10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

It was also when October came with cool weather and bunches of White-throated Sparrows, shy Hermit Thrushes. The muted colors of Blackburnians, Black-throated Greens, and Blackpolls fit right in with the dull greens and golden highlights of the early fall vegetation. Birds Can Fly Right Over Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 312

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 312

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

I love sparrows, so seeing a feather-worn Vesper Sparrow this past July filled my heart with joy. We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts. Baird’s Sparrow was one of those elusive creatures.

North Dakota 134

North Dakota Birds Sparrows Blackbirds 134

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Migratory Lark Sparrows were everywhere. Watching this rhythmic group behavior was actually quite hypnotic. One distant Violetear was positioned just right for us to see its full irridescent colors, although a small branch between us kept my camera from focusing exactly.

Laws 193

Laws Mexico Bears Turkey 193

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

It stops those thousands of migrating birds flying across the Gulf of Mexico and directs them right onto the trees, fields, sanctuaries, beaches along the Bolivar Peninsula, where they hopefully find food and fresh water. Seaside Sparrow. I imagined walking right up to them. High Island in April requires Weather, so I was told.

Houston 201

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 201

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018

Right, smack dad in the middle of Summer Lake Wildlife Refuge. Not another person for miles, and a pair of friendly, well, almost, Great Horned Owls living in the tree right above us. Hundreds of Black-necked Stilts were around the refuge, this group passed right by me on a short morning walk. Now that is a first.

Blackbirds 119

Blackbirds Mules Beavers Wildlife 119

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

That honor goes to the Gray-crowned Crane , a very sexy species in its own right. 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. Nor is the Shoebill the national bird of Uganda.

Uganda 252

Uganda Africa Birds Penguins 252

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2018

Here is a small group of the Pigeon Guillemots near their rocky Cliffside nesting area. Out on one of the rocks that were visible during low tide, a small group of Harlequin Ducks had gathered. And here is a small group the broke away and swam out to deeper water. Here is a small group shot of those Purple Martins.

Oregon 100

Oregon Bald Eagle Owls Groups 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2021

A Facebook group was recently formed here in Mexico, called ¿Cuál es esta ave? The photos I have held onto over the years can be divided chronologically into two groups. This original backlit photo of a Grasshopper Sparrow came out much too dark. No doubt other digital brands come with equivalent software. What bird is this?).

Birds 241

Birds Branding Groups Rescue 241

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2012

Buying a bunch of votes and dropping it like a big crap bomb at an annual meeting may get you what you want but boy howdy, I can’t imagine people lining up to join that group. The sparrows are easily viewed, all you have to do is wait a few minutes and eventually they come out of the surrounding vegetation to feed on the mud.

Family 156

Family Beavers Minnesota Sparrows 156

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2019

On my first trip there, I had the good luck to find the best sites right away. As I got out of my car, I immediately saw the first of many Black-chested Sparrows. The squeaky-toy-on-speed call of the Stripe-headed Sparrow was not far behind. I don’t have to tell you which sparrow is which!

Mexico 114

Mexico Birds Nevada Sparrows 114

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

The bird was a little harder to find than I expected; I needed to triangulate the sounds of the call and finally, after standing and looking and walking around the tree where the bird had to be calling from, I took a deep breath, looked again, and there it was right in front of me, actually at eye level. And, Montezuma Quail.

Arizona 102

Arizona Lovebirds Phoenix New Jersey 102

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2012

Multiple groups of trogons with young in the United States seems surreal, but is entirely possible in the right place. Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a Lark Sparrow , highly unusual at his current coordinates. The real highlight of my weekend, out of many worthy contenders, had to be Elegant Trogon.

2012 169

2012 United States New York Birds 169

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2015

Even sparrows, if you choose the right species and play your cards right, can be elevated to ‘cute’ status. Gulls are generalists, as a group, and unfortunately that does not get a lot of respect from humans, even though we’re the greatest generalists of all. And what about lifestyle?

