10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Birding Expeditions is a Guatemalan tour company created to help birders to have an unforgettable experience in the Mayan World. Our company is based in Guatemala but also offers tours in Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico. We work hard to provide the richest and most rewarding experience of the Neotropics.

Guatemala 253

Guatemala El Salvador Belize Honduras 253

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Cedar Waxwings have come back to central Mexico. Most years, there are no more than a few dozen reports of this species across the region. But in 2020 I personally saw thousands of Waxwings in a dozen or so sites, and every one of my birder friends across the country had a similar experience. And, gee, I do hope I am right.

Mexico 147

Mexico 2020 2012 Parrots 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Yet they also bring up questions, which I’m going to talk about right now before diving into the specifics of the guides themselves. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed.

Costa Rica 222

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 222

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2015

These and several other species might end up being armchair ticks if and when we take a closer look at their evolutionary history. Taxa that could end up being split into one species occurring north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and one south of the isthmus. (2). Two subspecies of the same species that differ within Costa Rica. (4).

Costa Rica 218

Costa Rica Species South America America 218

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

(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. But I am afraid to post my photos of these with IDs, since I am never quite sure I got them right.). Not to mention the four Myiarchus flycatchers present in the same area. If you can see it.

Mexico 141

Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 141

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

It is also fascinating to see how similar Old World trogons look to their New World relatives, right down to the same flamboyant color patterns. Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. These species are visually very similar, with subtle differences in their tail patterns. Wikipedia has been used.).

Mexico 189

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 189

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

This is my best place to pick up species that inhabit, or visit, the border between the Hot Country thorn forest and highland pine-oak forest habitats. It wasn’t the most colorful species of the day. And how am I doing on my species race for the year? But its rump was somewhat bright, I suppose.

South America 201

South America Sparrows Mexico Bears 201

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

And my decision to take this as a learning experience led to some interesting conclusions — and even some pretty cool birds. Although I had earlier seen my first Gadwalls for the season, my real finds for the day were two species which supposedly should not visit the Mexican highlands: one Black-bellied Plover , and several Dunlins.

Blackbirds 229

Blackbirds Shelters Ducks Mexico 229

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2024

Work brings me regularly to Monterrey in Nuevo Leon, northern Mexico. Amazingly, everyone showed up at dawn except for one person, who’d had a near-death experience with me on Colombia’s Sumapaz paramo, an acceptable excuse for a no-show. The day was only minutes old and we already had 32 species on the day list. It was amazing.

Parrots 163

Parrots Woodpeckers Industry Fast Food 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2021

It is rarely seen in the interior of the country at any distance from the waters of the Atlantic, or those of the Gulf of Mexico. Sure, we could have turned back home right away after bagging those target rarities so quickly, but we made a half-day of it and spent a few more hours birding around the refuge.

New York 264

New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

During the decade, I submitted 1,219 checklists and observed 555 bird species, all in the U.S. In other words, eBird is effectively a complete history of my birding experiences. After an initial period when all species are new, the lifers begin to follow a pattern. and Canada. A checklist from Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C.

Puerto Rico 150

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 150

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2016

This is Tom’s second contribution to 10,000 Birds, following the riveting description of his great hummingbird nest heist : The Gray Thrasher , one of the endemic species of the “The Baja,” has become one of my favorite birds to photograph. In just the right light, they seem to glow.

San Diego 105

San Diego Seattle Mexico Oregon 105

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 107

Mexico Belize Honduras Science 107

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them. Many fly through these Texas hotspots, transforming physics into magic right before our eyes! Then, I learned that over 400 species of birds have been identified in and around these islands. So let’s plan that trip, shall we?

Texas 183

Texas North America Alaska America 183

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 22, 2017

Traveling north of La Paz, Mexico, the terrain starts to look very much like an old John Wayne Movie. This diversity makes for a very unique birding experience. One where you get to enjoy the many different local desert birds, right along side the birds that make the warm salt waters they home.

Mountain Lions 100

Mountain Lions Mules Sheep Lions 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2014

Nearly every country or region has an area on its periphery that regularly attracts a tantalizing assortment of vagrants or a set of species that just barely make it over an international border. For others, it is the desire to have a different birding experience from home without needing a passport.

Thailand 166

Thailand Birds 2013 China 166

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 221

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 221

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2018

We had contacted the staff at the observatory, and with Jonnies help, arranged to stay right there in their newly built hostel type facility. It was an all around quality experience. Imagine my surprise, when this Common Snipe just walked right out into the open in front of the same hide the had the Spoonbills. .

