10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2020

It seems to me that Lynx Edicions must know Vedran, too, and it was with him in mind that their authors, David W Winkler, Shawn M Billerman and Irby J Lovette, chose the “Bird Families of the World: A Guide to the Spectacular Diversity of Birds” as the full title of their new edition. Because this book is nothing short of spectacular.

Family 299

Family Birds South America Breeding 299

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

The Guan had never been seen in the wild after Polish Naturalist Wladyslaw Taczanowski collected one individual in 1876. Nineteenth and early twentieth century naturalists collected birds on long and arduous exploratory expeditions in the New World. Photo: Fernando Angulo Pratolongo. The amazing news went across the world.

Collecting 270

Collecting Peru Neglecting Ecuador 270

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

Serious birders may have an obsessive interest in birds, but one thing they universally don’t like are birds which, they believe, aren’t properly wild. This individual was photographed in India There’s one problem with this approach, as it can lead to birds being ignored.

Netherlands 246

Netherlands Geese Denmark Feral 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

This is not due to its breeding habits, which it shares with the other hornbills – though those habits could well be described as appalling. On a positive note, it makes it easier for those male hornbills that do not like kids to focus on what they are good at (collecting fruit and handing them to the wife through a slit in the hole).

Myanmar 292

Myanmar Singapore China Hunting 292

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

My home country of South Africa can only be described as a birding paradise! In this post, I’d like to focus on a small selection of South Africa’s special endemic birds. In this post, I’d like to focus on a small selection of South Africa’s special endemic birds. Starting off with my favorites (I have to say that!),

South Africa 257

South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Africa 257

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2020

When to visit: best during winter and migration season, but also breeding season. Avoid windy days – the birds will be looking for cover. Since no-one lives here, there is no organised rubbish collecting. When to visit: best in breeding and migration seasons (April to June and late August-September). Dupljaja area.

Mali 264

Mali Serbia Eagles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2022

Although Henslow’s had been reliably found in nearby Sharon Springs for many years, the last documented sighting was in 2008, and the sighting startled longtime birders, waking them up to the fact that breeding sites in the state were rapidly being lost.

Connecticut 264

Connecticut Sparrows Birds New York 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

Unfortunately, these features that make island ecosystems so unique have also lead to a disproportionate number of extinct island birds relative to continental ecosystems. This bird was in serious trouble by the mid-19th century due to the adults being killed for food and young being taken for pets. Nests were in hollows in palm trees.

Cuba 259

Cuba Columbus Parrots DC 259

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

This is the second part of a post showing some birds seen at Nonggang in December 2022, along with the usual (mostly irrelevant) comments. The poor bird’s Latin species name is macgrigoriae , apparently (HBW) named after Jane Grant McGrigor, the daughter of Maj. Sir James McGrigor (1771-1858) Director Gen.

China 264

China Birds Pythons Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

It has been more than 5 years since I last went to Australia, and I was even less of a qualified bird photographer then than I am now. However, the lockdown forces me to go deeper and deeper into my photo collection, if I want to write anything at all. I guess it is a bird though. Admittedly, it is mostly grey.

Australia 244

Australia Koalas Parrots Birds 244

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2014

With birds, this happens when one takes prey or other food caught or collected by another. Klepstoparasitism seems to be more prevalent among birds associated with water; those unable to dive often take food from those able to catch their food underwater. Some birds are opportunistic thieves, and others make a living at it.

Protection 234

Protection Peru Chile Collecting 234

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2024

However, my current favourite member of the family Cucilidae is the Great Spotted Cuckoo (GSC), a common bird in Cyprus in spring. Perhaps the most curious thing about the Great Spotted Cuckoo is its distribution, for it is both a non-breeding Palearctic migrant to Africa, and a trans-Africa migrant.

Cyprus 246

Cyprus Africa Europe Asia 246

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2023

Very occasionally though, one might stray down the eastern seaboard of the USA, but for the most part, those that breed in arctic Canada migrate towards Europe and swell numbers there during the winter. The concrete ramp collects seaweed as the tide pushes back and forth. The seaweed, in its turn attracts insects and thus birds.

Iceland 262

Iceland Stray Breeders Canada 262

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2021

On April 16, 2021, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American Ornithological Society (AOS), had a “ Community Congress on English Bird Names ” to discuss whether certain bird names should be changed and, if so, how quickly. Moreover, bird names exist within a larger culture, so changing them might have limited impact.

Birds 264

Birds Russia Hawaii Woodpeckers 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

The Durango Highway is arguably one of North America’s great birding roads due to the great variety of habitats, the spectacular mountain scenery of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and the numerous Mexican endemics one can target. There are many dusty side roads in this area, many of which offer productive birding.

Mexico 236

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Bats 236

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2012

So it was with a superlative, breeding-plumaged, male Scarlet Tanager today at Jamaica Bay. Now Scarlet Tanagers are always a gorgeous bird, and if you walk by a breeding-plumaged male without looking not only are your credentials as a birder at stake but so are your credentials as a human being. And, well, wow.

Jamaica 199

Jamaica Collecting 2009 Breeding 199

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2013

But there is one Cape bird that stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to character – the African Penguin. The early threats of guano harvesting and egg collecting have been replaced by the more ominous threats of oil pollution and overfishing of their favorite food source – pilchards.

Penguins 249

Penguins South Africa Leopards Sharks 249

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

and Canadian birders needed another reason to pull ourselves out of the winter doldrums, how about birding for a good cause? To help scientists determine how best to keep the bird and its “squeaky hinge” song from disappearing for good, the Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz is now officially underway.