Seals 214

Seals Lifestyle Turtles Parrots 214

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2015

As it turned out, I was the only travel writer of the group. Looking in that direction, we soon discover another LSE on the ground and, in a bush right in front of us, one lovely male Subalpine Warbler. Picture 10: Rock Sparrow – Petronia petronia. The northeastern part of the lake, where the river Strymonas flows into.

Greece 239

Greece Woodpeckers Eagles Birds 239

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? Some groups, for example shorebird illustrations, tend to be on a smallish side, probably due to the number of various plumages, plus flight paintings per plate. The rest of the region remains fairly undervisited.

Indonesia 263

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2020

But there is a final group of species here, about which I have not written very much. But they will have to look in the right place, or they may have to go home with just another sighting of an “American” Robin. Northern birders who visit southwest Mexico will probably want to see our endemic Rufous-backed Robin.

Mexico 185

Mexico Birds Honduras United States 185

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

In the end, I ended up with 9 species, 4 of which were new to the list, the Black-crowned Sparrow Lark, White-checked Bulbo, House Crow , and the Indian Silverbill. That does not mean that we can’t make a stop or two along the way, right? Speaking of Bank Swallows , here is one of those family groups. Here is that Slovian Grebe.

Qatar 112

Qatar Sparrows South Africa Africa 112

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 267

Bears Greece Europe Slovenia 267

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

A guide that feels so right in my hands? Sibley Birds East covers “nearly 700” birds, up from 650, and Sibley Birds West covers “over 700,” which I’m assuming is more than the first edition count of 703 birds, if for no other reason than that taxonomic splits have give us Ridgeway’s Rail, Bell’s Sparrow and Sagebrush Sparrow.

North America 152

North America 2003 Birds America 152

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Southern Florida offers many unique wintering birds, but perhaps none more so then the sparrows that call different parts of Florida their winter homes. This year offered no change from the norm as a group of birders were able to find six male Eurasian Wigeons hanging out with a even larger group of Americans.

Florida 166

Florida South Dakota Sparrows Wildlife 166

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2019

This was the first Albany County report since 1979 and as I hadn’t even been born when that happened, I raced up there right way. By all accounts, when he’s not making beer, Kings County Brewers Collective brewmaster Pete Lengyel is a dedicated birder and started an informal beer-drinking birding group dubbed the Beerders.

Collecting 119

Collecting New York City New York Sparrows 119

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Striolated Bunting ( Emberiza srtriolata ) This member of the bunting family (that’s bunting, not sparrow. Sparrows are from the family Passeridae. According to the rather odd and quaint rules for collective terms for birds, groups of Striolated Buntings are called a whole bunch.) A whole bunch coming for a drink.

United Arab Emirates 160

United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia Oman Yemen 160

Animal Person

MARCH 10, 2010

SHAC 7 Trailer from Sparrow Media on Vimeo. I credit Will Potter as the catalyst for shifting my focus away from critiques of other activists and activist groups (particularly his post, " While the Government Continues Attacks on Activists, Animal Rights Groups Protest Each Other " back in 2008).

Animal Legal Defense Fund 100

Animal Legal Defense Fund Protest Protesting Protesters 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

There are charismatic birds like Barrow’s Goldeneye, Evening Grosbeak, Red and White-winged Crossbills; mysterious seabirds like Leach’s Storm-Petrel; ‘little brown jobs’ like Winter Wren and Nelson’s Sparrow; a treasury of warbler species, 27 in all, many state breeders.

Los Angeles 186

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 186

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2013

The recent American Ornithological Union (AOU) decisions to split Sage Sparrow (RIP) into Sagebrush Sparrow and Bell’s Sparrow has the Birdosphere buzzing on everything from field marks, vocalizations, status and distribution to historical records and hypothetical patterns of vagrancy. The problem?

