10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2017

About four years ago I first wrote about the Pink-headed Duck , a charming species related to the pochards (although how, exactly, is up for grabs, like so much duck taxonomy.) Image: Pink-headed duck art decoy by Philip Nelson, courtesy of Global Wildlife Conservation. Maybe they’re extinct. Maybe they’re not.

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Ducks Myanmar Elephants Wildlife 174

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

On a sandbar in the center of the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, hundreds of ducks swirled around each other or lay down to take cover against the punishing wind. The waterfowl flock was made up of two very unique looking species: the Fulvous and Black-belled Whistling Ducks. I couldn’t believe it. What made my eyes widen?

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Ducks Wildlife Texas Bald Eagle 164

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

I’ll be the first to admit the selection of ducks so far at Booze and Birds has been rather paltry. Stumpy Duck is an American pale ale by Trillium Brewing Company of Boston, Massachusetts, one of the most popular breweries in New England for the past few years. Trillium Brewing Company: Stumpy Duck American Pale Ale.

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Ducks Houston Boston Fowl 145

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2019

Now, I do hope you have stayed with me to this point, because there is a moral to this story: How much do you like your ducks, grebes, sandpipers, and plovers? The lake’s shallower western half, on which dabbling ducks and shorebirds depend the most, is seriously affected by fluctuating water levels.

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Ducks Blackbirds Pelicans United States 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2022

One of the old jokes I always hear at Christmas Bird Count dinners pops up we get to the ducks, which is now pretty early in the compilation thanks to the current taxonomic order. “Summer or Wood Duck” from The Birds of America by John James Audubon (1785-1851).

2018 264

2018 Ducks France California 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

I’m posting this video I shot at Delevan NWR in case you haven’t seen these elegant ducks in action. Birds dabbling ducks Delevan National Wildlife Refuge ducks Gaadwall National Wildlife Refuges' Dapper indeed! Our National Wildlife Refuges are special places where we can observe wildlife in their natural habitats.

2006 259

2006 Ducks Wildlife New York 259

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Ducks and divers The bottom of the city is, naturally, the lowest point or course of the Danube (around 74 m / 240 ft above sea level), the best area being the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, around the War Islands Reserve. Otherwise, the foothills (bus stop “Avala”) are reachable by city buses 401, 403, 405, 407 and 408.

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Serbia Woodpeckers Ducks Birds 306

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2021

There were several ducks around the water body and they included Pacific Black Ducks , Plumed Whistling-Ducks and Wandering Whistling-Ducks. Ducks, Ibis and Egrets. There were also Australasian Darters and Little Pied Cormorants. There was also a Black-necked Stork.

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Cattle Ducks Zebras Australia 299

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2014

Actually, when I started to bird, my second ever duck, after the Mallard , was a Ruddy Shelduck! I was in a kayak, the duck was some 4-5 metres from me, easily tolerating my interest for some 5 minutes or more, implying that it was almost certainly an escapee. Birds ducks Europe Serbia' Well, too odd to be countable.

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Serbia Ducks Poland Kazakhstan 252

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2024

In the book, one picture stood out in particular: the White-headed Duck. There were only a few dozen of these ducks left and the photographer – using old-fashioned analog film – took just one, very fuzzy shot. Even so, the idea of one day going out to find this rare duck appealed to me. Time to look for that UFO myself.

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Spain Ducks Morocco Europe 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2024

But for birders, the name bluenose might more easily be applied to ducks of the genus Oxyura. I imagine that this is due to the cold winters up there, rather than suggesting that all Nova Scotians are prudes. The six species in this genus are all… Source

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Ducks Species Mexico Birds 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

On BirdTrack, the British equivalent of e-Bird, the list of birds provided does allow for Tufted Duck x Ferruginous Duck to be recorded, but not Tufted Duck x Pochard. However, that’s exactly what I guessed the duck swimming in front of me had to be. My hunch was Tufted Duck x Pochard.

