10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2024

Arriving at Surama Eco-lodge at the crack of dawn meant that typical forest-edge species remained at the forest edge, within the clearing of the lodge lurked a group of Smooth-billed Ani while Tropical Kingbirds manned the tops of trees. This lottery of birding means that what one sees is wholly up to the type of habitat available.

Guyana 228

Guyana Parrots Family Birds 228

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2015

It’s simple, with a deck of sixty cards divided into five habitat groupings, and each card depicting birds that are either common, uncommon, rare, raptor, or ace. Each player plays a card and can count any species from the same habitat group as the card played. ” That’s right, Desi, you are. His answer?

Game 193

Game Family Birds Groups 193

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2022

The stars of the bird world take many forms and fame is often related to location but some species, some cool groups of birds are accorded priority no matter when or where they are seen. One such star avian family is the Setophagidae, the birds known as wood-warblers. Yes, you read that right. Violet Sabrewing.

Costa Rica 268

Costa Rica Nashville Tennessee Turtles 268

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2024

Ruili is a Chinese city right on the border to Myanmar, and a major border crossing. The proximity to the Myanmar border is reflected in the presence of Burmese Shrikes here – on the wrong side of the border, but it is well known that this species has never been particularly good at geography.

Myanmar 168

Myanmar Sri Lanka Nepal Birds 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2021

We are too far into the year for many FOY sightings, but not quite far enough for most migratory species to make their return appearances. Still, in any given three-week period (which is the period I have dedicated to this latest group of thematic posts), dedicated birding will produce some sort of news.

Louisiana 258

Louisiana 2000 Mexico Groups 258

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Where a birder goes in the Caribbean determines which birds are seen including toy-like todies, Carib hummingbirds, cool pigeons, quail-doves, unique avian families and outrageous woodpeckers. One such special place is the Centro Manu, a small family run reserve that features several star bird species of Costa Rica’s Caribbean lowlands.

Costa Rica 262

Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 262

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2024

Called home to the Oregon Coast to operate the family motel, in her free time she leads Tufted Puffin walks and escapes to guide at birding festivals and explore the world as often as possible. Although it is right on a busy road once you walk into the lobby it is peaceful and quiet. And somehow this directed us to Oaxaca.

Mexico 177

Mexico Birds Oregon Groups 177

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Whether you are traveling with your family, in a small group, or alone, our tours are customizable to suit your every need and wish. We work closely with Mayan communities where local expert birders are permanently monitoring the forest to know the right time and place to spot our unique birds.

Guatemala 237

Guatemala El Salvador Belize Honduras 237

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2020

Even photos of the rarest of birds can be found, even heart-wrenching images of bird species that are no longer with us. Species like the Gyrfalcon , the aerial powerhouse of the tundra, of stunning, breeding-plumaged May warblers. Posters of three groups of birds are currently available; toucans, trogons, and hummingbirds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Species Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

South Africa 214

South Africa Malaysia Africa China 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

Now we were in Finca Tres Equis, a family cocoa farm (if I understood well, it translates as Triple X Farm) and a private reserve of over 300 hectares, of which more than 70 percent is a forest, representing part of a Jaguar corridor. A group (maybe 4-5 ex.) Next goal: 1100 species, to cover about 10% of the total.

Costa Rica 223

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 223

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

A Field Guide to the Birds: Giving Field Marks of All Species Found in Eastern North America was published in 1934 by Houghton Mifflin (note–Peterson was 26 years old), after being rejected by four publishers. Adding the 76 new species in the Hawaii section, this makes coverage of approximately 884 species.

North America 198

North America America Hawaii Birds 198

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Pough “with illustrations in color of every species” by Don Eckelberry, Doubleday, 1946. The National Audubon Society Birds of North America covers all species seen in mainland United States, Canada and Baja California. The press material says it covers over 800 species, so you know I had to do a count.

North America 278

North America America Birds California Condor 278

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Still, how many birders visit this region and could be seen as the target group for this, already a second edition? Just last year, 5 new bird species and 5 new subspecies were discovered in a few short weeks of fieldwork on the islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka. The rest of the region remains fairly undervisited.

Indonesia 263

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

A family motel and passion for responsible ecotourism brought her home to the Oregon Coast where she and her husband, Erik, adventure and record a podcast ( Hannah and Erik Go Birding ), created in an effort to inspire others to get out and bird. Marion has a fascinating history with invasive species.

South Africa 261

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2019

Getting to actually see four species, in the last two weeks, and to hear two more is almost unheard of in my experience. The Great Horned Owls that live in the palm trees right above our RV have returned and brought with them a pair of fledglings. That was no deterrent from landing right in the middle of the road.

Owls 144

Owls Arizona Tucson South Africa 144

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. Thanks again, Fabián!

Mexico 135

Mexico Argentina Experience Experiments 135

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

If there’s one group of birds that just won’t let you be miserable it would have to be the Grey-crowned Babbler. They are usually in a group and our garden regularly has a family group of eight visit it. They are by far the most cheerful bird species you could have visit.

