10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Despite depicting 540 species/56 families, it is a lightweight book of 173 pages, easy to pack and carry. Mammals of South Asia follows the latest taxonomy, describes all the species recorded within the region and provides a range map for each species. Larger species, that is, excluding dolphins and whales.

Mammals 217

Mammals Asia Sri Lanka Bhutan 217

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2021

We only saw the first two, and in our effort to scour each broken limb for a perched raptor, we stumbled upon a Bat Falcon of all creatures. Bat Falcon in the now blazing sun. The area is known for being a breeding area of the enigmatic Rufous Crab-Hawk and it was the first place I saw the species, many years ago.

Sea Turtles 279

Sea Turtles Bats Turtles Trinidad 279

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2015

It is swimming with its body half-submerged (typical for the species and yet, so strange for songbirds) and often diving. This species is reasonably easy to find if you are in the right kind of habitat – but I am rarely in that type of habitat. Bats flying out of the Lazareva Cave, (c) Jovica Sjenicic.

Bats 249

Bats Squirrels Woodpeckers Game 249

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2021

Today the reserve contains mature forests, secondary forests, rivers, lagoons, small waterfalls, agroforestry productive areas, and functional gardens; which are the habitat of more than 350 species of birds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Sanctuary Bats Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2020

With 18 species of native Psittacids to choose from, birding in Costa Rica is always a thrill, especially for someone who grew up in parrotless Niagara Falls, New York! At least one of these species has adapted to nesting on buildings and a few others can nest in large parks. The other regular parrot around here is this species.

Parrots 279

Parrots Costa Rica San Jose Endangered Species 279

Critter News

MARCH 28, 2010

I like this opinion piece from the Christian Science Monitor which calls for an "Endangered Species Hour." The Christian Science Monitor rightly points out that citizens and consumers need to get involved in endangered species protection, because at the CITES level, it's all about money and international politics.

Endangered Species 100

Endangered Species Science Species Qatar 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. I had point blank life views of this tricky species from within a few feet. Lesser Roadrunner with a cicada.

Mexico 239

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Bats 239

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

With this weekend consumed by Halloween excitement, bats were more easily encountered than birds. Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a relatively common species though it was uncommonly cooperative. How did you fare?

2014 190

2014 Bats New York Sparrows 190

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2020

It’s also the high season for birding and with good reason; there are hundreds of birds waiting to be seen, some of them migrants from the north but the majority resident tropical species that are easy on the eyes. Sometimes, this one forages for insects and bats near street lights adjacent to forest. Resplendent Quetzal.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Panama Bats 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2018

Each of the six species in Costa Rica sports beautiful plumage with green and blue hues highlighted with rufous tones, and several also have long, racket-tipped tails. It was tough to pick out just one tanager species, many are downright stunning. Bat Falcon. Dressed to kill, the deadly Bat Falcon eats more than bats.

Costa Rica 201

Costa Rica Bats Egypt Falcons 201

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

Some call them trash, tours might not visit, but they can host more than the expected and common species. Some such vegetated spots can also attract oddball birds, species that wander to find a home in urban circumstances. Three species of seedeaters sing from the tall grass, one of them being the Yellow-bellied Seedeater.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Sparrows Rodents Rats 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

And besides, it’s nice to see something that isn’t the same 12 (now 13) species of seabird (plus Molly Meep Meep, a Black Brant ) There may not be as many as in October, but they are there, and they can be cool. And there aren’t just cool birds rocking up, migratory bats do too. A Hoary Bat. A wave goodbye.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2021

With that logic those trees, if left to grow, should produce something of use to at least one or two species of birds. It’s been some years since I’ve seen any Short-tailed Hawks as the entire valley is now overrun with concrete – but I’m trying my best to create some sort of oasis for any species.

Opossums 264

Opossums Barn Owls Reptiles Hunting 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2020

If it was any indication of where my passion lay, instead of racing home like the proverbial bat out of hell, I stayed put to monitor this supposed nest. Although relatively common here they’re notoriously difficult to see well – a phenomenon clearly not unique to this species ! Bay-headed Tanagers. Turquoise Tanager.

