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Sixth Annual Queens County Bird Club Big Sit An Amazing Success!

10,000 Birds

As always, I was the first to the platform and in the light northwest wind and under a full moon I sipped my coffee and willed birds to make some noise so I could start checking off species. Eventually, an Eastern Towhee che-winked and I had my first species for the day. The moon was impressive as it sank down to the horizon.

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9 (almost) Birds that live underwater

10,000 Birds

This Yellow-crowned Amazon was not quite as vociferous as his Central American cousins And like many of these birds, I too love to spend time beneath the water – there are few things better than free diving or scuba diving with dolphins, whale sharks or coral reef fish. But what owl could possibly be this gaudy.

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Birding Southern Baja: Todos Santos

10,000 Birds

It’s almost a bucolic place; sea turtles nest on the beaches, Humpback Whales and bat rays frolic just offshore, and you can buy the freshest fish from the panga fisherman at Punta Lobos every afternoon. Other desert denizens (that we missed) include Harris’s Hawk , Elf Owl , and Pyrrhuloxia.

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Birding Santa Cruz Island

10,000 Birds

Like several species, breeding Peregrines were extirpated during the height of the DDT era but have reclaimed their island domain in more recent years. The Channel Islands have all sorts of species and subspecies that are endemic to the islands, including mammals, reptiles, plants, and of course birds, many of which are nonmigratory.

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A Twitch at Two, and the Flood

10,000 Birds

But I’m not talking about owling, or listening for rails, or even pointing a microphone skyward to collect flight calls of migrants. In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen over 20 new species. Birds like American Coots and Long-eared Owls in Arviat, to Bald Eagles in Whale Cove. Things happen quickly up here.

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My Top 12 Wildlife Watching Moments

10,000 Birds

10000birds.com/the-search-for-the-rarest-owl-of-india.htm. I already have a history of searches for this species. I would love to find myself next to a Blue Whale , compared to which I am as miniature as that brave mouse was next to me, to be small and humble in admiration of the greatest animal on the planet.

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My Top Ten Birds of 2016 (or, Let’s Remember the Good Things about 2016)

10,000 Birds

1) Dusky Eagle-Owl. But the best was when we were gathering at the gatehouse to leave (many of us still taking Taj selfies) and a sister birder casually asked if I’d seen the Dusky Eagle-Owl. I tested the waters before my California pelagic, with a brief Atlantic Ocean voyage, a whale watching trip from Montauk, N.Y.

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