10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Within 140 ac / 60 ha of Rancho Naturalista’s Reserve, there are 500 bird species – or 55% of the nation’s total! Yet, scoring more than 700 species, Mercedes Alpizar soon became “Meche”, the bird guide that we are all familiar with. Located within its private premontane forest reserve at 3000 ft / 900 m a.s.l.

Costa Rica 247

Costa Rica Rats Parrots Raccoons 247

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 139

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 139

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

Although relatively common here they’re notoriously difficult to see well – a phenomenon clearly not unique to this species ! Golden-crowned Warbler is one of the three resident warbler species on Trinidad. We counted seven of these alluring birds while I killed my camera battery. Bay-headed Tanagers.

Trinidad 217

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 217

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2023

Note to other species: better do not rely on mature primary forests, as this may lead to extinction. This says more about my inability to differentiate between warbler species than about the rarity of the bird – but the bird was kindly singing. Also, do not smoke as it is not good for your health.

Birds 130

Birds Raised Cattle Mammals 130

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 263

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2012

After a brutal colonization that included genocidal campaigns against the Herero (80% killed) and Nama (50% killed) tribes, the Germans lost control when South Africa invaded soon after the declaration of the First World War. This family group is performing their loud croaking territorial calls.

Namibia 251

Namibia Angola Lovebirds South Africa 251

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

Recently, a group of nature photographers were spotted using live fish to bait a family of Grey-headed Fish Eagles in Singapore, where the species is listed as Critically Endangered, with only about 12-18 breeding individuals left in the wild. A Grey-headed Fish Eagle photographed ethically.

Eagles 269

Eagles Singapore Fish Ethics 269

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

Colorful bills and heads seem quite popular among Letaba’s bird species – see the African Jacana (blue and black) … … the Striated Heron (yellow and blue) … … and the Yellow-billed Stork (yellow and red). The Latin species name vermiculatus (worm-like) refers to the markings on the upperparts.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Birds South Africa Benin 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2019

The shearwater’s common name is “Cory’s” because Cory was the first to realize that it was a species in its own right and publish. I kill them.”*. Do we really want a bird to be named after a man who was proud of killing birds instead of protecting them? Well, no more!

Boston 113

Boston Killing Protection Collecting 113

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. The difference seems to be that Selous had previously killed birds and she had not.

Dissection 219

Dissection Birds Research Europe 219

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 256

North America America Species 2018 256

Critter News

JULY 10, 2009

The Franklin Park Zoo, a Boston institution that has drawn generations of city and suburban families, might be forced to close its doors and possibly euthanize some of its animals as a result of the deep budget cuts imposed by Governor Deval Patrick, zoo officials said Friday. That they care for the species and animals? It doesn't say.

Boston 100

Boston Zoos Killing Animal 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2016

Rehabbers are very responsive, although constantly living under the gun makes us sometimes vent about species that aren’t necessarily the ones in question. Three: Why would anyone , no matter what their species, want to become tangled in human hair? s and “Kill me now!”s. Feel free to vent!”. Porcupines throw their quills!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 178

Wildlife Rehabilitation Porcupines Raccoons Birds 178

Critter News

MARCH 21, 2009

I come from a Portuguese family and I have no problem dumping on the Portuguese. If predator persecution cannot be adequately controlled, the future recovery of many important predator species will be in doubt". This makes me angry. It has nothing to do with poverty, just stupidity. March 2009. Irrational attitudes?

Portugal 100

Portugal Eagles Spain Killing 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2011

Many birds around the world in the Robin family ( Turdidae ) are favorites due to their musical songs. Little boys kill thousands of birds each year with slingshots. The introduction of exotic animals has extirpated and continues to threaten hundreds of species. What can we do while species disappear from the planet each year?

Honduras 187

Honduras illegal Parrots Birds 187

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2012

There are certain families that I habitually fail to encounter when opportunities arise. I’ve had pretty lousy luck when it comes pittas and broadbills, and I also am really bad when it comes to the various night birds such as owls, nightjars and related species. It isn’t that I never see them, just that I often miss them.

Uganda 164

Uganda Family Australia Killing 164

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2015

She is an excellent mother, managing not only to feed her four large cubs, but their visiting father One-eyed who comes by every now and then (he has two more families and being the good father he is, visits them all regularly, usually around lunch time). Conservation endangered species India Mammals tiger' Very dusty Swarovski CLs.

Tigers 244

Tigers India Killing 2012 244

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2014

I spent this past weekend in Saugerties at my folks’ house in order to look for Easter eggs, let Desi enjoy time with his cousins, and generally have a good ol’ time with family. I had no luck with the rails or bitterns but I did manage to see quite a few species, including some that were very cooperative.

New York 171

New York Birds Ducks Blackbirds 171

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2015

It can’t have escaped your notice lately that the blog has been overrun with articles about North America’s pseudo-warblers (or wood warblers, as some people, apparently unaware the name is taken by a proper European species, call them), and, even worse, no small amount of poetry. And they are always a pleasure to see.

Africa 174

Africa Feral Ethiopia Tanzania 174

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2015

Early starts are the rule when monitoring endagered species in Mkuze Game Reserve, in South Africa, but there’s a particular urgency to this morning’s start. And the two species were not inclined to get on, by which I mean that Lions will kill other large predators including Painted Wolves. I didn’t need to.

