10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2021

Shorebirds – or “shorbs” for the cuteness factor (as if that needed any enhancement) – remain one of the most fascinating families of birds for me. It seems like ages ago and almost a completely foreign concept, but once upon a time we used to travel for birding! There is still so much to learn!

Buffalo 264

Buffalo Kenya Trinidad 2019 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2014

As someone who lives close enough to Buffalo to feel both tremendous fear and relief regarding the 7 feet of snow that engulfed that part of Western NY, I can assure you: November weather is WILD. I’m thinking of heading to Lake Ontario to see if any smart birds fled east. Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding?

Buffalo 186

Buffalo 2014 New York Birds 186

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

Oriental Scops Owls are quite possibly my favorite bird at Nanhui. Bird-shaped cuteness. in psychology from the University of Buffalo. The Relict Gull is listed as vulnerable – apparently, it is one of the scarcest of gulls with a global population estimated at 10,000–20,000 mature individuals and up to 30,000 birds.

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Birds Tail Banding Buffalo Psychology 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2012

Have you ever enjoyed one of those brilliant birding expeditions, the outing where every target species takes its cue with machine precision? Of course we’ve all experienced the excruciating opposite of such an excursion, but when waves of new birds practically clamor for attention in quick succession, the feeling is exhilarating.

Trinidad 229

Trinidad Fast Food Cattle Blackbirds 229

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

If those 16th Century Spanish sailors knew the kind of grief with which they’d be saddling this remarkable group of birds for all time, perhaps they would have had something resembling empathy for those who will be forced to live with the ramifications of their irreverence. Who doesn’t prefer the outlaw to the imbecile?

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Birds Buffalo Pelicans 2012 252

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

Consequently my usual pre-travel excitement is a lot lower than usual, and I’m spending much less time than I’d like unproductively daydreaming about the birds I’ll see. Can you spot the African bird in this shot? Some African Skimmers pass by some African Buffalo. Birding skimmers Uganda'

Uganda 248

Uganda Madagascar Buffalo Africa 248

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2014

On the same day that I journeyed out to eastern Long Island to enjoy birding Shinnecock Inlet in the fog I also explored the fields of Riverhead, where large flocks of geese congregate and where a Yellow-headed Blackbird had been reported recently amid a large flock of icterids at a Buffalo farm. ” What a bird!

Canada 246

Canada Killing Buffalo Geese 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2023

Lake Kerkini National Park in the north of Greece is the very best birding area in the Balkan Peninsula and definitely among the top ten hotspots of Europe. Some 320 species have been recorded here, and in springtime it is possible to observe more than 150 bird species in a week. The lake lies at a mere 35 m / 115 ft a.s.l.

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Greece Pelicans Stray Dog Tortoises 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2023

Back in July, my fellow 10,000 Birds contributor Dragan wrote a delightful piece about birding Lake Kerkini in spring. I first visited Kerkini and this bird-rich region of northern Greece 15 years ago, and have been returning regularly ever since. My photograph below is of a captive bird).

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Greece Pelicans Geese Buffalo 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2024

Do you take pictures of the birds you see? Are you a bird-watcher then? Shutting down one’s peripheral vision is not my idea of birding. What is a bird-watcher? My hypothesis: a birder is a bird-watcher with one or more lists. I have been a bird-watcher most of my life. What is a birder?

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South Africa 2002 Angola Africa 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

You may have read my recent piece on Birding the Okavango Delta in Botswana here on 10,000 Birds. If you have never thought of India as a birding destination, I’d urge you to give it a good look. Fly into Delhi and within an hour you can be birding the lovely Sultanpur wetland reserve. appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

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India Wildlife Tigers Rhinoceros 258

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

And Flamingos and Hornbills and a Secretarybird and birds with names like Hamerkop and Thick-knee and Eremomela (which I know is a scientific term, but which, when pronounced correctly, reminds me of a Yiddish term of endearment my grandmother used). And so, I went on the American Birding Association Safari to South Africa.

