10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Few places boast so many different bird species in such a small area — over 900 species (more than Europe, or all of the United States and Canada combined), including 75 different families, like 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tanagers. It was close to 5 a.m., the best time for city traffic to eat me alive.

Costa Rica 236

Costa Rica San Jose Nepal Europe 236

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

This is how it looks like: Or at sunset: A species I did not come for from Shanghai is the Black-crowned Night Heron. Its species name graydoni is in honor of Philip Newenham Graydon (1864-1940), a British planter in Sabah. Why that makes Mr. Graydon worthy of having a bird species named after him is a mystery to me.

Birds 209

Birds Eagles Elephants Rhinoceros 209

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

A life bird for me, and another species for my Audubon Florida Birdathon checklist. Birdathons are typically used by state programs and chapters to raise critical funding for conservation and research programs. Joseph Peninsula State Park, I added terns and shorebirds, ending the day with 50 species in total. An Orchard Oriole!

Florida 152

Florida 2020 Mexico Raised 152

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2022

campus gardens – the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre, located 3 km east of the town of Turrialba. This species qualifies as Critically Endangered because extensive habitat destruction and capture for the cagebird trade are causing extremely rapid and continuing population declines.

Costa Rica 227

Costa Rica Nicaragua 2019 Farming 227

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

This was where I set up my bird feeders, just one at first, then expanding as everyone expressed delight in seeing the Carolina Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Downy Woodpeckers. I picked up a Downy Woodpecker, an every-day visitor. I was shocked when I found the first body, a female Towhee. The window silhouettes were gone.

New York City 249

New York City Birds Illinois Science 249

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

I saw two Pitta species at Hongbenghe, both among the slightly less glamourous among the pitta family: The Blue-naped Pitta … … and the closely related Rusty-naped Pitta. It seems that this is another species for which the standard phrase of scientists anywhere, “more research needed”, applies.

Birds 147

Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

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 203

North America Birds Owls Canada 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

From Nature, “ Discovery of species-wide tool use in the Hawaiian crow “: Only a handful of bird species are known to use foraging tools in the wild. In other words, crows evolve into woodpeckers when there are no woodpeckers. Here’s a video. Photograph from the original Nature article.).

Hawaii 162

Hawaii Research Center 2012 2000 162

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2016

We are at 2000 feet altitude, in dry chaparral, desert scrub, and the feature on this sign was the Acorn Woodpecker. We are so far from any kind of habitat or plant life that would possibly support the Acorn Woodpeckers. Low and behold, the trees are full of Acorn Woodpeckers. As we passed this sign, I had a bit of a good laugh.

Woodpeckers 100

Woodpeckers 2000 Mexico Research 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2019

a British expat birder who was living in Belgrade, for a suggestion: “The top species is undoubtedly White-tailed Eagle. commented further: “With a little work some species can be seen quite easily such as the divers, scaup, scoter, Goosander , Garganey and Long-eared Owl. Hence, I asked my friend B.C.,

Serbia 248

Serbia Birds Woodpeckers Breeding 248

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

I’d love to have known where and when the Great Spotted Woodpecker in my photograph below was ringed, but though the ring is clearly visible, the number stamped on it isn’t. Then it’s a matter of doing a little research on the internet to find who rang the bird you saw, and then emailing the details of your sighting.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Morocco Iceland Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

I did a little research, and came across good birding reports on Gulf Park, so to Gulf Park I went. Though we arrived in the afternoon, we quickly spotted not one, not two, not three… but eight Red-headed Woodpeckers ! Red-headed Woodpecker. Turns out, Gulf Park is huge.

Alabama 150

Alabama Bald Eagle North Carolina Woodpeckers 150

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 28, 2014

Among birds the Egyptian Vulture uses rocks to crack Ostrich eggs, the New Caledonian Crow and Woodpecker Finch (one of several Darwin Finches of the Galapagos Islands), uses sticks to extract grubs from inside a branch. This is similar to the fact that all birds, even first time breeders within a species build identical nests.

Fish 163

Fish Woodpeckers Ostriches Eggs 163

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2017

Up to this point, I have been drawn to Bosque De Coloma, mostly due to its location, ease of access, and some very nice diversity of terrain that supports a very large number of bird species. My wife, Jeanne had previously done a bit of research and found another as yet unexplored park, that was just a couple of miles from our hotel.

Woodpeckers 106

Woodpeckers Rights Mexico Research 106

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

Project FeederWatch data prove that woodpeckers are at the top of the backyard bird feeder pecking order. If you’re a cuckoo or cowbird hoping to pawn off your parenting duties on another species, new brood parasitism research shows you’ll have better luck if the eggs you deposit in their nest are blue-green instead of brown.

Massachusetts 100

Massachusetts Eggs Falcons Rights 100

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 169

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 169

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2018

There are many species that captivate those looking at them: Burrowing Owls , Barn Owls , a variety of fishing-owls, Stygian Owl , Elf Owl , the list goes on and on. We here at 10,000 Birds have no shame and it was either this or lots of posts about woodcocks, boobies, and woodpeckers. Well, except maybe you.

Owls 150

Owls Barn Owls Woodpeckers Bahamas 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2015

Little by little, that woodpecker-like voice takes me ever further and yet, I see no bird. It is swimming with its body half-submerged (typical for the species and yet, so strange for songbirds) and often diving. This species is reasonably easy to find if you are in the right kind of habitat – but I am rarely in that type of habitat.

