10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2024

I felt sorry for an American family that couldn’t understand anything said in our church services, so I started interpreting for them. The first Monday out after the festival, I took six people to Las Mesas, because it is almost within the city of Morelia, but offers a wide collection of habitats and species. So that happened.

Turkey 190

Turkey ALA Mexico Collecting 190

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2024

The proximity to the Myanmar border is reflected in the presence of Burmese Shrikes here – on the wrong side of the border, but it is well known that this species has never been particularly good at geography. This photo explains the scientific species name haemacephalus (bloodheaded).

Myanmar 175

Myanmar Sri Lanka Nepal Niger 175

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I was looking for a title for this third part of a blog post on the birds of Baihualing, and thought that the made-up term “Trequel” would sound fitting. Somewhat confusingly, its Latin species name is boulboul – a word that stands for nightingale but of course is also the name of a large bird family, the bulbuls.

Horses 193

Horses Family Blackbirds Species 193

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Species formerly referred to as P. One recent study found that this species was sister to P. perdix , and also that race przewalskii (sometimes subsumed within suschkini , but generally paler) was basal to other taxa included within the present species. barbata , but present name has priority. So, I later looked this up.

China 245

China Austria Birds ALA 245

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2023

At vulture family gatherings, it is always a bit of a bother for the organizers to cater to the needs of the Palm Nut Vulture. There are actually much nicer photos of the Purple-crested Turaco in another blog post of mine, Birding Mkuze. But the same species was never found again. The name is dutch-german for hammerhead.

South Africa 147

South Africa Africa 2018 Birds 147

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 210

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 210

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2022

As this African Green Pigeon shows, the color should offer good camouflage for species living on trees. In case you do not know that brimstone is sulfur, the Brimstone Canary brings the point home by having the Latin species name sulphurata. Different bird families, I know. Lucia for the birds. Celebration everywhere.

South Africa 197

South Africa Africa Saint Lucia Camels 197

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2021

Shorebirds – or “shorbs” for the cuteness factor (as if that needed any enhancement) – remain one of the most fascinating families of birds for me. Obliging species like Grey-headed Kingfisher , Long-crested Eagle , and even a pair of Greater Blue-eared Starlings ensured we didn’t get anywhere quickly.

Buffalo 264

Buffalo Kenya Trinidad 2019 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

If you want to pretend to combine learning Mandarin and learning about this species, watch this video. There is also the usual article about the first sighting of the species at a new location. If you want to guess the name of this species, please follow my instructions. How exciting. Take out a magnifying glass. Here they are.

Deer 218

Deer China Birds Owls 218

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2024

Their discoveries, writings, art, and lives are woven in and out of chapters focused on bird families (thrushes, shorebirds, warblers), places (Florida, Texas), significant points in North American ornithological history (Wilson versus Audubon in Philadelphia), and the big topics of taxonomy and conservation. The mind reels.

Philadelphia 243

Philadelphia Birds Investigation North America 243

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2024

This post starts like every birding blog post should start – by showcasing some bulbul species. According to the highly successful book ” 7 Habits of Highly Successful Birding Blog Post Writers”, only about 50% of birding blog posts should start with bulbuls). Yes, I am joking.

Birds 143

Birds Owls China Research 143

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa).

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Eggs Africa 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2021

Corey was extremely pleased to finally get out and about birding again after his family all caught COVID and recovered. Whatever species it turns out to be it is Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. How about you?

Texas 169

Texas New York Owls Birds 169

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2022

If you wonder how such a self-referential and obscure joke survived the editing process for this blog post, the explanation is simple: There is no editing process). Anyway, it seems to work reasonably well for the two species I saw here. Apparently, the complete lack of any field marks is a clear indicator that it must be this species.

Birds 208

Birds 2017 Fish Breeding 208

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Bad developments indeed, particularly as the White-backed Vulture was found to be a good avian biomonitor species – if it does badly, most likely the environment as a whole will do badly, too. Since the last time it was made fun of in my blog, the Marabu Stork has not gotten any prettier.

Elephants 147

Elephants Congo Birds Africa 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

As mentioned in many other posts on this blog, the avifauna of Trinidad & Tobago consists of several species and family groups occurring very interestingly, in threes. Short-tailed Nighthawk (above and below) Overall, this species seems to be poorly known, which is understandable given its habits. Well, kind of.

Trinidad 130

Trinidad Bats Falcons Groups 130

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2022

This is how blog posts would ideally start. Instead, they usually just describe species seen at a specific location, with the vague notion that these descriptions might be interesting to other birders. It looks quite distinct compared to some of the other recently discovered species. “Mother died today.

China 203

China Vietnam Asia Birds 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2020

Ivy and I couldn’t shake an owl out of Owl Woods but we walked away with all kinds of FOY species such as the unexpected Yellow-bellied Sapsucker calling high in a tree. But it was during an outing to Rockaway Beach with his family on Sunday afternoon that he saw his Best Bird of the Weekend, his first Piping Plover of the year.

2020 175

2020 Owls Birds Family 175

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2020

A Field Guide to the Birds: Giving Field Marks of All Species Found in Eastern North America was published in 1934 by Houghton Mifflin (note–Peterson was 26 years old), after being rejected by four publishers. Adding the 76 new species in the Hawaii section, this makes coverage of approximately 884 species.

