10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2024

In my younger days I was very keen on what is generally known as Big Day Birding, or trying to see as many species of birds as possible in one day. Called The Big Bird Race , it tells the story of how my team, representing Country Life magazine , recorded 155 species in 24 hours in East Anglia (Suffolk and Norfolk).

Kenya 133

Kenya Birds Barn Owls Owls 133

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2020

I am only responding to my subjective impression of a single species’ appearance here; specifically, that of the Bronzed Cowbird. Instead, they lay their eggs in other species’ nests, and let those nest-making birds (often significantly smaller than the cowbirds) raise their young. Native versus invasive species?

Blackbirds 156

Blackbirds Mexico Cattle Birds 156

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2019

Today`s species are just the first 10 by alphabetical order. But the way it is, familiarity breeds (relative) contempt. The Chinese Blackbird was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Common Blackbird, and does not really look or behave much different. That is a bit unfair to this species.

Germany 130

Germany Cattle Blackbirds Birds 130

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

And I decided to search it for the forest species: Eurasian Sparrowhawk , Syrian Woodpecker (okay, not truly a forest sp.), And I decided to search it for the forest species: Eurasian Sparrowhawk , Syrian Woodpecker (okay, not truly a forest sp.), And at the beginning of February, my list is still ridiculously low at 55 species.

Otters 261

Otters Croatia Eagles Protection 261

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2021

I pointed at the bird shown below but he insisted it could not be that species – no long tail … For people of a certain age, gender and background, at some point The Smiths were the most important band in the world. A juvenile Chinese Blackbird. I would only be that confident after at least 3 beers …). ” Hm. .”

LACS 236

LACS Birds France Japan 236

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2020

A Eurasian Blackbird is checking for the remaining maize seeds. A Common Chaffinch is singing, while one male Blackbird chases the other from his precious maize seeds. There are more than 1100 plant species, the most valuable being the 76 endemics. The longer I sit, the more focused I become. The waiting is on.

Bears 264

Bears Serbia Birds Mammals 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2021

Yellow-hooded Blackbirds and Yellow-chinned Spinetails were ubiquitous as expected, along with a few shorebirds in some isolated ponds. The area is known for being a breeding area of the enigmatic Rufous Crab-Hawk and it was the first place I saw the species, many years ago. As always, an adult Scarlet Ibis shines like a beacon.

Sea Turtles 262

Sea Turtles Bats Turtles Trinidad 262

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2020

Striated Heron in breeding plumage – extra plumes and blue lores. Two species of icterids populated the area, the presence of either was a direct indicator of the degree of water present. Red-breasted Meadowlarks controlled the drier sections while Yellow-hooded Blackbirds occupied the more flooded areas. Great Blue Heron.

Livestock 220

Livestock ALA Ducks illegal 220

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2020

Last weekend I wasn’t on the hunt for any species in particular though. A Pinnated Bittern gets escorted to another hiding place by a squadron of Yellow-hooded Blackbirds. While seated hidden among some corn plants, a Spotted Sandpiper in gorgeous breeding plumage landed about 15′ away. Greater Yellowlegs.

Trinidad 184

Trinidad South America Blackbirds Game 184

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Similarly, descriptions of species repeated across volumes do not lose their accuracy with each publication. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 221

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 221

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

So, to cut things short, there is sickness all around me, and I have thus decided to have my February post whistle to that tune as well and give an update to the mysterious die-off amongst our Eurasian Blackbirds that occurred around my home turf in Heidelberg last summer – blogged about here.

Germany 160

Germany Blackbirds 2006 Denmark 160

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2017

Now that I can travel, I have perversely discovered the charms of really working over one spot of habitat across the seasons and the years; as such I’m on a mission to find 100 species of bird in Socrates Sculpture Park, a bit of Queens between the East River and Vernon Boulevard where artists create open-air displays. Why an asterisk?