Bats 209

Bats Woodpeckers Squirrels Game 209

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2017

I remember my first months of birding; the excitement when discovering a new species, the challenge of recognizing field marks in my Sibley guide, the novel way I began to look at the world. The small, black-and-white booklet has over 500 species, with spaces for locations and dates. “Or an American Three-toed Woodpecker ?

Florida 100

Florida Fish 2013 Turkey 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2012

The Red-breasted Sapsucker ( Sphyrapicus ruber ) and the Red-naped Sapsucker ( Sphyrapicus nuchalis ) were considered different forms of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ( Sphyrapicus varius ) until 1983 when they were split into separate species. The bird shown above arrived at my house at the end of October, a new species for my yard list!

North America 161

North America Alaska Woodpeckers 2010 161

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2016

Yeah, unreliable in terms of which species you might see, but reliable in always giving you a unique, high quality birding experience in a forest jam-packed with life. A boldly-patterned, babbler-like bird species. They almost never stopped moving… They morphed into Black-cheeked Woodpeckers. Yeah, probably.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Woodpeckers Research Species 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2018

Forest Service research biologist Vicki Saab studies, birds evolved alongside fire and flee in the face of conflagrations. Vicki states that fire benefits several bird species, like the Black-backed Woodpecker which feeds off the bark and wood-boring beetles that lay eggs in the charred trees.

Wildlife 102

Wildlife Sacramento Shelters Science 102

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2021

Pough “with illustrations in color of every species” by Don Eckelberry, Doubleday, 1946. The National Audubon Society Birds of North America covers all species seen in mainland United States, Canada and Baja California. The press material says it covers over 800 species, so you know I had to do a count.

North America 278

North America America Birds California Condor 278

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2014

Female Imperial Woodpecker in flight, Mexico, a still from recently found film made by William Rhein, p. The idea of Lost Animals was conceived after the publication of Extinct Birds (2001), a 400-page, four-pound book on 75 extinct species. Lost Birds looks at photographic representations of 28 species, 21 of which are birds.

Animal 265

Animal Mammals Hawaii Dolphins 265

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 147

New York City New York Birds Breeding 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 22, 2018

In the e-era now, print magazines are going the way of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Fun fact: only three species in the lower 48 states are not protected by that statute – the House Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, and Common Starling.).

Birds 120

Birds Minnesota Protest Protesting 120

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America covers 61 species of the New World sparrow family Passerellidae that breed in Canada, the United States, and northern Mexico.

North America 143

North America Sparrows America United States 143

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Late last month, while searching for bears , woodpeckers and spirits of Greece, I deliberately avoided checking any news, especially from my home country. We are facing a plague of poaching that is again decimating the species. A different research says, from 2002 to 2011 the known populations of forest elephants declined by 62%.

Elephants 181

Elephants Botswana Zimbabwe Africa 181

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2016

Like the red in Red-bellied Woodpecker and the ring in Ring-necked Duck , this part of the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet’s name describes a feature that is not obvious to the casual observer or from a great distance. The tyrant name is now inseperable from flycatchers. Next: Beardless. Please do not yell at me.

Costa Rica 102

Costa Rica 2014 Family Collecting 102

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

She does, and her narrative serves as a role model for how to write about birds simply and knowledgeably; informing birds’ family stories with scientific facts and research findings. Some chapters focus on one species (Yellow Warbler), some on several related species (Chickadees and Nuthatches). Egg biology, from Part I.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

For birders, it’s the extremely large book, shelved in a place where it can’t crush the field guides, used to research the history of a bird in their area. You can see the Species Account for Henslow’s Sparrow above, in the banner photo. Pileated Woodpecker, for example.

Pennsylvania 222

Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 222

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2017

This morning I drove to the Kapela (“a chapel”) research area of mine, a small geological reserve 15 km / 9 mi upriver from Belgrade, whose management is interested to know whether there is more than just 620,000 years of sediments exposing the ancient glaciations in a high loess bluff. Bank Swallow) holes, among 60+ other bird species.

Serbia 114

Serbia Breeding Woodpeckers Feral 114

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2011

Checking for moult limits on a female Band-tailed Manakin to determine her age Imagine learn or improving your mist-netting, bird banding, handling, aging, and Neotropical bird ID skills in one of the most exuberantly natural surroundings ( 599 bird species recorded at Explorer’s Inn and Sachavacayoc Centre!)

Peru 190

Peru 2011 Deer Birds 190

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2015

Fernandina’s Flicker, a tongue-twisting alliterative name for one of the most endangered woodpeckers in the world! Navarro’s exceptional drawings illustrate the species accounts. Forty-eight species. Bee Hummingbird, the smallest hummingbird in the world! Cuban Black Hawk, split in 2007 from Common Black Hawk!

Cuba 226

Cuba Birds United States 2000 226

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

Europe… with such low herp diversity the locals split any sub-population of a species that occurs on either the Iberian Peninsula or Italy as a new species just to make them feel better out themselves, naturally is the continent that rose to the top of my trip list. Either that or having family friends in Germany.

Salamander 137

Salamander Germany Birds Blackbirds 137

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

where and when the species is likely to be seen on the east coast, flight style, size and structure as compared to similar species. I realized a curious thing while researching some of the creatures in this guide–some of the common names given for the flying fish appear to have originated with co-author Steve N.G.

Pennsylvania 160

Pennsylvania Texas Whales Whaling 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

In a time of little published information about the rainforests of Central and South America aside from scientific journal articles and the works of 19th-century naturalists, the “little green book,” as it was called, became a must-read amongst nature-oriented travelers and researchers.

South America 145

South America Ecuador Reptiles America 145