10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2011

I travel for birding. I’m about to head out to the Hula Valley Bird Festival and as I’m packing, I thought I would share with you some essentials I think any birder should plan to have in their suitcase–no matter where they are visiting. I was at a birding festival in North Dakota in June and it was a chilly morning.

North Dakota 260

North Dakota Florida Birds Soreing 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2016

You don’t know how hard it is to see a common bird until you try to get someone else to see one. This is the lesson I learned at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival back in January when a young birder, Noah Kuck, let me know that he really wanted to see a Carolina Wren. The damned birds wouldn’t show.

North Dakota 180

North Dakota Birds Florida Wildlife 180

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2011

This blog post is devoted to aiming small when it comes to taking part in a birding festival. Hundreds of thousands of us have enjoyed the incredible programs and birding opportunities at some of North America’s largest, longest-running birding festivals. My first question was “What birds do you want to see?

North Dakota 145

North Dakota West Virginia Ohio Birds 145

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

In June, I visited North Dakota for the first time. That’s because I’d already seen the conclusions contained in a study that Audubon (my employer) was preparing to release, a study about birds and climate change. Birds are finely tuned to the climatic conditions that support them.

Species 230

Species Los Angeles Science 2000 230

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Crotty is a birder and lawyer living in Portland, Oregon who loves to share thoughtful , in-depth conservation pieces with 10,000 Birds readers. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), contain many of the nation’s most renowned birding locations, including Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico, Laguna Atascosa NWR in Texas, and J.N.

Factory 159

Factory Ducks North Dakota Nebraska 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2013

I was reading Carrie’s post last month and got to thinking about car birding in general. Personally, I am a big fan of car birding, despite the necessary fossil fuel burning that is involved. For many birders, the thought of car birding is as natural as using a field guide. You will see more birds.

LACS 157

LACS North Dakota Costa Rica Idaho 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

During the decade, I submitted 1,219 checklists and observed 555 bird species, all in the U.S. I started eBirding about the same time I started birding, and I made an early executive decision (a very good one) that any pre-eBird observations simply did not count. Birding trips to Florida , New Mexico , and Texas are obvious too.

Puerto Rico 223

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 223

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2011

On this final day of 2011 it is time, just like it was on the final day of 2010 , to share your Best Birds of the Year. Well, actually, your Best Bird of the Year will only be shared here if you took the time to respond to the post in which we here at 10,000 Birds shared our Best Birds of the Year.

2011 185

2011 Ohio North Dakota Bald Eagle 185

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2011

Outside of hardcore twitchers looking for specialty birds and after speaking to thousands and thousands of birders, I have concluded that most people really do not put much emphasis on our prairies. However, organizations like Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory spend much time looking for more evidence of this species’ decline.

Prairie Dogs 200

Prairie Dogs Colorado North Dakota Soreing 200

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

California is blessed with 51 NWRs and Wildlife Management Areas (WMA), second only to North Dakota with 77. Just before the final leg of the auto route, where it begins to turn back toward the Black-crowned Night-Heron roost, I spotted a substantial group of large white birds foraging just off the road.

Wildlife 182

Wildlife San Francisco Sacramento North Dakota 182

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2011

As you read this, I am riding my trusty Grizzly Bear through the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park, helping my colleague Seagull Steve find some new birds. Birding by bear is by far the best way to view the park, although it seems to terrify the hoofed animals. Birds do remarkable things every day, as a matter of their nature.

Grizzly Bear 224

Grizzly Bear North Dakota Downers Bears 224

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Any day of birding in New York State that includes a sighting of a Vesper Sparrow is a better-then-average day. Grassland birds have been hit the hardest across the northeast and Vesper Sparrows like closely cropped landscapes and eschew taller grasses, so they have been hit particularly hard. What has caused the decline?

Sparrows 165

Sparrows North Dakota Downers United States 165

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

Since 2016, writers at 10,000 Birds have been contributing checklists to a joint eBird account called the “10,000 Birds Collaborative.” The writers at 10,000 Birds span the globe, but I am particularly interested in the lists for the United States, as that is my “beat.” For the United States, there is also a state list.

Rhode Island 127

Rhode Island United States West Virginia Puerto Rico 127

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2011

I imagine these explorers had the same reaction as the Lewis and Clark expedition as they moved from the tallgrass prairies of North Dakota and Montana into the northern Rockies of western Montana. The different birds alone must have shocked these early explorers with curiosity as they moved through the mountains.

