10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

October 23 2017: I read the text message confirming that there is indeed a Common Greenshank at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR. I grab my binoculars, camera, and field guide and drive 2-and-a-half hours to southern New Jersey. I miss the shorebird and get it a few days later, but that’s not the point of this story. The point is, the field guide I grabbed without hesitation was the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 7th Edition by Jon L.

North America 187

North America America 2017 Birds 187

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2017

It was already dark in mid-October when we arrived to the Costa Rican birding mecca of Rancho Naturalista to have dinner on the veranda but then were interrupted with a call: There’s a Mottled Owl at the other side! You can imagine the rest: everyone jumped from the table to look for the owl. Lisa Erb, the manager and owner, but also a former bird guide, perfectly understood her guests.

Costa Rica 168

Costa Rica Woodpeckers Farming Owls 168

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2017

Greg Lawrence is a long-time friend of 10,000 Birds and a birding machine in the Rochester, New York, area. He is currently a Fish and Wildlife Technician with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a Graduate Research Assistant at the Research Foundation for SUNY. When he reached out to ask if he could contribute a piece to 10,000 Birds about about the ethics around the current Snowy Owl irruption in the central and eastern United States we were all for it!

Ethics 151

Ethics Owls New York North America 151

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2017

I recently read Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries , a book by Kory Stamper , a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster. For anyone who has even a passing interest in words, definitions, or dictionaries, it is fascinating. I highly recommend it and I’m not alone. The book has garnered positive reviews in publications such as the New York Times , The Atlantic , and The New Yorker.

Albatross 105

Albatross Bears Ducks Bald Eagle 105

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2017

Having returned from the UK recently we were ready to go camping in the bush again and make the most of the warm weather before it becomes our tropical wet season. Our plan was to head north for a few days and observe the concentrated bird-life around the remaining ephemeral lakes and observe some of the birds that had arrived in the north of Australia over the past few weeks.

Australia 102

Australia Japan 2006 Cambodia 102

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2017

Winter doesn’t officially begin for a few weeks yet, but the birds this far north don’t seem to care about the calendar. We’re seeing all manner of seasonal specialty roll into Rochester. What are you seeing? When I lived in NYC, I couldn’t avoid spotting Hooded Mergansers , even at the local ponds. Now that I’m in the Finger Lakes region, I can’t even chase them down.

2017 101

2017 Birds Experience Experiments 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2017

Another weekend is here, carrying all sorts of inclement weather, natural disasters, and societal upheaval. At least we have birds! I’m pretty locked up this weekend, which may make bird chasing tough, but a trip down to the Southern Tier always has the potential for surprises. Corey will be scouting for what promises to be an outstanding Queens Christmas Bird Count, assuming the weather cooperates.

2017 100

2017 Birds 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2017

For as long as I have been living here in Mexico, I have truly enjoyed watching the Harris’s Hawks antics. Soaring on the warm desert updrafts, or sitting on a group of cactus tops, always in groups of two, three or more. Their proclivity for living in small social groups was fact that I learned much later. This medium-large hawk, given it’s name by John James Audubon after his good friend, Edward Harris, has also in the past been known as the Bay-winged Hawk, or Dusky Hawk.

Mexico 100

Mexico Game South America Rabbits 100