Trinidad 263

Trinidad Battery Industry Bats 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2024

Somewhat strangely, the HBW calls it a “small grey to yellow babbler” – while the species indeed has some grey parts, that is not the color that sticks to mind when seeing or remembering the bird. Plus the sibia apparently plays an important role in the pollination of one endangered rhododendron species ( source ).

Eggs 246

Eggs Birds Japan Myanmar 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2019

Those were some interesting additions to a day of birding that also gave us more expected ones like Bat Falcon, Black-collared Hawk, Bare-crowned Antbird , and 125 other species. Despite rain during part of the day, the other teams also did very well and we ended up with a final overall tally of more than 270 species.

Costa Rica 246

Costa Rica Birds Owls Bats 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2012

Other species I was looking forward to as possibilities included Anhingas , Magnificent Frigatebirds , and seeing as the sun was supposed to shine, some raptors soaring. Creatures like another species of monkey, White-headed Capuchin , Cebus capucinus , which are also known as White-faced Capuchins.

Honduras 183

Honduras Wildlife Monkeys Bats 183

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

This is how it looks like: Or at sunset: A species I did not come for from Shanghai is the Black-crowned Night Heron. Its species name graydoni is in honor of Philip Newenham Graydon (1864-1940), a British planter in Sabah. Why that makes Mr. Graydon worthy of having a bird species named after him is a mystery to me.

Birds 246

Birds Elephants Eagles Rhinoceros 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2017

The guide presents 69 species and 1 subspecies, from “NEW WORLD VULTURES: Cathartiformes” to “OSPREY: Pandioninae” to “FAMILY: Accipitridae” (Kites, Hawks, Eagles, Hawk-Eagles), to “FALONIDS: Falconidae” (Falcons, Forest-Falcons, Caracaras, Kestrels, Merlin). Here’s a sample of Plate 30, Bat Falcon and Orange-Breasted Falcon (pp.

Mexico 189

Mexico America North America Falcons 189

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

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. Alex also masterfully worked another tricky species into view for us during that first afternoon, Ruddy Crake (a close relative of the Black Rail ).

Honduras 253

Honduras El Salvador Costa Rica Arizona 253

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

Anyone considering a visit to Panti Forest should be enticed by the five different species that might be seen there. Plus, I saw awesome bats, bugs, butterflies, herps, pitcher plants, and four of the five possible monkey species: Dusky Leaf Monkey , Banded Leaf Monkey , Southern Pig-tailed Macaque , and Long-tailed Macaque.

Malaysia 218

Malaysia Singapore Monkeys Asia 218

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2023

One step away from swifts are hummingbirds, and at least 13 species of these winged jewels flutter about from sunrise to sunset. White-necked Jacobin A sizeable vervain/verbena attracts several species to the main entrance, including Blue-chinned Sapphire , Ruby-topaz Hummingbird , and Tufted Coquette. Interesting.

Trinidad 246

Trinidad Barn Owls Owls Reptiles 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2013

It’s not just eagles, either; other bird and bat species also fall victim to the turbines.) As mentioned earlier in these pages , wind farms and eagles don’t always go well together—the birds, which often scan the ground for prey instead of looking straight ahead while they’re flying, thus don’t see wind turbines until it’s too late.

Eagles 168

Eagles Bald Eagle Farming Obama 168

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2014

Like leg hold traps, glue traps are indiscriminate, with non-targeted species making up a large proportion of their catch. But be it a mouse, bird, bat, gecko, kitten … it’s a very bad way to go, and no creature should have to suffer death by torture. “My

Wildlife Rehabilitation 279

Wildlife Rehabilitation Mice Rodents Rescue 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2019

More than 5,000 bird species in the world make some kind of seasonal movement. As Kaufman shows, however, to birds and bats, they can be death machines. On our North American continent, tens of millions of birds are flying northward on peak spring nights. Example A, perfectly up to date, is the wind turbine.

