10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. After breeding they also disperse over the rainforests and savannas of West and Central Africa, where they hunt for aerial insects.

Africa 265

Africa Gabon Uganda South Africa 265

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

Working in an area for which there are few official checklists, no governing taxonomic body, and much new information on species relationships coming in, the authors were faced with a multitude of questions about family sequence, genus arrangements, English common names, and species taxonomy. Co-author Frank E. Species Accounts.

Indonesia 131

Indonesia Brunei Malaysia Papua New Guinea 131

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2018

This week finds us flying from Melbourne, Australia, to Alice Springs, in the center of this incredibly large country. This is truly the center if Australia, no matter what method you use to decided the actual location of dead center. But the diversity, that I have found to be Australia, remains.

Australia 115

Australia Camels Kangaroos Hunting 115

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

But there is one kind of tick that I genuinely do enjoy, and as I do more and more birding it becomes harder and harder to get; new families. Getting entirely new families is easy when you start birding. Sometimes you may even lose them, like the aforementioned woodswallows which are probably no longer a family.

Family 163

Family Wombats Uganda Fiji 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2021

Down here in Australia one can be a birder for a long time without experiencing a proper twitch. This was the first record for my home state of Queensland, indeed a first record for anywhere in Australia away from the north west area of Western Australia. Nordmann’s Greenshank on the Cairns Esplanade [Adrian Walsh].

Australia 264

Australia 2019 Thailand Russia 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2021

As my opening word suggests; the Sunshine Coast is located in Australia as the attached Google map illustrates. So, while I am lucky enough to live with my wife and family near the village of Mapleton, in the Blackall Ranges, first join me for a little journey to part of the coast. One is pictured below.

Australia 258

Australia Cooking North America Fish 258

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2014

Latham first described Grey Butcherbirds in 1801, like most people of the age he assumed Australia’s birds should be seen in the context of Old World birds and placed them with the birds he thought they most closely resembled, the shrikes of the genus Lanius.I’m It’s this habit that gave the butcherbirds their name.

Australia 168

Australia Hunting Family Birds 168

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2020

Later in the year we were able to travel around the north of Western Australia. Our 2020 year list stands at 324 for Victoria and the north of Western Australia combined, so we are more than happy with that under current circumstances. We then returned home to Broome and waited for restrictions on local travel to lift.

2020 240

2020 Birds Costa Rica Germany 240

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2014

Couas and koels are both cuckoos, saw-wings are swallows and logrunners are an odd unique thing from Australia who’s only relative is the charmingly named Chowchilla). I’d never heard of them until 2005 when I saw some in the Botanical Gardens of Canberra in Australia. What, exactly, is a pardalote? A Spotted Pardalote !

Australia 172

Australia Fiji Hunters Thailand 172

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2013

Of course, being Christmas it is a time for travel, which means I often miss the season visiting family in Australia or the UK, or, as is happening this year, Borneo. So you’ll have to wait till next year for me to post more rambling and incoherent thoughts about hunting or how I managed to not see a single pitta in Borneo.

New Zealand 166

New Zealand Hunting Sanctuary Ducks 166

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 5, 2014

There were good numbers of Green Pygmy-geese, Comb-crested Jacana, Great and Intermediate Egrets, Magpie Geese and a family of Black-necked Storks. Wildfowl hunting season has recently started in the Northern Territory and no doubt there are a few Magpie Geese that have decided to move here rather than get shot at in the hunting reserves.

Geese 162

Geese Pelicans Ducks Hunting 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2015

The quarry was being used as a training ground for a family of five Brown Falcons and they were amazing to watch as they used the quarry walls to hunt. They were able to survive on what little food there was on offer and would no doubt soon be moving on. An almost dry quarry.

Birds 157

Birds Zebras Falcons Hunting 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2020

There is a family of feral foxes that I often encounter near Bennison Creek. Foxes were introduced to Australia in 1855 for hunting and have established themselves far and wide. Bennison Creek Bridge. White-eared Honeyeater. They usually bolt as soon as they see me, but I have been able to take a few photos of them.

Fox 155

Fox Feral Ducks Horses 155

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

Royal National Park, south of Sydney in Australia, is one such place. The tricky thing for me is that Royal NP is in the south of Sydney, and my family lives in the north of the city. One of Australia’s prettiest parrots, the Crimson Rosella. Dusky Moorhen The Maned Duck – or Australian Wood Duck.

Australia 177

Australia Ducks Parrots New Zealand 177

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Also common is the White-browed Scrubwren , a member of the Australasian warbler family. I’ve had a couple of great encounters with this species hunting lizards and frogs in the more open woodland areas, and of course it’s evocative call is a common sound anywhere there are enough trees.

Protection 159

Protection Shelters Australia Parrots 159

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 18, 2012

They are one of the most attractive of Australia’s parrots, and one of the most common, benefiting from the planting of attractive flowering shrubs. The lake was filled with families of Dusky Moorhens and Purple Swamphens (or Pukeko as we call them in New Zealand), all tending small groups of black chicks.

New Zealand 172

New Zealand Ducks Australia Japan 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

The species are taxonomically divided into two families: Tytonidae, Barn-Owls, and Strigidae, Owls, encompassed in one order, Strigiformes. They are also hunted. They roost and hunt, at night (mostly) when we can’t see them. Sprigs of Wolf Lichen spring from the Douglas firs, a gorgeous, almost iridescent lime green.

Owls 219

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 219

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

This outstanding member of the wattlebird family is unique among songbirds in having different shaped beaks for each of the sexes. We’ll also keep our eyes open for several members of the New Zealand wren family. Also on the ground you’ll see your first Finsch’s Duck. It certainly has no known relatives.

New Zealand 207

New Zealand Ducks Mountain Goats Australia 207

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

While the HBW describes the bulbul family as “often rather plain”, I find them usually quite attractive, though in an understated way that may not appeal to the flashiness-seeking HBW authors. “Now the kangaroos are drinking from the pool” (Jen is from Australia). I am paralyzed just thinking about how to do it.

Birds 173

Birds Woodpeckers Kangaroos Madagascar 173