10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 24, 2016

Another year is about to come to an end and for us birders who can’t help but keep a year list, it means that there are precious few days to add a few more species. Now for my top ten species identified by moi over the course of 2016 and not in any real order: 1 Jabiru. What am I missing? Oops, did I say that Buff-breasted Sand.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica 2016 Species Birds 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2023

Nestled between the Huangpu River and the East China Sea, Shanghai offers a captivating blend of urban charm and natural wonders, making it a must-visit destination for birders seeking a unique and diverse avian experience. Among the most notable is Chongming Dongtan, a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance.

China 176

China Endangered Species Sanctuary Protection 176

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2021

In fact, this is probably a species that has substantially expanded its original range through the pet shop route and the resulting escapees. In fact, it seems to be one of the species employed by past ornithologists to establish their own monument in the shape of a subspecies. A challenge for young birders, maybe. On the ground?

South Africa 246

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Maybe these people like challenges – at least here at the monastery, getting good shots of this species is quite easy. Another species apparently enjoying the proximity of a monastery is the White-winged Grosbeak. My extensive birding experience allows me to be very confident that the bird below is a Rosefinch.

Birds 226

Birds Germany India 2018 226

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2021

I wonder what he would have made of the extraordinary peregrinations undertaken by this species in 2021, with birds turning up well north of their usual range in an event the American Birding Association has coined – with hashtag – #spoonbillsummer? I picked up a few bottles and we were off on our way home to Albany.

New York 264

New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

Earlier in the day, as we ventured out towards the deep waters off of Malpais, Costa Rica at 6 in the morning, another Galapagos Shearwater was the first real pelagic species we encountered. There was even that outside, enticing chance of documenting something new for Costa Rica. It looked like an aquatic version of a Snowy Cotinga.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

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. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains. Photo by Andrew Spencer.

Mexico 201

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 201

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

There is much to enjoy and appreciate here and I only wish I could have tested out some of these species accounts in pelagic waters before writing about them (sadly, the 10,000 Birds pelagic to Antarctica was canceled this year). SCOPE & SPECIES ORGANIZATION. It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Family Groups 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

I saw 863 species of birds, bringing my life list to 1,820. Such travel brings a lot of birds and the 863 species I saw this year is the most species I have ever seen. How can I narrow down the eight-hundred-sixty-three species to ten? How can I, by listing only ten, call eight-hundred-fifty-three species not worthy?

2019 142

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 142

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2019

Nor are there any birding authorities requiring folks to identify, count and document the nuthatches, titmice and Downy Woodpeckers that come to their backyard feeders. Watch that one and keep an eye on the others because all sorts of species can show at any time. Check out the toucanets. Northern Emerald Toucanet. Quail-doves anyone?

Costa Rica 220

Costa Rica Cooking Birds Chickens 220

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

I follow my friend, Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator for International Bird Rescue, Cheryl Reynolds to the release site where we document the event. If you spot one of these blue banded birds, you can help by reporting it and contribute to this important citizen science project helping the conservation of this amazing species.

Bird Rescue 206

Bird Rescue Pelicans Rescue Birds 206

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2015

That’s how important the lifer experience is and I suspect most other birders who started out young feel the same. Costa Rica has more than 900 birds on the country list but the small size of the territory and easy access to good habitat eventually results in sightings of most resident species.

Costa Rica 150

Costa Rica Birds Pennsylvania North America 150

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

After writing this last sentence, I looked up the species in the HBW and found the sentence “Song poorly documented” in the appropriate section, while with regard to calls, the description is that “call is a two-note raspy nasal ‘ryeeh-reh’”. In New Zealand, the Spotted Dove is an introduced species.

Singapore 147

Singapore Birds Mountain Goats Giraffes 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2020

are up next, with a wonderful Australian species: It is very hard to choose a Best Bird of the Year any year. Unfortunately, this morph is the dominant one at Fuzhou NFP”) that somehow survived the review process, possibly because the reviewer has had similar experiences. Clare (and Grant!) How cool is that? Preposterous!

2020 245

2020 Birds Costa Rica Germany 245

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

They say so right here in the Preface of Oceanic Birds of The World: A Photo Guide —seabirds are “some of the most challenging of all birds to identify.” And, for many of these species, you need a boat that goes very far from shore, to extremely remote areas. Howell and Kirk Zufelt certainly think so. And, you need a boat.

Albatross 167

Albatross North America Birds Groups 167

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. This background material is a good, succinct framework within which to read the Species Accounts, particularly for birders new to woodpecker study.

Woodpeckers 252

Woodpeckers 2002 Europe Research 252

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2014

Howell, Ian Lewington, and Will Russell, right in front of me. In this book, rare birds are species “for which, on average, only 5 or fewer individuals have been found annually in North America since around 1950.” Species that were once seen rarely and have now become more common, like Clay-colored Thrush, are not included.

North America 259

North America America Birds United States 259

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2018

It gives species accounts for 761 birds (I counted, but I could have missed a couple) out of the 763-770 species documented in the country (eBird lists 763 and Gallardo says there were 770 at the time of publication). Species Accounts. The Species Accounts are arranged in a rough AOS taxonomic order.

