10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2021

They’ve not wasted any time, having drifted northward from mainland South America only a few weeks ago. Perhaps his first attempt at raising a family – I’ll be checking on him in a few days! Some species have already fledged their young and are in the process of feeding the juveniles. Sounds like a party.

Raised 264

Raised Breeding South America Family 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2012

Residents of the Americas may find this hard to believe, but the ubiquitous, adaptable House Sparrow ( Passer domesticus ) is declining in its native lands. World Sparrow Day is celebrated annually on March 20th to raise awareness across the globe about the decline of the House Sparrow and how it impacts all of us.

Sparrows 227

Sparrows 2012 Raised America 227

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

Sometimes, they even have the same species… I’m looking at you, House Wren ! While this low-density species may be declining across its wide range, BirdLife International still considers it of Least Concern. Encountering this stunner, one of the largest passerines in South America, raises a number of questions.

Colombia 239

Colombia South America Argentina Ecuador 239

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I was fortunate to have been born and raised in Africa, and although I have traveled extensively around the world, it remains my home and in my blood. Approximately 2,300 bird species inhabit Africa, however as impressive as that sounds, much smaller South America boasts nearly 1,000 species more.

Papua New Guinea 254

Papua New Guinea Equatorial Guinea Madagascar Tanzania 254

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2013

“The birds” as a whole will be “fine” but many individual species will not. ” Here’s the information I have on it: With 2012 breaking records as America’s hottest year ever, America’s migratory birds face unique challenges because of their long journeys and need for multiple habitats.

Maryland 267

Maryland Penguins Birds Wildlife 267

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

American White Pelicans spend their winter months along the Gulf states, California, parts of Arizona, and Mexico down into Central America. No matter how many times I see them, this particular species remains breathtaking. I’m talking, of course, about “my” flock of American White Pelicans.

Pelicans 264

Pelicans United States Arizona Canada 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Those of us who were raised in the four-season north (here in Michoacán one could define, at the most, three seasons) tend to think of avian migration in terms of seasonal temperatures. On that occasion I counted 40 individuals from 10 different species. So it was a tremendous satisfaction to finally see a male of this species.

Mexico 239

Mexico Alaska Falcons Raised 239

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.

North America 249

North America Charlotte Birds Miami 249

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. This is not entirely unknown among domestic animals, but many domesticates have no living wild version.

Turkey 249

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 249

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it sometimes takes a “village” of rehabbers to save threatened wildlife. Her determination was further fueled by the fact that this year, the status of this species had been changed to Endangered in Nova Scotia. Chimney Swifts remain classified as At Risk in other provinces.)

Wildlife Rehabilitation 230

Wildlife Rehabilitation Canada Wildlife South America 230

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

This particular species is not native to New Zealand (similar to its status in North America). A European Starling in New Zealand made the news this week. The woman in the video found it as a chick at a few days old and hand reared it. In areas where starlings are introduced, the laws for keeping them as pets are relaxed.

New Zealand 184

New Zealand North America Laws Raised 184

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2011

Like the breeding activity of many species this spring, the grebes were late, probably due to the unseasonable weather. Note the raised crests as the female (on the left) turns to face the larger male (on the right). v=v1XAFo_uVgk References: 1 Audubon California ; 2 Birds of North America Online a. www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1XAFo_uVgk

California 256

California Eagles North America Blackbirds 256

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

For mankind to snatch away a species’ very existence is wrong on so many levels that I can’t begin to explain them. However, despite our best efforts to wipe them off the face of the earth, some of the more vulnerable species have managed to hang on. this species breeds. Here are some U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Albatross 250

Albatross Endangered Species Bald Eagle Alaska 250

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

Thanks to fortunate foresight, a lot of land was set aside in Costa Rica as national parks and protected areas (and some of these are easily accessed) but the best forest still happens to be at the terminus of the road and en route, you will be treated to species deficit birding in plenty of pastures. A pair of Shining Honeycreepers.

Costa Rica 257

Costa Rica San Jose Sharks Monkeys 257

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. This was only my fourth encounter with the species (all on the east side). Although, truth be told, this species does seem to be a rarity in Tabasco.)

Mexico 245

Mexico Birds Raccoons Baltimore 245

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2020

I am only responding to my subjective impression of a single species’ appearance here; specifically, that of the Bronzed Cowbird. But when raised, they seem to have a sort of weird cape. In other words, they never raise their own young. In contrast, the Brown-headed Cowbird is a same-continent invasive species.

Blackbirds 178

Blackbirds Mexico Cattle Birds 178

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Back in 2009, Tai Haku sent us a fascinating post exploring a question that ecologists worldwide grapple with: can the translocation of rare species into niches left empty by extinction be successful or justified? There are any number of concerns one could raise. How ecologically similar are the two species? It is extinct.

Puerto Rico 233

Puerto Rico Guam Virgin Islands Feral 233

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 20, 2011

But still, there is variation in variation and how rapid climate change occurs can matter, as demonstrated in a paper just published in Science: The Influence of Late Quaternary Climate-Change Velocity on Species Endemism. Species diversity drops and the systems become very simple and uninteresting, and probably not very stable.

Penguins 246

Penguins Birds Cooking Fish 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Less than 1% of all species exhibit role some type of role reversal where males do what females typically do. Perhaps the most complicated and bizarre mating system is that of the Rheas of South America. They live in flocks in the open country shrubland of Southern South America. Photo: Antoine Hubert. Flickr Creative Commons.

