10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2013

This is a Green-barred Woodpecker , common and widespread throughout South America to the south of the Amazon River and to the east of the Andes. This form is thought to be a different species and the name Golden-bellied Woodpecker has been adopted by some.

Woodpeckers 167

Woodpeckers Argentina South America Adoptable 167

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2015

Well, I never did see a Black-backed Woodpecker on my trip, but they were on my mind… What could be more straightforward than the naming of woodpeckers? The name woodpecker itself is a basic behavioral description. Here are birds that peck at wood. The exceptions are still mighty prosaic.

North America 155

North America Woodpeckers America Family 155

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2023

Some 320 species have been recorded here, and in springtime it is possible to observe more than 150 bird species in a week. Last but not least, there were three species of shrikes, Red-backed , Lesser Grey and at least 2 Masked Shrikes , possibly 2 more, an entire family (not all were showing so well).

Greece 234

Greece Pelicans Birds Stray Dog 234

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2014

I had taken the short drive to the park to search for a family of American Dippers sighted near the visitor center by a fellow birder a few days before. As I got out of my car, about fifty feet from Manzanita Lake, I heard the loud drumming of a woodpecker. It was July of 2012. It was a cool 48 degrees.

Woodpeckers 172

Woodpeckers California South Dakota Chad 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Why would I call these beautiful woodpeckers the “clowns of the avian world?” ” Besides the facial features of the Acorn Woodpecker ( Melanerpes formicivorus ) appearing somewhat clown-like, they are a joy to watch and some of their antics are sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face. www.youtube.com/watch?

Woodpeckers 185

Woodpeckers Breeders Groups North America 185

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2011

Short answer: The woodpecker is most likely not crazy and noshing on the house is not what the woodpecker has in mind. Woodpeckers could be pecking on homes for a variety of reasons, all of which can drive a non birder a bit batty. So, why do woodpeckers peck on human made structures?

Woodpeckers 262

Woodpeckers Owls Blackbirds Raised 262

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2023

If you have much interest in birds, you may well have seen videos of the very comical mating dance of male Red-capped Manakins , a species whose range stretches from southeast Mexico to South America. For example, highland Michoacán has two gorgeous trogon species. And who wouldn’t want to see a member of the toucan family?

Mexico 172

Mexico Woodpeckers South America Species 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2022

In pastures of the hot lowlands, they tend to be lines of stunted Gumbo-Limbo trees or some other heavily pruned species. In addition to those birds and the Squirrel Cuckoo pictured above, the following are some of the more common hedgerow species of Costa Rica. Hoffmann’s Woodpecker. Yellow-bellied Elaenia.

Costa Rica 265

Costa Rica Birds Sparrows Woodpeckers 265

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2022

By contrast, the Lineated Woodpecker is not only resident, but wears the same outfit all year. So too does the Crimson-crested Woodpecker. Let this Roseate Tern represent all terns that (even for a brief period) share this coloration. A good eye-to-eye might be necessary to understand why this Great Antshrike is included on this list.

Trinidad 175

Trinidad Woodpeckers Bears Family 175

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2021

Still, the outing did not produce any new species for the year, or enough good photos for a post here. Instead, I have chosen to write about an idea I’ve had percolating for a while: to tell you what the most common species are down here. I’ll take the most common native species in taxonomic order.

Woodpeckers 334

Woodpeckers Mexico Cattle Species 334

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2022

Working man that I still am, I can not yet spend every day of January trying to build my year list of species. But in winter, one of its major species is a migrant with a wonderfully quirky name: the Lucifer Hummingbird. The second photo below is the best I’ve ever managed of this rather drab species. And I do mean showy.

Woodpeckers 161

Woodpeckers Mexico Species Family 161

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2024

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. This photo explains the scientific species name haemacephalus (bloodheaded).

Myanmar 130

Myanmar Sri Lanka Nepal Birds 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. Trogons and quetzals are an ancient, colorful bird family that occurs in forests and other wooded habitats from the American tropics to Africa to Southeast Asia. So let’s look at this sampler, shall we?

America 264

America Arizona North America Texas 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. In 2023 I attempted to keep a year list of mammal encounters: the list barely exceeded 20 species, while it became complicated by seeing bats and voles that I was unable to name specifically.

Fur 191

Fur Bulgaria Otters Estonia 191

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Few places boast so many different bird species in such a small area — over 900 species (more than Europe, or all of the United States and Canada combined), including 75 different families, like 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tanagers. It was close to 5 a.m., More about it in the weeks to come.

Costa Rica 249

Costa Rica San Jose Nepal Europe 249

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2021

To give some idea of the birding possibilities at this accessible site, on a recent visit, after enjoying a classic Tico lunch, casual birding gave us a good number of species. Birds like toucans, tanagers, and fruiting trees with Crested Guans and other rainforest species. I need to get back and explore it a little bit more.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Farming Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2018

Through multi-partnerships, cooperation, federal funding, and the private conservation efforts of one family, 616 acres were officially added to the Cherokee National Forest in September 2018. In the area live 15 species from Tennessee’s threatened and endangered list, as well as 11 aquatic species from the federally endangered list.

