10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

The more data about bird migration we gather from professional and citizen science efforts, the more each one of us can learn about the comings and goings of our favorite species. Another migration tracker that seems to hold great potential for those able to master it is the Find The Data North America Bird Migration page.

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North America America Science Birds 166

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 209

North America Birds Owls Canada 209

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Terns are too often considered the baby brothers and sisters of gulls, and if you don’t agree, take a look at the number of books written about gulls (at least four in recent years) and then try to remember the last book you read about terns of North America. Note that these are not all species accounts!

North America 202

North America America Species Groups 202

Reddit Animals

JANUARY 5, 2024

People in North America began using the term “right whale” in the early 1700s, and originally “right” may have meant “typical,” as these whales were considered common and ordinary. However, over time, the term evolved to refer to how they were hunted—they were considered “the right whales to hunt.”

Whales 40

Whales Whaling Rights North America 40

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2017

The latest from his pen is Birds of Prey , a hybrid between an identification guide and an essay collection, a book of lore that provides a comprehensive overview of the raptors of North America. Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America by Pete Dunne with Kevin T. Fish and Wildlife Service.

North America 102

North America Falcons America Eagles 102

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2019

That fallacious family name seems to have encouraged all manner of knaves, dunderheads, and miscreants when time came to label species. Most of the warblers south of the border escaped this ignominy; those Basileuterus and Myiothlypis species generally appear exactly as advertised. NAMED FOR PEOPLE. NAMED FOR PLACES.

Rights 113

Rights Connecticut Tennessee Nashville 113

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 25, 2022

Now, it is much easier for me to achieve first-time sightings of species in Europe than it is in Mexico, at this point of the game. So I might have assumed I would not see new species in the Palmones wetlands. The first gave me eight new species for Spain, of which four were lifers. Gee, I hope I got this one right.

Spain 177

Spain Mexico Europe North America 177

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2015

These and several other species might end up being armchair ticks if and when we take a closer look at their evolutionary history. Taxa that could end up being split into one species occurring north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and one south of the isthmus. (2). Bird species that require further research.

Costa Rica 210

Costa Rica Species South America America 210

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Yet they also bring up questions, which I’m going to talk about right now before diving into the specifics of the guides themselves. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed.

Costa Rica 212

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 212

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2017

This time the tome that three lucky readers will receive is Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America by Pete Dunne. The first and easiest way to win a copy of Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and Vultures of North America is to subscribe to the 10,000 Birds email mailing list.

North America 164

North America Falcons Birds Eagles 164

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2021

The female isn’t quite so unreal but is still a cool little bird in her own right. Plumaged like various other small female hummingbirds from North America, the lady Snowcap is pale gray below, pale glittering green above, and with a tail that flashes bits of white. One of those shy antbirds. Raptors, Tanagers, and More.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica San Jose Birds Farming 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2022

Towhees are large, ground-hugging sparrows that occur only in North America. The first was strange only on a personal level, as I had never before seen a juvenile of the species. They belong to either the Pipilo or Melozone genera, or perhaps both, as their taxonomy is still a point of contention. Our towhees are weird.

Mexico 206

Mexico North America 2015 Sparrows 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2020

Niagara Falls State Park, right above the cataracts, is where I used to bike to on May days to see dozens of fantastic chestnut Bay-breasted Warblers whispering from the canopy, American Redstarts and Tennessee Warblers and Nashville Warblers filling the woods with song. One of the common species of middle elevation habitats in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Nashville Baltimore 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2022

White-tailed Kite in action- a classic airport species in Costa Rica. Turf farms in wooded regions are wide open oases for grasspipers and other species adapted to natural lawns. These are the three main species that urge us to scan a grassy field with puddles in September and October. Odd habitats attract odd birds.

Costa Rica 162

Costa Rica Ecuador North America Peru 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2021

All sorts of exotic and beautiful species may be seen. This would sound attractive even to me, except for one fact: almost all of those exotic and beautiful species are common down here in central Mexico. Southeastern Arizona is unusual, precisely because its species mix is as much Mexican as it is American.

Arizona 261

Arizona Mexico Los Angeles Dallas 261

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2019

Our big month of bird movements in Costa Rica, the 10th month of the year, is when most of the swallows, Scarlet Tanagers , thrushes, and other species on the South American express push through. Some stop right in front of our place in the urbanized intermontane valley where the majority of Costa Ricans reside. What do they eat?

Costa Rica 260

Costa Rica Nicaragua Birds Panama 260

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

This is the first identification guide that I know of that covers Mexico (technically North America but rarely included in North American raptor guides) and Central America. Like Peterson’s Hawks of North America, 2nd edition (Houghton Mifflin, 2001), which Clark co-authored with Brain K.

Mexico 162

Mexico America North America Falcons 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them. Many fly through these Texas hotspots, transforming physics into magic right before our eyes! Then, I learned that over 400 species of birds have been identified in and around these islands.