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Geese Falcons Latvia Ducks 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2020

Would it still be deep enough for the ducks that prefer that half? Would there be enough deep water to see Ruddy Ducks and Clark’s Grebes ? The western half still has enough water for some shorebirds, but the thousands of ducks I would usually see now number in the dozens.

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Ducks 2020 Sparrows 2019 298

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

My visit on Saturday morning was meant to be a quick stop to scan the ducks, geese, and gulls to see if anything interesting was around. The Ruddy Ducks looked miserable but the grebe and the coots seemed to be doing fine. Such a cold Ruddy Duck. Ring-necked Ducks have great eyes. I kind of felt bad for him.

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Geese Iceland New York City Ducks 239

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2020

A strange duck, let’s see… an eclipse male Red-crested Pochard ! This was the last of the local ducks that I managed to find (it took me years of birding), and ever since I have seen it only once in every 2-3 years. Nearby are four very dark brown ducks… Tufted Duck females!

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Serbia Birds Cyprus Ducks 299

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2024

There was a large raft of hundreds of American Coot , an American White Pelican and lots of duck species. I will not name all ducks, but Bufflehead and Canvasback were lifers so they deserve a call-out. Sandpipers up in the air and a general panic among the coots and ducks. The birds warmed us too.

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Ducks Cattle Emotional Owls 231

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Raised among birders, he was once sculpting an abstract duck figure when he happened upon Hope Is the Thing With Feathers , Christopher Cokinos’ elegy for extinct birds. … Birding Conservation carolina parakeet Eskimo Curlew extinct birds Great Auk labrador duck lost bird project passenger pigeon'

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Ducks Birds DC Jordan 260

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 16, 2020

Lake Cuitzeo is Mexico’s second largest lake, and its uniformly shallow waters make it a powerful magnet for dabbling ducks and shorebirds. Back in 2017 I was shocked to find only 15 ducks over the course of the morning, when I had hoped to find hundreds, or even thousands. This was once my lake. But in Mexico you certainly can.

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Rights 2017 2020 Blackbirds 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2015

Recently I ditched the coast and headed into the bowels of the Central Valley, to meet up with an old friend…you may know him by the name “ Falcated Duck “ Falcated Duck eluded us at first, but eventually let us stare at him at will. But this post is not about Falcated Duck. We couldn’t believe it.

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Geese Fowl Mississippi Ducks 252

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2020

My former nemesis was the Masked Duck. As much as I looked for it in the right places, the pirate duck stayed elusive. These were some of those final steps to my lifer Masked Duck: A Distant Site. The most reliable spot for Masked Duck in Costa Rica is the site known as “ Las Pangas ” in the Coto wetlands.

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Costa Rica Ducks Birds Rescue 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2023

While the P-a-P Wildfowl Trust’s main thrust is the breeding and release of five duck species, the habitat encourages a number of native wetland birds to inhabit and proliferate the area. Commonly domesticated, wild versions of the Muscovy Duck historically inhabited wetlands across Trinidad.

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Trinidad Ducks Birds Fish 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2021

That green grass is not a meadow; it is growing in water deep enough for swimming ducks. The dot in the center of the second photo is a lone Mexican Duck flying just over the water. It is too early for some ducks ( Wigeons , Gadwalls , and Green-winged Teals , plus Redheads and Canvasbacks with some luck) to arrive.

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Ducks Battery Species Breeding 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2022

As it turned out, the remaining water was too shallow for ducks, except a few Northern Shovelers. Admittedly, early May is too late to find most duck species in Michoacán, even in a good year.) In fact, I can see many more of these ducks, much closer to home. It was only a bit better for shorebirds and egrets.

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Ducks Mexico Fish Breeding 277

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

Just two weeks earlier, the only ducks I had seen were a handful of resident Mexican Ducks and Fulvous Whistling-Ducks. They had such a good time that on Monday Jonathan took me back to see what he had found. One important discovery was that the migratory season is now in full swing.