North America 205

North America America Hawaii Birds 205

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2023

Such an embarrassingly populist title of a blog post should obviously be followed by some dry facts. Here goes: Paradise Flycatchers are a genus in the broader (and rather large) family of Monarchidae. There are 17 different species of them, a few of them endangered, particularly some island endemics. not their own).

Japan 130

Japan China Guinea Germany 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Insects and a host of other invertebrate life have evolved with these plant species, and thus depend on them. A White-browed Scrubwren ; one of the insectivorous passserines in my yard that will benefit from more native plant species. Locally native plants are the base part of the local ecology. The sad part of the story? POST SCRIPT.

North America 263

North America Wildlife Mammals Breeding 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2024

Ardent readers of this blog would realise by now that I have been chronicling a few days spent in Guyana last year – I felt that a single post or two would invariably exclude far too many sightings of note. Familiar, but beautiful regardless: Blue-headed Parrot Another small parrot species landed on a tree in the distance.

Guyana 206

Guyana Parrots Trinidad Monkeys 206

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. The main point of having self-imposed rules when writing a blog is to break them whenever desired.

Woodpeckers 228

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 228

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

China 224

China Birds Pythons Eagles 224

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2021

Good news for those frightened by the title of my last blog post – we are now back in the safe and boring world of highly descriptive headers. It helps that there is a little bird hide almost on top of the hill, guarded by a Chinese lady and attracting a substantial number of species of birds and birders. You are welcome.

China 262

China Birds Zebras Germany 262

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Some other members of the shrike family were a bit less testosterone-driven at Nanhui – like this Bull-headed Shrike … … this rather attractive-looking Tiger Shrike … … or one of the many Brown Shrikes passing through Nanhui on migration. Then, I was not sure whether this was the right thing to do.

LACS 225

LACS Birds France Japan 225

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Similarly, the Alpine Leaf Warbler is one of the more attractive species in an otherwise almost indistinguishable family of identical leaf warblers. (“But the difference in wing bars, Kai!”). If you think you have already seen enough photos of Elliot’s Laughingthrush, you may not be the right reader for this blog.

North Korea 236

North Korea China Birds Woodpeckers 236

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

Of course, it is hard to justify such an obsession in a blog post ostensibly all about birds. I stopped at the Red Crossbill , realizing that the species indeed “occupies an immense range, including North America, Eurasia, and northern Africa” (HBW) – including Baxi forest, China. Progress of sorts, I guess.

China 225

China Birds Nevada North America 225

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2022

Thus, this study on the feeding ecology of African Harrier-hawk is imperative for understanding the species adaptation to environments and also a crucial factor to be considered while examining their economic status.” I guess blushing is easier if you have a bald face like this species. 300 birds (HBW).

South Africa 147

South Africa Mice Niger Nigeria 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2020

The message she relayed made me blurt out a string of words that cannot be repeated on this blog – let’s just say that my priorities immediately shifted. Typical of the species. Both species seemed content to observe each other though. I was washing the dishes at the time, so my wife took the call.

Trinidad 201

Trinidad Birds Squirrels 2012 201

10,000 Birds

APRIL 6, 2014

April bears the most fruit for my family tree, including my own bad apple birthday this week. Does your family celebrate a lot of April birthdays? While I didn’t notice any Neotropical migrants this weekend, I was pleased to spot a Tufted Titmouse , a species I tend to miss during winter. The wood-warblers are back!

New Jersey 174

New Jersey 2014 Louisiana Bears 174

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2018

On my wanderings I picked up quite a few species that were new for my year list but my Best Bird of the Weekend was one that countered cruelty with happiness. Mike, too, chose a bluebird as his Best Bird of the Weekend, though his was a different species seeing as he and his family avoided the cruelty of April by being in California.

North Carolina 113

North Carolina Cruelty 2018 United States 113

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2017

Rochester is still wintry, but bird activity among the common species has picked up quite a bit. On Saturday he dragged his family to the Adirondack Mountains to see a stake out Great Gray Owl in Keene, a first for all three in the family. My best sighting was a Hairy Woodpecker puffed up to fight the cold.

2017 111

2017 Owls Woodpeckers Birds 111

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2022

There are quite a few raptor species around Skukuza. Most likely, the devil, not god created this species. While some bustards are the largest bird species capable of flight, the Black-bellied Bustard is only mid-sized. There is also a much older blog post on 10,000 Birds (by Adam Riley) specifically on Africa’s Barbets.

Africa 147

Africa Eagles Birds Barn Owls 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2015

Just like we did last year my family spent this past weekend camping at North Lake State Park, up in New York’s gorgeous Catskill Mountains. And, not surprisingly, the breeding birds present were largely the same species as last year which was not a problem at all! Not because of the species but because he knew the species!

Birds 162

Birds New York Family Sparrows 162

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

Apparently, Longcanggou is a great place to see a variety of parrotbill species. I can only partly confirm this, with my sightings restricted to two species. Like many of the largest species within bird families, the Great Parrotbill looks somewhat plain, at least in the weather I encountered it. Yes, there were.

Pandas 204

Pandas Birds Mammals China 204

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2014

While I saw some pretty special species this weekend, the most special was the Gray Catbird because my sweet 7-year niece totally got into finding one; I think I’ve found the next generation birder in the family! If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. How about you?

2014 201

2014 Birds Family Experience 201