Australia 157

Australia Groups Family Experience 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2021

The guide has been expertly, even lovingly revised, expanded and updated (as the authors’ names indicate, this is largely a family affair). This second edition covers 685 species found in the continental U.S. and Canada, including some species as far north as Alaska, an increase over the 500 species covered in the first edition.

North America 245

North America America Species 2018 245

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular. Curassows are such stately birds.

Brazil 205

Brazil California Condor Parrots Texas 205

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

Even so, he still knew many species and always yearned to learn about the wildlife he encountered. Groups them by family too and by their shape” His extra long arm extended and passed me that precious book. The remaining four species are the most grouse-like of the bunch. “Check it out!”

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2017

Way back in the days when blog posts still got a lot of comments, I wrote a piece on why field guides that arrange species in a more or less strict taxonomic order regularly frustrate me. Taxonomy is constantly changing and so does the order of species in field guides. Order of bird families, non-songbirds. I see a problem.

Brunei 149

Brunei 2009 2016 2014 149

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

I saw 863 species of birds, bringing my life list to 1,820. I also spent a week in northwestern Costa Rica on a family vacation, a long weekend in Barbados, a week in Georgia, and two week-plus-long trips to visit relatives in southern California. How can I narrow down the eight-hundred-sixty-three species to ten?

2019 137

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 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 208

Sparrows Italy Asia Austria 208

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2018

There is the “The Moth,” a storytelling group popularized by The Moth Radio Hour. The group’s name is in honor of the moths attracted to porch lights in evenings gone by, when storytellers would sit and tell tales on these porches. There are over 11,000 species of moths in North America. But, there have been exceptions.

North America 100

North America America Oklahoma Missouri 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

And it did so in spectacular fashion, in the form of a mixed-species feeding flock, or a bird wave. They are large groups of birds of all different kinds of species. Also in large flocks were black Common Scimitarbills , part of a group of tree living relatives of the hoopoes that look like pretty much no other bird on Earth.

South Africa 145

South Africa Tortoises Woodpeckers Birds 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. The guide covers 1,433 species, the number of birds documented at the end of 2014, the cutoff point for the book.

Bolivia 167

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 167

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Few if any species are as emblematic of the Neotropics as Ramphastidae, the family that includes the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. On the trip to Costa Rica that I just returned from I was pleased to see both of those species as well as Black-mandibled Toucan and Keel-billed Toucan. Yeah, it was a heck of a trip.

Costa Rica 225

Costa Rica Horses Farming Collecting 225

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

we learn) that are home to coveted boreal species, breeding wood-warblers, and two species of Grouse. There are 461 species on the Maine checklist. This field guide covers 265 species, the ones most likely to be seen–residential and migratory, almost all nesting birds, many wintering birds.

Los Angeles 184

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 184

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Spring is in the air, and all around the Baja desert I am seeing a plethora of species, all looking for love, in what appears to the right places. Last Sunday, it was never as obvious as it was with the small group of Phainopepla , Phainopepla nitens.

Costa Rica 104

Costa Rica Panama Nevada Guatemala 104

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2018

We are spending some time here on my wife’s family property right on the water. The field guide I have been using touts 66 species of waders, including Sandpipers, Plovers, Oystercatchers, and Snipe. This picture shows a good sized group of mostly Bar-tailed Godwits flying just at sunset.

New Zealand 100

New Zealand Groups Alaska Laws 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

You’d think that dressing in green to hide from predators inside a dense rainforest is as a strategy as plain as day, yet only a surprisingly limited number of bird species on Borneo have ventured down that evolutionary road. Interestingly, the females are more varied between the species and are far more readily identified.

Indonesia 162

Indonesia Birds Asia Groups 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

I am shocked to be writing this post already, and doubly shocked that I’ve seen six new species for Queens since I guessed what my next five Queens birds would be just eight months ago, back in March. Eastern Whip-Poor-Will : It’s kind of amazing how rarely this species is reported in Queens. I’ll make it three!

New York City 150

New York City Birds New York Blackbirds 150

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2019

Travel to Tiquicia for birding is high on the list of most birders because it’s not too far from Canada or the USA, there is good tourism infrastructure, and most of all, it’s pretty easy to see hundreds of eye-catching bird species. Watch that one and keep an eye on the others because all sorts of species can show at any time.

Costa Rica 194

Costa Rica Cooking Birds Chickens 194

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. The birds we observed were nesting right into the cliff face. Think Arizona meets Costa Rica with a Mexican twist.

Mexico 185

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 185

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2019

It is my sincere intent to have a short discussion about small group of birds, the Boobies, without any form of sophomoric humor. Belonging to the family “Sulidae” , which includes both the Boobies and Gannets, in 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson introduced the genus “Sula”. Brown Gannets, Masked Gannets?

Iceland 120

Iceland Family Birds Groups 120

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

Birding by Impression is a conscious, deliberate method of identifying and recognizing birds based on the study and evaluation of “distinctive structural features and behavioral movements” and comparison with nearby and similar species. It is not a handbook, though it approaches species from a collective viewpoint. So say Kevin T.

Birds 168

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 168