10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

It’s not clear how many of the plates have been touched up, redrawn or are new, and I hope we’ll learn more about the process, perhaps when the third book in the series by Howell and Dyer, a new guide to the birds of Mexico, is published.* Why are these issues? For context, the IOC version 13.1

Costa Rica 202

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 202

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

The Trogon family (and order, since the order only includes one family) is quite widespread, being found in all the tropical (and some subtropical) regions of the world. Here in the highlands of central Mexico, we can see (rather easily, as I mentioned above) two trogons: the Mountain Trogon , and the Elegant Trogon.

Mexico 176

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 176

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

We all have them: families of birds that are maddeningly similar, forever leaving nagging doubts about our identifications. Someday I will get up the nerve to write about the ten, yes, TEN Empidonax species I believe I have seen in my little corner of Mexico. New World Warblers in non-reproductive plumage. As is this one.

Mexico 135

Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 135

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

In August, we took a family trip to beautiful San Diego, seeing SeaWorld , LegoLand , and the San Diego Zoo. On August 13, 2022, I woke up early, snuck out of the hotel room without waking the rest of the family, and was at Seaforth Landing on Mission Bay by 7:00 a.m. Exactly how that cartographic alchemy works, I do not know.

San Diego 147

San Diego Los Angeles Cooking North Carolina 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2019

” So, it is established: this is a film about migrant birds and the people who work to protect them in south Texas and northern Mexico. The experiences of children observing birds, touched on in the U.S. Birders is directed by Otilia Portillo Padua of Mexico, and was funded by a grant from the Sundance Institute.

Advocacy 266

Advocacy Mexico United States Texas 266

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2018

In a little less than two weeks my family and I will be enjoying a long weekend on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Having never birded in Mexico at all I was initially concerned about identifying the myriad species that can be seen. Hopefully, I’ll do better than 85% correct when I’m in Mexico.

Mexico 104

Mexico Belize Honduras Science 104

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. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls will also sometimes do so.).

Trinidad 172

Trinidad Emotional Transported Mexico 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

In other words, millions of people got together with family and friends for a cozy day of mashed potatoes, gravy, apple pie, naps, football, and some serious turkeyliciousness. The turkeys I’m talking about up in here are three of the five members of the Cracidae family that occur in Costa Rica. Ain’t I great?

Costa Rica 163

Costa Rica Turkey Ecuador Hunting 163

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In this first installment, I will focus on my impressions and experiences in the highlands portion of our tour. One of these islands may have been the present day Northern Central American Highlands which includes Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of extreme southern Mexico (Chiapas). This is a fascinating area of transition.

Honduras 206

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2011

It may seem like cruel and unusual punishment for we denizens of the New World to spend an entire week celebrating what is surely the coolest family of birds in the world, a family that is sadly absent from the Old World, but it can’t be helped. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

United States 178

United States South America Cooking Family 178

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. The book focuses on two listing events: her 2012 Louisiana Big Year and her 2016 Louisiana 300 Year.

Louisiana 264

Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

Though wood-warblers, the mostly brightly colored birds of the family Parulidae, are only found in the New World we felt that birders the world over would be pleased to see a plethora of posts about these striking and sought after species. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

United States 155

United States South America 2011 2012 155

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2020

While I don’t have a lot of experience with tropical terns, I believe that narrows it down to Sandwich Tern ( Thalasseus sandvicensis ), a bird that – while still quite rare in the Northeast – seems to be occurring with greater frequency , along with an increasingly northward incursion of Royal Terns ( Thalasseus maximus ).

India 163

India Squirrels North America America 163

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Its native range stretches from the southern Pacific coast of Mexico south to northwestern Costa Rica, where it is an inhabitant of arid to semihumid woodland and open areas with scattered trees. 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

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

The chapter on “Capturing Bird Behavior” (my favorite) gives detailed examples of behavior cues and sound cues to look and listen for in anticipation of interesting preening, courtship, and family behavior. In other words, if you value this type of bird photography, it is most probably worth it. The last two chapters point us to the future.

Birds 185

Birds Ethics 2019 Experience 185

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2014

For others, it is the desire to have a different birding experience from home without needing a passport. Every year, birders in both of these states find species more typical of Mexico (and sometimes within plain sight of Mexico!)

Thailand 166

Thailand Birds 2013 China 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

This video by Kathi Borgmann shows an army ant swarm in Mexico. Sixteen species within the antbird family (Thamnophidae) are considered true obligate army ant followers. A bite from an army ant can really pack a punch; I speak from experience. One of our best was in the lowlands of Chiapas, Mexico.

San Diego 182

San Diego South America Costa Rica America 182

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2014

It’s relatively easy to classify birds into family groups based on physical characteristics. We view them as our enemies when they eat our crops and as an extension of our family when we see them at our feeders. Remarkably, there are 59 bird families that have very little cultural significance; these are listed in Appendix III.