South Africa 100

South Africa New Zealand Costa Rica Qatar 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

What species is shown? 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

MAY 7, 2011

We will have posts on a variety of individual species of wood-warblers, wood-warbler taxonomy, searches for difficult-to-find wood-warblers, and a host of other topics. Many other non-migratory wood-warbler species are living their lives across the neotropics, doing their best to survive and pass on their genes.

United States 187

United States South America Cooking Family 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2024

Being a westerner — raised in California, and now living in western Mexico — I was perhaps most excited about the migratory birds that breed in eastern North America. And the Baltimore Oriole is an iconic eastern bird, which winters along Mexico’s east coast, but never in the west. Then, around 4:00 p.m.,

Mexico 204

Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 204

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

The sighting was easily the best I have ever had of the species, and it was in and out of view for about twenty minutes, foraging in small circuits but always coming back to the stand of thick brush where I had first spotted it. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

Tigers 159

Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This is the time of year that we rightfully contemplate the noble Turkey. Which would be weird.

Turkey 207

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

Having never been to Brazil I can’t possibly speak as an expert in terms of what birds are covered or how well species that I have never seen are depicted. The species accounts are written by Robert Ridgely, one of the premiere neotropical ornithologists, and a veteran at writing excellent field guides. Talk about a win-win!

Brazil 207

Brazil Wildlife 2011 Birds 207

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

His parents moved where opportunity beckoned, taking him from San Angelo, Texas, to Columbus, New Mexico, then to Dallas, and finally on to California. That summer of 1938, when he was ten years old, Cade read of two brothers, Frank and John Craighead, who wrote of their experiences with falcons in National Geographic.

Falcons 186

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 186

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

Algeciras, Spain, to be specific — right around the bay from Gibraltar. It is the western European equivalent of the amazing Raptor River ( Río de Rapaces ) in Mexico’s eastern state of Veracruz. A Peregrine Falcon was seen in the distance, one of the day’s few species I could also have seen in Mexico.

Spain 147

Spain Birds Mexico Eagles 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2023

While our compatriots seem only to want to visit Mexico’s touristy beach cities, we would rather go anywhere else in this country. Indeed, even though I just celebrated 40 years of living in Mexico, we have never been to Cabo San Lucas, and our only experience with Cancún was going though immigration in that city’s airport.

Birds 248

Birds Mexico Turkey Species 248

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Cormorants and Shags (Phalacrocoracidae) Cormorants are more speciose than other families in the order; 30-40 species range widely on every continent and many islands. Ringer is exploring the world one bird at a time.

2011 154

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2023

July is the month when some of Mexico’s best birders (and I don’t use that term lightly) ask me to take them to the tiny town of Paso Ancho, in the hopes of seeing the ever-so-scarce and little-studied Sinaloa Martin. This female Streak-backed Oriole is the rightful nest owner. Well, it is July again.

Mexico 152

Mexico Oregon Squirrels Science 152

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. But the opportunities to see new species become more difficult with each one seen. Those Snowy Egrets ?

Spain 201

Spain Europe Sparrows Mexico 201

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. Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement.

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2022

But there are almost no ways to buy bird-friendly native plants down here in Mexico, so I’m still doing it on the cheap. My first experiments involved rooting cuttings of several of Michoacán’s dozens of Salvia species. And the rootballs are at just the right point. I’m really excited about these.

Mexico 237

Mexico Collecting ALA Sparrows 237

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2024

I flew into Denver from Mexico. I might have to add the Dallas airport staff to the list of things Buffon was right about. My hosts could confidently tick off the species on their life list. We got at least three sub-species but the highlight was a Wilson’s Snipe we flushed. We stopped at Rosie’s Diner.

Denver 172

Denver Colorado Ducks Mules 172

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 I feel right now is joy at their return. The elusive Colima Warbler can be found there, but that sighting is always a stroke of extraordinary luck.

Mexico 175

Mexico Nashville Virginia Shelters 175

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2023

That’s 18 species in one book. This is more than a collection of species accounts. There are also two pages illustrating the “Holistic Approach,” silhouettes of each species (Western birds on the left, Eastern birds on the right), that allow for comparison of structure, size, and shape. known-identity).”**

Los Angeles 219

Los Angeles North America America Species 219

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2022

In most years, that wouldn’t be all that special — the lake is normally where I can see the most species in a single day, so I usually go there first. These photos exaggerate the size difference between the two species, which is actually so minimal as to be almost useless for ID purposes.). Was it practicing?

Falcons 189

Falcons Abandon Abandoning Abandonment 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Ecuador Bolivia 264