South Africa 255

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 255

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2014

Fortunately for me, Seth Ausubel, my frequent birding buddy, and I had decided to spend the day out in Suffolk County on the east end of Long Island looking for birds. And what a day’s birding we had! To say it was frustrating to be so close to such a good bird and have it be so obscured would be an understatement.

New York 193

New York Geese Canada New York City 193

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

The task of wrestling this topic down into something that the human mind can manage, without losing sight of the big picture because it’s snowing in Buffalo, is likely to be the task of a lifetime for many science communicators. If I have any complaints, they lie not in the information but in the way the information is presented.

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Netherlands Buffalo Science Penguins 168

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2013

European Starlings count as much as any other bird on a big year. Now seems like a good time to look in on the birding big years happening in 2013 to see how folks are doing as they tear around their county or region or state or province or country trying to see as many birds as possible before 1 January 2014.

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2013 New Jersey North Carolina Canada 240

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2020

A fact to which my wife will begrudgingly attest, as my memory is excellent when it comes to anything bird-related yet exceptionally poor otherwise. I expected to learn a thing or two and possibly see some birds I had never seen before. Access is restricted, and the livestock referred to are highly temperamental water buffalo.

Trinidad 243

Trinidad Livestock 2015 Buffalo 243

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2022

If a reporter would have rambled on about fishing or bird migration or the biggest, oldest trees in the area, I would have been all ears but no, I don’t recall any reporting on such esteemed subjects as those. What I do remember is Irv Weinstein, Buffalo’s favorite news guy. See a small pale bird flit into view?

Costa Rica 246

Costa Rica Buffalo Sparrows Rights 246

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2016

The upside for me, not to take away from my day with 27 different bears, was the next 6 days all by myself on Kodiak Island, recording as many new bird species as I could find. I had prepared a target list of birds that I had hoped to photograph, which, in looking back now was really quite ambitious.

Grizzly Bear 154

Grizzly Bear Alaska Bears Puffins 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2012

One beloved bird to keep an eye out for is the Bufflehead , a beauty in black and white. Bufflehead comes from the now archaic word buffle , meaning ‘buffalo.’ ’ Bufflehead is the condensed version of ‘Buffalo Head’, the name these ducks were originally given. Larry has.)

Buffalo 124

Buffalo Jordan Ducks 2006 124

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2011

Brown-headed Cowbirds evoke strong feelings in many birders, some of whom can’t abide a bird that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, often to the detriment of the nest owners’ offspring. Now nearly ubiquitous from forests to urban centers And our young have even more bird species as mentors.

Eggs 184

Eggs Buffalo Sparrows Humane 184

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2016

and dreaming of a place where the heat is moderate, beer snake-cold and birds innumerable… Let’s say, where the average annual maximum varies from 22 to 24 degrees Celsius / 72 to 75 Fahrenheit and where some 700+ bird species – 24 of them endemic – are waiting for an intrepid birder… Answer to the riddle?

Africa 184

Africa Uganda Gorillas Rwanda 184

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2019

Although it was nothing like going from New York to California or even Buffalo, New York to North Carolina, a change of location, however slight, can bring new birds especially in Costa Rica. In typical blackbird fashion, this common garden bird gave occasional, loud, ringing calls. Right at home. These were. Great Kiskadee.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Barn Owls Stray Dog Blackbirds 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2015

For you and me, there are about 200 bird species, but for proper tourists, there seem to be only five species in the reserve: Bengal Tiger , Leopard , Sloth Bear , Indian Wild Dog (Dhole) and the Gaur. It is dominated by Burmese Teak , interspersed by thickets of Calcutta Bamboo. Grey-headed Fish Eagle Copyright © Nitin Bhardwaj.

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Tigers Boars India Chickens 255

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

This country boasts over 1,000 bird species, vast wildernesses, a superb network of protected areas, the greatest concentration of large game and predators on the planet, excellent lodges and friendly people. The Baobab-studded woodlands and wetlands of the park harbor over 550 bird species and they sure come thick and fast!

