10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2015

After that experience, I stopped complaining about their hides, realising that they are as good as they ever will be. For example, the White-headed Duck is nowadays a rarity in Europe (okay, excluding Spain, I know… that Spain …), but until some 50 years ago, it used to breed in Serbia. They got the message right.

Serbia 268

Serbia Spain Birds Hungary 268

4 The Love Of Animals

JANUARY 24, 2012

Having a pet is a wonderful and rewarding experience. However, all too often, dog lovers choose a dog breed that they want without first considering how well that breed will fit in with their lifestyle. It’s easy to be taken by a specific breed and lose sight of the more important aspects of owning a pet.

Lifestyle 100

Lifestyle Breeding Dogs Rights 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2021

What I enjoy–almost more than any other moment of my birding year–is that special spring day when White-Crowned Sparrows deign to visit my humble home en route to their boreal breeding grounds. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. What was your best bird of the weekend?

New York 264

New York Sparrows Birds Breeding 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2020

These birds also invite one to sites that are unique within the United States – the climate, vegetation, and landscapes all add context and heighten the experience of seeing one’s first Elegant Trogon or Painted Bunting. In the summer, they are the highest altitude breeding songbird in North America.

America 264

America Arizona North America Texas 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2023

While the P-a-P Wildfowl Trust’s main thrust is the breeding and release of five duck species, the habitat encourages a number of native wetland birds to inhabit and proliferate the area. Due to the plethora of bird species around, invariably we were to experience something breathtaking.

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Birds Ducks Fish 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2012

- Chinese proverb attributed to both Maya Angelou and Lou Holtz While spring in New York City is great for birders because of the wide variety of colorful migrant birds moving through it is equally enjoyable because of the birds that return to their breeding territories and let everything within earshot know that they are back.

New York City 213

New York City Birds New York Breeding 213

10,000 Birds

JULY 14, 2024

They time breeding so that the chicks are fledged before the height of the dry season. Instead, much of central and southern Iberia experiences an intense hot and dry season, from June to September, and a wet season. Now, they head for south of the Sahara to catch the rains in the Sahel. The onset of the rains is highly variable.

Africa 288

Africa Spain Europe Breeding 288

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2024

Then sometimes when you see these birds actively regaining their energy and getting ready for defending territories and breeding, they give the impression that their migration had just been a short jog around the block rather than a marathon across desert, mountains, and oceans.

Soreing 233

Soreing Owls Woodpeckers Eagles 233

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2021

June is the breeding month, when New Yorkers mostly give up on migrant birds and look for birds where they nest. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. June is also the month that the bugs come out to play in earnest. What was your best bird of the weekend?

Virginia 262

Virginia Birds Collecting Dogs 262

Critter News

OCTOBER 5, 2009

Actor Benicio del Toro has written a letter to the governor of Puerto Rico opposing a new monkey breeding facility. The Puerto Rican actor has penned a letter to the governor of Puerto Rico urging him to halt the construction plans for Bioculture's massive monkey-breeding facility.

Puerto Rico 100

Puerto Rico Monkeys Mauritius Breeding 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.” Plantema gives highly detailed information about the weather, terrain, ownership of and access to the islands and coasts where penguins breed. Press, 2011).

Penguins 279

Penguins Georgia Albatross New Zealand 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

They are species that breed in the US and then spend the winter in Central and South America, eating what’s avialable–especially fruit. Nyjer (aka Thistle) for goldfinches was introduced from Nigeria–someone had to experiment with that. Grape jelly for orioles was an experiment too.

Nigeria 252

Nigeria Belize Birds South America 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2024

It’s a book that counterpoints and combines facts and personal experiences, science-based and eloquent writing styles, textual description and visual information, a history of abundance and an uncertain future. The Profiles are engaging reading, much livelier than most identification guides, reflecting the broader scope and goals.

North America 264

North America America 2006 Delaware 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 23, 2013

It was made a National Park in the 1980s and is a major breeding and nesting area for over 30,000 seabirds. Lastly, due to its previous inaccessibility to humans and the absence of natural predators, the wildlife is bizarrely unafraid of humans, allowing for a truly unforgettable experience. If you like boobies (no giggles please!),

Whales 267

Whales Whaling Sharks Marine Life 267

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2020

Beginning this year, New York State embarked on its third-ever breeding bird atlas , and it’s the first one I’ve been able to participate in as a birder. Over the last several weeks there, I’ve watched them gather bits of straw and other sundry materials and ferry these back to their nest holes in the old barn walls and eaves.

Farming 243

Farming New York Unwanted Breeding 243

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

Spending days searching for an elusive bird you finally get to see, a bird that few others have seen, a bird about which very little is even known, and then seeing it is a tremendous and unforgettable experience. Until recently the vocalizations of Sinaloa Martin were unknown and known breeding sites are few and far between.

South America 225

South America San Diego Mexico America 225

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2024

It is an exciting place to call home as we experience an influx of thousands during the summers and nice off-season weekends. Then, it is hushed for the remainder of the year—the average experience in many seasonally-dependent tourist destinations. Much of the year, puffins and murres spend their time out in the ocean.

Puffins 245

Puffins Oregon Bald Eagle Portland 245

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

In the next year I visited the British Birdfair for the first time, which turned out to be the experience that changed my life. Other important breeding species include Black and White Stork , Lesser Spotted , White-tailed , and Booted Eagle. Next to them, Whiskered and Black Terns nest on floating leaves of White Water-lilies.

Greece 264

Greece Wildlife Boars Otters 264

Critter News

JULY 12, 2009

The proposed primate breeding facility would violate both the letter and the spirit of Puerto Rico’s progressive new law, which strictly limits the use of animals in experimentation.

