10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2019

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.

Pelicans 137

Pelicans New York Whales Whaling 137

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

They birded 7 countries during August and recorded 542 species. The year list remains sluggish at 1489 , but the life list received a boost from the eBird taxonomy reshuffle and now includes 4076 species. Stay vigilant and safe. 10 of the beats have submitted 124 checklists which are collated below for your perusal.

Woodpeckers 213

Woodpeckers Sparrows Blackbirds California 213

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Though we arrived in the afternoon, we quickly spotted not one, not two, not three… but eight Red-headed Woodpeckers ! Now, this is a bird species that is declining, and the eight we saw made up twice the total number of Red-headed Woodpeckers I have ever seen before my day on the Backcountry Trail. Red-headed Woodpecker.

Alabama 150

Alabama Bald Eagle North Carolina Woodpeckers 150

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2021

Yet, 79 checklists were submitted by 8 beats, accounting for 366 species in 5 countries. Yet, 79 checklists were submitted by 8 beats, accounting for 366 species in 5 countries. Yet, 79 checklists were submitted by 8 beats, accounting for 366 species in 5 countries.

Sparrows 254

Sparrows Woodpeckers Ducks Blackbirds 254

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

11 beats have been out this month and have submitted 136 checklists from 7 countries ticking 634 species. 8 Lineated Woodpecker – Dryocopus lineatus. 76 Red-headed Woodpecker – Melanerpes erythrocephalus. 115 Eurasian Green Woodpecker – Picus viridis. 207 Rufous-winged Woodpecker – Piculus simplex.

Woodpeckers 218

Woodpeckers Sparrows Parrots Blackbirds 218

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2021

My birding list for November totals 15 species. Thank goodness that the rest of the beats have been busily birding,that’s what they like to do… 9 of them submitted 114 checklists via eBird and amassed 525 species from 7 (China, Australia, Mexico, Costa Rica, UK, Serbia and USA) countries during November.

Sparrows 218

Sparrows Woodpeckers Parrots Costa Rica 218

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2022

This endearing and very familiar species grabbed the attention of all present, including the official event photographer from the THA! Our little group managed a final tally of 56 species! A pair of Yellow Warblers hunted insects in the canopy, and a Northern Waterthrush did the same just over the surface of the water.

Falcons 251

Falcons Trinidad Ducks Groups 251

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2018

I had just a split-second glimpse of this species – my only second ever – yet immediately knew what is it, but I was driving through a snowbound countryside and had another car behind me, therefore I stopped a good 50 metres later to eBird it. Dalmatian Pelican – Pelecanus crispus. Black Woodpecker – Dryocopus martius.

Owls 107

Owls Greece Serbia Woodpeckers 107

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2015

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. Picture 7: Grey-headed Woodpecker – Picus canus.

Greece 252

Greece Woodpeckers Eagles Birds 252

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2017

Not many birds, two Ruddy Turnstones , one Willet , a fishing boat in front of the beach with a small flock of Brown Pelicans surrounding it, several Magnificent Frigatebirds above it… and several smaller flocks of noisy Scarlet Macaws above us. Beside macaws, Carara eBird hotspot has a bird list of 424 species. Royal Terns.

Costa Rica 167

Costa Rica Pelicans Owls Woodpeckers 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2020

The prospect of identifying a certain number of species in a given amount of time pushes us to pay more attention to birds no matter what the circumstances (although I suggest keeping the exclamations about species identifications to yourself during such solemn situations as funerals, graduations, and watching episodes of The Sopranos).

Costa Rica 263

Costa Rica 2020 Morals Farming 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2021

9 beats from 8 countries (Australia, USA, UK, Serbia, Costa Rica, China, Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico), shared 138 checklists for 703 species. The year list to date is 1015 species and 7 have been added to the life list ( 4059 ) from Costa Rica, China and Trinidad and Tobago. 191 Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis.

