10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2015

A total of 122 teams covering just about every major habitat counted a total of 1183 species or approximately 65% of the entire avifauna of Peru in a single day! The onset of the competitive spirit came the evening of May 9th as many watched the number of species per country switching places between Colombia, Brazil and Peru.

2015 238

2015 Peru Colombia Brazil 238

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2022

The 2000 MacKinnon guide is showing its age while my preferred choice for the Shanghai area, Mark Brazil’s “Birds of East Asia”, covers non-Chinese locations such as Japan and Korea while excluding Western China. While there are some decent Chinese-language guides, they are of limited use for (local) illiterates like me.

China 240

China Brazil 2000 Birds 240

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

That’s because this fascinating part-Caribbean, part-south American country holds well over 800 species of avifauna making it without doubt one of my top three countries in all of the continent to visit. Ok, maybe not the vampire bat…but some of the more “cuddly” species are actually quite easy to see.

Guyana 279

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2023

Yet, I was not aware of any of Arjan’s big year updates in English, so I had no clue where he was or how many species he managed to see. After 3 months of South and Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia, Arjan’s count stood at 2,060 species. And I wanted to learn about his travels in detail.

Papua New Guinea 264

Papua New Guinea Guinea Suriname Brazil 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2024

Visiting Guyana brought with it the unavoidable expectation of seeing some mind boggling species – some endangered, some emblematic, others downright bizarre. Before we boarded the flight to Guyana we already knew that probabilities of seeing one of the target species was slashed to near zero. After all, there were already rocks.

Guyana 241

Guyana Brazil ALA Eagles 241

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2014

For one, they are remarkably diverse with a little over 380 species spread over every continent except Europe (only introduced) and Antarctica. Brazil, in particular, is the country with the largest number of parrot species in the world with approximately 84 species. What other secrets does the Amazon still hold?

Parrots 172

Parrots Brazil Mauritius Dominica 172

10,000 Birds

JUNE 5, 2013

That would reflect the number of new species discovered in the Amazon rainforest over the past five years or so, according to scientists. The ornithologists considered plumage, voice, and genetics in making their determinations; birds had to differ from known species in in at least two of those qualities to be considered new.

Bolivia 204

Bolivia Brazil Peru Bears 204

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Bolivia Ecuador 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

This is a bird that flew over 3,400 miles in one flight from Brazil to South Carolina, an amazing bird that is representative of every other Whimbrel. Conservation organizations continue to work toward some compromise that will reduce pressures on declining species. Machi was, of course, only one bird.

Hunters 262

Hunters Barbados South Carolina Hunting 262

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Before my first trip to the tropics many years ago I always wondered how is it even possible that new bird species are discovered with all the deforestation and general habitat obliteration going on all over the world. I mean, we as a species are today basically everywhere. But still new species are found.

Solomon Islands 243

Solomon Islands Ecuador Colombia Brazil 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2024

We were on the road to the village of Karasabai, the other road went on directly to Brazil. Well, the Latin name of the species is Tyrannus savana and what better savanna to photograph it in than the Rupununi? Very grainy, but most of those grains are stars! To our backs, the sky was getting marginally brighter.

Guyana 242

Guyana Giraffes Brazil Trinidad 242

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2023

This species is not common in low-lying grassy fields typical of grassquits, but tends to gravitate toward more wooded areas, feeding on grass seeds in clearings and forest edge habitat. The Sooty Grassquit has an interesting distribution, being most commonly found along the southeastern coast of Brazil.

Trinidad 241

Trinidad Venezuela Brazil Groups 241

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2014

However, even within Brazil, very few people are aware of Brazil’s Cerrado: a biome of expansive grasslands dotted with termite mounds, lightly wooded savannas, and ribbons of gallery forest along permanent sources of water. There are approximately 10,000 plant species in the Cerrado.

Brazil 172

Brazil South America Collecting America 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

I have been lucky enough to get close views of two massive Old World Vulture species, the Eurasian Griffon and the Egyptian Vulture. Here in Mexico, I can almost always count on Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures to pad each outing’s list by two species. Black Vultures are a bit smaller than all these other species.

California Condor 235

California Condor Turkey Mexico Meat 235

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

8%: Brazil, Panama. Yet, the fact that tiny Panama is as popular as huge Brazil, with twice as many bird species, speaks volume for Brazil’s stage of ecotourism development. Here are the results: 3 per cent of respondents (in no particular order): Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Tanzania, Madagascar. 17%: Ecuador, Peru.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2014

I am lucky enough to visit the Atlantic Forests of south-eastern Brazil from time to time and an encounter with one of these flocks always leaves me twisted. This week I found it consorting with a White-shouldered Fire-eye and tried to hammer it into the box where the female of that species should have been, but to no avail.

Brazil 167

Brazil South America Collecting America 167

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Decades of land transformation and hydrological changes resulted in the decline of the only species of apple snail native to Florida and the kite population followed suit. While the native apple snail continued declining, another species of apple snail native to South America began to appear in canals and ponds in South Florida.

Florida 243

Florida South America Bolivia Eggs 243

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2013

I must mention one guide in particular: Eduardo Patrial, who has helped me more than anyone else to make sense out of a virtual avalanche of new knowledge of bird calls, behaviors, and habitat preferences of an avifauna that is over 600 species strong with new additions every year. Spotted Puffbird on the Serra Trail!

Parrots 188

Parrots Brazil Ecuador Eagles 188

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2022

Being an island, Mauritius has its share of endemics, extinct endemics (the dodo again), and introduced species. The Red Fody is an introduced species, though from nearby, sort of (Madagascar). Of course, the Common Myna is not a native species either. I saw a few of each group, with the obvious exception of the second one.

