10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 31, 2021
What was your first bird of the year this year, 2022? Here’s hoping it was something memorable, awesome, exciting, or some other positive adjective. At least I hope it wasn’t a pigeon! And while we were all hoping 2021 would be better than 2020 it seems like we have to hope that 2022 manages to improve on the previous two years. It can’t be worse, right?
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 30, 2021
Have you ever birded a place so young that birds still have no names ? … – part 2 – Once I finish this writing, with a strange mix of emotions I will put the Lynx field guide Birds of Colombia to the bookshelf for the first time, more than half a year after I received it. In my review , I commented that Colombia is one of those countries my dreams are made of, and I think that that sentence got me invited to the Manakin Nature Tours FAM trip of Inirida in Colombian Amazonia… I had such a b
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10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 27, 2021
My last trip to Balangshan was in July 2021 – now I was back, three months later. Yes, I know you are not interested in boring semi-autobiographical descriptions of individual birding trips. But you may be interested in some of the most recent photos. I left out those showing merely fog (of which there was plenty at times). High up at almost 4500 meters, some Alpine Accentors were posing in the sunshine, justifying the description in the HBW as “large, attractive accentor” (tho
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 26, 2021
Although the official paperwork has not been completed with the Rarities Committee it appears that we have the honour of a Ringed Plover in Broome at the moment! In 2009 when the Semi-palmated Plover came to Broome for its first visit it was initially thought that it may have been a Ringed Plover , but it was finally identified as a Semi-palmated Plover.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 25, 2021
Winter birding can be fun, especially when you do it in a place with palms, parrots, and weather for wearing shorts. This is where the summer birds go, where those fall warblers went sometime after October. It involves an increasingly perilous trip but with instincts that demand survival, the only real choice is to stay with summer and fly south. A lot of birds take a shorter trip to Florida and the Caribbean, many spend the winter in southern Mexico, and some species even fly all the way to sou
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 23, 2021
Given the strict covid prevention measures here in China, I have not left the country in almost 2 years now. Fortunately, China still has lots of interesting birding locations left for me. But of course, it is also nice to remember past birding trips. One in November 2018 included a one-day birding trip in the Drakensberg area, a mountain range in the border area between South Africa and Lesotho.
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10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 22, 2021
… to where I once belonged. My first experience birding was as a teenager back in the 70s, when birding meant a pair of binoculars, a couple of bird feeders, and a smallish field guide (book). I didn’t get back to the hobby until about eight years ago, in the brave new world of digital cameras, field guide apps, digital listing, birders’ chat groups, and yes, blogging.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 19, 2021
White-faced Herons – Egrettta novaehollandiae are a very versatile heron species that we often observe around Broome. They can be found in a variety of habitats during the year. They are the most widely spread heron in Australia and can be found across the mainland, Tasmania and most coastal islands. The White-faced Heron also occurs in New Zealand.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 16, 2021
Have you ever birded a place so young that birds still have no names? Ten days ago, I was sitting in a boat in the Colombian Amazonia, listening to the chatter of numerous Large-billed Terns along a vast sandbank in the Rio Guaviare. The sunset was slowly blanketing the scene, making the water ever bluer and the forest deeper shaded. Then a group of birders appeared from the forest.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 15, 2021
It was some seven years ago that I had the idea (brilliant, if I may say so myself) to use Google Maps “terrain” function to find the highest- and lowest-altitude places within one hour from my home. Michoacán’s topography being what it is, the highest spot possible is a full 1,000 m (3,300 ft) higher than Morelia, at an altitude of 3,300 m (10,000 ft).
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 14, 2021
As devoted readers of 10,000 Birds know , the writers contribute checklists to a joint eBird account called the “ 10,000 Birds Collaborative.”. Every month, Redgannet summarizes the checklists, providing an updated life list, year list, and country list. For the United States, there is also a state list. The Collaborative has a profile page that, like all eBird profile pages, suggests some goals.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 13, 2021
Getting to Danba is a bit of an ordeal. It seems it is customary in Western Sichuan for large parts of the roads to be destroyed by summer rains, only to be rebuilt gradually afterward. Seeing Google Maps indicating a travel time of 4 hours for about 150 km first seemed ridiculous, but turned out to be far too optimistic. We ended up at a hotel far up some mountain or hill – by that time, I had totally lost my sense of orientation.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 11, 2021
It takes a detour to reach Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica but oh how the trip is worth it. The mix of lowland rainforest, second growth and extensive wetlands makes it a very birdy place to bring some binos. With those avian temptations in mind, I make a point of visiting at least once a year. In 2021, I would have looked for crakes and Pinnated Bitterns in July but my scheduled visit coincided with heavy rains that flooded the entrance road (along with causing some terrible problems i
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 9, 2021
Somehow, it seems that most birders regularly visiting Nanhui feel that 2021 was a bit of a disappointing year. Not too many highlights, not too many species … hard to say whether this is just the usual nostalgia for a better but probably nonexistent past or a real phenomenon. The latter is possible, as the undisturbed areas of Nanhui keep shrinking, leaving less and less space for birds.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 8, 2021
Continuing here with the series on threes within the avian landscape of Trinidad and Tobago (in case you missed it, T&T has three each of trogons , antshrikes , spinetails , manakins , hermits , honeycreepers , and resident warblers ) we arrive at one of the more difficult species triads to encounter. Like the three resident warblers in T&T, the three species of bitterns recorded for T&T are only found on the larger island of Trinidad.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 8, 2021
Like many birders, I regularly submit short lists of birds seen at my place of employment. But I also sometimes go there, specifically to bird, for hours. That is because the area around the church that we pastor is my very best site for birds that like open grasslands, as opposed to the wooded hillsides that are so common around Morelia. Specifically, the area surrounding our church is my best place to see sparrows, both residents and our (much more common) winter migratory sparrows.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 5, 2021
It is now summer here in Australia and there is hope of rain in the next few weeks here in Broome. It has been more than eight months now since we had rain and the land is desperate for rainfall. We are all desperate for a change, because you can actually get a bit bored of constant blue skies! We look forward to the lightning shows and the distant teasing rumbling and eventually the rain pours down and nature rejoices!
