10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2022

I’ve been leading a small but faithful group on Trinidad for several years to count birds within a livestock farm that is generally restricted to the public (you can read about some of those shenanigans here ); this was the first time I was to embark on a CBC on the smaller island of Tobago. Anyway, I digress. Mangrove Cuckoo.

Falcons 251

Falcons Trinidad Ducks Groups 251

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2024

Peter says that he doesn’t care much for guiding groups. The day was rounded out by many, many Brown Pelicans , two Black Oystercatchers (lifer!), So I knew nothing about watching seabirds from the shore, either. But after just two and a half hours with Peter, I know much, much more about this art.

California 202

California Sea Lions Marine Life Puffins 202

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

This photo, which was shared on a local birders’ WhatsApp group, shows the enormous extension of burning reedbeds on that very windy day. And this remnant lake is very, very birdy: The dominant birds, besides those American White Pelicans seen at the right, were Northern Shovelers — hundreds of them.

Ducks 225

Ducks Pelicans Collecting Species 225

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Pink-backed Pelican. Africa has two resident pelican species, the huge and widely distributed Great or Eastern White Pelican and the smaller Pink-backed which is restricted to Africa, the southern Arabian peninsula and Madagascar (where it may now be extinct.) Pink-backed Pelican by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours.

Africa 220

Africa Somalia Pelicans Mozambique 220

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2020

And while all three of our common Egrets ( Great , Snowy , and Cattle ) are to be seen everywhere you look, only the American White Pelicans are as common as the Shovelers and Pintails. I really have no idea, since I could not be sure whether I was seeing the same groups many times each, or many groups one time each.

Mexico 146

Mexico South America Ducks Groups 146

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2016

We have for the past few years had a small resident population of 10 or 11 American White Pelicans , but now our number is up to 48. Here is one of three large groups of peeps, mostly all Least Sandpipers. We still have a nice group of Large-billed Curlews. This is going to be so much fun!! Thank you Santa.

Pelicans 140

Pelicans Seattle Oregon Branding 140

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2016

After leaving the group, I pulled into a boat launch with a great view of a marshy, mud flat area near the beach. Brown Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants soared across the sky, while American White Pelicans rested in the shallow waters. In addition to bobbing pelicans and cormorants, I spotted a mass of Northern Gannets.

Research 100

Research Jacksonville Pelicans Belize 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

My impression is that populations for these groups are still low there, even for these mostly-premigratory dates.

Pelicans 213

Pelicans Species Groups Birds 213

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

This shaggy, slaty, storklike creature possesses a proboscis preposterous enough to put it in league with pelicans, toucans, and curlews. Our group, led by world-renowned guide Herbert Byaruhanga, piled into canoes ostensibly to search for a variety of papyrus and wetland specialties, but really we were just looking for the shoebill.

Uganda 276

Uganda Africa Birds Penguins 276

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2016

Long-billed Curlews tends to be solitary feeders, only grouping up to rest or roost. In the picture below, you can see the Curlews, along with the American White Pelicans, American Avocets , (a lot of “American” birds here in Mexico) Greater Yellowlegs, Dowitchers, Terns and Willets.

San Francisco 124

San Francisco Pelicans Mexico Groups 124

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Hundreds of Black-necked Stilts were around the refuge, this group passed right by me on a short morning walk. This group of American White Pelicans were good enough to stop right where I wanted them to, to get this shot. In the same shallow water as the pelicans, there were several hundred American Avocets.

Blackbirds 123

Blackbirds Mules Beavers Wildlife 123

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2016

The water popped with rising menhaden, and giant Brown Pelicans dove with watery crashes after them. Egrets paraded among the marsh grasses and shallow water; every so often, a Great Blue Heron opened its wings and took off, eliciting ooh ‘s and aah’s from the group on the boat with me. View of Weeks Bay.

Alabama 154

Alabama Pelicans Science Research 154

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2019

You will see hundreds of Green-winged and Blue-winged Teals , Western and Least Sandpipers , White Pelicans , American Avocets , Black-necked Stilts , Great and Snowy Egrets , White-faced Ibises , Ring-billed Gulls , and Caspian Terns. The same could be said of the White Pelicans, but Pelicans are just too amusing.

