10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

On Monday we went from Broome to Derby. We left home just before 8am when we hoped most of the wallabies had moved away from the highway. There are always stray cattle to watch out for, but we prefer to minimize the risk of hitting animals by leaving on road trips until a couple of hours after sunrise. Our first stop was at Cockatoo Creek , which is a waterhole at this time of year under the double width bridge before you reach the Willare Roadhouse.

Cattle 185

Cattle Stray Australia Birds 185

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

Mid-September conjures up visions of migrating shorebirds, songbirds, and waterfowl all joining together under ideal natural lighting for one perfect moment of birding. Sometimes, that even happens. At other times, unfortunately, September can make you feel like all those birds did meet, but nobody invited you along. How’s mid-September treating you so far?

2019 182

2019 New York City New York Birds 182

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

The coastal subspecies of California Gnatcatcher ( Polioptila californica californica ) can be found in sage scrub that was once abundant from Ventura County to northern Baja California. But its U.S. range largely consists of valuable real estate along the Southern California coast and urban development around San Diego and Los Angeles has eliminated much of its habitat.

California 177

California District of Columbia Los Angeles San Diego 177

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

Central Mexico, where I live, has a monsoon climate. In other words, we tend to have heavy rains from late May or June through October, and little or no rains during the winter and spring. This means that most of our vegetation grows during the summer and flowers (and/or fruits) during the fall. Because of this pattern, during the months of September and October you will see Mexico’s many Salvia species blooming everywhere you look.

Mexico 173

Mexico Ethics Species Birds 173

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

September is always an interesting month as we observe the shorebirds return to Broome from their northerly migration. The shorebirds gather on Cable Beach from around two hours before until two hours after high tide. The variety of shorebirds among the flock enables you to encounter several species quite easily, but sometimes there is an odd shorebird that stands out among the flock.

Species 156

Species Rights Birds Australia 156

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

Migration is happening. Every birder knows it. Even if we couldn’t find time to raise the bins at a favorite patch, it only takes momentary glances into the sky and hearing chip notes from the trees to remind us that birds are on the move. The old neighborhood standbys are quiet or maybe gone. We don’t see them leave, we can’t know but the absence of local Yellow Warblers and Indigo Buntings gets more real with each passing day.

Costa Rica 146

Costa Rica South America Tennessee 2019 146

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

When you think of Southeast Arizona Birding, and the unique birds that can be found there, it conjures thoughts of roadrunners, hummingbirds, trogons, and the many other desert residents. In the last few days, we have had a couple of avian visitors that are well outside the norm. We are right in the middle of the fall migration, so new and unusual species is not without some expectations.

Tucson 139

Tucson Arizona Florida Rights 139

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

Don’t you hate it when you cannot communicate while birding overseas? Having mobility issues, I still remember birding from a van along a rather productive dirt road in Costa Rica ( Broad-billed Motmot , Lineated Woodpecker , Cocoa Woodcreeper , etc.), while the rest of the group took a hike. Seeing several birds from that spot and deciding that that’s it, I asked the driver in English to move the van a few hundred metres down.

Bears 138

Bears San Jose Greece Costa Rica 138

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

We all have them: families of birds that are maddeningly similar, forever leaving nagging doubts about our identifications. Gulls. Terns. New World Warblers in non-reproductive plumage. “Old World” Warblers, any time of the year. Empidonax flycatchers, oh God, Empidonax flycatchers. (Someday I will get up the nerve to write about the ten, yes, TEN Empidonax species I believe I have seen in my little corner of Mexico.

Mexico 137

Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 137

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

Most birders love a good double-hyphenate. Except, of course, for those who don’t yet know what a double-hyphenate is. Double-hyphenates are birds with two hyphens in their common name, which is a characteristic that suggests a high degree of rarity or difficulty. Common birds, you see, tend to have simple names, like House Sparrow, House Finch, or House Wren.

Sparrows 133

Sparrows Mexico United States Groups 133

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10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

Have you ever heard the saying, “Sometimes you win; sometimes you learn,” as a positive spin on failing to win? I definitely learned something this weekend, particularly regarding how best to see interesting birds. Basically, you have to actually go where they are rather than sit in your office waiting for them to fly by. Imagine that! Consequently, I observed no birds more interesting than Gray Catbirds this weekend, and those birds stand out only because the sudden chill enveloping

2019 127

2019 Philadelphia New York Birds 127

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 22, 2019

Each year at the beginning of September we start to keep an eye out for the return of the Little Curlew- Numenius minutus from their northern migration. Little Curlew are often observed on Broome’s Sport Ovals prior to and after their migration. Having checked the various ovals I was back down on Cable Beach having one of our regular walks. There was a huge flock of shorebirds roosting on high tide on 16th September around midday.

2012 126

2012 Raised Breeding Birds 126

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

I was born in Minnesota. Had my life taken a different turn, and had I remained in that state, I would be intimately acquainted with exactly one hummingbird: the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. But my family moved to northern California when I was four years old, in 1962, effectively quadrupling my hummer list with the addition of the Anna’s , Rufous , and Allen’s Hummingbirds.

Minnesota 126

Minnesota ALA Mexico California 126

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

In November 2018, I spent a few days birding in Cape Town, South Africa. While apparently not the safest of places, it is a great spot to see birds. Here are some of my sightings. An absolute highlight were the African Penguins at Boulders Beach. The colony is a proper tourist attraction with an entrance fee and way too many people, but the penguins still make it worth going.

