10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2023

If we were more enthusiastic beach-goers, I would probably have many more tropical birds on my life list by now. As it was, I managed to squeeze about seven hours of birding out of our otherwise highly-social weekend. I still can’t say that I have found Ixtapa’s best spot for shore- and marsh-loving birds.

Mexico 234

Mexico Birds Turkey Sparrows 234

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

This is the time of year that we rightfully contemplate the noble Turkey. The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. And it isn’t.

Turkey 199

Turkey Columbus Spain Fowl 199

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2020

If you read my last post, you will know that my last three weekly outings were not overly productive, as far as birds are concerned. But any birder can tell you that a bad day birding is better than a good day almost anywhere else. For me, that has a lot to do with all the beautiful places I get to be, while looking for birds.

Turkey 257

Turkey Birds Elephants Eggs 257

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2023

You might think that birds don’t change the world, birds are the world – but by his odd title, Ten Birds That Changed the World, author Stephen Moss means, he says, that birds have, in various ways, led to “paradigm shifts” in human history. Maybe Moss is right, and birds have changed history. Fine and dandy.

Bald Eagle 150

Bald Eagle Montenegro Zambia Zimbabwe 150

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2011

What is up with all the frickin’ Wild Turkeys out there? This is the time of year when I tend to see turkeys dead on the side of the road. News stories of turkeys causing car accidents abound around the US right now. In Boston, a turkey was the cause of a 2 car accident during the morning commute.

Turkey 225

Turkey Hunters Coyotes Boston 225

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2023

As such, it offers some unique birding experiences. Even better, I happen to have an online birding buddy who offered to make space that Wednesday and Friday to take me to see some of Tabasco’s birds. By week’s end I had 30 new species on my life list. Good choice! 500 down, 600 to go. 500 down, 600 to go.

Mexico 130

Mexico Tigers Cows Birds 130

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2024

There are 154 species of cuckoos in the world, and they’re all a fascinating bunch. However, my current favourite member of the family Cucilidae is the Great Spotted Cuckoo (GSC), a common bird in Cyprus in spring. I wonder whether birds that breed in Europe ever meet up with those nest in southern Africa?

Cyprus 210

Cyprus Africa Europe Asia 210

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2024

Then I got hooked on all the beautiful birds that started visiting the birdbath, and ten years later, here I am, writing for 10,000 Birds. So it comes as no surprise to me that I now seem to have formed an informal birding club, as a quite spontaneous development. Alas, these highly unpredictable birds seem to have moved on.

Turkey 186

Turkey ALA Mexico Collecting 186

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2023

I recently received a kind letter from a 10,000 Birds friend, who was worried that my recent irregularity in contributing to this website might indicate that something was wrong. First, we had our five-week trip to Spain, Turkey and Jordan in September and October. (My I assured him then, and assure you now, that I am fine.

Jordan 189

Jordan Mexico Ohio Spain 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2024

By Leslie Kinrys Leslie Kinrys has loved birds since her father put a House Sparrow fledgling in her young hands. She lives and birds in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with some trips farther afield. She enjoys seeing all species of birds, but her favorites are hummingbirds. I flicked it towards the bird and it gobbled it up.

Alligators 170

Alligators Woodpeckers Turkey Florida 170

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

When I got back into birding about six years ago, I would not have predicted the personal bonds a birder can form with certain species. While all birds bring us joy, and we certainly want to see as many as we can, some species just seem more… special. They are especially beautiful, rare, or hard to find.

Mexico 155

Mexico South America Birds Turkey 155

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2021

The Great Backyard Bird Count kicked off yesterday, and will continue throughout the weekend before ending on the 15th. The idea is simple: birders from around the world count birds at least one time for at least fifteen minutes, and submit their data through eBird or the Merlin Bird ID app. The highlights? A fine start to GBBC!