New York City 105

New York City New York Illinois Wisconsin 105

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2018

Flock after flock of blackbirds, ducks, geese, raptors flapping their way north. The birds also need it because this is when they build nests and breed. If you already know the songs of American Robin and Eurasian Blackbird , then you already know what the national bird is doing. But that’s up in the temperate north.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Blackbirds Texas Geese 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2022

The juvenile Chinese Blackbirds get older but still look kind of stupid. Some of the more conservative Light-vented Bulbuls in my compound were trying to make the wearing of a tie mandatory for the species. But the stars of the month were some breeding Eurasian Tree Sparrows. So, I took these photos for them.

Sparrows 147

Sparrows China Birds Tigers 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

After writing this last sentence, I looked up the species in the HBW and found the sentence “Song poorly documented” in the appropriate section, while with regard to calls, the description is that “call is a two-note raspy nasal ‘ryeeh-reh’”. These birds have too much taste.

Mountain Goats 147

Mountain Goats Singapore Giraffes Birds 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

But something happened, and it happened many times: Something has been killing our Blackbirds. We interrupt this blog post for an important message: This is the kind of Blackbird I am talking about, the Eurasian thrush that is Turdus merula, and not the American group of iconic Icterids you might have had in mind.

Blackbirds 154

Blackbirds Germany Shelters Rodents 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular. Curassows are such stately birds.

California Condor 219

California Condor Brazil Parrots Texas 219

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2014

When they turn into fledglings feather color plays a part, although the feathers of fledglings differ markedly from those of their parents, which differ from those of their species a year old, two years old, in non-breeding plumage, in winter/summer plumage, etc. “You don’t have many breeding warblers down there, do you?

Wildlife Rehabilitation 228

Wildlife Rehabilitation Georgia Birds Kentucky 228

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular.

California Condor 202

California Condor Ecuador Blackbirds Parrots 202

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts. Brewer’s Blackbirds often joined the hordes of Red-winged Blackbirds flitting in and out of the taller grasses and few shrubs. Yes, it takes a village to locate a Sprague’s Pipit.

North Dakota 143

North Dakota Sparrows Birds Blackbirds 143

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2017

Shallows provide an ideal spawning ground for almost 50 fish species and submerged islands breeding ground for more than 100 bird species. Beside several well-showing Red-backed Shrikes , the highlight was one uncommon Lesser Grey Shrike (highly localized ** , with only 700 to 1000 breeding pairs in Serbia).

Romania 123

Romania Serbia Turtles Blackbirds 123

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2012

Most bird species cannot live by black oil sunflower seed alone. The other thing that baffled me is that birds are the most colorful in the summer–all that crazy breeding plumage. Another time to consider taking your feeders down for a limited time is if you get a blackbird takeover when their young leave the nest.

Blackbirds 231

Blackbirds Baltimore Birds Breeding 231

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2022

The Chinese Blackbird is among the most common birds in our compound. This is often the case in birds – for the young birds, it is more important to be invisible than to impress the other birds of the same species. The Red-flanked Bluetail is only in Shanghai in winter, as it breeds far further North – even further than Beijing.

Birds 162

Birds Fish Germany China 162

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2015

An American Redstart sang half-heartedly, a Ring-necked Pheasant ran from me, and Gray Catbirds , Red-winged Blackbirds , and American Robins were everywhere. I saw a Willow Flycatcher , several Northern Mockingbirds , and a bunch of Yellow Warblers.

New York City 165

New York City Blackbirds New York Collecting 165

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? The lush pastures of the Aripo Livestock Station sustained herds of happy Buffalypso , a special breed of T&T beef cattle named for their Water Buffalo heritage and Calypso-happy country.

Trinidad 180

Trinidad Fast Food Cattle Blackbirds 180

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2019

eBird doesn’t offer such an option, so I used the second best: the species was observed in one month only. They do not build nests, but occupy old nests of Rooks and breed colonially among them. Red-footed Falcon’s breeding range starts less than 50 mi north of here and I hope that some will choose to join a local rookery and stay.”.

