10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2013

The boat-trip over to the island is far from uneventful and the pelagic birding is very rewarding. Northern Humpback Whales visit the waters surrounding Isla Isabel every year to mate and its not unusual to see dozens of these cetaceans breaching and whacking their tales on the ocean surface. If you like boobies (no giggles please!),

Whales 267

Whales Whaling Sharks Marine Life 267

10,000 Birds

APRIL 7, 2015

I only had a few days in California while visiting my brother at Berkeley, but we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to visit one of the most famous birding sites in the country: Point Reyes National Seashore. Add those life mammals to the life birds I already expected to see, and I was practically vibrating with excitement.

Seals 228

Seals Elephants Whales Whaling 228

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2021

When you bird afar and wander wide, you carry a field guide to the birds of the region you are exploring, a pair of binoculars, likely a camera, perhaps a spotting scope and a tripod too, plus clothing, medicines, toiletries, electronics, money and documents… Did you notice the missing item? Yet, those bird guides are hefty.

Madagascar 264

Madagascar Mammals Lemurs Seychelles 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

Usually, it’s “Bird eating fish” but here we have a case of a “Bird-eating fish.” Now and then individual catfish of various species hunt nearer the surface and larger catfish such as the American Channel Cat will take a duck or other water bird. pigeons, Columbia livia ).

Fish 243

Fish Whales Whaling France 243

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2011

Most of the time when we think of birds, we think of the things that make them birds, and not the things that make them dinosaurs. You’ll hear people tell you that birds are dinosaurs, and that is supposed to blow you away and make you go all gaga about birds and evolution. are convenient secondary uses.

Birds 271

Birds Marsupials Primates Whaling 271

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

You should know by now that there are a good number of birds that spend an appreciable amount of time underwater. And then there are the crazy-awesome Dippers and one should not forget the great diving birds like Gannets and Albatrosses. See, with a little bit of imagination, even a scuba diver can find birds all over the place.

Sharks 235

Sharks Thailand Dolphins Whales 235

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

The descriptions of the territory’s birds, seals, whales, introduced mammals, invertebrates, and plants are written within the framework of the conversationist, so it is more than a field guide, it is a record of endangered wildlife and the efforts being made to protect it. Who can resist penguins and whales?

Georgia 182

Georgia Penguins Wildlife Whales 182

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2013

Dawn breaks over Kaikoura (where Duncan saw Sperm Whales !). Where will you be this weekend and will you be birding? Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend ! Birding April weekend' If April showers bring May flowers, what does April sleet bring? Guess I’ll be finding out!

Whales 183

Whales Whaling 2013 Birds 183

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

And there aren’t just cool birds rocking up, migratory bats do too. It was the start of the shark season, which meant I saw my first Great White Shark attacks on Northern Elephant Seals , but it was also the best season for whales. The seas were glass still, and far out we could see whales, dozens of the things.

Whales 157

Whales Whaling Sharks Bats 157

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

I was lucky to visit India several times, but as a keen birder I carried along only a bird book, and even upgraded it to a new edition between the trips. Larger species, that is, excluding dolphins and whales. The post Mammals of South Asia (Lynx Edicions) appeared first on 10,000 Birds. cm Weight 0.4

Mammals 211

Mammals Asia Sri Lanka Bhutan 211

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

All of these titles deal with birding in specific North American geographic areas: The Atlantic coast, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The photos show the forms of the bird seen on the east coast and are annotated with notes on plumage and other distinguishing field marks. It’s time for some short book reviews. Well, short for me.

Pennsylvania 189

Pennsylvania Texas Whales Whaling 189

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

The bill of the Greater Flamingo is a marvel of nature that would make any baleen whale turn pale with envy. Indeed, they are the avian equivalent to baleen whales, feeding exclusively on brine shrimp and blue-green algae using their highly specialized bills as filter devices. … It is Pink Bird Weekend on 10,000 Birds! .