Florida 247

Florida Pelicans Geese Turkey 247

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

It is home to four diverse forest ecosystems (deciduous, mixed, boreal, and lowlands), experiences seasonal weather systems ranging from cold dry Arctic winters to humid, thunder-storm filled summers, and, according to the latest official checklist, hosts four professional sports teams with bird names.* state and Canadian provinces.

North America 203

North America Birds Owls Canada 203

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2022

In fact, I was already embarrassed two months ago, when the pandemic and at-home duties had forced me to write about the same michoacano birds for a couple of years running. (It’s It’s a good thing that I can access some 300+ michoacano birds! New places, new birds! ” Of course, I birded every moment I could.

Spain 162

Spain Turkey Mexico Agenda 162

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2021

The adult males sport that look; a bird created with crayons and an imaginative mind. The female isn’t quite so unreal but is still a cool little bird in her own right. She also makes a mark with her small size, one of the smallest birds in Costa Rica. A Garden Planted for Birds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica San Jose Birds Farming 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

In common with so many other volcanoes, Poas also houses farms, people, and forests full of birds. Eastern Meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles , and a few other birds are at peace with the cows but for most birds on Poas, the forest is where life is living large. Just like it sounds, birding in place is watching birds from one spot.

Costa Rica 256

Costa Rica Birds Cows Hunters 256

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2011

I had spotted a Turkey Vulture ! Well, I had looked out the sliding glass door that leads to my balcony and spotted a large bird that seemed to have the flight pattern of a Turkey Vulture but I needed to drop the darned phone and grab the binoculars that live near the door for exactly this purpose. What had happened?

Turkey 145

Turkey Species Birds 145

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2020

Since the migratory season ended down here, I have not managed to see more than 20 species in any single day from my yard. The above-mentioned Rufous-naped Wren added some melodious notes to the mix, along with Tropical Flycatchers and several other species. Turkey Vulture. A Zone-tailed Hawk imitating a Turkey Vulture.

Turkey 241

Turkey Mexico Uruguay Guatemala 241

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2020

For the last two decades, Europe and the greater Mediterranean have been covered by one of the best field guides anywhere: “Collins Bird Guide” by Lars Svensson et al., published in the US by Princeton as “Birds of Europe”. Unlike “Collins Bird Guide” (CBG) with 416 pages and 1.7 And my first impression is: Wow!

Cyprus 246

Cyprus Saudi Arabia Europe Birds 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2019

With hope, your memories of birding in 2019 will evoke wonder, excitement, and satisfaction for years and decades to come. I recently despaired of ending this calendar year without seeing a single Wild Turkey when that species used to be so reliable in my part of New York. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2019 136

2019 Nevada Turkey New York 136

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

As it turns out, birding can also be slightly delicate in this country. I have constantly mentioned over the past several weeks that our trip to the Old World was not about birding, and that was even more true about our time in Jordan. The Dead Sea wasn’t entirely dead, but the birds there flew by too briefly for IDs.

Jordan 147

Jordan Israel Birds Turkey 147

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, experts have determined that the current rate of bird extinction is somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 times the background rate. The Gray Crowned-Crane is a new addition to the list of the world’s Endangered species, creeping up a category from Vulnerable.

Endangered Species 185

Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 185

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. So, the basic idea is to show 15 species of Australian birds in each post and give you the usual trivia about them. The female looks a bit duller but I was assured it has a beautiful soul.

Australia 182

Australia Koalas Parrots Birds 182

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2022

Both Trinidad and Tobago share over a hundred species but within the mix are many that are found on one island and not the other. For those of us who travel and see different birds, I’m sure you’d agree that there are different degrees of novelty. So this is a strange, and very niche version of a trip report!

Trinidad 248

Trinidad Turkey Squirrels Cows 248

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2020

Like many of you, I had plans for this year’s spring migration: to bird the very best tour of the Balkans, heading for northeastern Greece. First, 800 km of driving from Belgrade through Bulgaria to very NE corner of Greece and the Dadia Forest National Park with its 36 species of diurnal raptors, out of Europe’s 38.