Georgia 208

Georgia Bald Eagle Tennessee 2018 208

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

The official Ontario bird checklist, produced by Ontario Field Ornithologists , June 2022 listed 506 bird species**, putting it in the top tier of U.S. Small Species Accounts: Each species is allotted one page (with certain exceptions) offering basics–bird names and size, one or two photographs, and a one-paragraph description.

North America 217

North America Birds Owls Canada 217

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

In 2008, with my family decided to build the Limneo Lodge , a small accommodation with only 9 rooms. With more than 312 so far recorded bird species, Lake Kerkini National Park offers great birding year-round. Other important breeding species include Black and White Stork , Lesser Spotted , White-tailed , and Booted Eagle.

Greece 264

Greece Wildlife Boars Otters 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 298

Austria Factory Asia Battery 298

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

That’s because this fascinating part-Caribbean, part-south American country holds well over 800 species of avifauna making it without doubt one of my top three countries in all of the continent to visit. Ok, maybe not the vampire bat…but some of the more “cuddly” species are actually quite easy to see.

Guyana 278

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 278

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. Watch the streams for fish, we saw a few, unidentified yet cool looking tropical species! Roosting Great Potoo and Crested Owls!

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 264

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. Coming to Costa Rica, I needed only a few dozen species to cross my first big threshold: a thousand species.

Costa Rica 241

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 241

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 215

North America America Hawaii Birds 215

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

I saw two Pitta species at Hongbenghe, both among the slightly less glamourous among the pitta family: The Blue-naped Pitta … … and the closely related Rusty-naped Pitta. It seems that this is another species for which the standard phrase of scientists anywhere, “more research needed”, applies.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

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! Add Common Tody-Flycatcher and several Hoffmann’s Woodpeckers and Brown-hooded Parrots to that picture, among many others. Located within its private premontane forest reserve at 3000 ft / 900 m a.s.l.

Costa Rica 252

Costa Rica Rats Parrots Raccoons 252

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Similarly, the Alpine Leaf Warbler is one of the more attractive species in an otherwise almost indistinguishable family of identical leaf warblers. (“But the difference in wing bars, Kai!”). As in many bird species, the less attractive female is easier to photograph. We also got a few other species there as well.

Birds 244

Birds North Korea China Woodpeckers 244

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

Woodpeckers are phenomenally well-represented in Colombia and the country holds anything from 42 to 44 of the world’s woodpecker species, depending on which list you follow. That’s over 20 % of all the woodpeckers found worldwide. Like the true woodpeckers, piculets share several traits common to the family.

Colombia 174

Colombia Woodpeckers South America Asia 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2021

For some reason that is hard for me to fathom, there is no such bird as a Cape Woodpecker. In fact, this is probably a species that has substantially expanded its original range through the pet shop route and the resulting escapees. The HBW describes the species as “striking”, which is well deserved.

South Africa 239

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 239

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2022

The 11,000 foot volcano isn’t the only place to connect with high quality birding in Costa Rica but it is one of the easier places to see a number of uncommon and rare species. During our morning of birding, we connected with several choice species in the dramatic montane surroundings of the Museo Nochebuena. Wrenthrush Zone.

Costa Rica 257

Costa Rica Birds Owls Geese 257

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. The fleeting photo of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker tugs at and flies away with a piece of the heart, that final image of a Slender-billed Curlew is difficult to look at, it’s a stab deep inside.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Species Woodpeckers 264

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. Cardinal Woodpecker. Long-billed Crombecs are members of the African warbler family. Bird waves are a feature of birds all around the world.

South Africa 145

South Africa Tortoises Woodpeckers Birds 145

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Not all the birds, of course, but many of the distinctive and conspicuous species. Woodpeckers were quite prominent, both in non-fiction works like the encyclopedia and in entertainment. Very soon, the other members of this unique family were on my radar. T&T has five recorded species of woodcreeper, all resident.

Trinidad 184

Trinidad Laws Family Hunting 184

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

Local guide and birder David Mora Vargas has been spending much of his time at his family’s farm in the Sarapiqui lowlands. With around 400 species recorded for the area, yeah, it’s where we might all like to quarantine for a bit! A Fantastic Day of 200 Plus Species. Fiery-billed Aracari. Trip to Cocos Island.

Costa Rica 219

Costa Rica Birds Thailand Farming 219

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 279

North America America Birds California Condor 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2016

Clicking on most of these photos will open a new tab taking you to my 10000 Birds posts on that respective species The post on the California Scrub-Jay above is here. One of the first species I noted were a pair of Anna’s Hummingbirds. A Turkey Vulture was soaring above… And a bit later, a Red-tailed Hawk.

Woodpeckers 101

Woodpeckers Turkey California Birds 101

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2017

Rochester is still wintry, but bird activity among the common species has picked up quite a bit. My best sighting was a Hairy Woodpecker puffed up to fight the cold. On Saturday he dragged his family to the Adirondack Mountains to see a stake out Great Gray Owl in Keene, a first for all three in the family.

2017 114

2017 Owls Birds Woodpeckers 114