August, 2019

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The Top 25 Target Birds to Look for in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

“Target birds” The term can foster excitement but is easily contentious. It would be uber cool to lay eyes on a rare lifer, on species that only seem to live on the pages of a field guide but isn’t that somewhat discriminatory? Aren’t all birds worth watching? And why spend time only looking for one or two species when those hours could be used to put binos focused on a few dozen?

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Urban Birding in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

Costa Rica is well known for national parks and other protected areas than offer access to tropical ecosystems dripping with biodiversity. Lots of birds, a lot of really cool birds! The Emerald Tanager is one of those cool ones. However, as with many other places throughout the globe, this small country also has its fair share of urban wildlife. These are the plants and animals that strive to persist in the realm of Homo sapiens.

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Birds Expected and Unexpected at Calle Jocote, Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

In January, we moved to a new place at a slightly lower elevation yet still located in the Central Valley rather near the main airport. As with any home inhabited by birders, we have kept track of all species heard or seen, night and day. Although that may sound as if we stand out there at all hours like a bino wearing sentinel watching the trees, most of our birding is typical yard list stuff; just keeping eyes and ears out for whatever avian things come our way.

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Bird Books for Children: From Colors & Shapes to Discovering Central Park

10,000 Birds

It’s never too late or too early to buy a children’s book about birds. You never know when you’ll be invited to a small one’s birthday party, a distant relative’s baby shower, or when you’ll get a text telling you that you have a granddaughter while you’re waiting out a three-hour-plus flight delay at JFK Airport.

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Webinar & PDF Test

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers near Tucson

10,000 Birds

South East Arizona is known for some truly amazing birding, and another one of the specialties that this area is known for is the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher – Myiodynasters luteiventris. This bird is rarely seen in the US, other than here, where this boldly patterned bird actually somewhat common, especially up in the Madera Canyon area. Just another great reason to plan at trip to South East Arizona!

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Where highlands meet lowlands

10,000 Birds

I haven’t done much birding during the past few decades in my native United States. But I suspect that it is very difficult there to find a prime site that someone else hasn’t already discovered. In my adoptive country of Mexico, however, site discovery is not only possible, but necessary. In my case, fully half of the eBird hotspots within an hour of my city of Morelia that have more than 100 species registered were my discoveries, and I had a hand in increasing the species list for

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Pied Oystercatcher chicks four weeks on….

10,000 Birds

It has been a few years since I could share some good news about the Pied Oystercatchers breeding along the coast near Broome. Hopefully you won’t mind me writing a bit more this year about Pied Oystercatchers during the breeding season! We continue to have egg predation at many of the nest sites and chick loss, but one pair of Pied Oystercatchers is being successful in raising two chicks so far.

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Best Bird of the Weekend (Third of August 2019)

10,000 Birds

As we enter the latter half of August, most of us probably feel like we’re speeding out of a very special season while speeding towards another season perhaps equally as special. Just try to enjoy the journey! Ever since I moved to this neighborhood, a local cat–clearly owned but allowed to roam free–has included my yard as part of its territory.

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Attack of the Hooligan Bluebird

10,000 Birds

All my birding life, I had heard about certain birds going to battle with their images reflected by windows and mirrors. But it wasn’t until April of this year that it happened to me. Or rather, to my car… which suffered the fierce attack of a Hooligan Bluebird. I had gone to investigate the area around Atécuaro, a tiny town to the south of the church my wife and I pastor on the edge of the city of Morelia, Mexico.

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The 20 most common birds in Shanghai (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

Birdwatchers tend to like the rare, the exotic – yet many common birds are exciting as well. This is something most easily realized when traveling – what is common for the locals may be the trip`s highlight for a foreign visitor. With that in mind, I would like to introduce what might be the 20 most common birds of Shanghai. The first 10 will be shown in this post, and the remaining 10 in a post two weeks later.

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PDF 9.21.23

this is a test

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So I went to the beach

10,000 Birds

My wife hates heat. And, alas, heat is one thing Mexico’s Pacific coast has in excess. Which explains why this birder, who lives only four hours from that coast, had only twice searched there for the region’s tropical and coastal species — both times on ministry trips I made without my wife. But this past week, my wife travelled to the U.S. to visit her elderly father.