Woodpeckers 193

Woodpeckers Sparrows Ducks Parrots 193

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2021

Our brave beats have been putting themselves at risk for your vicarious listing pleasure and 10 of them submitted 151 checklists for 692 species, 2 of which made it onto the life list. Please be careful, Corvid is still out there. Marsh Grassbird and Rufous-faced Warbler come to you all the way from China and bring the life list to 4061.

Sparrows 160

Sparrows Woodpeckers Blackbirds Ducks 160

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Other species of interest include the southernmost breeding population of Greylag Goose in Europe, Goosander (at bigger and deeper Megali Prespa), Hazel Grouse (at Mt. The local bird list is impressive at 273 species and my September daily averages were around 50 bird species.

Greece 178

Greece Albania Macedonia Europe 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Besides, I didn’t need a still image to identify my familiar Florida species. Brown Pelicans were the most numerous birds, flapping against the wind, diving for lunch, or floating along on the gentle waves. My husband remained more interested in the species below the surface. The lone shrimp we pulled up in the cast net.

Bald Eagle 154

Bald Eagle Florida Alligators Fish 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

And the birds along the walk to the estuary weren’t bad, either: Looks like nesting time has arrived for this Golden-cheeked Woodpecker. We saw lots of the usual Heron, Egret, Cormorant, and Pelican suspects. The 29 species I added to my January list say so as well.) Ditto for this handsome Amazon Kingfisher.

Birds 166

Birds 2006 Mexico Morocco 166

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2020

The 83 checklists submitted during July contained 459 species. Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis. Acorn Woodpecker – Melanerpes formicivorus. Golden-cheeked Woodpecker – Melanerpes chrysogenys. Hoffmann’s Woodpecker – Melanerpes hoffmannii. The year list now stands at 1613.

2020 157

2020 Sparrows Blackbirds Woodpeckers 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2017

For the time being, my birding is limited to the species that I can see on my walk thru the marina, to my office. The majority of the species are based on a water related existence, like herons, egrets, and sandpipers. Now, I can not drive, carry a tripod, operate my camera, and barely type.

Birds 100

Birds Sparrows Pelicans Rights 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2011

Tales like how he’s the only one with all forty-seven Red Crossbill species already figured out and checked off his life list. Or how he taught David Allen Sibley to paint using a brush made from the feathers of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

San Francisco 223

San Francisco Birds Pelicans Woodpeckers 223

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2018

Here we will actually stop for a full day, as there is a 10,000 acre wetland refuge, which should hold several species of gulls, White-fronted Geese and Black Brant, just to name a few. The Ladder-backed Woodpecker is one of those that has eluded me so far. 8 Redhead – Aythya americana Marina Palmira 1-Jan-18.

Ducks 116

Ducks Blackbirds Sparrows California 116

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2014

Defining Belgrade bird specialties is the hard part – there is no defined criterion, beside attractiveness which often comes from how uncommon some species is. E.g., a few weeks ago I guided a British couple around Belgrade, visited about four major sites and found more than 60 species. Black and Syrian Woodpeckers – year round.

Serbia 185

Serbia Eagles Birds Sparrows 185

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2017

While neither is an endemic they are two of the five hummingbird species found in Puerto Rico and we wanted to make sure to see them, mostly for Mike’s sake as I had seen both in Culebra last year. This Puerto Rican Woodpecker was our second sighting of an endemic for the day. Low light does not help when digiscoping.

Puerto Rico 108

Puerto Rico Birds Woodpeckers 2017 108

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.

2011 155

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 155

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Matheson Hammock County Park is a special place to many who grew up in the Miami area, filled with the nostalgia of taking one’s first swim in the ocean, seeing their first Brown Pelicans , or dip netting through the seagrass beds to find Pygmy Seahorses (the most coveted and prized catch).

Miami 162

Miami Florida Birds Pelicans 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2014

But lets see … I’d say one of my most memorable releases is that of a Purple Martin , a species of special concern in California. Maggie Rufo, who works with Veronica at NSCC in Sebastopol, remembers a juvenile Pileated Woodpecker she agreed to release where it had been found in Mendocino. “I

Wildlife Rehabilitation 233

Wildlife Rehabilitation Ohio Tulsa West Virginia 233

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Finally, the list of birds mentioned in the examples include: Acorn woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus. Cactus finch, Geospiza species. Galapagos cactus finch, Geospiza species. Pelican, Pelecanus spp. Arctic tern, Sterna paradisaea. Barn swallow, Hirundo rustica. Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla. Canary, Serinus canaria.