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 4, 2021
I have been humming the Dwarves’ theme from Sleeping Beauty all month. Can’t think why. …we bird, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird in the marsh the whole day thru. …in the sky (in the sky), in the sky (in the sky), where a million waders… Fly… If only that were the case. My birding list for November totals 15 species.
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 2, 2021
Collins Birds of the World is “ a must for the travelling birder ,” as the BBC Wildlife Magazine reviewer has put it. And I cannot agree more. But I have to disagree with the publisher, HarperCollins, calling it an “ all-encompassing new field guide” – it is a world checklist and I say it with a lot of respect. Have you ever used illustrated checklists in the field, as opposed to full scale field guides?
10,000 Birds
DECEMBER 1, 2021
I moved to Mexico in 1983 (and really should update my bio below). Angie, now my wife, moved here in 1985, and we married here two years later. So our now-adult children have never lived in the U.S. But they have embraced some American customs, and one of their favorites is Thanksgiving. I don’t need to tell you, last year’s Thanksgiving was… complicated.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 29, 2021
Zhaga monastery is a Tibetan monastery built on top of a somewhat remote mountain near the town of Yajiang. It had a bit of a desperate feel to it to me – almost no monks visible, many of the buildings crumbling or already deserted, and the practice of feeding pheasants apparently already discontinued. So, maybe not be the best place to visit for monks suffering from depression.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 29, 2021
November’s end signals an end to a season of change and the beginning of a time of stability. Birds are still, as ever, on the move according to their own rhythms, but the next few months should bring some familiar friends to you, wherever you are. I finally had a chance to visit my brother and his family in their beautiful new home in Westchester.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 28, 2021
As I have mentioned in the past we often place branches out for birds. The birds can then access water much more easily and we get the enjoyment of watching them all come in for a drink and bathe. At this time of year around the north of Australia the ephemeral lakes are drying out fast. All of the birdlife in the surrounding area comes to drink and bathe and you can easily observe a wide variety of birds by just sitting and watching.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 27, 2021
It’s getting to be that time of year. That time when if you were keeping track of the bird species you had identified, and wanted to reach a certain number, you better come up with some strict birding strategies. If you were doing an actual Big Year, then you would have been strategizing since January. If it was more of a semi-casual Big Birding Year, you may have just been casually careful about when and where you sauntered to look for birds.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 26, 2021
Scarlet Honeyeater male [S. Popple] One of the great things about birding is its continuing ability to surprise. After many years pointing binoculars at birds they can still shock you with unseen – sometimes unrecorded – behaviour, baffle you with an unexpected vocalisation or just turn up in oddly unexpected places. Places, too, can surprise.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 24, 2021
Last weekend we headed into the mountains of northern Trinidad – the concept of mountains is surely a relative one, although it is the highest conglomeration of hills in the country (and the northernmost outcrop of the Andes) the Northern Range never crosses 1,000m above sea level. While cloud forest exists above 700m, the majority of the mid-elevation forest is humid montane rainforest.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 24, 2021
Twitching is a British term used to mean “the pursuit of a previously located rare bird.”… a twitcher who fails to see a rare bird has dipped … — Wikipedia. As a birder who lives in central Mexico, I rarely get the opportunity to twitch. There just aren’t that many eyes on the ground down here, and when someone stumbles on a rarity, it may well have been me.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 21, 2021
One of the target bird species for birders when they visit the Broome area is Yellow Chat. They are relatively easy to find year round and sometimes you are lucky when they pose for you. Some years we encounter Crimson Chats around Broome too and even less rare is the Orange Chat. The last record of an Orange Chat in the Broome area was in 2006. We have encountered Orange Chats before in Western Australia, but also in the Northern Territory at the Tennant Creek Poo Ponds.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 19, 2021
Note: Erika works for Audubon Florida. The data are in: the nesting season proved successful for some species of Florida’s wading birds and… less so for others. Wading birds – including Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Wood Storks, White Ibises, and more – are a critical barometer of ecosystem health in the Everglades. They depend on specific hydrological conditions in order to find enough food for their voracious chicks.
10,000 Birds
NOVEMBER 18, 2021
In Belgrade, Serbia, winter months offer surprisingly good birding possibilities. Winter is a season of extremes – opt for the very top and the very bottom of the city. Woodpeckers and finches The top of the city would be the highest peak of the Avala Mountain Reserve (511 m / 1700 ft above sea level), with the Memorial to the Unknown Hero and overgrown with firs and pines.
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