10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2013

When I first visited New Zealand, back in 2000, the Stichbird was just a rare species of honeyeater (Meliphagidae), one of three representatives of that Australian family to be found here. At any rate it was distinctive enough to merit its own family, the Notiomystidae. Unlike them it nests it cavities.

Family 161

Family New Zealand 2000 Australia 161

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2021

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Costa Rica: A Field Guide covers 113 damselfly species and 170 dragonfly species, a total of 283 species. Wait–that adds up to 290 species, but the book only covers 283. .* Wait–that adds up to 290 species, but the book only covers 283. Paulson, William A. INTRODUCTION.

Costa Rica 260

Costa Rica North America Family America 260

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Marybeth learns as she birds, embraces listing goals as a means of engaging with community, unabashedly enjoys a little competition, struggles to balance her absolute joy in birding with unexpected, life-and-death family obligations. Adventures of a Louisiana Birder: One Year, Two Wings, Three Hundred Species. by Marybeth Lima.

Louisiana 264

Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2021

There is much to enjoy and appreciate here and I only wish I could have tested out some of these species accounts in pelagic waters before writing about them (sadly, the 10,000 Birds pelagic to Antarctica was canceled this year). SCOPE & SPECIES ORGANIZATION. It covers 434 species across 9 orders and 18 families of birds.

Albatross 279

Albatross Penguins Groups Family 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

Among the reasons: We saw 51 species… in less than three hours… on 1/20 of a square mile… on the edge of Morelia’s urban area! I always appreciate the opportunity to see and compare multiple members of a single genus and family at the same time. Females of the two species are much more difficult to distinguish.

Family 231

Family Species Birds Mexico 231

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Similarly, descriptions of species repeated across volumes do not lose their accuracy with each publication. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 213

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 213

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

As usual, birds seem to like these off-the-way places best – eBird lists 337 species based on a little more than just 100 checklists. While the HBW describes the bulbul family as “often rather plain”, I find them usually quite attractive, though in an understated way that may not appeal to the flashiness-seeking HBW authors.

Birds 173

Birds Woodpeckers Kangaroos Madagascar 173

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

Penguins are cartoons, emoticons, animated films, children’s books (though owls really take first place here), sports teams, a book publisher, and a Batman villain (a rare example of penguin negativity, though Burgess Meredith did bring an endearing attitude to his 1960’s TV portrayal). © Otto Plantema, used with permission.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia New Zealand Albatross 278

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2023

So, for example, there was ample warning of the danger of snow. The family has about 37 species, but that includes several fulvettas – only 21 of the species have “parrotbill” in their names (and frankly, the bills of fulvettas do not look like those of parrots at all). Never fails to startle them.

Pandas 203

Pandas Birds Eggs China 203

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2024

This is the home of the Rusty-naped Pitta , admittedly one of the less glamorous of the family, particularly the subspecies found in Yunnan, but still a nice sight and still a pitta. The scientific species name of the Rusty-naped Pitta oatesi honors Eugene William Oates (1845-1911), an English civil servant in India and naturalist.

Burma 198

Burma India Birds Indonesia 198

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2022

The Beautiful Sibia is one of 11 bird species listed in the HBW with the word “beautiful” in its name. However, the Latin species name is desgodinsi after Auguste Desgodins, a French missionary whose sole claim to fame seems to be that he attempted to enter Tibet in the early 1860s. Nationalism still sucks.

China 216

China India Birds North Korea 216

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2013

So naturally, I got to thinking about kinglets, and their Palearctic kin, the “crests,” and where they belong in the avian family tree. The family Regulidae comprises six small, hyperactive species that range through the great boreal and temperate forests North and Middle America, North Africa, and Eurasia.

Family 183

Family Guatemala Mexico Japan 183

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

It also summarizes the vagrancy status of every bird family in the whole wide world, which makes it fun to read as well as superbly educational. per cent of individuals of a species at a given time” and a vagrant bird as a bird that shows up outside of this range (p. The Family Accounts are the fun part of the book.

Birds 259

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 259

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

While the 480-odd species recorded within T&T may outstrip our fellow Caribbean islands by leaps and bounds, it pales in comparison to the massive lists of mainland South and Central America. T&T boasts a fascinating level of biodiversity, however the relatively small size of the islands puts a limit on individual species diversity.

Trinidad 257

Trinidad Family America Species 257

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2023

I mean that in a good way: By automatically showing one’s new year list each January 1st, and comparing it to one’s last several year lists, they always make me want to hit the ground running with as many species in my first week as I can manage. For example, of the 9 duck species we saw, 7 are winter-only.

Blackbirds 147

Blackbirds 2020 Ducks Mexico 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2024

The proximity to the Myanmar border is reflected in the presence of Burmese Shrikes here – on the wrong side of the border, but it is well known that this species has never been particularly good at geography. This photo explains the scientific species name haemacephalus (bloodheaded).

Myanmar 130

Myanmar Sri Lanka Nepal Birds 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2021

Decades later, Richard Pough’s Audubon Bird Guide, Eastern Land Birds (I happily own the 1948 edition) included nest and egg descriptions for each species as well. And photographs of feathers in the species accounts, which surprised me. Text retrieved from the Hathitrust Digital Library. The first is accomplished well.

Eggs 229

Eggs Birds United States Sparrows 229

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. So, writing a post about them is easy.

