10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2015

Germany, like most of Europe and very much unlike North America, is home to only one species of squirrel. Mammals Germany red squirrels squirrels' And aren’t you glad it is. We don’t begrudge you the diversity though, because we have reed warblers and you don’t.

Squirrels 162

Squirrels North America Germany Europe 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2016

The world is still turning, the blog didn’t crash, no anonymous threats against my family on social media … I guess my small series on gulls may continue with part 2 of 3, which will focus on the Herring Gull ‘s second side-kick: Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans. Why does “steppe” win over “Caspian”?

Kazakhstan 111

Kazakhstan Germany Ukraine Asia 111

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2021

In fact, this is probably a species that has substantially expanded its original range through the pet shop route and the resulting escapees. In fact, it seems to be one of the species employed by past ornithologists to establish their own monument in the shape of a subspecies. I grew up in a small town in Northern Germany.

South Africa 222

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 222

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2016

In fact, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology , “The Golden Eagle is the most common official national animal in the world – it’s the emblem of Albania, Germany, Austria, Mexico, and Kazakhstan.” The oldest known Golden Eagle was over 30 years old, and as a species they prefer open and semi-open landscapes.

Albania 101

Albania Mexico Eagles Kazakhstan 101

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

The Edwards’s Pheasant is a rather smart blue-black member of the pheasant family and it may be on the edge of extinction. It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; this category is reserved for only the most threatened species in the world.

Vietnam 153

Vietnam 2000 Germany Groups 153

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

Europe… with such low herp diversity the locals split any sub-population of a species that occurs on either the Iberian Peninsula or Italy as a new species just to make them feel better out themselves, naturally is the continent that rose to the top of my trip list. Either that or having family friends in Germany.

Salamander 137

Salamander Germany Birds Blackbirds 137

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

To us on the traditional side of the Atlantic, they’ll always belong to the family Iznogoudae , the birds who want to become warblers instead of the warblers. The genus Passer has several well-recognized and recognizable species in Europe, and still holds several enigmas. And do they ever try so hard.

Sparrows 209

Sparrows Italy Asia Austria 209

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2022

The Black-crowned Night Heron is a member of the heron family. This bird used to be quite common in Germany, but now it is rare. This is often the case in birds – for the young birds, it is more important to be invisible than to impress the other birds of the same species. Hopefully, this will not change in the future.

Birds 162

Birds Fish Germany China 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I want to reach 500 birds in the ABA, get my Queens list to 295, see a total of at least 500 species, and get my World Life List to 1,100. But how did I see so many species this year?

2012 142

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 142

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Starting in the 16th century, the species was released widely on ponds and parks and rivers throughout Europe where it flourished remarkably and continues to do so to this very day. A happy family of Mute Swans at Waghäusel in south-western Germany, post-trading era. Evidently, kayaking was not a popular sport in those times.

Feral 168

Feral Europe Asia North America 168

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2017

I was given my first real field guide to the birds of Europe by my parents, a guide beyond the species found at backyard feeders and city ponds. My childhood in the 1970s and 1980s was of course shaped by family, friends, playmobil ( very popular in Germany back then), and school but also to a certain extend by the Cold War.

Europe 100

Europe Birds Kazakhstan Russia 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Nearly 70 species of parrots have been recorded flying free at some stage or another in Miami, including Hyacinth Macaws. Dozens of other introduced bird species, largely escapees from pet owners, now call Miami home. A Carolina Parakeet mounted in a museum in Germany Fritz Geller-Grimm. Reluctance.

Miami 130

Miami Parrots Research Birds 130

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

But I do have rules about whether I can have said to have visited a country, ie does the country “count” which I have inherited from my family, particularly my Dad. I have caught a bus across Europe, but I can’t really claim to have “been” to Germany or Belgium.

Botswana 162

Botswana Birds Lesotho Elephants 162

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

This is “the deep cradle of Western ornithology: the birthplace of bird study,” he tells us as he writes about gazing at the 8,000-year old depictions of “flamingos, herons, raptors, avocets and many other species” (p.

Dissection 209

Dissection Birds Research Europe 209

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2018

It’s also the first drink featuring a non-North American species (I’ll admit there’s a bias in my selections that’s largely dictated by geography). This the first drink I’ve reviewed featuring a bird not yet on my life list – and it’s not one I’m counting on adding any time soon.

New Zealand 100

New Zealand India Massachusetts United States 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2019

For many grassland species, our vast expanses of tilled and plowed fields, orchards and vineyards, pastures and rangeland offer an abundance of convenient food and shelter – and some bolder birds even wander indoors to find these things in our barns and stables. For most of history, beer has thrived in agrarian settings, too.

Vermont 118

Vermont Belgium Farming Europe 118

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

It sheltered him, it haunted him, and it set his thoughts adrift, to the warmth of spring and the family he had. The problem is that Blackbirds are incredibly common in suburban and even urban areas of Germany. In suburban Germany, this will essentially mean a silent spring. The darkness was all around him. All were long gone.

Blackbirds 154

Blackbirds Germany Shelters Rodents 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Next, band names referring to individual birds or bird families. A Eurasian Wren (Visselhoevede, Germany). Common Crane , Schneverdingen, Germany. The Bowerbirds are an American independent-folk band as well as an Australian bird family. The bird family, however, is not. Or look at what I just created below.

