10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2019

It’s still dark at 5 am when the alarm on my mobile phone wakes me up in a spacious guest house room in Chikhaldara (Maharashtra, central India)… morning after morning after morning… I am getting tired, but the reason behind it was one rare bird – so rare that I have traveled 6000 kilometers to search tropical dry deciduous forests of the Satpura range just to look for the endemic and critically endangered Forest Owlet ( Heteroglaux blewitti ).

India 175

India Owls Tigers Cows 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2019

Pulau Ubin is a small island off the north-east coast of Singapore that is easily reached by a small boat from the Changi Point Ferry Terminal. The small boats do not leave in either direction until there are 12 passengers and each passenger pays SGD3 cash for each journey. However, we did note signage that said if you travelling with an animal you would have to pay for twelve passengers and travel alone with your animal!

Singapore 133

Singapore Birds illegal Eagles 133

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2019

A feather is a magical thing. There is a wonder to its construction and color, a mystery that goes beyond what we know anatomically about how feathers function. And, like many body parts that are separated from the whole, a feather sometimes become an artifact, a thing apart from a living creature, invested with values beyond the original, biological function.

Industry 119

Industry Virginia Portland Campaign 119

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2019

To birders, the search for raptors perched at the very tops of telephone poles, or for neatly arranged rows of sparrows or buntings sitting on the low-slung lines draped between them is one of the chief joys of any drive through the country. The tendency of birds to alight onto the wooden posts, steel towers, and metal wires that constitute our power and communications infrastructure turns any car ride into exciting and endless game of drive-by identification.

United States 117

United States Game North America New York City 117

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2019

Migration may be officially/unofficially over ( who’s in charge of calling these things anyway? ) but we can still hope for a few slowpokes and stragglers left to find. Get out there and shake the bushes–metaphorically, of course–to see what unexpected delights June may yet offer. I still have some warblers to add to my year list, so I’ll be hunting down some birds on their breeding grounds this weekend.

2019 114

2019 Hunting Birds Breeding 114

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2019

Anybody spending a few days in Shanghai for business or tourism may not think that this is a good place for birding. In fact, I have had some visitors from India remark to me that “there are no birds here” – a remark I can understand given the huge number of birds encountered even in big Indian cities such as Mumbai or Delhi. And yet, there are some very interesting birds here – mostly spring and autumn migrants, as Shanghai is on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Birds 113

Birds Protection China Factory 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2019

Days in the Northern Hemisphere are getting longer. Did that help or hinder your efforts to see superior birds this weekend? My weekend itinerary only permitted highway birding, of which the best result was Ospreys , both in flight and on those enormous nest of branches those birds construct. Corey didn’t have any luck trying to track down rare terns to add to his Queens list this weekend but he did add a bird to his list of species photographed in Queens.

2019 113

2019 Birds Experience Experiments 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2019

So that was May. Phew! Despite looking way older than his years, we cannot attribute Regannet’s haggard appearance to hard birding, scoring only 19 during eBird’s Big Day was not the greatest effort expended on May 4th. In fairness, he had to celebrate Star Wars Day with his teenage son as this is their only means of effective conversation. 3 guesses as to where the award for biggest day and best follow-up post goes ?

2019 113

2019 Australia Ghana Woodpeckers 113

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2019

If you are like me, you can get a fair amount of birding done while traveling with your non-birder spouse… as long as you make sure you visit places with lots of other interesting activities, to keep that spouse happy. Pure eco-tourism is pretty much out of the question, because sitting in an eco-lodge all day is not much fun for a city-lover.

San Jose 160

San Jose Birds Los Angeles Fort Worth 160