Woodpeckers 231

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 231

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

A nice example is the male Black-breasted Thrush. The Latin species name is dissimilis (different, unlike), possibly because the female looks quite different from the male (though based on that explanation, dissimilis would have to be a very common species name). Baihualing has its share of attractive thrushes. Then it is tame.

Horses 194

Horses Family Blackbirds Species 194

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

South Africa 224

South Africa Malaysia Africa China 224

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

The latest edition of the Clements Checklist that I could find, last modified in August 2022, lists 965 species (a little more manageable!), including 355 endemics, 28 introduced species, 6 extinct species, and 77 globally threatened species. There are three to four species on each page, for the most part.

Australia 238

Australia Birds 2017 Groups 238

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Pough “with illustrations in color of every species” by Don Eckelberry, Doubleday, 1946. The National Audubon Society Birds of North America covers all species seen in mainland United States, Canada and Baja California. The press material says it covers over 800 species, so you know I had to do a count.

North America 279

North America America Birds California Condor 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2022

According to an article in the Guardian , “nearly a quarter of black swan families are parented by homosexual couples, the males sometimes mating with a female simply to have a chick. On the other hand, given China’s low birth rate, they might serve as an example for the future. I thought I needed to mention this.

Birds 206

Birds China Pythons Breeding 206

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2020

It’s the bird family that most people don’t know is a bird family. For many years it was thought the two bird families were related taxonomically. It includes a table listing the species, subspecies, author and date of original description, which I found quite handy in sorting out the birds. Introduction.

Guinea 263

Guinea Birds Papua New Guinea Family 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2024

Personally, I wish the species the best of luck in this endeavor. (Of However, the fact that there are 30 subspecies seems to indicate that the species has a slightly overblown estimation of its own importance. This species has a relatively large number of calls – 12, to be specific, compared to the average of 7.6

Birds 189

Birds Research Science Europe 189

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

The text goes far beyond just those two birds, however, as Doug works his way through the puzzles presented by the incredibly wide diversity of bird behavior, even within species, citing current research and new and old theories, reasoning out the most likely and unlikely answers. The six middle chapters are my favorite reading. ” (p.

Science 214

Science Albatross Research Birds 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2022

As this African Green Pigeon shows, the color should offer good camouflage for species living on trees. In case you do not know that brimstone is sulfur, the Brimstone Canary brings the point home by having the Latin species name sulphurata. Different bird families, I know. Lucia for the birds. Celebration everywhere.

South Africa 199

South Africa Africa Saint Lucia Birds 199

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

For example, many photos are shot in poor light, obscuring the true colours. Lees and Gilroy delineate vagrancy status and trends for every bird family worldwide, highlighting examples, synthesizing research, and framing it all with their own thoughts and conclusions. Yes, this is a shameless plug, but it’s also true.].

Sri Lanka 225

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2022

For example , in one study, it was found that more than 80 percent of the fledgling Australian Magpies born in a territory one year were sired by males from outside its borders. Gisela Kaplan has written a book about the species, and how they seem unperturbed by humans: “It’s one of their most successful defense strategies.

Birds 227

Birds Australia Ducks Mountain Goats 227

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

There is something about a mature rainforest, for example, that cannot be replicated by any human. For the purpose of this post being of a reasonable length, I’m only going to touch on members of the Tyrannidae family of New World Flycatchers which can be found in the cocoa estates of Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad 213

Trinidad Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 213

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2022

At this moment, Baihualing is the eBird hotspot in China which has by far the largest number of species – 486. With 398 species, Nanhui is trailing far behind despite being covered by a much larger number of checklists (2225 compared to 608). So, it is certainly justified to cover this spot in more than one post.

Litter 211

Litter China Species Abandon 211

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Insects and a host of other invertebrate life have evolved with these plant species, and thus depend on them. Of interest to birders, Tallamy also presents data demonstrating that the breeding success of chickadees, for example, numbers of surviving chicks, correlates positively with the number of native trees in the immediate vicinity.

Wildlife 263

Wildlife North America Mammals Breeding 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Several, like the mocker and the hummer, were members of families I hadn’t encountered before, either. It was during this period that I took part in a bird race in Kenya, where I saw 290 species in one day, 442 in two. Thus in 48 hours I’d seen more species of birds than most people see in a lifetime in Britain. Fantastic!

Sri Lanka 233

Sri Lanka Kenya San Francisco Greece 233

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2023

Either way, they are perhaps more central to our stories and lore than other birds, a familiar example, as Darlington reminds us, being Shakespeare’s Macbeth. An Englishwoman, she thought, originally, that she would stay within the British Isles, to see the five or six native species.

Barn Owls 113

Barn Owls Owls Serbia Finland 113

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

JUNE 11, 2023

If you have much interest in birds, you may well have seen videos of the very comical mating dance of male Red-capped Manakins , a species whose range stretches from southeast Mexico to South America. For example, highland Michoacán has two gorgeous trogon species. This tree’s roots can be pretty cool, too.

Mexico 167

Mexico Woodpeckers South America Species 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2023

The species name is cyanouroptera , meaning dark blue tailed and -winged. Of course, me writing about the meaning of “gorgeted” rather than providing bird-specific information indicates a lack of papers on the species. In fact, Spectacled Barwings wearing contact lenses are easily mistaken for this other species.

China 203

China Birds Burma Afghanistan 203