10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

And, I started daydreaming about encountering something a little different, maybe a Horned Frog, Ceratophrys cornuta, a large, squat green and brown frog of South America, with a wide mouth large enough to eat other frogs as well as reptiles. There’s the Goliath frog from South Africa—up to one foot in length and over 6 pounds in weight.

Reptiles 182

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 182

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? With a trip to South Africa on the horizon at the time, I thought I could handle it. The Indexes show images of the most common birds of the area against a painted background, with page references to species accounts. Now, I’m not so sure.

Brunei 173

Brunei Birds Asia China 173

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa).

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Birds Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

” Writing about owls means writing about roughly 250 species (I counted 245 on the 2022 Clements spreadsheet, but I might have missed a few, and we all know that each classification system is different). These are behaviors that are most likely to vary across species and topics that make for compelling stories.

Owls 203

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

This makes it a particularly exciting time in New Zealand as the Rugby World Cup begins in two days, and the competition is being held right here in New Zealand (I would imagine they might be more excited if they hadn’t just lost two matches to Australia and South Africa, their big rivals in the Tri-Nations).

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Penguins Sanctuary Birds 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

I’ve been fortunate to see two Penguin species in the wild (African and Galapagos) and have dreamed of seeing more–maybe even all!–especially –especially when reviewing books like A Field Guide to the Wildlife of South Georgia or Far from Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds.

Penguins 277

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 277

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

I’ll never forget my introduction to the mammals of Kruger National Park, South Africa. We –participants of the ABA South Africa Safari—were on a small plane when one Lori Conrad looked out the window and screamed, “There are elephants down there!” and everyone ran to Lori’s side of the plane.

Rhinos 235

Rhinos Mammals Animal White Rhinos 235

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2013

I grew up in one of the most beautiful cities in the world – Cape Town, South Africa. The birdlife in the Cape is nothing short of spectacular, with a healthy dose of charismatic endemic species. In fact, there is no other region in Africa that offers such a fantastic level of endemism in such an accessible location.

Penguins 209

Penguins South Africa Africa Sharks 209

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2013

Does the word define a species within country terms, regional terms etc? Is the term defined at the sub-species or full species level in terms of classification? The species must be listed as a separate, full species by both of the most widely used ornithological bird lists, Sibley/Monroe and Clements.

Birds 199

Birds South Africa South America Feral Cats 199

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

Of the fifteen species of cranes alive today eleven are considered vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. Like many other species of cranes, the primary reason for its decline is the degradation, destruction and loss of wetland habitat. Its a hard life being a bird but its especially hard if you’re a crane.

Botswana 146

Botswana South Africa Africa Ethiopia 146

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2023

Although work distracts him regularly from the observation of birds, he has managed to see a great many species regardless. He passively supports BirdLife in the Netherlands and South Africa and actively in Portugal as treasurer of SPEA – Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves.

Uganda 217

Uganda Netherlands Monkeys Portugal 217

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2012

The IOC world birdlist recognizes 90 species that bear the name “weaver” or “malimbe” Not all of these are true weavers as we will discuss below. Of these 90, all occur in Africa bar 5 Asian and 2 Malagasy weavers. Photo taken by Adam Riley in South Africa’s Kruger National Park.

Tanzania 215

Tanzania Buffalo Kenya Namibia 215

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 17, 2022

A study has shown that they make false alarm calls when seeing other species such as meerkats with attractive food. The Green-winged Pytilia was previously mostly called Melba Finch, which is also its Latin species name (melba), even though nobody seems to be quite clear about what the melba means or where it comes from.

South Africa 180

South Africa Africa Birds Cape Verde 180

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

We have a selection of books that we have found over the years in bookshops and one of our favourites was published in 1949 and is The Birds of South Africa by Dr Austin Roberts. We have never been to South Africa, but it is a lovely book to look at and dream!

South Africa 158

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2011

In southern Africa, there are two species. As I watched, it slowly moved into a patch of dried vegetation and I noticed that it was settling over a single egg. Two or three eggs may be laid and either bird may incubate. I too am fascinated by the name of this species. Go check it out! How do we know this?

2011 161

2011 Deer Africa Peru 161

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

This bird represented only the second documented record of this species in Florida. 2012 has certainly been a bumper year for me with an estimated year list of around 3,000 species after extensive travels to South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Russian Far East, United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala and Panama.

2012 144

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 144

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2018

Honduras , Malaysia and the southern-most bits of South Africa feature large this month with Mike, Duncan and Tom all vying to be MVB for June. 10 countries were birded by 9 beats and 892 species were noted from 144 checklists. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh. Jamaica Bay, Big Egg Marsh.

2018 100

2018 Australia Woodpeckers Los Angeles 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2016

Contributions this month have come from; Costa Rica, USA, Australia, Mexico, Serbia, South Africa, UK, Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list.

2016 154

2016 Sanctuary Australia Ghana 154

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2016

But our pin-up for August and worthy of a double-page-spread, is Duncan who is currently sharing from South Africa. All birds are equal on this list; parking lot birds or pelagic species, breeders or fly-overs, all will be accorded the same status and each shall be worth 1 credit on the list. South Africa.

2016 101

2016 Sanctuary Australia Ghana 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red. Better safe than sorry.

Birds 200

Birds Eggs Bangladesh China 200