2018 118

2018 Serbia Greece Falcons 118

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2013

Avocets, Black-necked Stilts , and Spotted Sandpipers breed at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. Flocks of Bushtits made their noisy way through the bushes and a large number of Yellow-headed Blackbirds , which easily increased by ten-fold the number of Yellow-headed Blackbirds I had ever seen, flushed from one reed-bed to another.

Las Vegas 207

Las Vegas Nevada Birds Blackbirds 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

The warm, sunny climate beckons a wide variety of passerines, raptors, and shorebirds to spend the winter, inflating the species diversity to the extent that Miami-Dade can go toe-to-toe with counties in Texas and Arizona during this season. Can we hit 200 ABA-countable species in four days next year?

Miami 167

Miami 2015 United States Florida 167

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2011

Eagle Lake, Lake Almanor and Clear Lake have all been identified as Audubon California Important Bird Areas (IBA), meaning that they provide essential habitat for breeding, wintering, and migrating birds. The boat trip also offered some good looks at the Yellow-headed Blackbirds nesting along the shores.

California 226

California Eagles North America Blackbirds 226

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Every part of the world has it’s suite of parking lot staples, those urbanish species that seem to prefer to linger about humanity subsisting in no small amount to the magnanimity, or more likely the laziness, of humankind. The western half of the continent sees a lot of Brewer’s Blackbirds mixed in.

North Carolina 188

North Carolina Fast Food Sparrows Birds 188

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

That’s pretty amazing–Bolivia has more bird species than India! The source of this ranking, BirdLife International, lists Bolivia as currently having 1,439 bird species, including 18 breeding endemics. The guide covers 1,433 species, the number of birds documented at the end of 2014, the cutoff point for the book.

Bolivia 177

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 177

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2016

As a result, I had 15 species in the first hour. Laight has recorded some 100 species here, including Slavonian (Horned) Grebe and Red-rumped Swallow (the first is a rare migrant/wintering species only, while the second one is an uncommon breeder). Other herons, egrets, gulls and terns are a surprise at this time of the year.

Turtles 115

Turtles Serbia Breeders Breeding 115

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 17, 2017

In early August this year, I saw 77 species here (69 on the lake, plus 8 more in the surrounding areas) but barely more than a thousand individuals. In my homeland, some 800 km / 500 mi further north, these ducks are common on migration but very rare in the breeding season and I realized that these are my first young birds – ever.

Greece 193

Greece Killing Pelicans Eagles 193

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

… leaving the remainder of the birds on the Cyprus Species List (over 380 species) are either migrants or accidentals. the first three found only in the Troodos and Paphos forests). That’s quite a lot! As it happens though, Blackcaps may provide a modern example of how this can occur.

Cyprus 157

Cyprus Breeders 2000 Protection 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2019

High overhead, swallows are going over and in the fields, blackbirds move in undulating flocks. However, even now, the ancient movements of birds between summer breeding grounds and tropical wintering places have been taking place in Costa Rica. Last Friday, we paid a brief afternoon visit to Villas San Ignacio.

Costa Rica 153

Costa Rica Tennessee South America 2019 153

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

Red-winged Blackbirds , within arms-reach, glisten in the morning sun and puff out their red shoulder epaulettes like proud military generals. Nearly every species of heron and egret in North America forage only feet away, some of them in their dazzling breeding displays.

Factory 228

Factory North America Alligators Trafficking 228

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2014

We set the standard at 74 species, one short of my hoped for 75, but not bad for a first attempt. The north wind also brought flocks of Double-crested Cormorants and Brant , the latter the first ones back this fall from their breeding grounds in the far north. It was a marvelous day and I can’t wait to do it again in 2015!

2015 184

2015 Philadelphia Geese Blackbirds 184