Puerto Rico 100

Puerto Rico Animal Legal Defense Fund Primates Research 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2012

.” Red-breasted Nuthatch at Jones Beach State Park, New York In December of last year Clare Kines wrote a post here on 10,000 Birds about the cause of the massive Snowy Owl irruption many birders were lucky enough to experience. Remember that friend of mine that saw 17 breeding pairs of Snowy Owls in a single valley?

United States 275

United States Owls Atlanta North Carolina 275

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

Above them, on limestone cliffs, Alpine Swift and Crag Martin breed. The good side of this popularity is presence of restaurants and inns (from personal experience I can recommend a place for carnivores called Vodopad – By the waterfall). Forest covers 70% of the area (hornbeam, beech and oak).

Serbia 264

Serbia Woodpeckers Owls Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2022

Although Henslow’s had been reliably found in nearby Sharon Springs for many years, the last documented sighting was in 2008, and the sighting startled longtime birders, waking them up to the fact that breeding sites in the state were rapidly being lost. How is birding like rock climbing? Also, Rogers knows how to write an essay.

Connecticut 264

Connecticut Sparrows Birds New York 264

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2022

Three live and breed here, two migrate through the country in large numbers (one of those also breeds here in small numbers), and another migrates through and winters in Costa Rica. They won’t build a nest or look for a mate but other than that, their behavior in Costa Rica is pretty similar to that of their breeding grounds.

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica Pennsylvania South America Panama 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2024

There are a few spectacles in the birding community that are high energy, happen quickly, and is worth any effort to experience it. One such experience is a bird grounding event, sometimes called a fallout. But I am happy to at least have had a small taste of these beloved species as they make their way to breed for the year.

Texas 246

Texas Alabama Alligators Nashville 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2011

The birds are not allowed to breed on the runway, but many loaf around on it. Around 100,000 of these terns breed on almost every available space on the island, and walking through groups of them is a deafening and quite painful experience. This species doesn’t breed on Tern Island itself, but does sometimes turn up there.

Hawaii 191

Hawaii Breeding Wildlife Eggs 191

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2013

Being technically outside the summer tourism season, one can enjoy the somewhat less expensive travel and hotel costs, less crowded venues, great weather and nearly endless daylight—and of course many birds migrating and beginning the breeding/nesting season! I can hardly begin to describe the surreal experience that unfolded before me.

Iceland 233

Iceland Puffins Europe Birds 233

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These striking and inquisitive jays were perhaps the bird of the trip for me, and we took our time to soak in the experience of encountering these wonderful birds. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains. A little further along the road, we stopped at a stake-out for Sinaloa Martin.

Mexico 236

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Bats 236

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2013

Once again Pied Oystercatcher breeding season is fast approaching in Broome and we can expect the first batch of eggs to be laid within the next few weeks. Where the beach has a reef alongside it on the northern section of the beach the pairs stay together throughout the non-breeding season. It is a spectacular and noisy sight.

Eggs 206

Eggs Breeding Australia Raised 206

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

I am still tired from the long drive, but it was great to play with the very best toys for birders, to be able to share experiences and to ask the factory staff all sorts of silly questions. The Lake Neusiedl National Park is Europe’s westernmost steppe lake and an important breeding and wintering area, as well as a migratory stopover site.

Austria 299

Austria Factory Asia Battery 299

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

It breeds in a broad and not quite coherent band from Iceland in the west through central Europe and southern Scandinavia all the way to eastern Russia, wintering in Africa, parts of India, and Southeast Asia to Australia. Judging by my experiences with the species, the Black-tailed Godwit’s behaviour is restricted to two aspects.

Germany 201

Germany Russia Iceland India 201

10,000 Birds

JULY 10, 2012

Image by Adam Riley Of the 115 African species now listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered, nearly half occur on the islands surrounding Africa or are non-breeding migrants to Africa. There has been growth in the breeding population at the colonies in Morocco (now estimated at 106 breeding pairs and approximately 500 birds in total).

Endangered Species 233

Endangered Species Species Morocco South Africa 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Yellow-billed Stork portrait (note the pink flush indicating breeding status), Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania by Adam Riley The Yellow-billed Stork has a closely-related sister species in Asia known as Painted Stork. During breeding season, their white plumage turns a delicate pink color, a lovely sight indeed.

Africa 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2024

I’m not sure if this is exclusively my limited experience, let me know! While experiments have shown that some birds (like crows and parrots) can count, this rule unsurprisingly did not hold when subjected to testing. Not that truth matters here, I still think it’s a very cool name.

Germany 240

Germany Birds Parrots Europe 240

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Being a shy and skulking bird of the reedbeds, the Black Bittern is evidently rather a tough one to find, especially out of the breeding season. With a dose of luck, we had one Black Bittern fly overhead (I got one ghastly ID photo) – evidently the typical observation experience for this species. But I guess you guessed that.

Thailand 196

Thailand Birds Parrots Breeding 196

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Islands, for various reasons, experience more extinctions than continents (with Africa being the only continent not suffering a bird extinction!). Then rumors leaked out that at this same site the mythical Red Owl could easily be seen, Madagascar Serpent Eagle was breeding and other rare birds and lemurs abounded.

Madagascar 255

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 255

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2011

They breed year round and the single young remain in the pouch for about 30 weeks and become independent after a year. We spend quite a lot of time observing shorebirds in Broome and recently had a great experience where an Agile Wallaby hopped out of the bush at about 4pm and went straight into a flock of shorebirds to get to the sea.

Taiwan 212

Taiwan Breeding Experience Experiments 212

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2020

Alas, these gentle rains may not always speed spring migrants on their way to breeding grounds far from the equator. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. April showers most assuredly bring May flowers in the more temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere. Any luck this weekend?

2020 205

2020 ALA Blackbirds Birds 205