Ducks 116

Ducks Blackbirds United States Pelicans 116

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2019

We look at the Six Pelicans who rest at night and see Brown Pelicans because we already know what pelicans look like. ‘Six Pelicans Rest at night. Cornell Lab Publishing Group, Wundermill Books, March 2019. I do wonder, however, if Harper’s birds are too minimally visual for a toddler’s eyes.

New York City 158

New York City Pelicans Birds New York 158

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2014

He established a local nature study group, visited the wetland of Tuzla on an almost daily base, sending numerous observations to the Turkish Birdbank ( [link] ), successfully nominated the site for the Important Bird Area status and guided birders around Bodrum.

Turkey 224

Turkey 2006 Europe Pelicans 224

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

Number 8 – Brown Pelican. During my favorite birding event of the year, the annual Big Sit at Fort Tilden in Queens in October , we had hit a lull and were desperately trying to scrape up a few more species when Matthieu spotted a pelican and all was right with the Big Sit once again. I loved that I was seeing them at all!

2019 142

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 142

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2015

Sandwich Terns and Royal Terns fished along the shallows of the shore, dozens of Brown Pelicans flew over and floated in the surf, and Glossy Ibis and Tricolored Heron flew and landed in the reeds, and Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones foraged along the wet sand. I was in birding heaven. A successful Royal Tern.

South Carolina 154

South Carolina Bats Pelicans Fish 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

But genetic and morphological data both point to this conclusion, and additional evidence places tubenoses and penguins within a group recently dubbed Aequornithes, or “higher waterbirds.” Within Procellariformes, the arrangement of major groups of tubenoses is not entirely settled.

Albatross 187

Albatross Penguins Groups New Zealand 187

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

It’s actually a really great demonstration of the power of these trails to get people outside; in the three hours we were walking, we saw countless bicyclists, boy scout groups, dog walkers, joggers, and more. The birding wasn’t half bad either. Red-headed Woodpecker. I have had a not-so-good warbler year.

Alabama 150

Alabama Bald Eagle North Carolina Woodpeckers 150

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2015

Each group yells out the number of each species seen. Clapper Rail , American White Pelican , Snowy Owl , Cackling Goose , Blue-winged Teal , Bald Eagle , Lark Sparrow , Clay-colored Sparrow , Pine Warbler , and Turkey Vulture are all good birds for the count.

Bald Eagle 103

Bald Eagle Birds Sparrows Pelicans 103

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Together, they are placed in the family Threskiornithidae, and they’re related to herons and egrets, pelicans, and the strange Hamerkop and Shoebill. White Ibis ( Eudocimus albus ) in Florida © David J. The “widespread” clade occurs throughout the Old World and has apparently colonized the Americas several times.

Louisiana 205

Louisiana Mississippi America Pelicans 205

Critter News

MAY 5, 2010

Right now, there are still no confirmed deaths due to the spill, but rescue groups are gearing up for the worst. The animals threatened most by the spill are bluefin tuna, sea turtles, brown pelicans, shrimp and sharks. That's when the full impact of the oil spill on wildlife will be seen.

Sea Turtles 100

Sea Turtles Endangered Species Sharks Turtles 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2017

Taking my usual route along Okaloosa Island’s Beasley Park, I noted Laughing Gulls , Brown Pelicans , a Snowy Plover or two, and the usual packs of Sanderlings. Deep in a walking reverie, I was startled out of my daydream by a group of tiny terns perched at the edge of a sand embankment, looking over at me as I looked at them.

South America 103

South America United States Protection Pelicans 103

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2016

After filling our water bottles at the clear mountain spring, the group splits and the majority continue on foot across the high pass to find many signs of bear presence in the area – scratching posts, scat (above), footprints; while the two of us continue by car along the very good final section of macadam prior to the village. Not at all.

Bears 271

Bears Greece Europe Slovenia 271

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Ringer Anhingas and darters , cormorants and shags , frigatebirds , gannets and boobies , pelicans , and the tropicbirds all share a characteristic found in no other living bird: Their feet are totipalmate. He could not say the same today.

