10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. The 39 owls include five endemic Caribbean species.

North America 255

North America Owls America Dominican Republic 255

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

Yet, the fact that tiny Panama is as popular as huge Brazil, with twice as many bird species, speaks volume for Brazil’s stage of ecotourism development. Not surprisingly, ten of these 19 countries are in the Americas, but what does surprise me, there are just 4 in Africa and just 1 in Asia (2 if you count Indonesia).

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2019

Whatever the reason for getting involved with this massive day of birding, every GBD has been a success where literally thousands of species are found by thousands of birders. I have been able to do that in Costa Rica because literally hundreds of bird species can be accessed in a question of hours.

Costa Rica 250

Costa Rica Species West Virginia New York 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

Raptors of Mexico and Central America by William S. This is the first identification guide that I know of that covers Mexico (technically North America but rarely included in North American raptor guides) and Central America. Clark and N. That’s a lot of visual information!

Mexico 189

Mexico America North America Falcons 189

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

The avian world offers an astonishing variety of species, each with unique beauty, behaviors and songs, every bird sighting brings a new thrill and discovery, favourites change almost daily. For me, selecting a list, even a short one, of favorite birds as a birdwatcher, bird photographer, is an endeavor both enchanting and daunting.

America 246

America Birds Species 246

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2017

The Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America by Nathan Pieplow is innovative, fascinating, and challenging. The guide covers 520 species of birds regularly found in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, including, interestingly, a number of exotic species. But, first the basics.

North America 189

North America America Sparrows Birds 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2019

A wonderful variety of bird species are waiting to be seen and among them are many a birder’s favorite avian group, the wood-warblers. Among the most desired bird species during May migration, brightly colored, beautiful and boldly patterned, how can a birder not get hooked on spring warblers? Great Green Macaw!

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Species Belize New Jersey 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong. The paper is by leading researchers F.

Sparrows 279

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 279

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2020

There are 17 species of Becard. Eight occur only in South America, three spill over from there just into Panama, and one reaches from South America through much of Central America. Two reach from South America all the way to southeastern Mexico. Mexico is considered part of North America, not Central America.)

South America 264

South America Mexico America Panama 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Next to me was a copy of “Birds of Central America” with a somewhat longish subtitle “Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama” by Vallely and Dyer from 2018. In a way, “Birds of Central America” was the prequel of this new edition.

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica El Salvador Nicaragua Belize 279

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2020

Whether you happen to be more interested in music or birds, you may love “A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean” Since this is a music project rather than an actual guide of bird vocalizations, there won’t be a catalog of antbird trills and toucan yelps.

Costa Rica 278

Costa Rica Nicaragua Cuba Mexico 278

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

That’s because this fascinating part-Caribbean, part-south American country holds well over 800 species of avifauna making it without doubt one of my top three countries in all of the continent to visit. Before I delve into some of these avian treasures let me give you a few non-birding reasons to visit this gem of South America.

Guyana 279

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

The Salvia mexicana is sold in North America with the varietal name “Limelight” But this one was wild, native, and beautiful. This species loves to sing while high up in pine trees. But I was delighted to see a Black-chinned Sparrow near the shore; this is only my eighth sighting of this species.

2020 332

2020 Reptiles South America Birds 332

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

And what does it tell us, other than the obvious “head for South America” or perhaps Indonesia? It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data.

Equatorial Guinea 239

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Central African Republic Guyana 239

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 249

Colombia South America Argentina Ecuador 249

10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2024

My main interest lies in the endemic species and subspecies, trying to understand why some species got there and others didn’t. When we look at the breeding birds, they are all Palaearctic, either mainland species or endemics that evolved from mainland species. On the eastern Canaries they are Palaearctic species.

Cape Verde 290

Cape Verde Europe Breeding Africa 290

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

What happens when you visit one of the best birdwatching sites in the region with the highest number of endemic bird species in the Americas in the world’s birdiest country? We spied 11 tanager species including the highly coveted Black-and-gold Tanager. Your mind gets blown. But the birds we did see were stellar!

Colombia 268

Colombia South America Birds America 268

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2020

Birders normally care about species and make species lists, how do families fit into those? Adding more species brings a lot of excitement, as long as you bird your own country or a continent. 11,000 species require lots of money and a good portion of one’s life. That gamble is rigged, so the house always wins.

Family 299

Family Birds South America Breeding 299

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”. Not just any old ant though, you are on the lookout for army ants.

San Diego 245

San Diego South America Costa Rica America 245

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Guiding aside, Howell is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and the author of many books, including Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America (Princeton). We have tended to a liberal (= realistic) direction when recognising species.” Well, this is one interesting claim. And now – the photos.

Chile 273

Chile Birds South America Albatross 273

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2020

When our local government called for Michoacán’s residents to stay at home, I said goodbye to some 250 regional species, and shut myself in at home with the other 30 that regularly visit my neighborhood. And on this particular trip, I could see all these species on a single kind of tree. And what species!