Blackbirds 249

Blackbirds Vermont Collecting Fish 249

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Instead of going on about zip lines and other modern, adventure tourism attractions, the birding crowd talks about taking photos of Resplendent Quetzals , seeing dozens of hummingbird species, and the seemingly odd absence of raptors in Costa Rica but nope, we don’t really talk about extinction. Must be a joke, right?

Costa Rica 262

Costa Rica Species Panama Falcons 262

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2017

Magpie-larks are a very common bird throughout most of Australia and they are quite at home among the large cities as well as in the country towns and the remote parts of Australia. Magpie-larks have been busy at all of the muddy puddles in recent months collecting mud to make their nests. Female Magpie-lark with a large grasshopper.

Breeding 100

Breeding Australia Collecting Geese 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

Like so many trips this one is more about the journey than the destination which brings us to why they have a guest post (hopefully the first of several) on 10,000 Birds. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”

South America 225

South America San Diego Mexico America 225

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Counting the Birds I was in my teens when I undertook my first bird-survey: it was field work for the British Trust for Ornithology’s The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. The breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland. A few years ago I helped with the BTO’s Turtle Dove Survey.

Ireland 246

Ireland Turtles Geese Farming 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Definitely my personal favorite of Africa’s pink birds is the delicate Pink-throated Twinspot. Pink-backed Pelican by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours. Great White Pelicans showing the pink flush of breeding plumage. A pair of Pink-breasted Lark by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours. Pink-throated Twinspot.

Africa 249

Africa Somalia Mozambique Pelicans 249

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2021

Have you ever birded a place so young that birds still have no names ? … – part 2 – Once I finish this writing, with a strange mix of emotions I will put the Lynx field guide Birds of Colombia to the bookshelf for the first time, more than half a year after I received it. Cerros de Mavecure, photo by Juan Carlos.

Dolphins 264

Dolphins Colombia Otters Monkeys 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2012

It was a pleasure to study and digiscope a North American rarity at leisure in the company of other birders, even if the bird was not quite as close as we would have wished. In the recent past Barnacle Geese that showed up on the east coast were almost uniformly considered escapes from waterfowl collections.

New York 187

New York Geese United States Canada 187

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2024

There are a few spectacles in the birding community that are high energy, happen quickly, and is worth any effort to experience it. One such experience is a bird grounding event, sometimes called a fallout. However, if the wind blows in from the north, then these poor little birds have much more of a struggle.

Texas 246

Texas Alabama Alligators Nashville 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. A few years ago, in the American Birding Association FB group I posted a question: Where would you go if funds weren’t a problem? Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2012

She will begin breeding in April. The female is the earliest breeder of all these species, arriving on breeding grounds shortly after the males in November. Here you can see the female collecting nesting material. She is the latest of our local breeders, not nesting usually until mid-May. www.youtube.com/watch?

Breeders 251

Breeders North America America California 251

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

Nick Sly, a friend of 10,000 Birds who writes intermittently at the thoroughly-recommended Biological Ramblings , is an ornithologist who graduated not so long ago from Cornell only to be cast out into the real world where he keeps a wry eye on all things biological! The youngest bird in this clutch is only two or three days old.

Eggs 269

Eggs Venezuela Porcupines 2008 269

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

I’m not sure what the collective noun for a group of petrels is, but the vets and wildlife carers of New Zealand might be forgiven for thinking that it might be a wreck after this week. It breeds on the Chatham Islands and some of the islands south of New Zealand, as well as Gough and Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic.

New Zealand 213

New Zealand Vet Collecting Geese 213

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2022

The American Birding Association has declared that 2022 is the year of the Burrowing Owl, but if Rosemary Mosco has her way, it will also be the year of the Rock Pigeon. Mosco’s birds (and other creatures in her comics) carry an air of insouciance. Rosemary Mosco’s work is hopefully familiar to many of you.

New York City 246

New York City 2018 Abandoning Abandon 246

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. It is the first bird field guide to every country of Central America (plus the islands governed by those countries).

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Heermann’s Gulls form large breeding colonies on arid islands in the Gulf of California, Mexico, from March through July. The largest colony exists on Isla Raza, where an estimated 90–95% of the total world population breeds 1. These factors have caused the IUCN to rate this bird as “Near Threatened” 2.

San Francisco 163

San Francisco North America Seals Sanctuary 163

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2020

Field guides listed two subspecies – delicata (which would eventually become the highly migratory Wilson’s Snipe ) and paraguaiae (breeding resident South American Snipe ) – which were extremely difficult to discern from one another in the field. A rehabber friend of mine sent me a photo of the bird asking for an ID.

Trinidad 279

Trinidad Welfare North America Emotional 279

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2012

William Blake, the 18th and 19th century English poet, painter and engraver, is most remembered for his two linked collections of poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The notebook, now usually known as “The Rossetti Manuscript,” held many literary treasures, among them “The Birds.” The Birds He.

Birds 158

Birds Bears Mammals Collecting 158

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2013

The Pygmy Nuthatch ( Sitta pygmaea ) is a non-migratory bird that lives primarily in Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine forests in western North America. They are one of the few cooperatively breeding passerines in North America and a third of the breeding pairs have 1–3 male helpers, usually progeny or other relatives.

North America 168

North America America California Collecting 168

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

” Indeed, there is one distinctly birding connection to this country: a famous birder Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond, visited the Seychelles in 1958 looking for inspiration for his then-latest collection of stories, For Your Eyes Only. .’ M glanced out of the window at the driving March sleet.

Seychelles 264

Seychelles Wildlife Tortoises Reptiles 264