10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2020

It’s the same the whole world over. A rare bird draws a crowd of optics and men of a certain age. The Tokyo Bay Wild Bird Park was exceptionally busy this morning. Rumour had it that a Bohemian Waxwing had been sighted and it had been noted consorting with 4 Japanese Waxwings. The Japanese Waxwing, Bombycilla japonica , is uncommon and would have been enough to draw a crowd from the Tokyo contingent of birders, but B. garrulus would be top of the bill.

Birds 203

Birds Japan 203

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

Just before we left Victoria and returned home to Broome I was doing one of my regular walks from Foster to Fish Creek. I walked up to the look-out, which is about half way between the two small towns. I stopped to take in the view one last time. Suddenly there was the familiar odd sound of Gang-gang Cockatoos, which we had encountered on Boxing Day last year.

Litter 181

Litter Fish Birds Australia 181

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2020

Have you ever had one of those weekends where every project you took on failed, perhaps spectacularly? Some weeks, Monday feels more like a respite than a burden. At least I didn’t have to travel far for great birds; my whole family thrilled to the sight of an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk chowing down on an unspecified rodent in our yard. Corey enjoyed his weekend at his parents’ house in the Hudson Valley though he didn’t see too many birds.

2020 175

2020 New York City Rodents New York 175

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

I have previously written about the central Mexican highlands’ very own microendemic species, the Black-polled Yellowthroat. This bird is only found around three lakes (Lago de Pátzcuaro and Lago de Cuitzeo in the state of Michoacán, and Lago de Yuriria just across the border in Guanajuato state), and in the marshy area southeast of Toluca, the capital of the state of Mexico.

Mexico 164

Mexico Species Birds 164

Speaker: Steve Romanco

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10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2020

This weekend offers a special opportunity to those of you who like to slice and dice your bird sightings by the most esoteric measures possible. Have you started your Leap Day List yet? What could be more challenging that growing a list you can only work on every four years at nearly the nadir of avian seasonal diversity. Sounds fun, right? The beginning of March signals the point at which we get serious about Saw-whet Owl sightings along Lake Ontario, but I’m not sure I’m feeling th

2020 152

2020 Birds Owls Rights 152

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

For the last two decades, Europe and the greater Mediterranean have been covered by one of the best field guides anywhere: “Collins Bird Guide” by Lars Svensson et al., published in the US by Princeton as “Birds of Europe”. Not many European countries have their single-country guides (the exception being UK, Spain and a few others with a strong in-country publishing scene).

Cyprus 258

Cyprus Saudi Arabia Europe Birds 258

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Over President’s Day weekend my family and I took a much-needed break in Jamaica. We landed mid-afternoon on the fifteenth of February and flew back out on the nineteenth: enough to enjoy the tropical sun but not long enough to get bored of the Holiday Inn Resort, a middling and older all-inclusive vacation spot outside of Montego Bay, just a bit east of Sangster International Airport.

Jamaica 178

Jamaica Mongoose Dominica Pelicans 178