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Chinese Crested Tern at Nanhui, Shanghai

10,000 Birds

On Sunday morning, I was just lazily working on another post for 10,000 Birds – the (probably not much anticipated) part two of the most common birds in Shanghai. Then, I heard about the Chinese Crested Tern at Nanhui and headed for my car. The usual bits about the Chinese Crested Tern from Wikipedia, HBW etc.: It is critically endangered, with estimates of the remaining numbers ranging from 30 to 50 in some sources, a bit more in others.

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Where Are You Birding This Second Weekend of August 2019?

10,000 Birds

If you’re struggling with horrendous summer heat, a trip to Antarctica might sound good to you. On the other hand, if you’re dealing with the depths of winter’s chill, a trip to Antarctica might sound good. In fact, if you’re anywhere but Antarctica right now and eager to see the surprisingly rich animal life at the southern pole, you might appreciate Chimu’s contest for a free 11-day Antarctica cruise.

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Best Bird of the Weekend (First of August 2019)

10,000 Birds

The question is rarely whether someone enjoys an August weekend but rather how much. Share the details! Ivy and I tracked down her first Wilson’s Snipe this weekend. Imagine that… a successful snipe hunt. Corey spent the first half of the weekend finishing up his family trip in southern California and the rest of it getting back to New York and recovering from a red eye.

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CST Sample_VideoTour

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Best Bird of the Weekend (Fourth of August 2019)

10,000 Birds

The end of August keeps most of us in the Northern Hemisphere busy, what with the impending end of summer and all that. Enjoy what today has to offer while looking forward to what is to come. My extended family from The Bronx visited us this weekend for some upstate festivities. What could be better than the New York State Fair, especially after a Bald Eagle deigned to circle overhead in honor of everything that makes the Empire State great?

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Returning to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

10,000 Birds

The summer of 2019 will forever be defined by my move to Tallahassee. Though only three hours from my previous hometown, this relocation was still characterized by the endless sifting through things (do I take this? do I leave that?), bickering with my husband, and starting a new job before finding a permanent place to settle down. Needless to say, there was little time left over for birding.

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The 20 most common birds in Shanghai (Part 2)

10,000 Birds

Today`s post is a continuation of last week`s – an introduction to Shanghai`s 20 most commonly seen birds. After getting to the letter C last week in a roughly alphabetical order, I will show the second 10 species today. Start with Eurasian Tree Sparrow , an unlikely high-ranked target for anybody watching birds in Shanghai. Still, a bird that has its moments – and I am always surprised how this sparrow really seems to enjoy human presence, however destructive it may be.

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Pied Oystercatcher chicks two weeks on….

10,000 Birds

We have observed the first Pied Oystercatcher chicks of 2019 over the past two weeks grow steadily. It is quite unusual to still have two chicks at this stage, because we usually lose one within the first ten days of hatching. In fact we often don’t have any chicks within two weeks of the eggs hatching and other pairs along the coast have not been successful yet this season.

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Gabriel PDF Webinar

Speaker: Gabriel Wagner Presenter

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More scenes from Mexican beaches

10,000 Birds

Last week, I had only just returned from a day on the Michoacán coast when my posting schedule required I write my report of the trip. I was still processing my photos, and the photos that had impressed me most featured shorebirds standing in front of the large waves produced by a tropical storm that was forming. I still like those photos. It wasn’t until after I posted that first article that I started to appreciate a set of photos with a more subtle setting.

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Painted Ladies

10,000 Birds

Perhaps just once in a decade, the UK experiences an invasion of Painted Ladies , Vanessa ( Cynthia) cardui. Painted Ladies are part of the Aristocrat group of butterflies. The group contains the largest and most beautifully patterned lepidoptera and their classy appearance is recognised with classy names such as Red Admiral , Purple Emperor and Camberwell Beauty.

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SE Arizona 10 day birding blitz!

