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 300

Myanmar Singapore China Hunting 300

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

The species that manage to colonize these islands evolve in competition with relatively few other species, developing survival strategies based on interdependence, co-evolution, and mutualism rather than adapting to deal with a broad range of predators and competitors. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again.

Cuba 259

Cuba Columbus Parrots DC 259

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 244

Giraffes Rabbits Birds Breeding 244

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 246

Cyprus Africa Europe Asia 246

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 299

Family Birds South America Breeding 299

10,000 Birds

JUNE 1, 2024

, I noticed that many birds had moved from setting up territories and breeding to feeding chicks, I thought it would be worth sharing some more observations. Although I once saw a group of Barn Swallows pass overhead a few weeks earlier, these birds were clearly on passage only as there was no sign of this species since.

Birds 246

Birds Collecting Canada Hunting 246

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2023

The voices are different however and one can distinguish between the two species through their vocalisations. Very occasionally though, one might stray down the eastern seaboard of the USA, but for the most part, those that breed in arctic Canada migrate towards Europe and swell numbers there during the winter.

Iceland 263

Iceland Stray Breeders Canada 263

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 240

Parrots California Los Angeles San Diego 240

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 253

Breeders North America America California 253

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 249

Penguins South Africa Sharks Leopards 249

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 206

Jamaica Collecting 2009 Breeding 206

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 237

New Zealand India 2003 Collecting 237

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 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

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 245

Vietnam Fowl Birds Iran 245

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 232

South America San Diego Mexico America 232

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 251

Africa Somalia Mozambique Pelicans 251

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 252

Tigers Dogs India Snow Leopard 252

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 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 235

Mozambique South Africa Africa Collecting 235

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

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 246

South Africa Africa Seals China 246

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 219

New Zealand Vet Collecting Geese 219

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 264

Seychelles Wildlife Tortoises Reptiles 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2022

However, the lockdown forces me to go deeper and deeper into my photo collection, if I want to write anything at all. So, the basic idea is to show 15 species of Australian birds in each post and give you the usual trivia about them. The parrot is multicolored, providing a simple explanation for the Latin species name of varius.

Australia 251

Australia Koalas Parrots Birds 251

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 258

South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Africa 258

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

FEBRUARY 16, 2024

Counting the Birds I was in my teens when I undertook my first bird-survey: it was field work for the British Trust for Ornithology’s The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. The breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland. Published in 1976, The Atlas was, I believe, the very first work of its kind.

Ireland 246

Ireland Turtles Geese Farming 246

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 255

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 255

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 246

Sri Lanka Taiwan Birds Cats 246

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 194

San Francisco San Diego Connecticut South America 194

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 264

China Birds Pythons Eagles 264

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 172

Vietnam 2000 Germany Asia 172

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 279

Trinidad Welfare North America Emotional 279

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

As soon as I looked at it more closely it was quite clear that it wasn’t a scaup of any species, despite its resemblance to a North American Lesser Scaup. I hadn’t considered the possible parentage more than the two probable species involved, but intriguingly a Pochard drake x Tufted duck looks quite different.

Geese 244

Geese Latvia Falcons Ducks 244

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 164

San Francisco North America Seals Sanctuary 164

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 246

Texas Alabama Alligators Nashville 246

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