic biodynamic agriculture not only produces incredibly fresh and delicious ingredients for the kitchen but ensures that birds will find the property irresistable. You’ll find multiple species of each on the property. Yes, there are sloths. Iguanas too!

Costa Rica 247

Costa Rica Birds Farming 2014 247

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2017

The latest from his pen is Birds of Prey , a hybrid between an identification guide and an essay collection, a book of lore that provides a comprehensive overview of the raptors of North America. Raptors being raptors, the material itself is also compelling enough to justify all the verbiage.

North America 102

North America Falcons America Eagles 102

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2014

There were opportunities to go to far flung places like the islands of the Pacific or the coast of Canada or the Yorkshire Dales… Anyway, as I was obsessed by Africa at the time, I leapt at the opportunity to go to Namibia to collect samples of bat DNA for a biogeography project. And then, there it was.

Bats 154

Bats Birds Vanuatu Namibia 154

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2011

For me there are few experiences more satisfying than releasing a fish that has put up a great fight. The quest to see a particularly challenging species is something I dream about, plan for, study and rave about. A Scaled Antpitta at Tandayapa Lodge, Ecuador by Luke Seitz Most antpitta species are very tough to see.

Ecuador 150

Ecuador South Africa United States Hunting 150

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2016

You know the captain’s name already: the Ross’s Gull was named after Ross who collected the type specimen in 1823 on Melville Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic. Curiously, in 1831, McCormick was appointed a surgeon on HMS Beagle under the command of Captain FitzRoy and he expected to put together a sizeable natural history collection.

Russia 165

Russia Penguins Whales Whaling 165

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

I found those comments insightful and inspiring, valuable experiences and opinions worthy of sharing to a wider audience than the FB groups where they were initially posted. Eric DeFonso: “I think a ‘good guide’, in the most generic sense, is one who provides for a gratifying nature experience for his or her clients. A teacher.”.

Greece 198

Greece Birds Zambia Experience 198

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2016

A side benefit is that, if you’re an eBird junky like me, you get a cool collection of personal locations out near the continental shelf, a testimony to hours and days spent in this incredible place and the ways changing conditions can affect your route. Conditions, and birds, can be wildly different from one day to the next out there.

Whales 100

Whales Whaling North Carolina Mammals 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2014

During this time, the fish trapped in the shrinking pools of water attract hordes of herons, egrets, storks, and other wetland species. The star of such huge concentrations is the massive Jabiru , towering over a diverse collection of South American waterbirds such as Sunbittern , Plumbeous Ibis , and Southern Screamer.

Brazil 165

Brazil Birds Blackbirds Paraguay 165

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Cape Petrels, also known as Pintados (Spanish for painted) or in the vernacular Cape Petrels, are a common species of fulmarine petrel from the Southern Ocean. Indeed their name reflects where the species was first collected; the Cape of Good Hope, even though none breed anywhere close to there!

New Zealand 158

New Zealand Albatross South Africa Brazil 158

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2018

It is a fascinating world of swampy forests of willow and poplar, inhabited by Black Storks , White-tailed Eagles , Eastern Olivaceous and Icterine Warblers (above), among more than 200 other species. What I have always missed there and what I still miss is to experience presence of the European Beaver. Nevertheless, Nagy was right.

Beavers 116

Beavers Serbia Eagles Hungary 116

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Paging through a fieldguide, it’s always with a sense of dismay and sadness that I come across reference to an extinct species. Islands, for various reasons, experience more extinctions than continents (with Africa being the only continent not suffering a bird extinction!). This bird was kept in captivity until it died a year later.

Madagascar 231

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 231

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

Additional back of the book material includes a Glossary, Biographical Details, a Select Bibliography, Notes, Credits, an Index to Species and a General Index. Cocker writes about the species within each family with a literary specificity softened by a tone of conversational patience. Eagles are national symbols of the U.S.,

Birds 205

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 205

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

I haven’t yet been birding in Europe but whenever I occasionally skim a field guide about the birds on the other side of the Atlantic, I’m always encouraged to find that I’m already familiar with many species found over there, even though most of my birding experience has been limited to eastern North America.

2017 116

2017 Portugal Rabbits Europe 116