Tanzania 250

Tanzania Africa Stud Leopards 250

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

But when both birds approached an eagle, it attacked: the hawk was able to evade the eagle, but not so the crow, which was killed instantly. The story is part of a chapter on “Birds Attacking Predators,” one of an hundred chapters in Birder’s Break, each two or three pages long. and the Buffalo native Fred Szatkowki.

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Buffalo 2018 Sanctuary Eagles 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

These charismatic, colorful and finely formed birds are favorites amongst birders from experts to novices, and lie within the group of birds whose beauty even non-birders really appreciate. Besides being colorful and energetic, another plus of these lovely birds is that they are relatively easy to track down.

Africa 266

Africa Gabon Uganda South Africa 266

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2018

Just stepping away from the birds for a minute, because you can’t really do any kind of story about Kruger National Park, and not at least mention the animals. The best I could do to mix both the birds and the animals was in the picture at the top of this story. This Kori Bustard was one of my target birds.

South Africa 161

South Africa Africa Rhinos Mongoose 161

10,000 Birds

MARCH 16, 2016

I was planning a trip to South Africa, I had about five days to fill, I wanted to get a bunch of desert species (particularly the Springbok – not a bird) in a way that wasn’t too hard to reach from Johannesburg. Oh, this is a bird site, almost forgot. Yes, there are birds. I never get bored of Giraffes. Or Cheetahs.

South Africa 189

South Africa Leopards Giraffes Africa 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2013

Then, I spotted a slender head rising from a big bird’s body. They can be boiled or roasted like potatoes, and they can also be pounded into a flour.

Idaho 180

Idaho Mules Wolves Buffalo 180

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2018

Crocodiles, Cape Buffalo and Hippos are plentiful. At this point I am at 140 new birds that I have photographed, plus or minus a couple. I have had so little internet that I am way behind on my eBird.org reports, which is the format that I am using to track my birds. This fun group shot has quite a variety of birds.

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Lions Buffalo Zebras United States 152

Critter News

OCTOBER 16, 2009

Several pieces express Twain’s contempt for the idea of hunting for sport, including a memorable passage from a sequel to Huckleberry Finn in which Huck shoots a bird and feels immediate remorse and shame (“Huck Shoots a Bird”).

Animal Cruelty 100

Animal Cruelty Cruelty Vivisection Animal 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2014

Our bird guide, Georgos Spiridakis, is driving slowly along this dirt track, checking the mud all the time. The bird is not showing again, so we use the elimination system: the first and the last are way too different, and dealing with the other two, we ID it as a Lesser Spotted Eagle.

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Greece Pelicans Breeding Buffalo 187

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the rest of 10,000 Birds. I’m not just saying this to be an annoying gadfly on the backside of the birding and general wildlife community, although this is certainly a fringe benefit. You protect an entire ecosystem that holds 350 bird species. You do a lot of good.

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Lions Killing Hunting Hunters 232

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2018

As it turns out, many of those very birds that I had hoped to find, all had the same idea, and had moved out of the park as well. I would have to say the most common bird in the park, must be the Common Raven. We picked this as much for the location as its chance for some decent birds.

Wyoming 134

Wyoming Wolves Grizzly Bear Mountain Goats 134

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2016

That’s January for birding. A cold, productive day spent birding with a friend from Buffalo was marked by two owls, lots of ducks, Tundra Swans , several gulls, and other targets not possible in tropical Costa Rica. By simply letting the vegetation grow back, Paul has created a green oasis that brings in the birds.

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Costa Rica 2016 San Antonio Sparrows 110

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Weavers are truly magical birds, combining bright plumages with ingenious weaving talents and cheerful, noisy social lives. This blogpost will introduce you to the various genera of birds that are considered to be weavers. Image taken by Markus Lilje/Rockjumper Birding Tours in Cameroon. Image taken by Adam Riley in Ghana.

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Tanzania Buffalo Kenya Namibia 260

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Its crown was so thick, I could spot the movement, but only rarely the bird itself and never the whole bird, once it would be only its back, once its head, once just legs… slowly, I was putting this puzzle together. The first birds to spot from the boat were Common Terns furiously defending their newly built nests on floating logs.

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Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 203