10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2021

As of mid-November 2021, the Collaborative had submitted more than 4,200 checklists (up from 1,700 in 2018) and has observed 691 species in the United States (up from 618). Thus, there are now seven states with 200+ observed species. The state with the largest increase was Arizona , with 139 species added.

United States 197

United States West Virginia Puerto Rico Minnesota 197

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2021

A lot of birds take a shorter trip to Florida and the Caribbean, many spend the winter in southern Mexico, and some species even fly all the way to southern Amazonia (this drink is for you Veerys). Louisiana Waterthrush. This tail bobber is a common species of mangroves and any other wet spot in the lowlands. Mourning Warbler.

Costa Rica 228

Costa Rica Kentucky Louisiana Species 228

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 30, 2022

I chose to take him to the nearby town of Las Mesas, as its unusual combination of habitats — high thorn forest, mixed woods and grasslands, riparian woods, and mature pine forest — offers an equally wide range of species. Of our 54 species seen, 51 were lifers for Ricardo. Is that a Curve-billed Thrasher ?

ALA 187

ALA Louisiana Adoptable Mexico 187

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2017

Hurricane Nate looked set to disrupt my first visit to Louisiana. Being easily accessible on public transport and with an eBird haul of 261 species, City Park seemed to be the perfect choice for the morning. Reports predicted that we would make landfall in New Orleans at around the same time. Trolley car 12 plies its route along St.

Louisiana 101

Louisiana Branding Transported Ducks 101

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2016

First, wildlife officials in Louisiana announced the first successful wild Whooping Crane nest in that state since 1939. The species, which migrates from the Russian Arctic to Southeast Asia, is down to about 200 breeding pairs in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching. It’s a bang-up breeding year for super-endangered birds!

Eggs 190

Eggs Louisiana Breeding Asia 190

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2014

While I didn’t notice any Neotropical migrants this weekend, I was pleased to spot a Tufted Titmouse , a species I tend to miss during winter. The wood-warblers are back!

New Jersey 174

New Jersey 2014 Louisiana Bears 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

Spoonbills and ibises are stocky, colorful wading birds with distinctive bills: downcurved and pointed in the case of ibises, flat and paddle shaped in the spoonbills (above is my shot of Roseate Spoonbills ( Platalea ajaja ) near a breeding colony in Louisiana). Roseate Spoonbill ( Platalea ajaja ) in Louisiana © David J.

Louisiana 196

Louisiana Mississippi America Pelicans 196

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

The waterfowl flock was made up of two very unique looking species: the Fulvous and Black-belled Whistling Ducks. In the distance I spotted two species of cormorants, and as we watched the water an entire flock of Black-necked Stilts made a pass before settling down in the waving reeds. Have time along the Texas-Louisiana coast?

Ducks 118

Ducks Wildlife Texas Bald Eagle 118

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2020

Just as your conationals up north are rejoicing over the return of hundreds of migratory species, you sadly say goodbye to the same. I have still seen each of these species out in the forest between two days and three weeks after they abandoned my yard.

Nashville 129

Nashville ALA Louisiana Mexico 129

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

The Refuge is now home to nearly 200 species of birds, over 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of insects, fish and plants. Ever since, our staff has been working hard to turn the land back to a more natural state within the floodplain of the Tualatin River basin.

Fish 143

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 143

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2017

Based on the songs that surrounded us as we hiked Trail #15, the “Grand Canyon of the East” is awash in warblers, including my FOY Louisiana Waterthrush. I visited Letchworth State Park this weekend, renowned for a ridiculous density of breeding wood warblers. Was it the Least Bittern nearly flew into his head? How about you?

2017 101

2017 Louisiana Birds Breeding 101

Critter News

MAY 4, 2010

This Louisiana Senator is just a slave to these oil interests and I'm sick of her. Tags: louisiana oil drilling 2010 oil spill endangered species. She's calling for MORE frigging oil drilling in spite of the catastrophe in the Gulf. I'd like to shove her face in a vat of oil and not bring her up for a long, long time.

