10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. In any case, our hang-ups with vultures clearly stem from our own issues rather than any inherently bizarre trait of the species themselves. Vultures famously feed on carrion. Dead things. Here’s the kicker though.

California Condor 180

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 180

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2014

Larry starts us off right with an owl that makes birders drool: I was able to see and photograph many great birds in 2014 but my Best Bird of the Year would have to be the Great Gray Owl , the largest Strix in North America. Larry’s BBOTY – Great Gray Owl. The experience, the place, and the bird combine to make this my BBOTY.

2014 188

2014 Costa Rica South Africa Birds 188

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

There are the endemics, which are odd in their own way, and then there introduced species, which are so varied in their type and origin that you get the feeling you’ve arrived at the aftermath of a small zoo that escaped. What is surprising is quite how many species did end up here, and how economically unimportant they were.

New Zealand 161

New Zealand Possums Rabbits Ferrets 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2013

The group has a worldwide distribution; 28 species living and two additional extinct. Both extinct species were island-dwelling and flightless, suggesting a propensity of the group to disperse over long distances , a characteristic that any birder in late summer is familiar with. Scarlet Ibis , photo by Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela.

Birds 211

Birds North America Charlotte New Jersey 211

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

This is “the deep cradle of Western ornithology: the birthplace of bird study,” he tells us as he writes about gazing at the 8,000-year old depictions of “flamingos, herons, raptors, avocets and many other species” (p. With Birkhead, you never know what’s going to come next.

Dissection 219

Dissection Birds Research Europe 219

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

It was not a kitty cat, even though all of its relatives in the Americas were. The majority of wildcats live today in Africa, and virtually none of them have provided the DNA from which supposed histories of domestication have been constructed by researchers. But they don’t live in North America. Unless we put them there.

Feral Cats 255

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 255

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2015

Our group got to see another species that is a master of camouflage on our trip for the Honduran Emerald. I had seen Thick-Knees in South Africa, but I was very excited to see this species, which is the only member of its family found in Central America. Later on, we saw a second one that was actually moving!

Honduras 248

Honduras Birds Costa Rica Groups 248

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. They may have also had hunting dogs with them as well. According to R.D. Which would be weird.

Turkey 202

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 202

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

Along with the tiny pygmy geese there is Africa’s largest duck, the Spur-winged Goose , and perched high on dead branches above the river were White-breasted Cormorants (a subspecies of the Great Cormorant according to some), Reed Cormorants and African Darters. In particular, there are lots of waterbirds.

Botswana 162

Botswana Birds Lesotho Elephants 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

Not that I don’t enjoy seeing new species myself, it’s just that they are an easy target and I am nothing if not lazy and mean spirited. Here in New Zealand te only potential big tick would be a lost vagrant painted snipe, and we’ve already established that I don’t enjoy that kind of vagrant hunting.

Family 163

Family Wombats Uganda Fiji 163

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2012

However South Africa doesn’t meet either of these criteria, but one special factor nevertheless carries it into this auspicious list of 17 nations – the Cape Florisitic Kingdom. of Africa’s landmass yet supports nearly 20% of the continent’s flora! An indication of its floral wealth is that this region covers a mere 0.5%

South Africa 231

South Africa Africa New Zealand Asia 231

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

I went on to tell him that I’d seen these birds in Central America but that I needed to see them in the US too. But nevertheless, this part of the country is home to an astonishing variety of birds and a good number of species that are found nowhere else in the US. A nice Ferruginous Pygmy Owl showing its rufous tail.

Owls 148

Owls Texas Arizona Pigs 148

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

There is a total of 235 different bird species in Greenland, most of them are migratory birds with approximately 60 species breeding within the land. The eider is the most common bird for hunting and eating, it lives near all of Greenland’s coasts and breeds on small islands such as Kitsissunnguit. Source: Shutterstock ).

North America 177

North America Eagles Breeding Fish 177

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Assuming you have a passing interest in wildlife, or at the least you know someone that does, and chances are in the last week or so you’ve become aware that some lady from America shot a lion. Hunters go to Africa to shoot lions, and this is without question a good thing; for birds, for ecosystems, and for lions in general!

Lions 183

Lions Killing Hunting Hunters 183

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2012

They occur in three biogeographic regions; the Neotropic, Afrotropic and Indo-Malaya ecozones, basically tropical South and Central America, Africa south of the Sahara and tropical Asia. The diminutive Tinkerbirds are Africa’s smallest barbets, depicted here is Red-fronted Tinkerbird photographed at Lalibela, Ethiopia.

Ethiopia 230

Ethiopia Tanzania Africa Uganda 230