This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
It was early afternoon when Mike and I arrived at Bosque Estatal de Guanica, the large dry forest reserve on the south coast of PuertoRico. We had three target birds to find there though two of them likely wouldn’t be findable until after dark. That bird, moving there in that tree! Could we manage to see this bird?
territories in the Caribbean: PuertoRico and the U.S. The American flag has flown over PuertoRico since 1898 and over the Virgin Islands since 1917. Virgin Islands not part of the American Birding Association’s ABA Area ? because it is birding in the United States. Perhaps PuertoRico and the U.S
In September of 2017, PuertoRico was hit by two powerful hurricanes: it was grazed by Irma and then clobbered by Maria, a Category 4 storm that cut a devastating swath across the island. Immediately after hurricanes, surviving birds appear to wander in an effort to find any remaining food supplies and habitat.
I recently asked whether PuertoRico should be part of the American Birding Association’s ABA Area. I will suggest an answer to the question: this post makes the argument that both PuertoRico and the U.S. Now that Hawaii is in the ABA Area , the next additions should be PuertoRico and the U.S.
Daniel Cadena — “The Origin and Future of a Tropical Diversity Hotspot” Beyond that, I primarily limited myself to the subject matter of hurricane impacts on birds and anything about PuertoRico. Thus, birds may be moving from protected areas to unprotected areas, creating a conservation mismatch.
Long-time readers of this blog probably also know Tai Haku, the scuba-diving, tree-planting, bird photographing nature blogger at Earth, Wind, and Water. For a successful relocation, check out Rare Birds: The Extraordinary Tale of the Bermuda Petrel and the Man who Brought it Back from Extinction.) It is extinct.
But, as with so many other species, these birds have been left to do their own whistle blowing. West Indian Whistling Ducks are the largest of the eight different whistling duck species. From perilously low numbers the population has rebounded now to approximately 500 birds on the island. They are also the rarest.
Parking lots in Miami-Dade county offer a mostly standard assortment of birds compared to the rest of the United States. However, my favorite parking lot bird by far is the Gray Kingbird , a tyrant flycatcher with a feisty disposition and lots of character. They are my preferred birding symbol of spring and summer in southern Florida.
One of the perks about living in Miami is that plane tickets to the bird-rich Caribbean, Central, and South America are often cheaper than going to places like Arizona, Colorado, or California. I made my way to the coast to Hotel Jamaican Colors just north of Manchioneal for the night having seen 23 of my target species already.
As devoted readers of 10,000 Birds know , the writers contribute checklists to a joint eBird account called the “ 10,000 Birds Collaborative.”. As of mid-November 2021, the Collaborative had submitted more than 4,200 checklists (up from 1,700 in 2018) and has observed 691 species in the United States (up from 618).
Originally, I was going to highlight one of the species endemic to the islands of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean; but once I typed in “Lesser Antillean”, six species popped up. Interestingly, this species has been split into two distinct subspecies, one for each of the islands on which it is found.
On our first full day in PuertoRico (Sunday, 15 January), Mike and I decided to start in the east of the island and work our way west. I was convinced that we would get a Puerto Rican Tody as our first endemic species while Mike was sure it would be a Puerto Rican Woodpecker. Such awesome creatures.
Birding in the Caribbean is about islands, beautiful beaches, extra special endemics, rum, and smiles. It could also be much more, maybe less, it all depends on how you want to rock an international birding trip. Go to Costa Rica and you will be looking at other birds but you can still get in some Caribbean slope birding.
The National Wilderness Preservation System now includes more than 800 congressionally designated wilderness areas totaling more than 110 million acres in 44 states and PuertoRico. The post A Birder’s Guide to The Wilderness Act appeared first on 10,000 Birds. The most recent additions were approximately 1.3 Dingell Jr.
I opened the year in California and even though I flew out in the evening on New Year’s Day I did see some species out there that I would otherwise not have seen for the year. Winter birding around New York City was just so-so but I did add one species to my Queens list. Aaaarrrgghhhh!
I know I will be doing my best to make it so, especially from a birding perspective. I’ll bird my butt off and see what happens… I will add at least three new birds to my Queens list. All of 2016 only netted me one new species for Queens, a Greater White-fronted Goose. I will get at least 30 life birds.
During the decade, I submitted 1,219 checklists and observed 555 birdspecies, 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.
Way back in January Mike and I made a quick trip to PuertoRico with the hope of cleaning up on all of the endemic species on the island. I heard them well (free-flying birds, not the enclosed birds at the end of the road), but that is nothing to write home about. Occasionally we would see some birds.
A new calendar year doesn’t make common birds any more exciting to me. Obviously, I’ll savor a millisecond of satisfaction at my first dirt-common Canada Goose or Ring-billed Gull of the year, but once that moment passes, I’m back to scanning their respective flocks for newer, rarer, more exciting species.