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Ducks 2020 Eggs California 329

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

Every year, Ducks Unlimited of Mexico, A.C. The various national versions of Ducks Unlimited are mostly an outgrowth of sports hunting. Now, I secretly do suspect that many millions of ducks may spend the winter in my own backyard. Then, within a couple of months, I saw my first Cormorants at the lake. But I did both.

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Pelicans Blackbirds Ducks Hunting 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2020

A Little Grebe that does not have all her ducks in a row (ok, a grebe is not a duck, I know, but still, I happily sacrifice ornithological accuracy for a bad pun). At Nanhui, all bird parents are working parents – with all the stress that this brings.

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China Ducks Birds 253

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2024

In Japan—where appreciation for all things kawaii is especially keen—roadblocks come in the form of dolphins, ducks or frogs. It specifically mentions Japan: “Cute things are everywhere, not just online.

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Japan Dolphins Ducks Birds 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2024

The following week, I finally got some great photos of a male Ruddy Duck with its fantastic reproductive blue bill. First there was the Lesser Ground-Cuckoo, a species I had long wanted to see. The perfect views it gave us made the wait well worthwhile. I wrote about this encounter a month ago.

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Ducks Species Birds 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2022

The usual ducks were also present – Black-bellied Whistling Duck and White-cheeked Pintail. Both of these are dabbling ducks while the scaups are divers. Checking some of the other ponds revealed more ducks, namely a group of ten Blue-winged Teal and a staggering number of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.

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Falcons Trinidad Ducks Livestock 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

So does this Mexican Duck (NOT a Mallard sub-race, according to the 2020 AOS decision): Note the (lack of) depth of this water. But the Fulvous Whistling-Ducks were the ones that really won my hearts. Extra points to these Whistling-Ducks for finding water deep enough to swim in. Maybe they just like a little variety.

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South America Ducks 2020 Mexico 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Nisqually NWR is a major staging area for migratory birds , a wintering area for many ducks and geese, and a breeding area for numerous songbirds. There’s a $3 day-use fee, but it is free if you have a Duck Stamp. According to eBird , 278 bird species have been observed and approximately 14,000 checklists have been submitted.

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Washington Portland Birds Geese 269

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2024

The waterbirds were fun to watch, as they often are at this park, and all the standard species were there particularly Mallard , Common Pochard and Tufted Duck (you might have noticed I mention Tufted Ducks a lot in my posts – I’m not sure why but I really like this species!) and Goosander.

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Germany Ducks Birds Woodpeckers 241

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2020

The normally-shallower west side attracts all sorts of ducks and shorebirds; the east side usually offers only American Coots and Clark’s Grebes.) This lake is “standing-room-only” Nearer the shore, there were also a few Black-necked Stilts , Fulvous Whistling-Ducks , and Common Gallinules.

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Mexico Ducks 2017 2019 261

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

There were six species of wild ducks, along with the usual few released domestic ducks. The ducks stayed far enough away to keep me from taking any great photos. Unfortunately, the reservoir is now starting to look rather dry as well: Still, the birds were still there. ” And so do I.)

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Ducks Fish Breeding Species 246

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2021

But I was more surprised by a Cinnamon Teal — my first duck for the reservoir — accompanied by 5 Pied-billed and 6 Least Grebes , since Least Grebes , especially, tend to be solitary birds here. Northern Pintails may be our most handsome wintering duck. (It yielded 88 on January 1st, 2020.)

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2020 Ducks Birds Abandon 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

A curious Laysan Duck takes a stroll at Midway Atoll. Laysan Ducks don’t seem to be as tied to water as other ducks, which makes sense considering the limited habitat available. Although Laysan Duck is a Hawaiian bird, most birders have never heard of it. That would have been awful. home at Midway Atoll.

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Albatross Endangered Species Bald Eagle Alaska 253

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

I had not expected to determine the whereabouts of a a remaining duck species, the adorable Ruddy Duck. I normally see Ruddy Ducks on the lake’s deepest waters, and as I said, there are no deep waters in the Lake Cuitzeo right now. It’s so good to see all my old friends are still around.

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Ducks Pelicans Collecting Species 246