Ohio 203

Ohio Bats Legislature Ducks 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2012

Wildlife conservation is concerned with protecting wildlife at the level of species or perhaps population. With the exception of species that number in the hundreds, conservation biologists are not as concerned with the fates of individual animals, it is only when such fates of many individuals are added up do they begin to worry.

Animal Rights 270

Animal Rights Rights Animal New Zealand 270

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2019

As with any home inhabited by birders, we have kept track of all species heard or seen, night and day. The farm would have even more birds if not for the bio-diminishing blend of poison and monoculture but the adjacent hedgerow does support quite a few species especially when the figs and other trees are in flower or draped with fruit.

Costa Rica 200

Costa Rica Barn Owls Parrots Birds 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2014

The animals aren’t quite so closely packed as Hollywood can manage, and they tend towards slightly smaller species, in general, but still, its impressive. At nighttime this allowed some impromptu spotlighting, and we found many spiders, insects, bats as well as a Lesser Mousedeer and a sleeping Malaysian Flycatcher.

Rhinoceros 190

Rhinoceros Apes Elephants Monkeys 190

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

As mentioned in many other posts on this blog, the avifauna of Trinidad & Tobago consists of several species and family groups occurring very interestingly, in threes. Short-tailed Nighthawk (above and below) Overall, this species seems to be poorly known, which is understandable given its habits. Well, kind of.

Trinidad 130

Trinidad Bats Falcons Groups 130

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2013

In a warm Catalonian March (I was about to say Spanish, but among quite a few flags, I haven’t seen a single Spanish one), Barcelona is filled with sunlight and full of Rose-ringed and Monk Parakeets , two charming but alien and invasive species. Steve answers: Bonelli’s Eagle ! Garraf Natural Park. Enough is enough.

Spain 254

Spain Terrapins Europe Eagles 254

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2016

Since all sorts of rare species are possible at this remote lowland rainforest site, I was looking forward to this trip for a while. Since that block still hosts Harpy Eagle and every other possible species, it’s not out of the question for those rare birds to also show at Laguna and vicinity.

Costa Rica 175

Costa Rica Nicaragua Eagles Parrots 175

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

The graveyard shift is on duty: several bats are chasing insects through the evening coolness. There are more than 1100 plant species, the most valuable being the 76 endemics. Other species include Roe Deer (also spotted), Wildcat , European Pine Marten and Otter. The Song Thrush becomes silent. The shades are impenetrable now.

Bears 264

Bears Serbia Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2023

When you have birded a single area as much and for as long as I have birded Michoacán, it becomes progressively harder to find first-time species (“lifers”) there. I had seen several species turn up in new and unexpected places there, but none of them were birds that I had never seen before. … or Green Herons.

Bats 130

Bats Mexico ALA 2019 130

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2015

In all that swirling of swallows, I am not certain was there a third species, so I keep watching. Supposedly, in Spring this area is teeming with migrating passerines, but in September, I recorded a mere dozen species, including very numerous Red-backed Shrikes (9 in this area alone). eBird hotspots of Prespa lakes. Practicalities.

Greece 252

Greece Pelicans Geese Albania 252

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2019

In a warm Catalonian March (I was about to say Spanish, but among quite a few flags, I haven’t seen a single Spanish one), Barcelona was filled with sunlight and full of Rose-ringed and Monk Parakeets , two charming but alien and invasive species. Steve answers: Bonelli’s Eagle ! Enough is enough.

Terrapins 221

Terrapins Eagles Rats Europe 221

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2011

However, it would appear that during one fairly long period of time in the past there were a number of species (of dinosaur) that used feathers in a number of ways such as those just mentioned (and possibly other ways), and one subgroup of these dinosaurs would later be birds.

Birds 271

Birds Marsupials Primates Whales 271

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2016

Of course, travelling from Africa back to New Zealand is a big deal and I’m still somewhat fried (especially as real life hit with with a bat when I got back). One species I had never really appreciated until this trip is the Malachite Sunbird.

South Africa 157

South Africa Africa New Zealand Bats 157