10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2011

Of course, the fun of a bird race increases exponentially by the quality and quantity of the species that might be seen. Now you should have a sense of the excitement elicited by the Great Texas Birding Classic ! Speaking of fun, have I mentioned that I’ll be attending the 2011 Great Texas Birding Classic?

Texas 160

Texas United States Houston Birds 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2019

The striking Golden-cheeked Warbler nests only in the hills of central Texas near Austin but a substantial part of those breeding grounds have leveled in favor of development. One of the fastest growing cities in America, Austin is the capital of Texas and home of the University of Texas. On December 27, 1990 , the U.S.

Austin 174

Austin Texas Endangered Species Birds 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

At the top of those destinations is the stretch of Gulf Coast Texas barrier islands starting at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in the north, through Padre Island National Seashore, to South Padre Island near the country’s border. Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them.

Texas 178

Texas North America Alaska America 178

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe today announced as part of Great Outdoors Month the agency is proposing to expand fishing and hunting opportunities on 21 refuges throughout the National Wildlife Refuge System. National wildlife refuges provide premier outdoor recreational opportunities across the Nation.

Fish 143

Fish Wildlife Hunting Game 143

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2015

This week’s guest blog was written by Linda Hufford, who has been a wildlife rehabilitator specializing in raptors for over twenty years. She runs Birds of Texas Rehabilitation Center in Austin County, Texas. The justification was ridiculously laughable: in order to further study the species.

Collecting 240

Collecting Wildlife Rehabilitation Solomon Islands Texas 240

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2021

As of mid-November 2021, the Collaborative had submitted more than 4,200 checklists (up from 1,700 in 2018) and has observed 691 species in the United States (up from 618). Thus, there are now seven states with 200+ observed species. The state with the largest increase was Arizona , with 139 species added.

United States 200

United States West Virginia Puerto Rico Minnesota 200

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the “Rufa” population of Red Knot ( Calidris canutus rufa ) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The other sub-species, Calidris canutus roselaari , migrates along the Pacific Coast and breeds in Alaska and the Wrangel Island in Russia. Birds in Delaware Bay.

Endangered Species 160

Endangered Species Protection Delaware Species 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 14, 2019

The endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler breeds only in Texas Hill Country near Austin and San Antonio, but much of its nesting grounds have cleared in favor of subdivisions. First, some background regarding the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the listing of the Golden-cheeked Warbler is required. What is a conservation bank? # # #.

San Antonio 124

San Antonio Endangered Species Texas Austin 124

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2014

(Image above by AP Photo/Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.). The pair shot last year in Kentucky belonged to Operation Migration’s project establishing a migratory flock in the eastern United States; there is also the last true wild flock , which winters in Texas and summers in Canada.) Seriously, hunters. (Or,

Louisiana 261

Louisiana Kentucky Hunters United States 261

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

Henry Philemon Attwater was born in Brighton, England and spent his early adult years in Canada, but the state of Texas – which he first visited at 30 and made his permanent home at 35 – has embraced him. Undeveloped land absorbs water, filters salt, and slows wind.

Chickens 123

Chickens Texas Louisiana Wildlife 123

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2019

In addition to spotting exciting new species in Florida, including the rare Snail Kite, travel across the country brought me into contact with birds in Oregon, California, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, and more. Marks National Wildlife Refuge replenished by naturalist spirit, but remained all I could manage.

Bald Eagle 148

Bald Eagle Alabama Kansas Florida 148

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2021

Nationally, most birdwatching occurred in California (9%), followed by New York (6%), Texas (5%), Pennsylvania (5%), Florida (5%), and Ohio (4%). The results: “The most important attributes in the choice of birdwatching trips were: (1) travel distance; (2) chance to see rare or unusual bird species; and (3) the naturalness of the area.

Minnesota 264

Minnesota Research Pennsylvania Ohio 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

During the decade, I submitted 1,219 checklists and observed 555 bird species, all in the U.S. After an initial period when all species are new, the lifers begin to follow a pattern. Thus, I can pinpoint my first pelagic trip, as it added 13 new species. Birding trips to Florida , New Mexico , and Texas are obvious too.

Puerto Rico 148

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 148

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2019

When we returned to Tucson, from the Bahamas, I was approaching a milestone number, 1300 bird species, and drove myself hard, climbing, hiking, searching, and driving all over the state of Arizona looking for those last eight birds. So below is what the year looked, by the numbers: Total Number of Little Big Year Species: 1302.

Costa Rica 133

Costa Rica Tucson South Africa Bahamas 133

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

This spurred her to pursue a career in environmental education and wildlife nature tourism as a park ranger in Texas and as the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail Coordinator with Florida Fish and Wildlife. Marion has a fascinating history with invasive species.

South Africa 263

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 263

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. To show how adaptive this species is, the following photograph was sent to me by one of my readers and I use it with her permission.

Hunters 176

Hunters Hunting North America Game 176

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?). Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge–East Pond. San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary.

2019 169

2019 Chile Texas Sanctuary 169

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

” are the big questions at the heart of Vagrancy in Birds by Alexander Lees and James Gilroy, an impressive, fascinating book about what ornithologists and wildlife biologists have found out about avian vagrancy so far and their theories explaining this phenomenon. ” and its companion question, “Why is this bird here?”

Birds 260

Birds Compassion Eagles Science 260

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2014

I was at the Blue Heron Wetlands in Titusville, Florida, during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival hoping to connect with a Purple Gallinule that the field trip I co-led with Laura Erickson failed to find. I don’t keep a Florida list so I don’t particularly care how many species I count there.

Feral 180

Feral Florida Ducks Texas 180

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. Ahab wasn’t fishing, and the guys in ‘The Big Year’ aren’t watching birds, they’re scouring North America in a ruthless bid to tick off more species than anyone else.