San Francisco 172

San Francisco Fox Sparrows California 172

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

Then, to finish the week, we visited the famous, and not necessarily for all the right reasons, Malhuer Wildlife Refuge. The first part of the week, we parked the RV at a campground right on the water, of Dog Lake, 20 miles southwest of Lakeview, Oregon. I only ran across this one Clark’s Grebe mixed in with in the groups of Westerns.

Oregon 114

Oregon Owls Wildlife Barn Owls 114

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

I know these winds had a lot of the birds all settled in, and not moving much, but right off the bat, I got a new Lifer, in a pair of Nuttall’s Woodpeckers. On my way back to the RV Park, I was able to photograph my first Gold-crowned Sparrows , since my trip to Kodiak Alaska, 3 years ago. Here is my new Nuttall’s Woodpecker.

Woodpeckers 100

Woodpeckers Oregon California Geese 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2015

The bulk of the book is devoted to heavily illustrated accounts of 35 groups of similar looking birds, offering instructions on how to differentiate species by size, structural features, behavior, plumage pattern and general coloration, habitat use, and vocalization. ’) and the how (as in ‘how to describe a structural feature?’)

Birds 168

Birds New Jersey Science Groups 168

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

Cabanis’s Ground-Sparrow. The name change of a small brown bird, a sparrow, is exciting. Split from birds in northern Central America (the White-faced Ground-Sparrow ), the Cabanis’s becomes a very special bird. Some birders are more learners than listers, others more photographers than birders.

Costa Rica 196

Costa Rica Birds Owls South America 196

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. In addition, there is an actual ” right leg, left leg, above and below the knee” set of marking patterns.

Bolivia 100

Bolivia Ecuador Peru Washington 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

In the mean time, a family group of Black-throated Magpie-Jays were frolicking in the breeze high over the dry valley, showing off their exorbitantly long tail streamers. It did not take long before we had a family group of Tufted Jays right by the side of the road (KM 216) and an uncommon Gray-collared Becard at the same spot.

Mexico 186

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Birds 186

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

The small group was a good counterpart to the large, convivial ABA Safari group of 98 birders. That’s a lot, and the organizers of the safari did an excellent job of creating an environment that offered small group birding during the day and a birders party every night. Wait, let’s backtrack a bit.

South Africa 251

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 251

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

But our adventurous group, led by Oliver Komar and Yobani A. Alex first led our group to nesting Yellow-tailed Orioles , which made spotting these exquisite but elusive birds gratifyingly easy. The emerald put on an amazing show, buzzing right up to some of us and darting past others. That is how the saying goes, right?

Honduras 131

Honduras Birds Farming America 131

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2016

First, there is a large and rabid — well, enthusiastic — cat lobby, including many people who support colonies of feral cats with food and otherwise, such as the large nonprofit group, Alley Cat Allies. And keeping cats, natural hunters, indoors is, as a matter of biology and of common sense, not the healthiest state for them.

Feral Cats 252

Feral Cats Cats Tnr Feral 252

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

White-throated Sparrow. Not impeded by branches or the need to bushwhack, we could paddle right up close to the sound, in this case the merry singing of a White-throated Sparrow. We watched the sparrows bounce back and forth before being distracted by a familiar witchety-witchety-witchety call further down the bank.

Birds 168

Birds DC Sparrows Canada 168

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. My first ever Gamble’s Quail were feeding right next to the picnic area, and alongside the visitors center building, I spotted a thrasher. Right in our camp, we found Ladder-backed Woodpeckers.

New Mexico 113

New Mexico Mexico Tucson Costa Rica 113

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2012

Sometimes, I feel that competing bird conservation groups are trying too hard to get my attention and give the impression that just by sitting here on my futon and breathing, I have killed several birds. I just looked over at my husband–bam 5 birds dead. I’m now petting my rabbit Dougal, 6 more birds dead.

Rabbits 154

Rabbits Killing Canada Farming 154