10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2022

Late April / early May is the best birding season in the south of Europe and wherever you go, you will have 50% to 100% more species than in any other season. In India, no one goes at mid-day because of the heat and the law. Yet, you don’t really have time for that lunch. The Usual Standard – a few hours of morning birding.

India 221

India Birds Africa Game 221

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2023

Late April / early May is the best birding season in the south of Europe and wherever you go, you will have 50% to 100% more species than in any other season. In India, no one goes at mid-day because of the heat and the law. Yet, you don’t really have time for that lunch. The Usual Standard – a few hours of morning birding.

India 167

India Birds Africa Serbia 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2017

It’s Christmas Bird Count season, and if you know Christmas Bird Counts you have probably heard the tale of how Frank Chapman invented this winter tradition to replace the older and considerably less optimal for birds tradition of the Christmas side hunt. Various bits of Europe celebrate the day in various ways. Sleigh rides.

Ireland 130

Ireland New Zealand Hunting Cooking 130

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2015

Some lovely and touristy cities of Western Europe are justly proud of their cathedral Peregrines (Barcelona, Norwich, Bristol), even London (which has its charms, but is far from lovely) – why not Belgrade (isn’t proud, I mean)? APRIL 12: Second flight of a b h and then she hunts. Painting (c) by Paschalis Dougalis.

Switzerland 188

Switzerland Serbia Feral Falcons 188

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2016

Late April / early May is the best birding season in the south of Europe and wherever you go, you will have 50% to 100% more species than in any other season. Recently, I did a bit of embankment birding, nailing 65 species (several of them firsts for the season, European Bee-eaters among them – always exciting).

Birds 109

Birds India Africa Serbia 109

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2016

I am not entirely sure whether most birders outside Germany know or realize that Germany still has a decent population of one of Europe’s most attractive and desired bird species: the Great Bustard Otis tarda. This is prohibited under German nature conservation laws and a moral no-go.

Germany 101

Germany Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 101

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2020

It didn’t occur to me till I started reading The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird that there was also a possible threat to the eagle herself: poachers, who steal raptor eggs and chicks. And, some background on those laws, both in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Falcons 200

Falcons United Kingdom Zimbabwe Eggs 200