10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2022

I should have known that birding High Island meant I would be 20 minutes away from a place where hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and waterbirds rest, feed, breed, and generally have a good time. I love American Avocets and I rarely see them in such marvelous breeding plumage, so I was in heaven. Clapper Rail. Back to the Flats.

Houston 224

Houston Texas Sanctuary Sparrows 224

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Before we reached the plains there was roadkill and we observed three Wedge-tailed Eagles in a tree. It is not unusual to see Wedge-tailed Eagles around Broome, but rarely three all together. Three Wedge-tailed Eagles. They are no doubt breeding here once again this year. They are quite possibly here to breed once again.

Geese 261

Geese Eagles Australia Cattle 261

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2020

Parasites penetrate the skin, travel through the blood vessels and finally (if you’re lucky) settle in the urinary tract where they happily breed, doing irreversible damage to it (and if you’re less lucky they might get confused and settle inside your spinal cord or even your brain). Cattle Egret 16. African Fish Eagle 1.

Botswana 198

Botswana Africa 2001 Monkeys 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2014

In the breeding season, some 50 species were recorded here, including Little Bittern and Golden Oriole , both unusually easy to see, as well as Ferruginous Duck , Red-backed Shrike and Penduline T**s that bred here this spring – but all I managed to see was their nest ( again ) and not the inhabitants!

Serbia 245

Serbia Stray Dog Botswana Protection 245

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

Not that long ago, Costa Rica had one of the highest deforestation rates in the world, rainforests were razed to make way for hot and chiggery cattle pasture, and bot flies probably became more numerous than some bird populations.

Costa Rica 226

Costa Rica Species Panama Falcons 226

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Nowhere else in Africa do the preconceived ideas of the continent really exist in such living detail; tall, red-robed Maasai herding their skinny cattle, endless grasslands studded with flat-topped Acacia trees and grazed by herds of zebras and wildebeest, and dramatic volcanic calderas brimming with big game and fierce predators!

Tanzania 227

Tanzania Africa Stud Leopards 227

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2019

We were met by several Cattle Egret in beautiful breeding plumage feeding on the grass right next to the train station. It was a good location to observe Brahminy Kites , White-bellied Sea Eagles , Grey-headed Fish Eagles , Oriental Pied Hornbills and Dollarbirds. There was something “not right” about it.

Singapore 114

Singapore Transported Boars Malaysia 114

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2013

The Cherokee nation called them “Peace Eagles” owing to the fact that they never killed a living thing – and also that they tended to show up in numbers after battled when peace treaties were being signed, though admittedly that may have been for a slightly more macabre reason.

California Condor 189

California Condor Turkey North America Jordan 189

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Although they breed on the west coast of Florida, Snowy Plover is a rare stray to this part of the state. Cattle Egret: 133. Bald Eagle: 6. Shorebirds put on a good showing with a total of 18 species, despite the shrinking number and quality of sites offering adequate habitat. Tricolored Heron: 36. Reddish Egret: 1. Osprey: 26.

Miami 168

Miami 2015 United States Florida 168

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2018

Beset by poaching by cattle ranchers, habitat loss, DDT, and lead poisoning (from consuming shotgun pellets embedded in the condor’s carrion fare), populations of this enormous New World vulture fell into a serious decline in the twentieth century. A portion of all draft and bottle sales of Condor Kolsch will be donated to these programs.

California Condor 105

California Condor Oregon California Zoos 105

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2012

That Cattle Egret I found in Somerset County, August 2009? Birds of New Jersey , written by Joan Walsh, Vince Elia, Rich Kane, and Thomas Halliwell, published by New Jersey Audubon Society, was a landmark volume; 704-pages long, it presented results of the 1993-1997 New Jersey Breeding Bird Atlas. No wonder people were excited by it.)

New Jersey 197

New Jersey 2009 Bald Eagle New York City 197

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2022

Quite often there are Australian Pelicans , Brolga and Royal Spoonbills present and the egret species often include Great Egret , Intermediate Egret , Little Egret and Cattle Egret. Although we have never observed Painted Snipe at this location, they were recorded breeding here in 1960 and 1961. Purple Swamphens. Black-necked Stork.

Geese 209

Geese Ducks Breeding Cattle 209

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2020

Continuing along the rail trail I soon add a Wedge-tailed Eagle , Spotted Dove , Striated Thornbills , Varied Sittellas , Eastern Spinebill and Grey Shrike-thrush. Two Australian Magpies had discovered a Wedge-tailed Eagle roosting at the top of a very tall tree. Wedge-tailed Eagle. Two Cattle Egrets with four cows!

Buffalo 165

Buffalo Fish Koalas Cattle 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

Ferruginous Hawks breed in the grasslands of eastern Montana, but they are rare in the mountains and in winter, so this bird was certainly a surprise. A vast congregation of Bald Eagles kept watch over a herd of cattle about to calve, up to seven in a single tree — no doubt awaiting delicious placentas.

Bald Eagle 178

Bald Eagle Falcons Geese Montana 178