10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

I remember the guide on my first Kenyan birding safari remarking that “birding groups always see far more mammals than those who come just to see animals. It was an exciting experience, though a remarkably chilly one, as winters in Castile and León can be very cold. Why not the stoat family or the badger family?)

Fur 178

Fur Bulgaria Otters Estonia 178

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2022

Birding has become a family affair for my relatives. ” I asked the first birders I happened upon – part of the group of dozens, if not 100+ people on the wharf. Later, reflecting on the experience, we all noted how friendly, how positive, how helpful everyone acted that day on the wharf. “Where are we looking?”

Eagles 214

Eagles Russia Massachusetts United States 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2020

Those of us in the United States are celebrating Memorial Day Weekend, normally a time to gather with friends and family for barbecues, beach outings, and other fun group activities. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2020 159

2020 United States Breeders Birds 159

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2019

Perhaps just once in a decade, the UK experiences an invasion of Painted Ladies , Vanessa ( Cynthia) cardui. Painted Ladies are part of the Aristocrat group of butterflies. The Aristocrat group is not a recognised classification group. as I have some from the family in my garden.

Ireland 120

Ireland South America North America Groups 120

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2020

This lifer for both of us would have been our undisputed peak experience for the outing, if it had not been for the majestic sight of a pair of Great Swallow-tailed Swifts that flew near us at eye level. They were also believed to be part of the Wood Warbler family. Still, the Chat absolutely tied with them for peak status.

Mexico 243

Mexico United States 2019 2013 243

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

We all have them: families of birds that are maddeningly similar, forever leaving nagging doubts about our identifications. Birders throughout the Americas can experience the chalenges of Gull, Tern, New World Warbler, and Tyrant Flycatcher identification. New World Warblers in non-reproductive plumage. As is this one.

Mexico 136

Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 136

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2019

Somehow, we managed to flip the script on that by spotting all kinds of birds that the whole group could enjoy. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. I spent the weekend with some friends in the Southern Tier, where I’ve always complained about the boring birdlife.

2019 119

2019 Birds California Raised 119

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

I would lay odds that we birders geek out to all manner of natural phenomena at a higher rate than almost any other group. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was one of the several Black Vultures that went overhead during a family hike to Anthony’s Nose in the Hudson Valley. What do you think?

2015 160

2015 Bears New York Birds 160

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

If there’s one group of birds that just won’t let you be miserable it would have to be the Grey-crowned Babbler. They are usually in a group and our garden regularly has a family group of eight visit it. If you have any experience with these birds then it makes perfect sense.

Australia 157

Australia Groups Family Experience 157

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2016

By the time this post publishes, I’ll be on an airplane heading back to the United States following a truly remarkable two week visit to Uganda as part of a group of western birders visiting there to promote the inaugural African Birding Expo. In the relatively brief period, my group had something on the order of 450 species.

Uganda 159

Uganda Africa Squirrels Tanzania 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2015

That was the first thing we–our New Jersey Audubon group of 11 birders, led by Scott Barnes–noted as we exited the airport. Excellent 10,000 Birds posts have been written about Pico Bonito and Honduras by Corey and Carlos , so I’m going to focus on some of my most memorable experiences. There was no snow. And, no snow.

Honduras 244

Honduras Birds Costa Rica Groups 244

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

Ballantine and Hyman explore how birds communicate and summarize studies on how that communication functions in diverse bird families all over the world. There is discussion of the communication signals birds use in very large groups to locate mates and children, which is something that never occurred to me. There is so much here!

North America 278

North America Research Birds Groups 278

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

I know that families in the United States are already fretting/anticipating September’s arrival. Now that we’re later in the season, they are grouping either in family clusters or anticipation of migration. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

2013 170

2013 United States Birds Family 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

Groups them by family too and by their shape” His extra long arm extended and passed me that precious book. One such surprising experience happened with grouse. In keeping with gamebird tradition, my first experience with grouse wasn’t one of a bird on a branch or something singing from a tree.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

A family motel and passion for responsible ecotourism brought her home to the Oregon Coast where she and her husband, Erik, adventure and record a podcast ( Hannah and Erik Go Birding ), created in an effort to inspire others to get out and bird. Regardless, we made it Marion and all else added to the experience.

South Africa 262

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 262

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Where a birder goes in the Caribbean determines which birds are seen including toy-like todies, Carib hummingbirds, cool pigeons, quail-doves, unique avian families and outrageous woodpeckers. One such special place is the Centro Manu, a small family run reserve that features several star bird species of Costa Rica’s Caribbean lowlands.

Costa Rica 263

Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2020

A locally owned company started by Birding Experiences founder and guide Diego Quesada (with whom I have watched Buff-breasted Sandpipers among other birds), CaraCara offers poster art of bird families that occur in Costa Rica. Posters of three groups of birds are currently available; toucans, trogons, and hummingbirds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Species Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2014

They are usually seen as a small, noisy flock or family group that passes quickly through feeding acrobatically like the true t**s as they go. My normal experience of them is brief as they are always moving and they have always resisted my attempts to portray them by means of millions of tiny dots. japonicus race.

Japan 198

Japan Collecting Europe Groups 198

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

He is also a serious birder (and a birding friend), and his birding observations and adventures are used throughout the book to introduce evolutionary questions and illustrate the mental interplay between personal experience and scientific curiosity. The book is smartly organized into 12 chapters. This is a book that requires attention.