2011 155

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 155

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2018

For example, a small group of Red-breasted Mergansers have become nearly constant companions during my circular walks. Regardless of how packed my schedule becomes, I have to head out to Destin (actually, I do have a sub if I need her, which averages out to about once a week. But that doesn’t sound as dramatic, does it?).

Florida 102

Florida Birds Virginia Pelicans 102

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2022

Poor researchers Nicola Coumi and Rob Slotow failed to find anything particularly interesting about vigilance in Bronze Mannikin groups. Great White Pelican is not just the name of a non-existent glam-rock band but also of a bird species. ” I wish I had this kind of optimism. They probably did not even have Twitter then.

South Africa 147

South Africa Africa Birds Research 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2011

The order Suliformes holds a lot of special birds from anhingas and darters to cormorants and shags as well as frigatebirds, pelicans, and tropicbirds. Many avid fans even wear bracelets… But then again, boobies as a group are pretty spectacular and first among equals must be the booby with the blue feet.

Ecuador 190

Ecuador Peru Hunters Pelicans 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

Gulls, pelicans, oystercatchers, and a few sparrows. The program established clear protocols for marking shorebirds, with color coded flag bands for each country, or country group. I have over 200 waterfowl that I have recorded those shiny bands on.

Bolivia 100

Bolivia Ecuador Peru Washington 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2015

As it turned out, I was the only travel writer of the group. The van was parked at the Eastern Dyke of the lake and we were scanning the mud flats and numerous Pygmy Cormorants , Dalmatian and Great White Pelicans with a few Greater Flamingos and Eurasian Spoonbills here and there, as well as one or two Purple and Black-crowned Night-Herons.

Greece 252

Greece Woodpeckers Eagles Birds 252

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2018

This nice little group of shorebirds, including a Killdeer, three Long-billed Dowitchers and a Spotted Sandpipers all got together for a photo. Here is my first ever group of Gamble’s Quail , hanging around a huge feeder block. In the reeds and cattails that lined the water, I found this Marsh Wren looking for breakfast.

New Mexico 113

New Mexico Mexico Tucson Costa Rica 113

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2012

Brown Pelican - Though two have been reported to eBird since 2008 this bird is even more of a long shot than Black Vulture. The only seabird of the group and it figures it is one that I hadn’t predicted! Brown Pelican - I refuse to acknowledge the unlikeliness of my finding one. What do you think?

Connecticut 176

Connecticut 2011 2012 Jamaica 176

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2013

The Rose Robin of Australia, sometimes referred to as the Rose-breasted robin, is considered the most acrobatic of a group of red robins. Pink is the color of imperial pigeons, of fruit doves, of exotic pelicans, parrotfinches, and puffbacks. Some birds are neither rosy nor roseate but just plain rose.

Mauritius 177

Mauritius Lovebirds United States North America 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

If those 16th Century Spanish sailors knew the kind of grief with which they’d be saddling this remarkable group of birds for all time, perhaps they would have had something resembling empathy for those who will be forced to live with the ramifications of their irreverence. Let’s address, up front, the funny name.

Birds 205

Birds Buffalo New York Pelicans 205

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

Audubon Associate Naturalist, have led this tour many times, through tornados, droughts, questionable restaurants, and, sadly, the advent of fracking, and every one of my friends who has participated over the years has raved about the experience and the birds (in fact, one member of our group was on his third or fourth trip, I lost count).

North Dakota 147

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

The Dry Tortugas National Park is located some 70 miles off of Key West in a small group of keys that makes up the farthest points included in the state of Florida, so it was no surprise that we had a four hour boat ride ahead of us before landing in the park. Banding is best done in teams split into three, potentially four groups.

Birds 184

Birds Florida Groups Breeding 184

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

Normally the lighthouse is obscured in fog, but when we arrived the air was crystal clear, and in addition to seeing groups of Gray Whales migrating past, I spotted hundreds of Surf Scoters , a Pigeon Guillemot , and a pair of Peregrine Falcons from my perch atop the lighthouse cliff. A line of Surf Scoters near the beach.

Seals 194

Seals Elephants Whales Whaling 194