South America 163

South America Eggs Raised America 163

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2020

Out of the approximately 26 species of snipes worldwide, two have been recorded on Trinidad. The trouble begins with the recognition of the fact that both species of snipe were formerly part of a single species – Common Snipe ( Gallinago gallinago ). Any snipe is a good snipe, they say. Only one has been seen on Tobago.

Trinidad 279

Trinidad Welfare North America Emotional 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2023

The 1st edition from 1999 was a complete revolution in just about everything, but predominantly the quality and realism of illustrations, showing what a field guide could be and seriously raising the threshold for other publishers. The section with vagrants has been expanded to accommodate more images and longer texts for several species.

Europe 264

Europe Birds Woodpeckers Ireland 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

The hope and claim is that transferring this process to gull identification works more easily and just as accurately (at least for species) as an examination of plumage and molt patterns. Species Accounts. Gulls Simplified covers 25 species. The process doesn’t totally ignore plumage. This isn’t a new idea.

North America 214

North America El Salvador America Nicaragua 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2023

Originally, I was going to highlight one of the species endemic to the islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean; but once I typed in “Lesser Antillean”, six species popped up. Interestingly, this species has been split into two distinct subspecies, one for each of the islands on which it is found.

Puerto Rico 203

Puerto Rico Grenada Barbados Trinidad 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

Rightly or wrongly, there’s an hierarchy of extinct birds in North America, in the United States in particular. It’s not known for sure whether the entirety of the population of the species always wintered on the island of Cuba but by the time people cared enough to find out that’s where they were going.

South Carolina 204

South Carolina Cuba Missouri Mississippi 204

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

This added layer elevates Birding Under the Influence: Cycling Across America in Search of Birds and Recovery from a book of fun birding and travel adventures to a more complex memoir about the ways in which birding spurs self-reflection, motivates life change, feeds a need for wonder, and creates community. The absolute craziness of it all?

Los Angeles 246

Los Angeles Massachusetts Birds New York City 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2015

With its red, white, and blue plumage, it is also clearly the most “patriotic” bird in America. Both species are notoriously aggressive, and out-competed bluebirds for the nesting cavities they needed to raise their young. It’s true, there was some push-back when naming the bluebird.

New York 160

New York New York City United States 2010 160

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2011

I mention all of this because we in North America, especially the southern part of North America, have storks too. Wood Storks are an exceptionally old species, and its existence predates the last Ice Age, around 15,000 years ago, by tens of thousands of years more.

Pedigree 175

Pedigree North America South Carolina Brazil 175

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. The rest of the 216 pages long book is devoted to various African bird families and half a dozen individual species. He has authored several other books and many articles, largely on natural history.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2012

They reside there at the top of a small mountain sanctuary as mythical as my first remembrances of ancient thunderbirds, living, mating, and raising young. The World Center for Birds of Prey ( The Peregrine Fund ) in Boise, Idaho, most famous for its Peregrine Falcons , also has a vital population of California condors.

California Condor 255

California Condor California Idaho Utah 255

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2012

Right now we’re pretty much a three species town, Ravens with a chance of Hoary Redpolls and a sprinkling of Rock Ptarmigan. (I I smashed the High Arctic Christmas Bird Count record this January 2nd by managing to find all three species here in town. I’ve family to raise and no time for modeling.”

South America 181

South America Eggs Family Raised 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2011

The song referred to is that of the Wood Thrush , one of the natural world’s most beautiful singers, and a familiar sound to anyone who has spent time in the forests of eastern North America in summer. Sadly, the thrushes that breed around my parents’ house are likely not very successful in raising young.

Tennessee 169

Tennessee North America New York Raised 169

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

So, the 49 subject species include birds with interesting family behaviors that we might not see every day (Cedar Waxwing, Great Blue Heron, Peregrine Falcon), migrant songbirds (Tree and Barn Swallows, House Wren), and common, everyday birds (Northern Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, and, yes, Rock Pigeon). Egg biology, from Part I.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 16, 2012

You can argue that large waders of Florida are flashier or that the secretive Bachman’s Sparrow elicit more respect, and sure, Pine Warblers nest as far north as southern Canada so how can they really be southeastern, but if you raise these points I think you fail to realize how truly prolific Pine Warblers are in the south.

North Carolina 187

North Carolina Jordan North America Raised 187

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2013

While this allows for the delightful prospect of Thanksgivingakkah, with attendant turkey dreidels and whatnot, it does raise certain perennial questions of the nature of time itself, as applied to birding. Rosh Hashanah, the New Year of the Jewish calendar, has come relatively early season-wise this year.

Livestock 178

Livestock Psychology North America Turkey 178

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. Birkhead knows that these are sensitive topics.

Dissection 264

Dissection Birds Europe Eggs 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2012

Primarily, Lapwings are an Old World family with over 20 species including Australasia’s Masked Lapwing , Asia’s Yellow-wattled Lapwing and the Red-wattled Lapwing of the Middle East. Masked Lapwing Africa is the spiritual home of the Vanellus family, boasting as many as 14 species including the abundant Crowned Lapwing.

Brazil 151

Brazil Protection Family Africa 151

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Private property holders with prairie/agricultural land can potentially make a big difference in maintaining and recovering populations of many of these charismatic species. Aside from being one of our best-looking birds, Golden-winged Warblers are one of North America’s most imperiled warblers. Shocking, I know.

United States 180

United States Endangered Species North America Protection 180