South Africa 123

South Africa Penguins Ostriches Birds 123

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10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2019

September and October are probably the best two months in Shanghai – it is warm but not unbearably hot, and it does not rain much. And of course, it is the autumn migration season, which I like more than the spring one. The birds seem to be more relaxed, and there are more of them as well. Best of all, this year the migration seems to have started fairly early and with some fantastic birds.

China 121

China Protection Birds 121

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2019

While most of my fellow Americans are laboring through a long weekend, most of the world has already bid adieu to the last of August. This may not bode well for kids still blessedly unencumbered by homework, books, and teachers’ dirty looks, but the birders among us can look forward to a marked improvement in avian action in September. Ivy and I scored some rare vagrants at Montezuma NWR–which has been awful for shorebirds this summer–best of which was her first American White

2019 121

2019 Costa Rica Pelicans Birds 121

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

As we lean into the second half of September, we birders should be prepared for anything. The weather and avifauna may resemble that of the passing season, the current one, or basically anything else. Embrace the uncertainty! Despite a very busy work weekend, I’ll be looking for chances to chase down some of the shorebirds still missing from my year list before they depart for good.

2019 119

2019 Birds 119

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

While some birding runs work well solo, most are greatly improved by good company. I haven’t always acted in accordance with this philosophy, but those avian observation excursions undertaken with friends or family loom larger in mind than the ones I took alone. In many ways, birding can be so much more than just looking at birds. This uncharacteristic sentimentality probably results from the morning of birding I enjoyed this weekend with both my daughter and my close friend, two people th

2019 118

2019 Jamaica Birds Eggs 118

Speaker: Gabriel Wagner Presenter

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

The UK’s only official desert is dotted with shipping containers and paraphenalia discarded by the crab fishermen who call these stony wastes their home and their mistress. Black shacks crouch amongst the crabpots and occasionally a lurking figure might be seen. Dark and forbidding, Lady Helen stalked the shingle of Dungeness. It felt like a scene that had been cut from “Deliverance” With banjos playing in my head, I followed her across the treacherous wastes, glancing behind m

Africa 118

Africa Fish Birds Species 118

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Moving means finding your new birding haunts. We all have them: our favorite places to take friends and family when they visit, the bird-friendly areas we pop in on when we have the chance, the landscapes that entrance us. Now that I live away from the beach, Wakulla Springs has become that place for me. My mom – a true angel – arrived on a Friday evening to spend a week with me, unloading boxes and helping pick out furniture.

Alligators 117

Alligators Turkey Family Hunting 117

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2019

Over the last two weeks we have observed a huge number of migratory shorebirds return to our shores. They have mostly been absent for several months now, because they have been in the northern hemisphere. Hopefully they have had a successful breeding season in the north. Several migratory shorebirds with juvenile plumage are already on our beaches, so the arrival of both old and young birds is in full swing now.

Australia 117

Australia Breeding Family Birds 117

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. In many cases, our waterfowl, gulls, and shorebirds are the same as those overseas – or only slightly different – and there are many other corresponding species in nearly all the shared fa

2017 117

2017 Portugal Rabbits Europe 117

Speaker: Steve Romanco

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

Early September, like just about every other time of year, means different things to different people. In New York, schools open after Labor Day. The agony and ecstasy of back-to-school season overlaps shorebird season, which itself overlaps fall passerine migration. All of the events follow different timelines in different latitudes and longitudes, but the general pattern suggests that we can all find some reasonable avian observation activity this weekend.

2019 115

2019 New York Birds 115

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2019

eBird have applied their new taxonomy as of July/August 2019. What a boon for listers. Desk-top birders have been anxiously awaiting the new catalogue, hoping for splits to boost numbers rather than lumps to reduce them. In publishing the most current thinking, eBird have become the month’s biggest contributor to the life list, expanding it by 7 brand new species and pushing it to 3774.

2019 117

2019 Arizona Ghana Tucson 117

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

In Costa Rica, sandpipers are locally known as “correlimos”, which to me sounds something along the lines of “little runners” and that sounds about right. Although only a certain percentage of Charadriiformes are prone to quick-stepping it over the mud flats, beaches, and nutrient-stink borders of sewage ponds, none of them hop along or flit through the trees either.

Costa Rica 148

Costa Rica Farming Texas Cattle 148

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

If it hasn’t begun already, the grape harvest should be getting underway in Spain this month. As the growing season wanes and summer gives way to autumn, winemakers in Spain – and across the Northern Hemisphere – will be watchful for that perfect moment when the fruit is at its absolute peak – a sign that the hectic work to collect a year’s worth of product in just a few days can finally begin.

2017 114

2017 Spain California Condor California 114

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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. Our very first post here featured an American Black Duck ( Anas rupripes ), but since then we’ve only seen a Northern Pintail ( Anas acuta ) in decoy form , a white domestic duck , and a pair of flushing North American dabblers appearing only as unidentifiable silhouettes.

Ducks 103

Ducks Boston Houston Fowl 103

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2019

Anybody that has spent some time birding and using field guides will soon realise that the field guides are written for humans. Birds do not follow field guides and they are purely written to help us identify which bird species we are most likely to observe at certain locations. Field guides get updated more regularly in some countries than others and the maps get redrawn, but birds continue to go where they please!

Ducks 143

Ducks Australia 2018 Humane 143

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Are seabirds the last frontier of bird identification? Steve N. G. Howell and Kirk Zufelt certainly think so. 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, if you don’t believe them, just take a look at some of the photographic comparisons of species they present: Or, of albatross plumages: Or, read about the taxonomic confusions and scientific lapses in research on petrel

Albatross 154

Albatross North America Birds Groups 154