Colorado 166

Colorado North Dakota Montana Owls 166

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

This, I am told, is seawatching , a birding activity in which one stands in one place, sometimes for hours, and watches for birds of the sea and lake and river. It is acceptable to point out other sea creatures–dolphins or whales or dragonflies–but the main goal is the observation and identification of the birds.

Ducks 247

Ducks Groups North America North Dakota 247

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2018

According to eBird , I have been entering checklists since December 23, 2009, and I find it an incredibly useful way to maintain my lists, plan birding travel, and keep up on my favorite hotspots. But I had spent years in Ann Arbor attending law school at the University of Michigan, albeit before I started birding.

District of Columbia 124

District of Columbia Puerto Rico Michigan North Dakota 124

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

And, for all our complaints about brown and gray plumages, gulls can be beautiful birds (well, some more beautiful than others, and Heermann’s Gull is one of my favorites, with one N at the end or two). In a birding world that celebrates identification, there are surprisingly few articles and books on gull identification.**

North America 214

North America El Salvador America Nicaragua 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge : Open to migratory bird hunting (youth only). The Refuge is now home to nearly 200 species of birds, over 50 species of mammals, 25 species of reptiles and amphibians, and a wide variety of insects, fish and plants. This is an Urban Refuge ! Why would you open it up to hunting?

Fish 185

Fish Wildlife Hunting Louisiana 185

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2011

The ducks landed in oil waste pits in western North Dakota in May and June where they were found dead. The increasing number of dead birds has state officials debating whether to ban waste oil pits and require companies to recycle liquid drilling waste. The so-called reserve pits are used during oil and gas drilling operations.

North Dakota 244

North Dakota Killing Ducks Birds 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2011

Note: This is an account, originally published in June 2006, of my quest to remove a jinx bird from my bird-watching soul. I am sharing it again here, at the request of Corey Finger, who takes some sort of sick pleasure in seeing other birders squirm and suffer under the weight of their obsession with life birds. But not me.

Connecticut 231

Connecticut North Dakota Ohio Owls 231

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2011

We here at 10,000 Birds thought this would be a perfect time to look back and figure out what each of us considered our Best Bird of the Year, just like we did last year. Not only did we not expect to see this seabird this far inland, it was a life bird for me! We would like you to join in!

2011 233

2011 Birds South Korea North Dakota 233

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2012

Big flocks of birds are one of nature’s greatest wonders… how do they end up in those formations? As the world’s leading ornithologist, I can only offer you one piece of advice when sorting through a flock of birds. ALWAYS assume there is some other bird species in there that you have not found yet.

North Dakota 207

North Dakota LACS Oakland Iceland 207

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking successive autumns. In the past several years I’ve been developing an entirely new seabirding strategy based on something the birds do themselves… tracking your quarry by scent. Photographed at White Lake, North Dakota.

San Francisco 211

San Francisco North Dakota Albatross California 211

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky?! If you wrote to Tennessee in the 10,000 Birds campaign this winter, you can cut and paste your letter, changing “Tennessee&# to “Kentucky.&# Kentucky Dept.

2011 263

2011 Kentucky Tennessee Hunting 263

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2022

Apparently, there is a traditional Chinese saying that seeing one pheasant in the wild is better than seeing ten other birds. Of course, this is nonsense – pheasants are probably among the most overrated of all birds. The name of the bird apparently comes from the color of its tail feathers. North Dakota.

Rhode Island 147

Rhode Island South Dakota North Dakota Maryland 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2018

The UK has been birded clean by Tom as he ends his Little Big Year (Part 1). Donna was first amongst beats to reach North Dakota and brought the number of Lower 48s to 32, adding Sharp-tailed Grouse , Sprague’s Pipit and LeConte’s Sparrow to the life list. Gray Go-away-bird – Corythaixoides concolor.

2018 124

2018 Australia Los Angeles Albatross 124

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2019

Happy New Year, 10,000 Birds readers and writers, listers and photographers, friends and fellow travelers near and far! Writing a post scheduled for January 1st for a birding blog is a big responsibility. On the first of the year, every bird is a new bird! It was a United States lower-48 birding year for me.

2018 202

2018 Michigan North Dakota New Jersey 202