France 210

France Whales Whaling 2013 210

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2014

Is it mere coincidence that Father’s Day falls on such a perfect weekend for birding? Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend isn’t rare, difficult to see, or worthy of such a status by any other typical metric. What was your best bird of the weekend? Birding best bird weekend' I think not.

2014 190

2014 Whales Whaling New York 190

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

As New Zealand’s beat writer I think I’ve done an okay job of discussing the birding of an entirely different island for most of the year, so it’s only fair that I keep that winning streak going by talking about my target for the trip. New Caldonia’s odd flightless heronish bird. A beaked whale.

Sharks 201

Sharks Leopards Snow Leopard Whales 201

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2013

Our time on the island was spent looking at birds, exploring, picnicking, throwing rocks in the water, and admiring a very cooperative Santa Cruz Island Fox. Then the birds showed. Sooty Shearwaters and a Western Gull fly back the aftermath of a Humpback Whale breaching. Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae.

Whales 153

Whales Whaling Dolphins California 153

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

This place is such an epic birding location that one cannot possibly do the city and its surrounds justice in one post. These birds, and their closely-related counterparts, the Drakensberg Rockjumper, constantly find themselves on the most-wanted list of pretty much every visiting birder. And rightly so. But by George is it worth it!

South Africa 257

South Africa Penguins Africa Birds 257

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2012

Kereru or New Zealand Pigeon ( Hemiphaga novaseelandiae ) are also very attractive birds. They positively shine in sunlight Sitting on a pot used to boil whale fat in the past If you liked these images make sure to head on over to 10,000 Clicks , the 10,000 Birds photo-galleries page, and see our growing collection of galleries.

New Zealand 205

New Zealand Whales Whaling Collecting 205

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 31, 2014

The play features only four characters: Martha Washington the Passenger Pigeon , a vengeful sperm whale named Charles Bronson, Cotton Mather the human, historical Puritan, and a near-omniscient figure called the Gourmand, who opens the main conflict of the play by pointing out that Passenger Pigeons are delicious.

Whales 244

Whales Whaling Washington Collecting 244

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2013

Clocking more than 50,000 miles per year, the birds appear to have cornered the market on the world’s longest annual migration. And that’s just the birds–you can spy on everything from panda bear cubs to beluga whales. Birding Birds terns video' You may already know how awesome Arctic Terns are.

Bald Eagle 221

Bald Eagle Pandas Puffins Bears 221

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2013

Even the solo birders out there have to appreciate that birding together is often better than birding alone. Corey and I don’t get out in the field together much, since we’ve determined that the ongoing security of 10,000 Birds requires the two of us to live in separate cities. Another new Queens bird for Corey!)

New York City 189

New York City 2013 Nashville New York 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2024

The sea is frothing with Great Cormorant and Herring Gull , with more than 100 birds diving into the water. He gets a good look of the little whales too, but everybody else on the ferry is seemingly unaware of the spectacle. I park the car and walk through a cacophony of bird song to the viewpoint. But where’s the bird?

Sweden 229

Sweden Birds Porpoises Deer 229

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2013

Today we take a brief reprieve from birder commentary to talk actual birds, specifically those of Santa Cruz Island, where my lowly-esteemed colleague Seagull Steve is currently doing field work on some of the nearshore seabirds there. The fundamental question is, where is it? is concerned.

California 200

California Sea Lions Whales Whaling 200

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2024

By Fitzroy Rampersad Fitzroy or Fitz as he is fondly called began observing and photographing birds when the COVID-19 Pandemic forced border closures around the world including Trinidad & Tobago where he was vacationing at the time. For many birders, the quest to spot a specific bird can become an obsession.

Trinidad 241

Trinidad Costa Rica Panama Whales 241

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2016

The Ross Sea is the most productive stretch of water in the Southern Ocean, teeming with large predatory fish, whales, seals, penguins and other animals that form the last intact marine ecosystem on Earth. There are 11 species of birds that breed in the Ross Sea region. Enough History – Back to the Future.