Honduras 106

Honduras Birds 2015 Family 106

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2014

In my vast experience in the terrifying outland that is the world of the non-birder, the biggest question I get concerns the inherent trustworthiness of the avocation. As an example, not long ago I found a pair of Long-tailed Ducks – a locally rare species – on a nearby reservoir. What happens if you get caught.

Raleigh 220

Raleigh 2008 Rights Birds 220

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

By the time they were looked at as a primary document it seems that most who saw them did not recognize the connection to the Mysterious Starling or their value in general. Not only that, but another species of starling was already called Calornis inornata.). Rats did it in, as they did so many species. Most species go extinct.

Killing 170

Killing Rats Cooking Norway 170

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2012

In fact, experience proved that the process is actually way more cumbersome and time-consuming than it should be. After many hours of meticulous preparation, I was ready to import my data, a process that is poorly documented to say the least. The agony of eBird is the tremendous barrier to entry to switch over from another format.

Arizona 178

Arizona Belize Adoptable ALA 178

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2013

Inspire me to try a little harder to get that composition just right, to get that jaw-dropping moment. Great Gray Owl taking the bait (photo by Nathalie Fortier) At the end of the experience, she posted her photographs clearly stating that the bird was baited, and leaving the mouse in most photos.

Owls 204

Owls Mice Tethering Chickens 204

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Pelagic birding off the Atlantic coast of Florida can be a frustrating experience, usually involving long waits of up to an hour or more interspersed with brief flurries of activity — a far cry from pelagic birding off of coasts blessed with cold water currents and nutrient rich upwelling such as California, southeast Australia, and Peru.

Florida 166

Florida United States Fish 2005 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Navarro’s exceptional drawings illustrate the species accounts. Forty-eight species. Compare, for example, the species account illustration of the Cuban Trogon with the photo that opens up the introductory chapter. The luxury of space means that each species can be shown from various angles and in distinctive poses.

Cuba 238

Cuba Birds United States 2000 238

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

The guide covers 747 breeding residents or regular migrants, 29 introduced species, and 160 vagrants, a total of 936 species. Honeyeaters are “active, noisy and pugnacious” and there are a lot of them–76 species–in Australia. The colored font is also used to indicate measurements, voice, and notes.

Australia 109

Australia Birds Penguins 2015 109

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2012

Fortunately, Alan Tilmouth, a beat writer with pelagic experience, expressed an interest in the book as well. A respected expert on seabird taxonomy, Howell summarizes the current state of a field, which, he says, “has followed a long and tortuous path, with much debate about whether separate populations are species or subspecies” (p.15).

North America 159

North America Albatross America Species 159

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2012

In addition, since the species is popularly kept as a pet or reared for meat by the local peoples, historical trading has resulted in small introduced populations occurring on other islands in the region such as New Britain. With such a response, I had basically written it off as a species I had any chance of seeing.

Guinea 140

Guinea Meat Australia Pets 140

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY. Below are our Best Birds of the Year.

2014 197

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 197

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

Recently it has also been documented as breeding in Wisconsin, Ontario, and the Upper Michigan Peninsula, but those birds are few and not always accessible. It’s the warbler that is often the last unchecked species on birders’ life lists and, whether you list or not, for most of us observing it is a once in a lifetime experience.

Michigan 240

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 240

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is the time of year that we rightfully contemplate the noble Turkey. According to R.D.

Turkey 210

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 210

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2011

You’d think, then, that applying science to philosophy by studying the evolutionary underpinnings of thought and behavior across species would be right up my alley. Right away, we have a definition problem — those who hold to any kind of mind-body dualism are unlikely to be swayed by the ideas in this book.

Morals 113

Morals Animal Humane Research 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

Mostly the ducks were Red-breasted Merganser and Greater Scaup , the two most prevalent species on the pond, but there were a few other birds mixed in as well. Just think, if no one was there to document this, would it really have happened? It was a great experience. Wicked, right? Were you and Jeff the only witnesses?

Ducks 174

Ducks 2011 Jamaica New York 174

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2013

I couldn’t wait to give names to all my new species. I tried using the Internet, but found it frustrating for all the usual reasons; websites either didn’t include all species or were difficult to use for identification. Each species account is 2-pages long, one page of text and one page of photographs.

Ireland 180

Ireland France Breeding Eggs 180

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

If you can parse the subtle differences in his photo below, you’ll see the bird on the left is a dark morph Oriental Honey Buzzard, but the bird on the right is a pale morph Changeable Hawk-Eagle. Anyone considering a visit to Panti Forest should be enticed by the five different species that might be seen there.

Malaysia 181

Malaysia Singapore Monkeys Birds 181

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2012

Honestly, I was more concerned with looking than with documenting. We watched it working over another fallen log, a typical behavior of the species – they really like to forage very low. . It was an international celebration and then we stuck around for awhile until Gerard refound the bird.

Woodpeckers 184

Woodpeckers Hungary Europe Japan 184

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

It was a heart-pounding scene straight out of Jurassic Park, an odd experience for a laid-back pursuit like birding. This bird represented only the second documented record of this species in Florida. This may sound mundane, but my Best Bird of the Year is a species we all know quite well in one form or another.

2012 155

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 155