10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. For ornithologists, it is the documentation of a multi-year project designed to record the distribution and abundance of birds in a specific area (in North America, usually a state or a province), utilizing a mapping method involving blocks and grids.

Pennsylvania 222

Pennsylvania Breeding Birds Sparrows 222

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. Spending days searching for an elusive bird you finally get to see, a bird that few others have seen, a bird about which very little is even known, and then seeing it is a tremendous and unforgettable experience.

South America 180

South America San Diego Mexico America 180

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2018

Of the 300 hummingbird species across the globe, North America only sees fewer than two dozen of them. For over 70 years, ANWR has been a refuge for migrating and breeding birds – most notably serving as the winter home for the only wild flock of whooping cranes. So let’s plan that trip, shall we? Costa’s hummingbird, Photo © Robin L.

Texas 170

Texas North America Alaska America 170

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In this first installment, I will focus on my impressions and experiences in the highlands portion of our tour. Before finally connecting to the South American continent about three million years ago, Central America consisted of a series of volcanic islands. This is a fascinating area of transition.

Honduras 208

Honduras Costa Rica El Salvador Arizona 208

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

How to Know the Birds talks about 200 commonly found birds in North America (including one extinct bird, the Passenger Pigeon) in 200 brief essays, each exactly one page long. John Schmitt, who illustrated Raptors of Mexico and Central America amongst many other books and magazine articles.

Birds 114

Birds North America Breeding America 114

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. Of the native breeding species, 112 are endemic or “very nearly endemic.” (Can

America 212

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 212

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

Right now great flocks of wood-warblers are making their way north from the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America to breed across the United States and Canada. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

United States 155

United States South America 2011 2012 155

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2011

Right now great flocks of wood-warblers are making their way north from the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America to breed across the United States and Canada. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

United States 179

United States South America Cooking Family 179

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

It breeds across Canada’s boreal forest and most winter in the Caribbean, though some spend the cold months in Central America. Right now great flocks of wood-warblers are making their way north from the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America to breed across the United States and Canada.

Tigers 158

Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 158

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

The original distribution of the Wild Turkey is not clearly known, but it existed from the Eastern Seaboard of the US nearly to the Rocky Mountains, avoided some of the more open plains in the north, and occurred in central Mexico. According to R.D. Diffusion to other european countries subsequently was very rapid. Which would be weird.

Turkey 198

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

As I have mentioned repeatedly over the past months, life this spring has gone topsy-turvy in central Mexico, as we experience what has certainly been one of our driest years in history. We had good sightings of a pair of Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers , one of central Mexico’s few summer-only migrants.

Mexico 203

Mexico South America 2020 America 203

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

His parents moved where opportunity beckoned, taking him from San Angelo, Texas, to Columbus, New Mexico, then to Dallas, and finally on to California. That summer of 1938, when he was ten years old, Cade read of two brothers, Frank and John Craighead, who wrote of their experiences with falcons in National Geographic.

Falcons 172

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 172

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2024

Being a westerner — raised in California, and now living in western Mexico — I was perhaps most excited about the migratory birds that breed in eastern North America. And the Baltimore Oriole is an iconic eastern bird, which winters along Mexico’s east coast, but never in the west. Then, around 4:00 p.m.,

Mexico 187

Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 187

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Ringer Gannets and Boobies (Sulidae) Black-and-white gannets breed on the cold, rocky coasts of the northern and southern oceans. They can soar for hours, or plunge and twist after another bird with spectacular power and flair.

2011 151

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea Birds 151

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

The Colima Warbler has a distinction shared with no other species in the world: It is fully migratory, but both its summer reproductive range and its winter range are almost entirely within Mexico. (A A few breed in Texas’ Big Bend area.) All of our other migratory species either breed mostly in the U.S. So, lucky me!

Mexico 155

Mexico Birds South America Turkey 155

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2023

.” They conclude that many non-vocalizing Empidonax flycatchers can be identified in the field, but only “when several field characters are used in combination–and after one has gained experience in looking at these characters on singing/calling and captive birds (i.e., known-identity).”**

Los Angeles 202

Los Angeles North America America Species 202

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

Splits were once a much more subjective determination, based on differences in appearance, vocalizations, habits, and breeding preferences. But you pretty much must come to Mexico to see the Mexican Duck , which I see every time I go to our nearest lake. Western Mexico’s Cinnamon-rumped Seedeater , split since 2018.

San Diego 171

San Diego San Francisco Mexico Baltimore 171

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2012

Fortunately, Alan Tilmouth, a beat writer with pelagic experience, expressed an interest in the book as well. To be fair, Howell has also written about hummingbirds and finding birds in Mexico, which to my mind are a little easier to comprehend. This is the first field identification guide on tubenoses in North America.

North America 158

North America Albatross America Species 158

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2011

The Mexican Duck, as its name suggests, is native to Mexico and parts of the southwestern United States, and unlike the Mallard, the Mexican Duck does not have a showy male breeding plumage; both sexes are brown throughout the year. Do you prefer stability and certainty, or would you rather make changes to our lists early and often?

Ducks 169

Ducks North America Texas Mexico 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

His summers during college were spent as a biological technician, monitoring breeding birds for Point Reyes Bird Observatory in Eastern Oregon, and also five seasons in Black Hills, SD, working for the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory.

Brazil 160

Brazil Venezuela Iowa Guatemala 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

It made us reach for our field guide for North America, but that really does not compare to the real thing. I did not get to appreciate all that America had to offer for the birder until I returned with my husband, Grant, in 1989. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

South Africa 158

South Africa United States Austin Alligators 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2011

For native people, living in South America meant living with hummingbirds, and for Europeans, discovering South American meant discovering hummingbirds (and, tragically, exploiting South America meant exploiting hummingbirds, destroying hundreds of thousands for stuffed specimens and in futile attempts to keep them alive in captivity.)

South America 156

South America New York Alaska America 156