Louisiana 100

Louisiana Endangered Species 2010 Tagged 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2019

It’s also a big time for bird movements, a period punctuated by waves of migrants, first the early ones, then a time of many species, and finally, those last “late” migrants moving north. Many of the early migrants like Louisiana Waterthrush and Prothonotary Warbler have already left.

Costa Rica 137

Costa Rica South America Tennessee Philadelphia 137

10,000 Birds

APRIL 17, 2012

Oil washes ashore at Venice, Louisiana. Oil begins to wash up on the beaches throughout May and June of 2010 May 6, 2010 Oil washes ashore on the Chandeleur Islands off the Louisiana coast, an important nesting and breeding area for many bird species. May 19, 2010 Oil washes ashore on mainland Louisiana.

2010 233

2010 Louisiana 2012 2011 233

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2019

With forest on two sides and the expansive Eglin Air Force Base reservation just beyond, avian species have a host of hiding and eating opportunities. Ahab wasn’t fishing, and the guys in ‘The Big Year’ aren’t watching birds, they’re scouring North America in a ruthless bid to tick off more species than anyone else.

Agenda 140

Agenda Birds Louisiana North America 140

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

In 1938, they were reduced to only 18 birds in the Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock and only 11 remaining in the non-migratory Louisiana flock. By 1950, the Louisiana flock was gone. Since there were only two birds in captivity when the Louisiana flock became extinct, its likely that the genetics of the non-migratory flock are lost forever.

Florida 224

Florida Buffalo Louisiana 2004 224

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2012

There are a couple of species of which I wish I had gotten better pictures (especially Cape May Warbler ), there are a couple species of which I couldn’t resist sharing more than one shot, and there are a whole bunch of species that managed to avoid my camera altogether.

2010 172

2010 Louisiana Tennessee New York 172

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2014

Despite our near constant doom-and-gloom prognostications we still manage to see wood-warblers, though most of April is spent looking at the several species that are early arrivals, mostly species that winter in the southeastern United States and therefore can get back to we northeasterns rather quickly.

New York 221

New York United States New York City Breeding 221

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

Actually, I visited the Two Towers twice, had about 50 bird species each time and about 60 in total, so this is sort of a composite tour description. However awkward this seems, I am using both British and (American) names – I wouldn’t be surprised if they do become different species in years to come.

Serbia 264

Serbia Geese Eagles Louisiana 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2017

This line of thought was started in me today with the horrifying news about the Monroe Museum of Natural History’s ultimatum from the University of Louisiana. Data from museums helps the IUCN make decisions about threatened species. It helps scientists understand how climate change is changing species.

Collecting 139

Collecting Science Louisiana Research 139

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2013

Participating teams include the E-Birders from Cornell University, the Tigrisomas from Louisiana State University, the Forest Falcons from Great Britain, the Zululanders from South Africa, Team Tramuntana from Spain, and the Ararajubas from Brazil. With 1836 registered species, Peru is an ideal place to have this competition.

Peru 177

Peru 2013 Louisiana Birds 177

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Hummingbirds are one of the joys of wintertime birding here in Louisiana. My friend Erik Johnson and I recently visited the home of Dr. Jeff Harris — a birder and research entomologist — who has up to six different species visiting his feeders each day this season. © David J.

Costa Rica 184

Costa Rica United States Louisiana 2008 184

Critter News

MAY 4, 2010

Tags: louisiana 2010 oil spill Gulf of Mexico endangered species.

Endangered Species 100

Endangered Species Louisiana 2010 Wildlife 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2013

It was a relatively slow evening but I still tallied eighteen species of wood-warbler, to say nothing of orioles and tanagers and thrushes and vireos. The waterhole usually attracts both species of waterthrush but this year when the Louisiana Waterthrushes were moving through the waterhole was dry. Not a fan of warbler-neck?

