10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2024

My only other experience with an Audubon Club field trip anywhere, on a cold October morning in the American Midwest, was frankly kind of a bust. But this one was a wonderful experience. According to my list, which somehow ended up being the official group list, we saw 41 species in about four hours. Both were welcome additions.

San Francisco 150

San Francisco California Woodpeckers Experience 150

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. Mexico is great for those who love biogeography! Think Arizona meets Costa Rica with a Mexican twist.

Mexico 187

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 187

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2021

Like the best Big Year books, Adventures of a Louisiana Birder has a deeply personal layer to the bird quest, in this case experiences of danger and recovery, frailty and loss, mourning and hope. Adventures of a Louisiana Birder: One Year, Two Wings, Three Hundred Species. by Marybeth Lima. LSU Press, 2019, 272 pp.

Louisiana 264

Louisiana Species Mississippi Alabama 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2024

I have seen few species with the word “House” in their English names ( House Sparrow , Wren , and Finch ), as well as a couple of “Barn” birds ( Barn Swallows and Owls ). I had waited so long to meet you: In May and June, I made a pair of work trips to Mexico’s tropical state of Tabasco. But it was close.

Morocco 166

Morocco Birds Turkey Mexico 166

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

As I mentioned last week, the world seems to have turned upside down lately, at least here in central Mexico. One of my companions said that in his region of Mexico, this type of rain is called a “ mojapendejos ” rain. And indeed, it did rain just enough to keep us consistently wet, but we were too pendejo to seek shelter.

Birds 155

Birds Mexico Shelters Species 155

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Now, it is much easier for me to achieve first-time sightings of species in Europe than it is in Mexico, at this point of the game. So I might have assumed I would not see new species in the Palmones wetlands. The first gave me eight new species for Spain, of which four were lifers. But this time, I could.

Spain 174

Spain Mexico Europe North America 174

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 241

Guatemala El Salvador Belize Honduras 241

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. My money is on a range extension.

Mexico 147

Mexico 2020 2012 Parrots 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2023

Perhaps those people have never had to personally experience increasingly erratic climate patterns. And now, in my long-term home of Michoacán, Mexico, we have experienced a one-year drought unlike anything I have seen in my 30 years here. There were plenty of other birds in the area, with 72 species around the reservoir for the day.

Ducks 130

Ducks Mexico California Fish 130

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2020

North America is home to many amazing bird species, including several which require a special effort to see and appreciate. These birds also invite one to sites that are unique within the United States – the climate, vegetation, and landscapes all add context and heighten the experience of seeing one’s first Elegant Trogon or Painted Bunting.

America 261

America Arizona North America Texas 261

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Fortunately, at this time of year there are also a good number of high-quality migratory species: Least Flycatcher. Hey, even the common species give good photos in Paso Ancho! That could be because Mexico’s lowland Tierra Caliente (Hot Country) has a Very Bad Reputation. Is it safe to bird in Mexico?

Mexico 159

Mexico Colombia Africa Experience 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

To the relief of Mexican birders everywhere, this species was split several years later into two species; the black-and-white eastern race is now Morelet’s Seedeater , and the more colorful western race is now the Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater. What I didn’t know was that this is a very special species.

Birds 163

Birds Mexico California Spain 163

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 206

Costa Rica Species South America America 206

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.* Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. © 2023 by Steve N.

Costa Rica 206

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 206

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. Many of these species are common and widespread, making them just that much more challenging. Not to mention the four Myiarchus flycatchers present in the same area. Thanks again, Fabián!

Mexico 136

Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 136

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2021

That is because this site’s height of 3,000 m (about 10,000 feet) offers me certain species that I can’t add to my year list anywhere else. They were a fairly common species from my childhood in California, but I had not expected them to turn up in central Mexico. I could swear it was following me.

Mexico 160

Mexico California Species Groups 160

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

Most of our readers are not likely to be able to ID this bird, because it only occurs in Mexico and Guatemala. But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species. As it turned out, these were not the only bad photos to help me flesh out my 2022 year list that day (species 201-211, on February 12th).

Mexico 177

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 177

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2019

Rather, I am speaking of what a certain group of birds must experience every day. These are the few species who prefer to spend their lives hanging upside-down. We each have reasons to give special love to certain species. And those species that like to hang upside-down definitely amuse me.