Birds 204

Birds Egypt Family Eagles 204

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

Though wood-warblers, the mostly brightly colored birds of the family Parulidae, are only found in the New World we felt that birders the world over would be pleased to see a plethora of posts about these striking and sought after species. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

Tigers 158

Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 158

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

John Schmitt, who illustrated Raptors of Mexico and Central America amongst many other books and magazine articles. The Checklist is more than a taxonomic listing of species and chapter number and title; it also contains useful notes on each bird family. It’s spelled this way, all caps, because that is the official name.).

Birds 114

Birds North America Breeding America 114

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family. Mexico border.

North America 141

North America Sparrows America United States 141

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

That larger clade is in turn sister to a clade containing the four remaining totipalmate bird families, which do still seem to be related, and which needed a new order name once pelicans were removed. But meanwhile, let’s look at the four avian families that comprise the brand new order Suliformes.

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

The birds that I have experience with, like some of the raptors, wading birds, shorebirds, and tanagers, are all true-to-life in color, shape, and proportions to say nothing of being pretty paintings, if slightly sterile on the standard plain white background. of species of bird that birders the world over desperately want to experience.

Brazil 194

Brazil Wildlife 2011 Birds 194

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2019

It’s a rush any new birder experiences: that of every species being a lifer. Once you’ve been around the birding block a few years, your appreciation for the lifer experience deepens greatly. Which is why we all eventually turn to the one way to combine old-birder experience with new-birder opportunities: travel.

Spain 187

Spain Europe Sparrows Mexico 187

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2022

A surplus of quality birding experiences kept me from making my reports, which is embarrassing. I will start by telling you about encounters in Turkey with two special bird families. I really should have encountered these families in Mexico, as they both occur here. So writing for you fine folks fell by the wayside.

Turkey 162

Turkey Spain Mexico Agenda 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. Like all talented travel writers, Dunn is adept at drawing us into his experiences.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020

Although, technically, I mostly felt your pain… for the past four months, while about a dozen beautiful migratory Wood Warblers were nowhere to be found here in central Mexico. What my previous experience had not prepared me for, was that this summer I would see many of those species for the first time all at once.

Mexico 165

Mexico Nashville Virginia Shelters 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. One field guide, seven countries. Text is on the left, plates are on the right.

America 211

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 211

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2023

This past January, however, my experience was even better. Here are some of the factors that allowed us to pass the century mark in a single morning: Winter : If you want to rack up the species in central Mexico, you should bird here in the winter, when northern species have come down for their off season.

Blackbirds 147

Blackbirds 2020 Ducks Mexico 147

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

These friends do work similar to that which we do in Mexico, but in much more delicate circumstances. And I have lots of experience with my long lens drawing attention. And it offered up another taxonomic family I had longed to meet, with my first bee-eater , an Arabian Green Bee-eater. And yet, concerned they were.

Jordan 147

Jordan Birds Turkey 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

I should add that the Big Owls taking over NYC social and even hard print media, dominating conversations with my nonbirder friends and family, are not the only owls in the five boroughs, but like a musical, the closer you are to Broadway, the closer you are to fame and fortune (and maybe even a higher quality rodent for dinner, who knows?).

New York City 179

New York City Birds Owls Fox 179

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

Mike Freiberg grew up in Philadelphia, PA, where his family introduced him to the world of birding. As his passion for birding grew he decided to travel Latin America; he has spent time in Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela and a great deal of time in Brazil. Over time the hobby grew into a career. in Animal Ecology.

Brazil 160

Brazil Venezuela Iowa Guatemala 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2012

Catbirds are not the unfortunate result of unwise experiments with radioactivity. Birds called catbirds include two species in the New World family, Mimidae, four from the bowerbird family, Ptilonorhynchidae, and one from the Old World babblers, Timaliidae. We can start first with what catbirds are not. So what are catbirds?

Papua New Guinea 177

Papua New Guinea Ethiopia Guinea Cats 177

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2011

Kirby Adams had a magical experience with his Best Bird of the Year and he blogged about it on his blog, Sharp Tern. My family also farms so that limits places we are able to go throughout the year. A whole bunch of you responded and shared your best birds either in blog post form, email form, or in our comments.

2011 161

2011 Birds Ohio North Dakota 161

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

I had spent several holidays with my family in the USA in the 1980′s and then worked in Maine during the summer of 1985-beware the poison ivy and the snapping turtles! We are devoting a whole week to wood-warblers but are only just barely scratching the surface of possible topics involving this amazing family of birds.

South Africa 158

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2011

More than any other member of their tribe, they are equipped to survive the getting-lost experience. So looking at a Rufous Hummingbird and seeing the tropics is a bit of an error (although the majority of individuals who don’t get lost winter in Mexico.) There goes the neighborhood? Photo by David Menke, courtesy of the U.S.

South America 156

South America New York Alaska America 156

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

It was a heart-pounding scene straight out of Jurassic Park, an odd experience for a laid-back pursuit like birding. I wrote about the experience here. There are three principle reasons for my choice: First of all, it’s a cuckoo, one of the great families that rival owls and rails in my affection. Secondly, well just look at it.

2012 143

2012 Birds Guatemala Florida 143