Agenda 141

Agenda Birds Louisiana North America 141

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Birders are familiar with the National Wildlife Refuge System, which consists of more than 550 units distributed through all fifty states. National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs), which are managed by the U.S. FWS calls WPAs the “Prairie Jewels of the National Wildlife Refuge System.”. Ding” Darling NWR in Florida.

Factory 117

Factory Ducks North Dakota Nebraska 117

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

Raised in and around the West Texas steppe country where temperatures reached 100 degrees with regularity, he began life as the Dust Bowl and Great Depression converged. His parents moved where opportunity beckoned, taking him from San Angelo, Texas, to Columbus, New Mexico, then to Dallas, and finally on to California.

Falcons 181

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 181

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2015

Many species that are currently common may stay that way, and some species will likely increase…and hopefully species besides House Sparrows , European Starlings , Rock Pigeons and Eurasian Collared-Doves , which those in North America know as the four avian horsemen of the apocalypse. Whats in it for birds?

North America 217

North America Birds San Francisco Suffering 217

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2016

In 2015 a Federal Duck Stamp Task Force was convened under the auspices of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) consisting of seventeen individuals. Issue 4: Access to many National Wildlife Refuges is restricted or extremely limited for waterfowl hunting and wildlife viewing even when lands are acquired by MBCF dollars.

Ducks 100

Ducks Hunters Hunting Wildlife 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2014

Skye wore a long-suffering expression, while Bau-Hien – whose parents had settled in Texas after leaving Vietnam – regarded me with a mixture of fascination and alarm. The mission of wildlife rehabilitators is to return injured birds to the sky, or the sea, or wherever it is they came from. Soon the girls emerged. said Bau-Hien.

Puffins 274

Puffins Eggs Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle 274

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

The problem of free-roaming cats — and their predation on birds and other wildlife — is hotly contested in communities across the country, and it triggered a lively exchange in the hearing room. Cats are domesticated animals that are not indigenous wildlife in North America. In Copperas Cove, Texas.

Feral Cats 210

Feral Cats Feral Cats Minneapolis 210

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2019

Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) attempts to calculate the economic contribution of National Wildlife Refuge visitation to local communities. Rather, birding and other wildlife observation ( e.g., photography) are lumped together as “non-consumptive” uses of a refuge. Every few years, the U.S. billion for local communities.

Wildlife 248

Wildlife Maryland San Francisco Minnesota 248

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Waterfowl numbers at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex may exceed two million by December, after the wetland areas of the Klamath Basin and other areas to the north become frozen. Snow and Ross’s Geese winter there in the tens of thousands. www.youtube.com/watch?

Geese 153

Geese South Dakota Sacramento Arkansas 153

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2014

There is another area of the Queens County CBC where a team will also likely see Monk Parakeets , Myipsitta monachus , but I am seriously determined to count that bird for my area, Coastal Flushing, a section of northeast Queens, New York, that includes Whitestone, home of one of the loudest invasive bird species in the U.S. And cell towers.

Chicago 201

Chicago New York City New York Illinois 201

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2012

Namibia is politically stable and a safe country to visit offering spectacular scenery, untouched wildernesses, vast game reserves, superb wildlife and fascinating cultural experiences. Namibia’s 2,1 million people are spread over an incredible 318,696 sq mi (nearly 20% larger land area than Texas).

Namibia 252

Namibia Angola Lovebirds South Africa 252

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2011

When this native of Mesoamerica and South America is spied in the wild, usually in some corner of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, it elicits admiring oohs and ahs. However, the species sometimes referred to as the Barbary Duck appears very much out of place just about everywhere else. Such is the lot of the Manky Muscovy.

Ducks 218

Ducks 2011 Deer New York 218

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2014

the same few states always come to mind first…Alaska, Arizona, Texas, and Florida. Modoc National Wildlife Refuge, CA. Humboldt and Del Norte Counties offer top-knotch birding, and a suite of species that can’t be found in the rest of the state. When one thinks of taking a birdcation somewhere in the U.S.,

California 200

California San Diego Birds Oakland 200

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

Some things still seemed out of reach ( Texas , for instance, seemed about as likely a destination as the moon) but I began to do things with the purpose of “building my list” in earnest around this time, not so much for the sake of the list itself, but to see these birds that I’d always wondered about.

Pythons 184

Pythons Litter Montana 2006 184

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2018

The west end of the lake has been designated as a Watchable Wildlife Reserve, with some nice walking trails and a couple of very nice hides built overlooking some varied waterways. So, we were off and away to Dalhart, Texas, and the Rita Blanca Reservoir. The numbers are as follows: Little Big Year Species – 892.

Colorado 113

Colorado Texas Trinidad Albuquerque 113

Critter News

AUGUST 9, 2010

Born Free USA (BFUSA) is a nationally recognized leader in animal welfare and wildlife conservation. Through litigation, legislation, and public education, BFUSA leads vital campaigns against animals in entertainment, exotic “pets”, trapping and fur, and destructive international wildlife trade.

Fur 100

Fur Animal Welfare Ethics Primates 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2019

Last year, I compiled a subjective list of the Top 25 National Wildlife Refuges for Birding. I recently traveled to Texas and made a trip to Hagerman NWR (an “Honorable Mention”), which is north of Dallas. I recently traveled to Texas and made a trip to Hagerman NWR (an “Honorable Mention”), which is north of Dallas.

Oklahoma 136

Oklahoma Texas Dallas Wildlife 136

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. And, then there are the more familiar birds–Wood-warblers, sandpipers, hawks–some species migrants, some species with a wide range. Can you guess which of the species cited above are endemic?

America 213

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 213