Science 207

Science Albatross Research Birds 207

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2015

If an Efe person spent time living with a group associated with a trail, he* would learn about that trail as well. Most interesting is that one’s knowledge of important things like where to find food (or danger) was based on experience not on general principles. Turns out this is true of Minnesotans as well. So remember.

Minnesota 177

Minnesota Detroit Birds Laws 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

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. It’s a unique title; twitchers and naturalists interested in migration will find it fascinating reading and valuable for future reference.

Sri Lanka 219

Sri Lanka Malaysia Birds Suriname 219

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2022

I do not (yet) have any accessibility issues, and my only experience regarding anything akin to accessibility has been limited to the period when my daughter was in a stroller, which presents only a tiny sliver of the challenges faced by many. It is an eye-opening experience to view a familiar place from a new perspective.

Portland 185

Portland Oregon Laws Experience 185

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

In the mean time, a family group of Black-throated Magpie-Jays were frolicking in the breeze high over the dry valley, showing off their exorbitantly long tail streamers. It did not take long before we had a family group of Tufted Jays right by the side of the road (KM 216) and an uncommon Gray-collared Becard at the same spot.

Mexico 187

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 187

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

Red-billed Curassow ( Crax blumenbachii ), a large, ground-dwelling bird belonging to the same family as the more familiar Plain Chachalaca of southern Texas, was never a very widespread species. There are certain birding experiences that stay with you forever. Is that all we are going to get? Or so we thought. And that was it.

Brazil 208

Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 208

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2012

Namibia is politically stable and a safe country to visit offering spectacular scenery, untouched wildernesses, vast game reserves, superb wildlife and fascinating cultural experiences. This family group is performing their loud croaking territorial calls. It has the second lowest population density (6.6

Namibia 245

Namibia Angola Lovebirds South Africa 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2019

Getting to actually see four species, in the last two weeks, and to hear two more is almost unheard of in my experience. Last week, a good friend, Dan Weisz gave me a tip on the location of a family of Burrowing Owls that were extremely easy to access. It all started in getting to photograph the Northern Pygmy-owls in Madera Canyon.

Owls 146

Owls Arizona Tucson South Africa 146

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

These irruptive visitors to T&T always are a pleasure to experience. This extremely vocal member of the vireo family utters its rich warble incessantly from sun-up to sun-down but it rarely makes itself visible. Before we got to our destination, I pulled the car over to investigate an almost deafening twittering.

Trinidad 210

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 210

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

While hoopoes are in their own family, DNA studies suggest that the hoopoe diverged from hornbills, and the wood-hoopoes and scimitarbills from the hoopoe. If you come across a group on the ground foraging for food, look around and you will find one bird sitting in a vantage point, ready to give the alarm call in case of any danger.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

GISS—general impression, size, shape—is intuitive, the result of an unconscious cognitive process derived from experience in the field. These chapters differ in length and content, depending on the number of species in each group. There is GISS and there is Birding by Impression and they are not the same.

Birds 169

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 169

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Large picnic pavilions border one side, and while I was there the largest was commandeered by a family party. Tricolored and Little Blue Herons provided diversity, while an Osprey and group of circling Turkey Vultures were the only shapes that broke the constant blue of the sky. Eastern Phoebes moved through the treetops, then flew on.

Florida 100

Florida Alligators Birds Deer 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Spot-breasted Oriole, attending its nest In my experience, male Spot-breasted Orioles begin to sing in the first half of March through most of May on the very same perch in the very same tree every day in spring. The young followed the parents around in small family groups well after they had fledged.

Miami 172

Miami Costa Rica Florida 2005 172

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2014

We toured the Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre after dark, and we did it by foot in a group that was just my family and a guide. It was the perfect experience, the guide had astonishing eyes and found things we would have passed over if we had been alone. Sepilok was the first, and to my mind probably the best.

Badgers 154

Badgers Wildlife Reptiles Monkeys 154

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2019

But, other people like sitting out there too, even groups of photographers, so claim that seat and make sure to sit right in it or someone might just sit there instead, perhaps even an entire family even if you do have gear set out to supposedly claim the table (this nearly happened to me on a recent visit!). I hope to see you there.

Costa Rica 198

Costa Rica Cooking Birds Chickens 198

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2021

You truly cannot experience the Gray-barred Wren without hearing the raucous calls shared among group members of this highly-social species. It is not that close of a relative of the Northern Mockingbird , being in the same family, but a different genus. That is because it is, well, a Mockingbird.

Trinidad 175

Trinidad Emotional Transported Mexico 175

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

My group came to Montezuma to spy tasty Chocó endemic tanagers, hummingbirds, and anything else we could lay eyes on. Several generations of Leopoldina’s family operate the lodge, serving delicious food and hospitality in a clean, comfortable environment. This, of course, was a great boon for our group.

Colombia 261

Colombia Birds South America America 261

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

” Bill shape and systematics For a long time, the colorful, diverse, and species-rich group of primarily New World birds called nine-primaried oscines (about 10 percent of all living bird species) were classified largely by the shapes and sizes of their bills. .” These are neither sparrows, nor finches, but tanagers.

2003 206

2003 Sparrows Family South America 206

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2016

I’ve been home only a few days after what amounted to an almost-three-week trip–twelve days with the ABA group, a six-day extension to Assam, and travel time–so I think the simplest way to write about the safari is to focus on two memorable days. Shorebirds included Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, and Common Redshank.

India 187

India Tigers Birds Owls 187