10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2024

Storks, Ibises and Spoonbills goes on to give greater detail of the former nesting sites in Europe: it could once be found “in southern Germany and Austria, in the valleys of the upper Rhine and Danube Rivers, and in the Alps of Switzerland, Italy and Germany, and perhaps in Hungary and Greece”.

Morocco 217

Morocco Austria Algeria Germany 217

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2024

It proved strong enough to take the many knocks and falls that a hard-used scope experiences during its lifetime. I was placed one year with a photograph of little egrets, taken at Kerkini in Greece, while the following year I won the class with a shot of Wryneck, photographed in an orchard in Poland ( above ).

Estonia 190

Estonia Poland India Pelicans 190

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

I was driving along the legendary eastern levee of the Kerkini Lake in northern Greece ( Google Map ) and, listening to the first Golden Oriole flute, was slowly getting closer to a wooded Mt. Out of some 4000 buffaloes still being kept in Greece, about 3000 are at this lake. I’m in Greece, after all. mi) above the lake.

Greece 190

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 190

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

I found those comments insightful and inspiring, valuable experiences and opinions worthy of sharing to a wider audience than the FB groups where they were initially posted. Natural Greece: “Empathy is important too. Very simply – a combination of passion, patience, knowledge and experience! Language skills too.”.

Greece 199

Greece Birds Zambia Experience 199

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

The year 2018 started with the rare Lesser White-fronted Goose , closely followed by Red-breasted Goose , Red-crested Pochard and Greater Flamingo , all at the incredible Lake Kerkini National Park in northern Greece: “Seeing a parked 4×4 and a national park biologist Kostas Papadopoulos scoping the flats… What is he looking at?

2018 116

2018 Serbia Falcons Greece 116

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2014

Since I live not very far from Greece, I have often combined my vacation there with birding. I have a handful of Greece travel guides (not that I am happy with any of them), but what I always missed was a specialised bird-finding guide. Greece is visited by millions of tourists every year (over 19.5 I chose paper.

Greece 214

Greece Birds Macedonia 2014 214

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2014

I bought my first 20 years ago from some Russian on the seashore in Greece, but have not used it much because of rather dark images (I even took it to India with me – and didn’t use it even once). How to describe the experience in one word? And this year I carried it to Greece twice, both by plane and by car. in which way?

Greece 167

Greece Battery Experience Experiments 167

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

So, beside a lot of birds and the sunny sky, I want the coldest thing to experience year-round to be my beer. Greece (346 / 411 – just to give you a clue, the Greek-published checklist I have has 449 species). While I do enjoy the first snow of the season, the second snow is a different matter. As is every one after it. The Neotropics.

Sri Lanka 256

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 256

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2017

A few years back, I birded northern Greece with a couple from Namibia. Worried that such experience might traumatise young Spongebob, I held the paddle as an obstacle, pointed at the angry bird. Noisy wing beats, heavy landing behind the stern, water splashing everywhere and then, a hit of a heavy wing on my upper arm….

Birds 119

Birds Namibia Greece Feral 119

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2021

It was a fun month with posts from places as varied as Greece and Uganda, Costa Rica and India. Birding Experiences. We here at 10,000 Birds dedicated the month of February to highlighting a variety of birding tourism companies, destinations, and guides. But, as you’ve probably noticed, we’re not out of the pandemic yet.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Uganda Greece Ghana 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2024

They can be challenging to identify, especially if you haven’t seen one before, though with experience they are not really so difficult. In Europe, Lesser Kestrels are birds of the Mediterranean zone, nesting mainly in Spain and Portugal, southern France, Sardinia, the Balkans and parts of Greece.

Falcons 188

Falcons Spain Europe 2012 188

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2024

All the so-called grey geese – Greylag, Bean, White-front, Lesser White-front, Swan – look very much alike, and it takes experience to identify them by their calls and their shape and size. A first-winter Red-breasted Goose at Cley, North Norfolk As a general rule, geese are birds of subtle, even dull, plumage.

Bulgaria 130

Bulgaria Geese Romania Estonia 130

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2019

Yet, going through the pages of a book is an irreplaceable experience. Cover photo: birding Greece. An app comes handy to check the call of this, or a song of that species, and I must admit, with larger font I do not need my reading glasses. How about a notebook vs. eBird, Merlin or iNaturalist? Inset: birding Costa Rica.

Birds 133

Birds Costa Rica Greece Battery 133

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2016

Sharing those special birds with so many like-minded people of all ages may have been the most magical experience on race day. This year’s recipient was the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS) in Greece. Waiting for the sandgrouse. I can’t think of any low points from my time in Eilat, Israel.

Costa Rica 168

Costa Rica Eagles Birds 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2022

Those large international agencies use reputable local ground agents, and in my experience this creates a safety cocoon around the travellers. Birding agencies seem to stick to their announced plans and no news of cancelled tours had reached the bird tourism market.

Sri Lanka 147

Sri Lanka Ghana Uganda Eagles 147