10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2015

This extreme similarity among all the redpolls stands in marked contrast to studies of other groups of birds—such as Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees—which show differences at many regions of the genome.

Species 263

Species Switzerland Europe Groups 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2024

They begin to show up in August and peak in September as they make their way south to their Antarctic breeding grounds. European Storm Petrel The European Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus is the other species of storm petrel that’s around in the summer months and these are birds from local breeding colonies.

Portugal 290

Portugal Breeding Hunting Species 290

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2024

Adult Audouin’s Gulls now passing show heavily abraded plumage after breeding I covered the main species in my 23rd June article “When the sea becomes a desert”. These also show up, often in family groups, from the east and steadily approach the point before turning south-west towards the Atlantic.

Falcons 312

Falcons Breeding Family Groups 312

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2014

Whether these are transient birds flying to the Andean Mountains to their breeding grounds or back, is yet to be determined. Fortunately, local veterinarians and biologists have formed a group that rescues storm-petrels and ensures that as many birds as possible make their way back to sea before it is too late.

Peru 269

Peru Chile Rescue Breeding 269

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

All New World Quail are highly gregarious, typically found in coveys or flocks except during breeding season. The family group pictured below has been visiting my yard recently. In the group photo taken four days later of the family in the video, the chicks are completely feathered, leading me to believe it is a different family.

California 262

California Gophers Rattlesnake Eggs 262

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2022

The region also provides food, fresh water and shelter to more than 75 million people of nearly 150 distinct ethnic groups. Ngaga Camp’s (above) main draw is tracking the Western Lowland Gorilla (2 habituated groups out of 20 living in the area, time limited to 1 hour).

Central African Republic 317

Central African Republic Congo Gabon Gorillas 317

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

They migrate north through the Western United States, breeding in pockets all the way up through Canada. Active feeders, they move across the surface in tightly-packed groups, heads dipping beneath the water over and over and over in search of fish.

Pelicans 264

Pelicans United States Arizona Canada 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2012

Predators that rely on lemmings, like the Snowy Owl , took advantage of the bounty and had great breeding success, raising large broods which, after the lemming population crashes, dispersed far and wide. We always see one or two of them about town in the spring, this year they are in groups of six or seven. I’m a messy eater.

Rabbits 251

Rabbits Breeding Litter Raised 251

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2013

A friend of mine told me, she has been seeing small groups of Swallow-tailed Kites ( Elanoides furficatus ) in the general area; in south Florida. Of all migratory birds breeding in North America, Swallow-tailed Kites are among the first to leave for the wintering grounds. I then proceeded to expand on her observation.

Florida 262

Florida Cuba Colombia 2004 262

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.

Penguins 279

Penguins Georgia Albatross New Zealand 279

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

These subspecies can be divided into two major clades, the domesticus group and the indicus group, with the indicus group occupying south and parts of central Asia. Members of the indicus group have often been regarded as a separate species in the past, and some taxonomists still tread them as such today.

Sparrows 257

Sparrows Italy Asia Kyrgyzstan 257

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

The wood stork occurs and breeds in Central and South America. I have seen them foraging on sandy shores of rivers deep in the Amazon, enjoyed them in their raucous breeding colonies in the Everglades, flushed them out of canals during walks around my house, and perhaps more importantly contribute to their recovery. Photo: U.S.

North Carolina 246

North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

Over the next few days, the Alpine Accentors ( Prunella collaris ) will arrive on their high-Alpine breeding grounds – it is time to start singing, despite that the treeless Alpine landscape is still under metres of snow. all Alpine Accetor photos digiscoped (c) Dale Forbes. all Alpine Accetor photos digiscoped (c) Dale Forbes.

2011 235

2011 Breeders Deer Breeding 235

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2022

I assume this is because so many of them breed in the Arctic and tundra regions, so their summer is much briefer than that of other birds. Still, most of the birds were locals, including Fulvous Whistling-Ducks , Black-necked Stilts , and a lone American Avocet (still with a bit of breeding color). Let that be a lesson, to me.

Mexico 242

Mexico Breeding California Groups 242

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2016

It’s a bang-up breeding year for super-endangered birds! The species, which migrates from the Russian Arctic to Southeast Asia, is down to about 200 breeding pairs in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching. For the past several years, getting the birds to breed has been an exercise in futility.

Louisiana 190

Louisiana Eggs Breeding Asia 190

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

These charismatic, colorful and finely formed birds are favorites amongst birders from experts to novices, and lie within the group of birds whose beauty even non-birders really appreciate. Carmine bee-eaters occur throughout most of Subsaharan Africa, and many populations migrate widely post breeding.

Africa 266

Africa Gabon Uganda South Africa 266

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2018

It is not unusual for only one Pied Oystercatcher chick to survive throughout the whole breeding season despite in excess of sixty eggs being laid by sixteen pairs. It is for this reason that there was not an update last year on Pied Oystercatchers breeding success , because there was not any. Pied Oystercatcher nest.

Breeding 100

Breeding 2018 Eggs 2008 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Most Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of up to a dozen or more individuals. Within a group, 1–7 male co-breeders compete for matings with 1–3 joint-nesting females who lay their eggs in the same nest cavity. This is a photo of a juvenile at my water feature.

Woodpeckers 206

Woodpeckers Breeders North America Groups 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Africa’s pelicans can be a bit confusing on the identification front as Great White does show an overall pink blush in its plumage during breeding season whereas the pinkest part of Pink-backed Pelican is its lower back, which is only seen in flight! Great White Pelicans showing the pink flush of breeding plumage. Photo by Adam Riley.