Mexico 137

Mexico Horses Species Groups 137

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

I love living in central Mexico, and miss very few things about living in the U.S. Of course, I also love birding in Mexico, with its 1,000+ species, and seemingly infinite variety of habitats. Mexico, like many developing countries, has a terrible problem with habitat destruction. So how do I get my natives?

Mexico 171

Mexico Species Bears Experience 171

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2021

It was a very disorienting experience. I saw 57 species in the area, which is pretty good for the church neighborhood. Three species especially stood out. I used eBird’s species map option to confirm that in other recent years, only a few Cedar Waxwing sightings were reported in Mexico from January to May.

Turtles 223

Turtles Mexico Branding Sparrows 223

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

More than 20 species are recognized, many look similar and to throw a bit more challenging flavored sauce into the Megascops mix, there might be a few more species awaiting description. One of the more recently, officially recognized screech-owl species is the Choco Screech-Owl.

Costa Rica 189

Costa Rica Owls Panama Argentina 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. 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. These species are visually very similar, with subtle differences in their tail patterns. Which you should.

Mexico 178

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 178

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 187

South America Sparrows Mexico Bears 187

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2021

But he is a biologist whose specialty is botany, and he requested my help rounding out the list of 80 bird species he had already seen along the river. We saw 50 species in around five hours, which is a solid number for a summer outing. Species totals can climb by about 50% in the winter, when we receive many migratory birds.).

Protection 251

Protection Guatemala Mexico Woodpeckers 251

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 154

Parrots Woodpeckers Industry Fast Food 154

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 213

Blackbirds Shelters Ducks Mexico 213

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Additionally, there are still a few regularly-occurring Pacific pelagic species that I have never seen. Then we crossed the south San Diego Trough to Thirty Mile Bank, eventually reaching a place called “The Corner,” which, as I understand it, is where San Diego and Los Angeles counties meet Mexico. Then we headed back.

San Diego 147

San Diego Los Angeles Cooking North Carolina 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

My area of central Mexico has a true monsoon climate. I don’t consider my little garden to be a terribly birdy patch, although years of observation have resulted in my seeing 59 species there (64, if you count the White-throated Swifts , Black and Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks and Common Ravens that may fly high overhead).

Nashville 164

Nashville 2015 Mexico Turkey 164

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2021

(The White-tipped Dove is actually called, in Spanish, the Paloma Arroyera , or “Gully Dove” And sorry, I have yet to get a photo of this shy species. Like most of the species on this list, this tiny highland bird prefers to make its presence know by singing, rather than by being seen.

Trinidad 175

Trinidad Emotional Transported Mexico 175

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2013

Isla Isabel, a picturesque volcanic island situated 15 miles off Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit coast, is just such a place. Lastly, due to its previous inaccessibility to humans and the absence of natural predators, the wildlife is bizarrely unafraid of humans, allowing for a truly unforgettable experience.

Whales 259

Whales Whaling Sharks Marine Life 259

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 105

Mexico Belize Honduras Science 105

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 103

San Diego Seattle Mexico Oregon 103

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. My only previous experience with the Montezuma Winery – as documented here – was a bottle of their Red Wing, a red wine made from the Catawba grape, an often-unruly American variety.

New York 262

New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 262

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2016

The depth of knowledge, and experience shown here, as well as the writing skills leave me in awe most every week, as I scroll thru the weekly entries. 8 Great Kiskadee – Pitangus sulphuratus This bird was the very first bird that I identified when I flew over to Guadalajara, Mexico. . #8

2016 100

2016 Grizzly Bear Puffins Mexico 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

En route they will be “birding in nearly every country in mainland North and South America,” and, as they say on their excellent blog , “Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way. Sinaloa Martin Progne sinaloae.

South America 180

South America San Diego Mexico America 180

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them. Then, I learned that over 400 species of birds have been identified in and around these islands. And then there’s rufous, who journeys between Mexico and Alaska twice a year. So let’s plan that trip, shall we?

Texas 170

Texas North America Alaska America 170

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. In addition to the hundred or so species of birds I regularly find here, there are Desert Foxes, Bobcats, Mountain Lions, Desert Bighorn Sheep and Mule Deer.

Mountain Lions 100

Mountain Lions Mules Sheep Lions 100