10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2020

Birders normally care about species and make species lists, how do families fit into those? Adding more species brings a lot of excitement, as long as you bird your own country or a continent. 11,000 species require lots of money and a good portion of one’s life. That gamble is rigged, so the house always wins.

Family 298

Family Birds South America Breeding 298

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

China is not that well-known for its hornbills, but in Yunnan province, on the border to Myanmar, some species can be found. This is not due to its breeding habits, which it shares with the other hornbills – though those habits could well be described as appalling. Arriving at the nesting hole. Regurgitating fruit.

Myanmar 251

Myanmar Singapore China Hunting 251

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2024

The Black-winged Cuckooshrike is breeding in several Shanghai locations – I suspect that some trees near the Nanhui hotel might be another one, given the vigorous singing of this bird. The Amur Paradise Flycatcher is another species breeding in Shanghai. Yellow-rumped Flycatchers are breeding in the same park.

Giraffes 204

Giraffes Rabbits Birds Breeding 204

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2024

There are 154 species of cuckoos in the world, and they’re all a fascinating bunch. It’s not a species you are likely to overlook, either, as it is extremely noisy, its cackling call carrying great distances. I wonder whether birds that breed in Europe ever meet up with those nest in southern Africa?

Cyprus 232

Cyprus Africa Europe Asia 232

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2013

Many escapes and introductions have taken place over the years and some species have found the warm, dry climate to their liking. Quite a few species are well-established and breeding from San Diego to Los Angeles and beyond. In particular, subsection iii seems to be the hurdle that most species can’t clear.

Parrots 230

Parrots California Los Angeles San Diego 230

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. Storks are typically viewed as wetland species and whilst some storks are restricted to aquatic habitats, others are not. This is another wetland species that nests in sometimes huge colonies atop trees bordering rivers and lakes.

Africa 247

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 247

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2020

When to visit: best during winter and migration season, but also breeding season. Since no-one lives here, there is no organised rubbish collecting. eBird list of the recorded species. eBird list of the recorded species. When to visit: best in breeding and migration seasons (April to June and late August-September).

Mali 264

Mali Serbia Eagles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2017

Magpie-larks have been busy at all of the muddy puddles in recent months collecting mud to make their nests. Whilst enjoying the Magpie Geese breeding around Broome recently we also noticed a Magpie-lark nest close to the highway in one of the very few trees beside the road. Magpie-lark nest on the left of the tree.

Breeding 100

Breeding Australia Collecting Geese 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2015

Nitin hopes to enlarge his collection of photos of Tigers. Birds included common species such as Black Drongos , Jungle Babblers and a Hoopoe. These days, the species shares habitats with Tigers, Snow Leopard, Bears, etc. Anyway, it is winter and the snakes should be hibernating.

Tigers 247

Tigers Dogs India Snow Leopard 247

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2013

The birdlife in the Cape is nothing short of spectacular, with a healthy dose of charismatic endemic species. Over 40 species of South African endemics can be found in the Cape – Cape Sugarbirds, Cape Rockjumpers, Orange-breasted Sunbirds to name but a few. White Sharks, especially young ones, will prey on African Penguins.

Penguins 229

Penguins South Africa Leopards Sharks 229

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2012

The least common species of hummingbird I see here is the Calliope Hummingbird ( Stellula calliope ). She will begin breeding in April. The female is the earliest breeder of all these species, arriving on breeding grounds shortly after the males in November. Here you can see the female collecting nesting material.

Breeders 224

Breeders North America America California 224

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. This book is essentially about those birds that breed on the continent south of the Sahara, a topic few birders are familiar with. Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2024

The Ochraceous Bulbul looks similar to the Puff-throated Bulbul, with which it shares a genus – the similarity made one of my travel companions doubt the whole framework of species distinctions. Paul Conrad (1836-1885), a German naturalist in the East Indies, after which the species is named ( Pycnonotus conradi ).

Vietnam 212

Vietnam Fowl Birds Iran 212

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Of course Africa could not to be left out of the pink weekend so I have researched all African species whose official or alternative names include the word “pink”. Great White Pelicans showing the pink flush of breeding plumage. Another not very pink species is the Pink-footed Puffback. Pink-throated Twinspot.

Africa 223

Africa Somalia Mozambique Pelicans 223

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2012

Sometimes a species just stops you in your tracks. So it was with a superlative, breeding-plumaged, male Scarlet Tanager today at Jamaica Bay. And the bird allowed me to collect my jaw from the ground, get my camera hooked up to the scope, and get focused and snap shot after shot. And the trees weren’t far off the trail.

Jamaica 175

Jamaica Collecting 2009 Breeding 175

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

There are few stories in ornithology I enjoy more than those of a Lazarus taxon, a species thought to be extinct being found alive and well in some hidden part of the world. For most of its history it has been known from only three specimens collected off the coast of New Zealand in the early 19th century. Where does it breed?

New Zealand 199

New Zealand India 2003 Collecting 199

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2022

It is a relatively small hornbill, and not very shy – some photos below were taken on the campgrounds of Kruger Park, which more or less seem to be the species’ natural habitat by now. Also, it is the largest species of hornbill worldwide and frankly, it still is a bit miffed that it is not called Giant Hornbill.

South Africa 225

South Africa Africa Seals China 225

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Paging through a fieldguide, it’s always with a sense of dismay and sadness that I come across reference to an extinct species. Madagascar, however, has had more than its fair share of extinct or lost species and Madagascar Pochard was firmly on this list. Then in 1991, a fisherman on the lake caught a male in his fishing net.

