10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2020

The Ural Owl inhabits old and undisturbed boreal forests, in an unbroken belt from Sweden and Finland across Russia to Japan, and is rarely seen to the south, only here and there, in the Carpathians (Slovakia/Ukraine/Romania/eastern Serbia) and Dinaric Alps (Croatia/Bosnia/western Serbia). Two years ago I screamed “UralOwlUralOwlUralOwl!!!”,

Serbia 243

Serbia Owls Slovakia Bosnia 243

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

Two hundred yards further, the first Common Goldeneye and Smew started to appear and, while counting Smew and geese, a Great Bittern took flight from one stand of reeds to another, right in front of us. These globally threatened raptors breed from Ukraine eastward through Siberia and only a few come to overwinter here.

Geese 139

Geese Serbia Birds Estonia 139

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

Unfortunately, in the science of language, this does not sound particularly raunchy but rather like a rational decision: “A rare species such as the Chinese Pond Heron might choose heterospecific mates rather than abandoning all chances of reproduction.” Sounds like clever behavior by the parrotbills, right?

Birds 162

Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

The best bird of the day turned out to be one Lesser Black-backed Gull, that was half-hidden behind BHGs, but I was checking their legs for the rings, scoping left and right, until I realised that it was not the angle or shadow, but that gull was genuinely dark (belonging to the Baltic race L.f. fuscus and dark as the GBBG).

Serbia 166

Serbia Birds Ukraine Europe 166

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2016

Amongst all the species that were split off the Herring Gull, the Caspian Gull is my favourite one, and its existence alone is our fair reward for the identification crisis we had to endure during the dark ages of the 1990s. Right, the Caspian Gull, sounding (not being) very much out of its comfort zone so far away from its Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan 111

Kazakhstan Germany Ukraine Asia 111

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2022

The ongoing destruction of Nanhui, where the species can frequently be seen on migration, certainly will not help. Judging from the facial expression of this White-shouldered Starling , I would rather not have an annoyed bird of this species as a roommate. The species has reversed sex roles, with the males doing the incubating.

China 169

China Birds Ukraine Killing 169

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2022

While the species favors forested hills at moderate elevations ( source ), there are no hills at all here at Nanhui, so maybe these individuals are outcasts or just eccentrics. Chestnut-winged Cuckoo: This could be your host species! In the HBW, there are about 40 species with the word “plain” in the species name.

Birds 179

Birds Sparrows Protection Humane 179