10,000 Birds

The last ten day days have been one of the most intense, yet invigorating days of birding that can ever remember embarking on. It has almost been a “Perfect Storm” scenario, with several contributing factors all coming together to start me on this birding blitz. I had just wrapped up lending a hand with the Tucson Arizona South-east Birding Festival, my wife Jeanne was going out of town for those same ten days, local Tucson birding legend Brian Nicholas had offered to show me a few of his favori

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Great Bowerbird bower at Cygnet Park-Broome

10,000 Birds

Recently I have been walking a neighbour’s small male black Pug and we visit a local park daily. There are a lot of birds in the park at the moment with the various native trees flowering including Little Friarbirds , Red-winged Parrots and Red-collared Lorikeets. The park is called Cygnet Park and it is surrounded by streets with bird names including Bowerbird Loop.

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Webinar 5.9.22

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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Empty Pied Oystercatcher nests

10,000 Birds

An empty Pied Oystercatcher nest should mean that there are now chicks and that the parents have been sitting on a clutch of two eggs for twenty eight days. Sadly this is rarely the case along our coastline here in Broome. Last week I introduced you to the first Pied Oystercatcher chicks of 2019 and so far they are surviving. Their parents are moving them through the dunes to the north and they will soon be closer to the reef during the upcoming bigger tides.

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Best Bird of the Weekend (Second of August 2019)

10,000 Birds

Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere can congratulate ourselves on experiencing another August weekend. While experiences vary all the way along the spectrum from abysmal to divine, we all get a head start on superior when the weather is amazing. I hope most of you got the boost we did. Ivy and I have been lucking out on a small pond–really a flooded field–that seems to attract the widest array of shorebirds in Monroe County, NY.

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Where Are You Birding This First Weekend of August 2019?

10,000 Birds

August’s arrival signals a subtle shift from a somewhat static state of bird movement to a more fluid one. We’re not quite on the cusp of full-blown migration yet, but this weekend might offer better birding than you’d expect. I’ve been striking out on the more interesting shorebirds along the lake, but that won’t stop me from making another run.

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Pelican Brewing Company: Brut India Pale Ale

10,000 Birds

The recent taxonomy of India Pale Ale – more popularly known these days by its initialism IPA – is as confusing and unstable as any avian phylogeny. Just imagine, for instance, that a new species of white-headed gull was added to your field guide every few years and you’ll have an idea of the current head-scratching state of proliferating IPA variations.

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Test

Testing

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Collaborative List – July 2019

10,000 Birds

During July, 11 beats birded 11 countries (USA, UK, Australia, Spain, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Japan, UAE, Mexico, China and Saudi Arabia) and submitted 82 checklists. They accounted for 562 species at this sluggish time of year. The year list has moved forward to 1962 and the life list has leapt forward to 3759. These are the numbers. Alphabetic Taxonomic.

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Where Are You Birding This Final Weekend of August 2019?

10,000 Birds

Seasons as chronological constructs often diverge dramatically from phenological cycles and observable changes resulting from Earth’s orbit around the Sun and axial tilt relative to the ecliptic plane. For example, here in the United States, we are heading into the unofficial final weekend of summer even though we all have weeks (some more than others) of heat and humidity.

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Birding the silly season – part 2

10,000 Birds

“ GREBE sp !!” “ What ?” “ GREBE sp!! Get a picture! ” This time of year makes great demands on Lady Helen’s patience. “ A picture of what? ” “ That truck. The one that looks like a grebe sp., of course. ” “ I have become accustomed to your unexpected ejaculations, Gannet Dear, ” she sighed, “ but I simply do not know what you are talking about. ” I must commend her for her forbearance.

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The Economic Impact of Birding on National Wildlife Refuges: Creating Local Jobs

10,000 Birds

Every few years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) attempts to calculate the economic contribution of National Wildlife Refuge visitation to local communities. The most recent effort was released in June 2019. These reports (called “ Banking on Nature “) are relevant to birders because they are among the few comprehensive analyses that relate to the economic impact of birders on national wildlife refuges, which are among the more popular birding locations.

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New Production Test

Speaker: cha cha dwyer

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