Mauritius 258

Mauritius 2000 Birds Madagascar 258

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2014

The Pantanal is a vast, seasonally flooded wetland — the largest in the world — in the southwest corner of the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. During this time, the fish trapped in the shrinking pools of water attract hordes of herons, egrets, storks, and other wetland species.

Brazil 165

Brazil Paraguay Blackbirds Birds 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

As his passion for birding grew he decided to travel Latin America; he has spent time in Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela and a great deal of time in Brazil. One of his most memorable birding experiences was the six months spent in Northeast Brazil performing research on a new species of bird called the Araripe Manakin.

Venezuela 160

Venezuela Brazil Iowa Guatemala 160

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2013

International teams compete for 6 days and 5 nights with the express purpose of recording the most bird species, by sight or by call, while the clock ticks down. The Ararajubas – Brazil. A huge surprise was the addition of an entirely new species for Peru, a Black Swift , found by the Forest Falcons team.

Peru 252

Peru 2012 Bears Falcons 252

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

The current situation with exotic bird species in Florida is in a state of flux, particularly southeast Florida where the bulk of exotic bird diversity in the United States resides — and much of it “uncountable.” Egyptian Goose, looking for handouts at Kendall-Baptist Hospital, by Carlos Sanchez.

Florida 224

Florida Miami Bolivia Alligators 224

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Covering 1,261 species with data and taxonomy current up to August 2017, the field guide is an exciting achievement. And, then there are the more familiar birds–Wood-warblers, sandpipers, hawks–some species migrants, some species with a wide range. Can you guess which of the species cited above are endemic?

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2022

Take that same stroll in southern Brazil or other places and extinction is acres of burned rainforest, a walk through plastic decorated neighborhoods devoid of insects, massive forest fires, die-offs of animals, and millions of shellfish being cooked alive , in situ. Which species are endangered? Waved Albatross (Phoebastria irrorata).

Costa Rica 277

Costa Rica Parrots Albatross Protection 277

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 3. Corey has written about one of the species, which I will most likely see when I go. 5. And another list shows 6 endemics and 11 endangered species. Instead, name one of the endemic species in this country.

Myanmar 150

Myanmar Bolivia Venezuela 2011 150

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 16, 2021

could be a separate and isolated population of the Chestnut-backed Antshrike (which lives more than a thousand kilometres away on the south bank of the Amazon in Brazil), as was initially thought, could also be a separate subspecies of it, but it is most likely to be a new species. Thamnophilus sp.

Colombia 279

Colombia Fish Birds Venezuela 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2024

My good friend Hilton and I wanted to go out to Mogri das Cruzes in Brazil to try and see the São Paulo Marsh Antwren. The antwren had been elevated to species level and Hilton is just a sucker for anything Paulista, and besides, who needs a reason to go birding? We glimpsed a lot of presumably good birds flying away from us.

Mozambique 245

Mozambique Zimbabwe Birds Mammals 245

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2011

Ruddy Turnstone is a Species of Least Concern according to BirdLife International. It has an enormous range, occurring in such far-flung locales as New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Alaska, Greenland, and Brazil, to name just a few. It is one of two turnstone species, the other being the Black Turnstone A.

Saudi Arabia 157

Saudi Arabia New Zealand Brazil Alaska 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2020

There are three species of crow-like cotingas with odd hairdos known as umbrellabirds, the Bare-necked Umbrellabird is the one that lives in Costa Rica. During a memorable guiding trip in June, we hit the jackpot with all three species of hawk-eagles in just a few days. These are some of mine: The umbrellabird.

Costa Rica 228

Costa Rica 2019 San Jose Eagles 228

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Cape Petrels, also known as Pintados (Spanish for painted) or in the vernacular Cape Petrels, are a common species of fulmarine petrel from the Southern Ocean. Indeed their name reflects where the species was first collected; the Cape of Good Hope, even though none breed anywhere close to there!

New Zealand 160

New Zealand Albatross South Africa Brazil 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2013

Participating teams include the E-Birders from Cornell University, the Tigrisomas from Louisiana State University, the Forest Falcons from Great Britain, the Zululanders from South Africa, Team Tramuntana from Spain, and the Ararajubas from Brazil. With 1836 registered species, Peru is an ideal place to have this competition.

Peru 201

Peru 2013 Louisiana South Africa 201

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2012

Primarily, Lapwings are an Old World family with over 20 species including Australasia’s Masked Lapwing , Asia’s Yellow-wattled Lapwing and the Red-wattled Lapwing of the Middle East. Masked Lapwing Africa is the spiritual home of the Vanellus family, boasting as many as 14 species including the abundant Crowned Lapwing.

Brazil 139

Brazil Protection Africa Family 139

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

I actually have many targets, in a way, a I want to see lots and lots, but there is one species that the reason that the trip is even happening, the animal that has been pretty much the top of my animal bucket list for well over a decade. It’s a species that has bedeviled and bewitched me over the years. The African Wild Dog.

Sharks 188

Sharks Leopards Snow Leopard Whales 188

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2011

Checking for moult limits on a female Band-tailed Manakin to determine her age Imagine learn or improving your mist-netting, bird banding, handling, aging, and Neotropical bird ID skills in one of the most exuberantly natural surroundings ( 599 bird species recorded at Explorer’s Inn and Sachavacayoc Centre!) Thanks for visiting!

Peru 226

Peru 2011 Deer 2010 226

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2020

Like a shy stepchild, it’s always eclipsed by the wonders of Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, etc. 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. ″ x 9.5″x

Bolivia 202

Bolivia Birds Brazil Switzerland 202