Louisiana 160

Louisiana Tennessee Species Birds 160

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2012

In New York, as is the case across most of the area where the “eastern” wood-warblers migrate, there are four species that are almost always the first to appear. The Louisiana Waterthrush announces itself with loud chip notes and a clear song. Yellow-rumped Warblers can’t be missed with their sheer numbers.

New Jersey 181

New Jersey New York United States Louisiana 181

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

A distinct subspecies of Greater Prairie Chicken that once numbered a million strong and called coastal grasslands from Louisiana to the Mexican border home, it was more than decimated by development in its native habitat, with less than 50 birds left in the wild in 1996.

Chickens 122

Chickens Texas Louisiana Wildlife 122

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2013

Brown-crested Flycatcher ( Myiarchus tyrannulus ) is a widespread bird species of scrub and wooded habitats with a range extending from southern Texas and the southwestern United States, through Central America, and down south all the way to northern Argentina. In Florida, the species shows up annually (and in multiples!)

Florida 183

Florida United States Texas Alligators 183

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2011

The main wintering area for Ross’s Goose ( Chen rossii ) is presently in the Central Valley of California, though increasing numbers winter in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and the north-central highlands of Mexico 1. Map courtesy of Terry Sohl at South Dakota Birds and Birding.

Geese 153

Geese South Dakota Sacramento Arkansas 153

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2012

The air was thick and clammy, and mosquitoes were biting along Louisiana’s Mermentau River last Thursday morning, the final day of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. A lone Black-bellied Plover quietly worked the flats amid hundreds of other shorebirds.

Family 187

Family 2007 Iceland Louisiana 187

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

There is another area of the Queens County CBC where a team will also likely see Monk Parakeets , Myipsitta monachus , but I am seriously determined to count that bird for my area, Coastal Flushing, a section of northeast Queens, New York, that includes Whitestone, home of one of the loudest invasive bird species in the U.S. And cell towers.

Chicago 200

Chicago New York City New York Illinois 200

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

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. A huge surprise was the addition of an entirely new species for Peru, a Black Swift , found by the Forest Falcons team. An Andean Flicker on the ground in the Peruvian Andes.

Peru 225

Peru 2012 Birds Falcons 225

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2011

Lewis and Clark explored large swaths of the Louisiana Purchase for the United States and I can think of no higher honor for their efforts than having two such becoming birds named for intrepid explorers. But the focus here is on the one bird, Nucifraga columbiana , and a charming and entertaining creature it is.

United States 174

United States Louisiana Woodpeckers 2011 174

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2019

I generally wait until I have at least a dozen species on my year list before having my first drink of the year. But which species of crow is our Old Crow – Fish or American? By my reckoning, 500 miles up the Mississippi River as the steamboat goes only gets you as far as the Mississippi-Louisiana-Arkansas tripoint.

Mississippi 116

Mississippi Kentucky New York Tennessee 116

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 172

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 172

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2012

Almost any park, even within large cities such as New Orleans and Atlanta, will host such quintessentially common Nearctic species such as Field , Song , Chipping , and White-throated Sparrow in good numbers. We are just too far south for any of the above mentioned species, but that is not to say that we do not get any sparrows at all.

Sparrows 145

Sparrows Florida Atlanta South Carolina 145

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Rufous Hummingbird ( Selasphorus rufus ) wintering in Louisiana © David J. They’re also one of the most diverse, with approximately 330 species, all in the Western Hemisphere. They are tiny but often highly ornamented species, sporting some of the most breathtaking head and tail plumes in the entire hummingbird tree.

Family 198

Family Ecuador Costa Rica United States 198

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Despite the dogs, leaf blowers, golf carts, and other disturbances, I still find this to be one of the most exciting and reliable places in suburban Miami-Dade to see a varied subset of birds (143 species recorded by myself in just over four years of birding here) with the occassional rarity thrown in.

Miami 161

Miami Florida Birds Pelicans 161