Wolves 189

Wolves Lions Dogs Vet 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. Here’s the kicker though.

California Condor 181

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2016

The gamekeeper drives by, I wave my greetings but do not mention the jackals I am observing at the moment: this animal is not protected in Serbia and is allowed for killing year-round (one may say “hunting” instead, but I am having problems trying to spot the difference).

Serbia 129

Serbia Sheep Birds Eagles 129

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2012

A Southern Cassowary ( Casuarius casuarius ) that may have tried to kill me. As a guide he was great, we never saw the fairy-wrens (we did hear them), but he found a bunch of species I had not yet seen on the trip, including the Superb Fruit-dove , a Cicadabird (actually a type of cuckoo-shrike) and my personal favourite, a Yellow Boatbill.

Guinea 170

Guinea Parrots Australia Family 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

For 13 years now, friends and family have been gathering in an undisclosed corner of Potter County, Pennsylvania during the third weekend of July to create a glorious giant chicken of wood, straw, and gunpowder only to burn it. Over the years, I’ve chronicled an apparent decline in the numbers of the birds hanging around the kill-zone.

Chickens 174

Chickens 2011 Pennsylvania Birds 174

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. It is also related to Wood Stork of the Americas and Milky Stork of Asia.

Africa 239

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 239

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

Or, one of the 145 species of Glass frogs living in the Cental and South American rainforests, I could look through the transparent skin on their undersides and see their internal organs. All species of frogs and toads share the fact that they are amphibian creatures, they have two types of skin gland, four legs, and, well, they jump.

Reptiles 185

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 185

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

The Peru Birding Rally Challenge is a joint initiative between PromPeru and the Inkaterra Family of hotels. International teams compete for 6 days and 5 nights with the express purpose of recording the most bird species, by sight or by call, while the clock ticks down. Think the Birding World Cup or the International Birding Open.

Peru 226

Peru 2012 Birds Falcons 226

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Located about 20 miles from Lakeview, Oregon, and sitting at an elevation of 5100 feet, this 208 acre lake is home to many species of fish, including Largemouth Bass, Crappie and Bluegill. This is one of several families of Western Grebes stayed out in the middle of the lake all day. Lets see what fun species I can find over there?

Dogs 103

Dogs Mules Deer Oregon 103

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

The guide presents 69 species and 1 subspecies, from “NEW WORLD VULTURES: Cathartiformes” to “OSPREY: Pandioninae” to “FAMILY: Accipitridae” (Kites, Hawks, Eagles, Hawk-Eagles), to “FALONIDS: Falconidae” (Falcons, Forest-Falcons, Caracaras, Kestrels, Merlin). That’s a lot of visual information!

Mexico 163

Mexico America North America Falcons 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2015

The killing of Cecil was equated with murder, a moral crime rather than a symptom of a ecological problem. Conservation is concerned about protecting populations, species, habitats, ecosystems. That conservation uses the death of the species it is trying to save is both paradoxical and not. And culls of Nyala have been proposed.

Lions 207

Lions Hunting Sierra Leone Buffalo 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2014

After scrolling through piles of furious emails regarding a recent blog about Rip Van Winkle’s Crow Killing Contest , it seemed to me that all of us needed Dr. Phil. The subject was not hunting; it was contest killing. And being anti-hunting does not weaken our position when it comes to contest killing.”. It will never happen.

Killing 258

Killing Hunting Hunters Possums 258

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2016

Following on from last week’s post about Langi Crossing and some of the larger birds species that you can expect to find I will now let you know of some of the smaller species you may encounter along the Fitzroy River at this location. Rainbow Bee-eater. Male Variegated Fairy-wren about to take off!

Birds 100

Birds Zebras Investigation Species 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2012

Sharks cruise off the city’s beaches, and just yesterday a deadly species of snake was found in a suburban railway station. This is a roundabout way of introducing Australia’s most dangerous bird, because of course a country where an agonizing death lurk in every lake, river or law has a bird that can you kill you too.

Sharks 223

Sharks Birds Australia Boars 223

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2013

Also known as the Flyeater, this tiny bird is the only representative of the Australasian warbler family found in mainland Asia, and very similar to my own Grey Warblers in New Zealand, even their songs. Then, among tall grasses, a flock of Bayan Weavers, the first representative of this family I had seen in 8 years.

Thailand 102

Thailand New Zealand Family Bats 102

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

And New Zealand has a fairly aggressive programme of conservation measures in place to protect native wildlife by killing native species, again something I have defended on th is site. Even wiping out one species, like possums, or stoats, or hedgehogs is probably beyond current methods.

New Zealand 118

New Zealand Possums SPCA Cats 118

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

Even in the tropics there are few birds that excel some of our own in elegance and beauty of plumage and we have an unusually large number of species considering the smallness of the area they inhabit. ” (Woodward brothers, “Natal Birds”, 1899) The mighty Drakensberg Mountains run along the western boundary of KwaZulu-Natal province.

Mozambique 187

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 187

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 119

Vermont Belgium Farming Europe 119