Africa 251

Africa Somalia Mozambique Pelicans 251

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Waxwings and their relatives are a small, interesting group of songbirds that have seen some interesting taxonomic changes in the last few years. The Palmchat has long been grouped with waxwings and silky-flycatchers based on morphological similarities, and genetic work has confirmed the relationship. Meet the bombycillids: Palmchat.

Saudi Arabia 254

Saudi Arabia 2008 Indonesia Colombia 254

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2012

And much of that time is spend loafing around the breeding colonies trying to pair off and engaging in silly-looking behaviours referred to as dancing by scientists. It can take over a year to raise a chick for the larger species, and even species that can fit their entire breeding cycle into one year tend not to breed in consecutive years.

Albatross 255

Albatross Raised Breeding Rights 255

10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2024

Few birds sport such magnificent breeding plumage as the male ruff, but not a single bird showed more than a hint of this plumage. These ruffs still had a 1,000 or more miles to fly to reach their northern breeding grounds. They were sharing the same habitat as the resident Kentish Plovers, the only wader to breed here.

Cyprus 246

Cyprus Tethering Breeding Cattle 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2024

This time it’s a group of Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus that have just arrived from the south. Griffon Vultures have a long breeding season. Isn’t it a bit late to breed? Why bother with such a risky journey if you aren’t going to breed? The chicks need six months to develop so the adults lay their eggs in January.

Africa 246

Africa Morocco Senegal 2003 246

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2015

This is my first visit to this area, known as the Madz Brod, where two new breeding species for the country were discovered a decade ago. They are common winter visitors, but this is my first observation of them in the breeding season. Madz Brod by Slobodan Puzovic. Still, it’s a new bird for my country list. We wait again.

Europe 250

Europe Serbia Russia ALA 250

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Although parrots are generally assumed to have complex social groups, few studies have quantitatively examined these assumptions about parrot social structure. We critically assessed 4 assumptions about parrot socioecology using data from captive and wild groups of Monk Parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus). but not steep (,0.1).

Parrots 254

Parrots Dogs Primates Research 254

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

JUNE 9, 2021

A simple, useful world map in outline shows approximate breeding ranges in yellow and wintering ranges in blue, and for some birds, permanent resident ranges in green. Some birds with populations on different breeding grounds move not to the same winter quarter but to far-distant ones – such as the Red-necked Phalarope.

Alaska 263

Alaska Kenya Russia Georgia 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2011

While I often tease Corey about how many albatrosses we have down here in New Zealand, the fact is that the United States has three species of Albatross that breed within its boundaries, albeit one of them only very rarely, and visit the western shores of North America. It is also a very attractive bird, as I hope you will agree.

Albatross 212

Albatross Hawaii New Zealand Japan 212

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

DNA evidence then indicated that they are an ancient group mostly closely related to the bizarre and wildly different rockfowls and they were therefore contentiously placed in the Picathartes family, before finally finding a contented home in their own family, Chaetopidae. A dancing Blue Crane , South Africa’s national bird.

South Africa 258

South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Africa 258

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

One was “Superdad,” one of the few successful breeding whooping cranes in the entire eastern population. Eastern flyway breeding populations appear to be maxing out their available habitat, and are subject to abundant natural limitations such as ground predation by coyotes, foxes, raccoons and opossums. Quick: what’s this?

Kentucky 260

Kentucky Hunters Protesting Protesters 260

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

The Dry Tortugas National Park is located some 70 miles off of Key West in a small group of keys that makes up the farthest points included in the state of Florida, so it was no surprise that we had a four hour boat ride ahead of us before landing in the park. Banding is best done in teams split into three, potentially four groups.

Florida 225

Florida Birds Groups Breeding 225

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2014

According to locals the bird has overwintered near Klamath Falls for the last 5 years…I wonder where it’s breeding? We were with a large group of people and we didn’t want to flush the bird so we kept our distance while we enjoyed, but what fun to look for this bird among the 500 other Bald Eagles in the area.

Bald Eagle 245

Bald Eagle Eagles Oregon Blackbirds 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2012

A group of Wattled Cranes in the Okavango Delta Wattled Cranes are the only African cranes with all-white necks, rendering them unmistakable in the field. They are not bound to wetlands the entire year and large groups of birds will disperse to dry grassland and savanna outside of the breeding season.

Botswana 200

Botswana South Africa Africa Ethiopia 200

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2013

The non-breeding distribution is virtually unknown, although they are suspected to winter in northern South America (Howell and Web 1995). Until recently the vocalizations of Sinaloa Martin were unknown and known breeding sites are few and far between. Very little is known about this enigmatic species.

South America 233

South America San Diego Mexico America 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2015

And, of course, there was a group of youngsters barbecuing. 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. The hide overlooking the breeding colony of Red-footed Falcons. And a table, too.

Serbia 268

Serbia Spain Birds Hungary 268

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2024

This Monday, I went in a group of four to bird around the town of Atzimbo. In this very rainy year, there’s a whole lot of breeding going on.) So I kind of feel that I should not talk about which birds are best. And yet, I just can’t help myself. But this was clearly an immature bird.

Sparrows 246

Sparrows Livestock Birds North America 246

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2013

Its members occur primarily north of the Tropic of Cancer , though in the Western Hemisphere, Ruby-crowned Kinglets winter into southern Mexico, and Golden-crowned Kinglets have isolated breeding populations in the mountains of southern Mexico and Guatemala. But exactly how those three groups and Regulidae are related is not year clear.

Family 219

Family Guatemala Japan Mexico 219