I remember the very first time I saw the national bird of Venezuela. It was introduced to PuertoRico and other island nations, and now flourishes. In addition to striking feather patterns, the troupial is set apart from other oriole species in a variety of ways. Venezuelan Troupial.
Though we could breath a sigh of relief outside the famous “cone of uncertainty,” it has been heartbreaking to watch the devastation wrought in South Florida, the flooding up and down the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, and now Maria’s wrath in PuertoRico and the Caribbean. I know I was mesmerized by the show!
Here are some things I’ve learned from the Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean by Scott Weidensaul: The Burrowing Owl is the only North American owl species where the male is larger than the female, albeit, only slightly larger. The 39 owls include five endemic Caribbean species.
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.” Citizens), it would do well, with 107 species.
This is Jason’s first contribution to 10,000 Birds: Birders were rightly alarmed by the armed occupation of the Malheur NWR in Oregon. One of the nation’s premier birding locations had been overrun by an armed militia and the occupation unexpectedly endured for weeks. Individually, many NWRs protect crucial bird habitat.
Back on Friday, 12 February, I was dismayed when I read the weekly New York City Rare Bird Alert email. Why would a bird like that being reported in Queens dismay me? I went off to PuertoRico on Sunday night and had a blast and didn’t really give finding the Greater White-fronted Goose in Queens another thought.
We here at 10,000 Birds are excited to announce a new beat writer who will have his first post go live tomorrow. Please give a warm welcome to Jason Crotty, who will be writing about “General Birding and the Law” on the second Tuesday of each month. Welcome aboard, Jason! We look forward to reading your blog posts!
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.
Two years ago it was Culebra, PuertoRico. The sun was out, the birds were singing, and I got to point out Northern Gannets patrolling offshore. Nuthatches are always fun birds and being able to watch them for extended periods is always entertaining. Last year it was New Providence in the Bahamas.
Now, those of you familiar with my tendency to chase birds in New York and knowledgeable of the spate of Great Gray Owls we have had in 2017 might question why it took me to nearly the end of March to make a trip upstate to see one. I’m not truncating the list: those are the only species that I saw while I waited.
Culebra is the lesser known of the two major islands that lie off the eastern edge of PuertoRico. But the small island of Culebra, seventeen miles from PuertoRico proper, is more than adequate for a relaxing beach vacation and it can easily keep a birder busy for several days as well.
It’s etched into my audio memory, which is quite a feat considering the problems I have recognizing even the most common bird cries. I look up and see three large green birds, the bright green contrasting with dark blue underwings, whitish-grayish foreheads and breasts shining in the winter sun, flying overhead. “We
Birders from North America who have tried to find Mangrove Cuckoos in south Florida know how frustratingly elusive the secretive species can be. For example, on the first morning in PuertoRico that Mike and I explored Humacao Nature Reserve we saw several Mangrove Cuckoos and these birds had no problem making their way in front of my camera.
Richard Fried spent 2011 doing a New York State Big Year and managed to top the record of 350 species which was only set in 2008 by Scott Whittle. Richard totaled 352 species, an impressive number, by seeing almost all of the regularly occurring New York birds and the vast majority of the rarities that showed up in 2011.
This was not a birding vacation but a beach-and-water-park vacation. Regular readers here at 10,000 Birds, however, will not be surprised to learn that I managed to see some birds in between riding water slides, lounging on the beach, and drinking rum. So, what birds did I see? But, apparently, it works.
Or How a Serbian Suave Playboy Promoted Birding the Caribbean. Oh, the joys of slipping through the pages of a new book that has just arrived, the Birds of the West Indies by Kirwan, Levesque, Oberle and Sharpe. Having a tropical maritime climate, birding the West Indies comes with a lot of water, from sea spray to humid forests.
Last year beats were being spotted way beyond their usual habitat with checklists shared from India, PuertoRico and Israel. 146 shared checklists (an increase on last year’s 97, well done chaps) noted 664 species (ooooh, down on 826 from last February) and brought the yearly total to 1063 (1303 at this time in 2016, ouch!).
A while back, I wrote several guest posts for 10,000 Birds and Mike and Corey asked if I wanted a regular monthly space. Another observation is that researchers are generous with their time and respond to inquiries about their research, even by birding bloggers. Bird researchers are good people! Somehow, that was five years ago.
A while back, I wrote several guest posts for 10,000 Birds and Mike and Corey asked if I wanted a regular monthly space. Another observation is that researchers are generous with their time and respond to inquiries about their research, even by birding bloggers. Bird researchers are good people! Somehow, that was five years ago.
I’m back in the United States now, but the best bird of my weekend was a Sand Partridge in Ein Gedi by the Dead Sea; not only does this bird symbolize the unearthly desert from which it hails, but this species represents my 1500th lifer! What was your best bird of the weekend? took the prize. How about you?
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 30+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content