Greece 227

Greece Bulgaria Serbia 2000 227

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2016

While the birding in the park around the pits was somewhat limited — an Audubon’s Warbler , a Northern Junco , a Black Phoebe — the birding inside was nothing short of spectacular. California Condors , La Brea Condors , and the Merriam’s Giant Condor — a magnificent bird even in death.

California Condor 173

California Condor Coyotes Turkey California 173

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2013

In truly absurd, I am not making this up news, villagers in Turkey recently accused a bird of being an Israeli spy. There’s a joke in here somewhere stemming from the fact that the country’s name is Turkey. Upon the bird’s capture, the band was found to read “24311 Tel Avivunia Israel.”

Israel 174

Israel Turkey Austin Stray 174

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2024

This is not a birding trip; we are trying to deal with many logistical life issues that have accumulated over the past several years. But will I bird? A pair of ladies seemed to know more about plants and butterflies than about birds, which I enjoyed. Two other species also warmed my California-boy heart.

San Francisco 197

San Francisco California Woodpeckers Turkey 197

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2021

Still, the outing did not produce any new species for the year, or enough good photos for a post here. Instead, I have chosen to write about an idea I’ve had percolating for a while: to tell you what the most common species are down here. I’ll take the most common native species in taxonomic order.

Woodpeckers 320

Woodpeckers Mexico Cattle Turkey 320

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

But here is the truly tragic part: I was not birding during those years! My hosts had arranged for me to stay in a beautiful private home, high on a ridge overlooking the city, and the forested area surrounding the home attracted some very noisy (and, for me, exciting) birds. The White-throated Magpie-Jay: such a beautiful bird!

2006 159

2006 Morocco Birds Mexico 159

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2019

Lots of birds, a lot of really cool birds! Some local populations of birds and animals couldn’t adapt to the radical ecosystem-wide changes and just died out but a fair percentage did survive and continue to persist where green space lingers. This is one heck of a sweet urban bird. Lesson’s Motmot.

Costa Rica 191

Costa Rica Parrots Birds Blackbirds 191

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2018

I hope everyone participated in at least one day of the four day Great Backyard Bird Count of 2018. I submitted five checklists from four different locations yielding 44 species. As I walked out on my back porch on Friday morning, the first day of the count, it was a cool, clear day and the birds were very active at the feeders.

2018 100

2018 Bald Eagle Woodpeckers Turkey 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2019

Patrick’s Day, did you stop to wonder why so few birds wear green plumage? Based on how naturally parrots and leafbirds (the real ones in Asia, not the figments that plague birders in every country) blend into foliage, I’d imagine that most arboreal avian species would want the same advantages. How about you?

2019 114

2019 Asia Turkey Parrots 114

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

Birds are supposed to have feathers and birds without feathers look incomplete, like they left home with shaving cream on their ear and toothpaste spots on their shirt. The smellier the better, particularly as, unusually for birds, many species can boast a robust sense of smell. Griffon Vulture , photo by Alan Tilmouth.

California Condor 177

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 177

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2019

The first weekend of the fourth month of the year unites us all with exceptional birding opportunities. I found myself in fine company on the hawk watch platform at Braddock Bay, where streaming flocks of Turkey Vultures were infiltrated by a variety of hawk species. What was your best bird of the weekend? How about you?

2019 114

2019 Turkey Birds Experience 114

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2019

A straight shot to my bird feeder. My yard is a birding hotspot. With forest on two sides and the expansive Eglin Air Force Base reservation just beyond, avian species have a host of hiding and eating opportunities. The feeder dangles from a clothesline between two pine trees, beckoning a range of bird varieties.

Agenda 138

Agenda Louisiana North America Birds 138

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2022

As I write weekly for 10,000 Birds, and it has now been two whole years since the pandemic has kept me from birding more than an hour away from home, it has become a challenge to come up with varied blog subjects. But every birding enthusiast knows that each year arrives full of possibilities. Our readers from the eastern U.S.

Turkey 187

Turkey Falcons Mexico Sparrows 187