Texas 175

Texas North America Alaska America 175

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

It covers 403 species: 172 nonpasserine species and 231 passerine species in the Species Accounts, 198 species beautifully illustrated by the author in the Plates section. The scarcity of information on the young of some avian species is astounding.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 255

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

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. This being an uncommon species in upstate New York, I appreciate having an abundance of Cliff Swallows to look at. Birds Can Fly Right Over Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 319

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 319

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2022

Shorebirds have left their northern tundra pools and boreal fens, August is when they pass through much of North America. Even so, we do have some sandpipers and plovers around; there have been recent reports of Surfbirds and various other wading species. Go birding in Costa Rica in August and you will find shorebirds.

Costa Rica 189

Costa Rica Eagles West Virginia Albatross 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2020

One of the ways I could describe the unique mix of birds I can see here in southwestern Mexico, would be to divide our species into five categories. The invasive species are few, but, unfortunately, very numerous. But there is a final group of species here, about which I have not written very much.

Mexico 192

Mexico Birds Honduras United States 192

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2019

The Yellowthroat group is an odd collection of bird species. The one migratory species, aptly named the Common Yellowthroat , can be seen almost anywhere in North America. Another one, the Masked Yellowthroat , can be found in five unconnected resident territories over much of South America. See the difference?

Mexico 192

Mexico Bahamas South America Panama 192

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2019

This is the same history of conquest and despoliation which now puts many of these very species in danger of extinction. This longspur,” Driver writes, “is named after a man who fought for years to maintain the right to keep slaves, and also fought against multiple Native tribes.”. McCown is an extraordinary case.

Birds 260

Birds North America Cooking Campaign 260

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2020

Perhaps one of my reasons for going to the lake was that it guarantees more species in one day than any of my other sites. But I am also always eager to get a better handle on the migration dates for our wintering species, and April is a great month for that. But this Plover is a Snowy, and will stay right here.

Mexico 164

Mexico Breeding Ducks North America 164

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2021

Birds are arriving in North America, flying from places far to the south. Many come from Central America, a good number fly much further. Based on population estimates and migration routes, yes, millions, and for some species, many millions! Cliff Swallow , one of many million that migrated through Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 261

Costa Rica Nicaragua Ohio Honduras 261

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2019

Between our many residents and migratory species, birding in central Mexico is a joy. For example, I have commented before on how common names in English may make sense up north, but do not down south. But in the winter, both species head for Mexico. But it can also be a challenge. How do I know these are Western Sandpipers ?

Mexico 139

Mexico United States North America Ethics 139

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2012

These particular birds were in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, but the same story is taking place all over the world right now, as few species have successfully adapted to as many locations as the House Sparrow.

Sparrows 214

Sparrows Raccoons Battery North America 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2016

I purchased my first Sibley— The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America —in 2003. A guide that feels so right in my hands? David Sibley notes in the Introduction that the order has been changed in some places so similar species could be placed next to each other for comparison purposes.

North America 159

North America 2003 Birds America 159

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

It is also fascinating to see how similar Old World trogons look to their New World relatives, right down to the same flamboyant color patterns. Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. These species are visually very similar, with subtle differences in their tail patterns. Wikipedia has been used.).

Mexico 182

Mexico Indonesia North America Arizona 182

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. Shown as a list, it looks like this: Less than 200 bird species: Antarctica; oceanic islands.

Equatorial Guinea 194

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 194

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2020

Plus a few truly difficult species. Sure, it is an introduced species in Germany. But the Kentish Plover was sheltering its young under its body, and the Little Ringed Plover was incubating an egg — right in the middle of downtown Madrid! So seeing this beautiful (though common) European species was a special treat.

Austria 146

Austria Spain 2019 Birds 146

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2015

I still know my audience - this is primarily a blog read by birders in North America, who see the term “squirrel” as little more than a synonym for house sparrow, starling, pest and cholera. Germany, like most of Europe and very much unlike North America, is home to only one species of squirrel.

Squirrels 162

Squirrels North America Germany Europe 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2014

Green-tailed Towhee s breed in species-rich shrub communities within shrub-steppe habitats, and disturbed and open areas of montane forest, often created by forest fires 1. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. Click on photos for full sized images. Up in Ashland we found them on the outskirts of Howard Prairie Lake.

North America 197

North America Oregon Birds Owls 197

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

And with it the existence of the northernmost species of parrot in the world, the only native parrot in the United States whose provenance is not questioned, and a piece of American natural history that is so bizarre that its existence seems impossible to people living today. It was called Incas. Can you imagine it? photo from wikipedia.

Parrots 224

Parrots Hunters United States North America 224

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2020

Kroodsma waited for years for the right opportunity to record its different songs, a “cascade of sweet and liquid notes,” one naturalist said, “like the spray of a waterfall and sunshine.”. Good field guides to bird sounds are certainly available, particularly Nathan Pieplow’s for eastern and western North America.)

Virginia 242

Virginia Boston North America 2020 242

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. Eastern Bluebirds called from the branches above my head, while Ruby-crowned Kinglets buzzed in the holly bush a few yards to my right. A straight shot to my bird feeder.

Agenda 140

Agenda Birds Louisiana North America 140