Squirrels 246

Squirrels Sparrows South America Mexico 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

Before finally connecting to the South American continent about three million years ago, Central America consisted of a series of volcanic islands. Many Nearctic species and families reach their southern terminus in the Northern Central American Highlands, such as Common Raven , Red Crossbill , Steller’s Jay , and even Brown Creeper.

Honduras 254

Honduras El Salvador Costa Rica Arizona 254

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2020

but there are other birds, many stopping to stay, many others moving to South America. Latin America tends to be loud and Costa Rica is no exception. At the moment, night excursions to Poas are limited by pandemic driving restrictions but I can still surmise about the species flying overhead. Cuckoos are up There.

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica South America Colombia Paraguay 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

The official Ontario bird checklist, produced by Ontario Field Ornithologists , June 2022 listed 506 bird species**, putting it in the top tier of U.S. Small Species Accounts: Each species is allotted one page (with certain exceptions) offering basics–bird names and size, one or two photographs, and a one-paragraph description.

North America 246

North America Birds Owls Canada 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

It sports the intense purple back and head of its close relative, the Purple Martin , which is found in much of North America (summer) and South America (winter). I have now seen the species in eight different years. Of course, Paso Ancho is also a hotspot for many other beautiful species and endemics.

Mexico 246

Mexico South America 2020 America 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2014

Across the world’s northern oceans, 24 species of auklets, murres, puffins, guillemots, and related seabirds make a living catching food beneath the waves and breeding, often in large colonies, on coastlines and islands. All alcid species alive today can fly, but with difficulty.

Penguins 276

Penguins Puffins 2008 Sharks 276

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2020

May migration in many parts of eastern North America was and is an amazing natural celebration. Yes, the same species as the ones that birders pine for in the borderlands even though the ones in Costa Rica have yellow bellies. In Costa Rica, this species is common in various middle elevation forest habitats. Tropical Parula.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Panama Nashville Baltimore 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2020

One of the ways I could describe the unique mix of birds I can see here in southwestern Mexico, would be to divide our species into five categories. The invasive species are few, but, unfortunately, very numerous. But there is a final group of species here, about which I have not written very much.

Mexico 261

Mexico Birds Honduras United States 261

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

The first is that the illustrations by Dale Dyer are based, and largely seem to be the same, as the illustrations for his previous guide Birds of Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama (co-authored with Andrew Vallely, PUP, 2018). Why are these issues? Doing this work takes time!

Costa Rica 246

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 246

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2023

Yet, I was not aware of any of Arjan’s big year updates in English, so I had no clue where he was or how many species he managed to see. After 3 months of South and Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia, Arjan’s count stood at 2,060 species. And I wanted to learn about his travels in detail.

Papua New Guinea 264

Papua New Guinea Guinea Suriname Brazil 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2022

The exploration of triads within the avifauna of Trinidad and Tobago has taken me through various families and species groups on this blog. On the smaller island of Tobago there are three species of woodpeckers and three species of woodcreepers – one of each is found on Tobago but not Trinidad. Red-crowned Woodpecker.

Woodpeckers 264

Woodpeckers Trinidad South America Hunting 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2022

Towhees are large, ground-hugging sparrows that occur only in North America. The first was strange only on a personal level, as I had never before seen a juvenile of the species. They belong to either the Pipilo or Melozone genera, or perhaps both, as their taxonomy is still a point of contention.

Mexico 264

Mexico North America Sparrows 2015 264

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 253

Albatross Endangered Species Bald Eagle Alaska 253

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

At any rate there are three species, the Black Skimmer (which isn’t that much blacker than the others) which is found in the Americas, the Indian Skimmer, which is the most vulnerable member of the family, and the African Skimmer, which is widespread but nowhere common in Africa. Euphorbias at sundown. Birding skimmers Uganda'

Uganda 251

Uganda Madagascar Buffalo Africa 251

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

For, in birder lingo, a split occurs when subspecies are determined to be, in fact, entirely separate species. If you happen to have seen both species, your life list can increase without you even leaving the house. Two former species can also be joined into one, the same way. Do we really need to talk about sad events?).

San Diego 253

San Diego San Francisco Baltimore Mexico 253

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2021

There was a time when I thought each bird species had its own individual song. Then I found out that there was this vocalization called a ‘call,’ so I thought each bird species had its own individual song (but just the males) and individual call. Bird communication is a complex and evolving science. How do they know?

North America 279

North America Birds Research America 279

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

In fact, the best known member of the family, Central America’s aptly-named Resplendent Quetzal , looks less like Michoacán’s trogons than, say, Africa’s Narina Trogon , or the Red-naped Trogon of Indonesia. Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. Wikipedia has been used.).

Mexico 258

Mexico Indonesia Arizona North America 258