South Africa 215

South Africa China Germany Birds 215

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2011

And while they are easily identified to genus level, species identification - where necessary - is all I have mentioned in the intro to this post above, and then some. “Outside North America&# and “where necessary&# ? have asked themselves for ages: Is the Brown Creeper more than one species ? I’ll explain.

North America 145

North America Europe America Asia 145

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Slaughter Lake does not sound like it would be a nice place to visit but we three Americans, my small family, were blissfully unaware of what Schlachtensee translates to before our expedition there. It is at the edge of the Grunewald, or Green Forest, which is alleged to have Black Woodpeckers haunting its depths.

Woodpeckers 160

Woodpeckers Birds ALA Slaughter 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2011

Among these white-headed/dark-winged gulls formerly lumped into the genus Larus , there were 18+ recognized species the last time I checked, sharing similarities that make telling them apart for the amateur birdwatcher very difficult. 1998), then the proper name for this species is L. fuscus – should be separated as species.

2011 157

2011 Cyprus Deer Species 157

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2012

White Wagtail Motacilla alba During our family vacation we stayed at our friends’ house in Kreuzberg, the neighborhood just north of Templehof, which means a ten-minute walk would get me to some decent habitat in which to look for birds. It was one of the busiest airports in the 1930s, is home to a building 1.2

Birds 197

Birds 2010 Humane Family 197

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2022

As this African Green Pigeon shows, the color should offer good camouflage for species living on trees. In case you do not know that brimstone is sulfur, the Brimstone Canary brings the point home by having the Latin species name sulphurata. Different bird families, I know. Lucia for the birds. Celebration everywhere.

South Africa 191

South Africa Africa Saint Lucia Birds 191

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Bad developments indeed, particularly as the White-backed Vulture was found to be a good avian biomonitor species – if it does badly, most likely the environment as a whole will do badly, too. I could immediately tell them it was an Egyptian Goose – an invasive species in Germany but not at Kruger.

Elephants 147

Elephants Birds Congo Africa 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2022

And learn that the Latin species name concinnus is more interesting than the English one – it means “elegant, neat, pleasing” (according to the HBW). These photos were taken in early March – the species looks more attractive in its summer breeding plumage. If this is what you want to read, go there. 0 out of 3.

Birds 147

Birds Humane Family Germany 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

We are entering the mixed colony of 11 species ( Grey , Squacco , Purple and Black-crowned Night Herons ; Great , Little and, recently, Cattle Egrets ; Eurasian Spoonbill (below) and Glossy Ibis ; Pygmy and Great Cormorant ). I do have experience with this species from Bodrum, Turkey; it is daring, bold and cocky, and is impossible to forget.

Greece 189

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 189

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2023

I was very glad to be able to spend the week of Christmas and the new year at the Tegernsee, a small lake in southern Bavaria, together with my family and my girlfriend. I did not expect to see this lifer, one of the most popular species in the Alps.

Germany 144

Germany Woodpeckers Game Family 144

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2020

are up next, with a wonderful Australian species: It is very hard to choose a Best Bird of the Year any year. The male of this species has a royal blue throat, a white chest and rump, and a long v-shaped tail with intermittent white patches that makes it looks like part of it are floating in space. Clare (and Grant!) How cool is that?

2020 221

2020 Birds Germany Costa Rica 221

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2017

My trips abroad were limited to short family vacations to the Cote d’Azur during the first days of January and a week-long vacation to northern Tuscany / Italy in May. However, I spent the last few days of the year on the posh island of Sylt in Germany’s far north, my first visit to the North Sea propper since 1989.

2016 101

2016 Germany Italy Netherlands 101

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2014

In a funny twist of fate, it seems that 2014 will be much the same as 2012 and 2013 have been, with family trips to somewhere in France and business trips to Indonesia and Kazakhstan. Germany: extensive trips comparable to 2013. See more than 500 species. 550 miles) drive back to Heidelberg/ Germany where we arrive around 18:00.

2014 145

2014 France Germany Indonesia 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

Not a cover species The Black Kite is not actually black, but of course, misleading bird names are not exactly rare. No surprise then that the species is listed as Vulnerable. But then, sanity (or maybe respect for you, the reader) prevailed. Fortunately, they are quite common in Shanghai. It is also called Chinese Bulbul.

Birds 130

Birds Iraq China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2024

Personally, I wish the species the best of luck in this endeavor. (Of However, the fact that there are 30 subspecies seems to indicate that the species has a slightly overblown estimation of its own importance. This species has a relatively large number of calls – 12, to be specific, compared to the average of 7.6

Birds 180

Birds Research Science Europe 180

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2024

Particularly the latter – Nabang – would in the past easily have merited its own post, but recent developments there that now make the place a bit like the former border between West and East Germany changed that. The species name athertoni is derived from Lt. But not to bees.

Squirrels 136

Squirrels Birds China Bears 136

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Clearly, some scientists should never have been granted the privilege of assigning common names to bird species. And while most of these introduction attempts failed, the species has now become firmly established as a “countable” species in several areas of France and Italy, and even Spain so far as I was able to find out.

Italy 176

Italy Europe France Family 176

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2011

Orlando is so rich in roadside and overhead birds that I kept a list of species seen from the car which ran to 30+ on the first morning and included a Bald Eagle nonchalantly sitting on a street lamp by a Target store. I had to do all three as we headed to Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

2011 116

2011 Alligators Florida Deer 116