Madagascar 248

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 248

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

.'” Indeed, there is one distinctly birding connection to this country: a famous birder Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond, visited the Seychelles in 1958 looking for inspiration for his then-latest collection of stories, For Your Eyes Only. Seychelles’ small landmass combined with geographic isolation results in few species.

Seychelles 249

Seychelles Wildlife Tortoises Reptiles 249

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

En route they will be “birding in nearly every country in mainland North and South America,” and, as they say on their excellent blog , “Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way.

South America 193

South America San Diego Mexico America 193

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2020

Out of the approximately 26 species of snipes worldwide, two have been recorded on Trinidad. The trouble begins with the recognition of the fact that both species of snipe were formerly part of a single species – Common Snipe ( Gallinago gallinago ). Freshly collected and en route to some R&R.

Trinidad 275

Trinidad Welfare North America Emotional 275

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2012

Even in the tropics there are few birds that excel some of our own in elegance and beauty of plumage and we have an unusually large number of species considering the smallness of the area they inhabit. ” (Woodward brothers, “Natal Birds”, 1899) The mighty Drakensberg Mountains run along the western boundary of KwaZulu-Natal province.

Mozambique 197

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 197

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Originally considered monotypic, two species are now recognized. Drakensberg (or Orange-breasted) Rockjumper is a Drakensberg Mountain species whose range is shared with the tiny landlocked kingdom of Lesotho. Males of this species are more brightly colored in their non-breeding winter plumage. the Rockjumpers.

South Africa 236

South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Africa 236

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

You don’t really know a bird until you’ve studied it on its breeding grounds. Getting intimate with a species over the course of the breeding cycle is one of the more rewarding aspects of birding, and field research too. I present here an annotated collection of photos documenting the entry of new parrotlets into this world.

Eggs 269

Eggs Venezuela Porcupines 2008 269

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2015

Heermann’s Gulls form large breeding colonies on arid islands in the Gulf of California, Mexico, from March through July. The largest colony exists on Isla Raza, where an estimated 90–95% of the total world population breeds 1. This photo by Basar from Wikipedia Commons shows the adult in breeding plumage.

San Francisco 159

San Francisco North America Seals Sanctuary 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

It feels good to start a post with some truly attractive birds – such as two species of broadbills. Strangely, there do not seem to be many papers on this species. In one paper , you can find fascinating sentences such as “The new species is most similar to D. You can see why here.

Sri Lanka 229

Sri Lanka Taiwan Birds Cats 229

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 245

China Birds Pythons Eagles 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

I’m not sure what the collective noun for a group of petrels is, but the vets and wildlife carers of New Zealand might be forgiven for thinking that it might be a wreck after this week. This is the largest species of prion and perhaps the one that best suits the alternative name whalebird. Not so broad-billed. Oh, there they are.

New Zealand 192

New Zealand Vet Collecting Geese 192

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 15, 2022

Global Big Day has become an annual collective event in May that encourages thousands of people to watch birds on the same date. and ended later that eveing with a final total of 154 species. As far as promoting birding goes, the only thing better might be October Gobal Big Day ! Speckled Tanager was one of those birds.

Costa Rica 276

Costa Rica San Jose Falcons Owls 276

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

It was not a flycatcher at all, but an exotic (and equally bizarre) from Africa, which certainly escaped from someone’s cage or perhaps even migrated from the small breeding population of escapees in southern California. Superficially similar to Fork-tailed Flycatcher, especially if you don’t know that this species exists!

San Francisco 174

San Francisco San Diego Connecticut South America 174

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2016

You know the captain’s name already: the Ross’s Gull was named after Ross who collected the type specimen in 1823 on Melville Peninsula in the Canadian Arctic. Curiously, in 1831, McCormick was appointed a surgeon on HMS Beagle under the command of Captain FitzRoy and he expected to put together a sizeable natural history collection.

Russia 182

Russia Penguins Whaling Whales 182

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; this category is reserved for only the most threatened species in the world. If this bird did become extinct, it would be the first pheasant species to have been lost in the 400 years since proper records began.

Vietnam 157

Vietnam 2000 Germany Asia 157

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2024

Many may not make it to their breeding grounds due to the extreme stress of the situation, lack of resources, the weather itself, disorientation, and human-caused killers like windows and cars. So, maintaining habitat along the coastline is vital to supporting these species.

Texas 225

Texas Alabama Alligators Nashville 225

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2015

Egg harvesting to sell as food was intensive then, with thousands taken annually from the breeding colonies in Chile. Egg collection for local consumption still continues at lower scale. The Andean Flamingo is now protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Chile 155

Chile Endangered Species Eggs Argentina 155

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

I mean you have two year gulls, three year gulls and even gulls that take four years to mature, and the plumage of all these species changes as they mature. On top of that, they occur in breeding and non-breeding plumage! Finally, here are a couple of photos of the adult California Gull.

California 160

California Sacramento Turtles Breeding 160

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

Collecting birds was clearly a dangerous pastime. Johann Georg Wagner has seven birds named after him, from a chachalaca to a woodpecker, but would he have found more if hadn’t accidentally shot himself while out collecting? Eleonora’s Falcons still breed on Sardinia today.

Falcons 236

Falcons Wounded 2003 Killing 236

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2012

Aplomado Falcon ( Falco femoralis ) by Jon David Nelson Shakeups for shearwaters and murrelets Xantus’s Murrelet ( Synthliboramphus hypoleucus ) has been split into California-breeding Scripps’s Murrelet ( Synthliboramphus scrippsi ) and Baja-breeding Guadalupe Murrelet ( Synthliboramphus hypoleucus ).

Falcons 174

Falcons Parrots California Hawaii 174