Animal 115

Animal Bears Stray Dog Blackbirds 115

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 19, 2018

There were not as nearly many birds around the area as in past visits, but the number of species that were using the water as either a summer home, or just passing thru in the early parts of their migration made the visit well worth it. This week ends with the Little Big Years numbers as follows: Little Big Year species – 870.

Oregon 115

Oregon Owls Wildlife Barn Owls 115

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I want to reach 500 birds in the ABA, get my Queens list to 295, see a total of at least 500 species, and get my World Life List to 1,100. But how did I see so many species this year?

2012 145

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 145

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

I didn’t really have time to stop, but as I was passing by, I saw hundreds of American White Pelicans fly up and thought I’d better take a drive through and see what else was there. I spotted a Eurasian Wigeon amongst the American Wigeon right out of the gate, but that wasn’t the best sighting of the day. Get yours today!

Wildlife 156

Wildlife 2011 Sacramento Jordan 156

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2018

Right in our camp, we found Ladder-backed Woodpeckers. The Little Big Year numbers up to this point are as follows: Little Big Year species – 908. US species – 243. This nice little group of shorebirds, including a Killdeer, three Long-billed Dowitchers and a Spotted Sandpipers all got together for a photo.

New Mexico 113

New Mexico Mexico Tucson Costa Rica 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

The book is divided into three parts: “Introduction,” “Avifaunal Overview,” and “Species Accounts.” Most birders will go straight to the “Species Accounts.” It’s important to note that the 301 species selected for this section are those of historical and current importance to the core study area, the northwest Bronx.

New York City 156

New York City New York Birds Breeding 156

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2019

To surpass a challenging number of species, the planning, the conniving for major birding should have begun back in the past, in 2018. Every day counts and to seriously maximize the species total, a birder needs to maximize time in the field at the most productive places during the most productive times and then some.

Costa Rica 113

Costa Rica 2019 Parrots Woodpeckers 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2018

The pressure is on if you can only get certain species during the first month of the year but if you just want to add any old birds to the year list, everything is fresh! Since I’m in no big hurry to reach any number of species in 2018, my year birding is going to be a fresh one hopefully touched with a good dose of Zen.

Costa Rica 167

Costa Rica Birds Parrots Woodpeckers 167

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2019

beats have still managed to share 82 checklists and accounted for 737 species. Black-cheeked Woodpecker – Melanerpes pucherani. Red-bellied Woodpecker – Melanerpes carolinus. Spot-billed Pelican – Pelecanus philippensis. Acorn Woodpecker – Melanerpes formicivorus. Laguna Lagarto Lodge.

2019 122

2019 Jamaica Eggs Woodpeckers 122

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

They contributed 150 lists accounting for 1032 species and more than 36,000 individual birds. Thus 100 species were missed by the time he woke up and noticed that eBird had reset the counters at midnight(do you guys have nothing better to do?). American White Pelican – Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. They came home exhausted.

2019 179

2019 Chile Texas Sanctuary 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

They accounted for 562 species at this sluggish time of year. American White Pelican – Pelecanus erythrorhynchos. Brown Pelican – Pelecanus occidentalis. Acorn Woodpecker – Melanerpes formicivorus. Golden-naped Woodpecker – Melanerpes chrysauchen. Hairy Woodpecker – Dryobates villosus.

2019 121

2019 Sparrows Woodpeckers Idaho 121

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2016

While crossing Gramos Mountain in northern Greece, a Dendrocopos woodpecker flew over the road and landed in a pine tree. I had two possibilities, an uncommon Middle Spotted or scarce White-backed Woodpecker – which would have been a lifer for me. One Grey-headed Woodpecker flies across the road – a promising start.

Greece 257

Greece Woodpeckers Boars Eagles 257