Russia 189

Russia Penguins Whales Whaling 189

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2016

Kaikoura is New Zealand’s finest birding destination, and seeing it brought low is a terrible blow. Thanks to it’s marine canyon it’s the place to see Sperm Whales, swim with Dusky Dolphins and New Zealand Fur-seals, and watch albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels. Sperm Whales are a huge draw, literally!

Albatross 194

Albatross New Zealand Fur Seals 194

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

A lot of folks, including this very blog, are using this as an occasion to memorialize not just the Passenger Pigeon but the extinct birds of the Holocene as a group. we are hosting Extinction Week here on 10,000 Birds from 7 September to 13 September. … Birding Extinction Week Great Auk' Good, I say.

California Condor 239

California Condor Guam Whales Whaling 239

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2015

Birds of California , the new volume in the ABA series, arrived the day I returned. Every bird book seems to be about the west coast this month!) Offshore Sea Life ID Guide: West Coast is designed to be a quick, handy resource for use on whale watching and one-day pelagic trips.

Dolphins 162

Dolphins Porpoises Whales Whaling 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2018

– Birds are indeed dinosaurs, yet, are indubitably not. Knowledge is knowing that a bird is a dinosaur. For example, “the Ungulata include hooved animals with multi-chambered stomachs, except the whales.”. A term like “hooved animals” is monophyletic and a perfectly sound adaptive group, except for the whales.

Monkeys 177

Monkeys Gorillas Whales Whaling 177

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. Further to the east, Asian Openbill displays the same special feature but is mostly a white plumaged bird.

Africa 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2024

On the other hand, their white color and their considerable size made me see them as somewhat arrogant birds – the white Golf convertible of the bird world. ” Presumably, all readers of 10,000 Birds think that nature reserves are important – a paper tries to quantify that importance to some extent.

China 246

China Iceland Whaling Whales 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

I like pelagic birding. Being on a boat surrounded by the endless blue of the ocean is a wonderful experience, especially when the waves aren’t too high, the sun isn’t too bright, and the birds are showing. The other pelagic bird that we saw in numbers on the chum slick we created was Wilson’s Storm-Petrel.

Whales 177

Whales Whaling Dolphins New York 177

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2019

Presuming that you want to bird Costa Rica, you would book a southbound flight (from N. Reachable by direct flights from Portugal, the island country of Sao Tome and Principe lying in the Gulf of Guinea, in the armpit of Africa, has about 140 bird species and 28 endemics – more endemics per square mile than anywhere else on Earth.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Sri Lanka Rwanda Papua New Guinea 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2015

When she was eight, Macdonald read The Goshawk and was horrified; when she read it again after her father’s death, she somehow managed to admire and sympathize with the author, despite his reprehensible treatment of his bird. Spoiler: the hawk ends up like the fish, not the whale. This, excuse me, is b t.

Falcons 257

Falcons Michael Vick Whaling Whales 257

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2012

Birding has been an all-consuming interest for Patrick Cardwell since boyhood days spent in a wildlife-rich environment. In this epic post, Patrick depicts just how dynamic the pelagic birding is off Cape Point in South Africa.

Albatross 221

Albatross Penguins Dolphins Whaling 221

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

But later in August, Alexander Suh at the University of Münster emailed me about a new paper he and his colleagues have just published: Mesozoic retroposons reveal parrots as the closest living relatives of passerine birds (PDF). Galahs ( Eolophus roseicapilla ) in Victoria, Australia © David J. Ringer Suh et al. Ringer Suh et al.

Parrots 221

Parrots Falcons Indonesia Rodents 221

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. But their endangered status is belied by the fact that they are one of the easiest rare birds to find in Africa. A pair of birds nested at Boulders Beach for the first time.

Penguins 248

Penguins South Africa Sharks Leopards 248

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2014

Here a fledgling Chipping Sparrow , which is one of those confusing, streaky, brown birds, gets stuffed by an adult. And, of course, as I do sometimes, I managed to sneak in a bit of birding. Fortunately the birds mostly came to me and I just had to keep my binoculars and camera handy.

New York 183

New York Cooking Chipmunks Whales 183