10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2015

Growing up in South America, I distinctly recall the arrival of “the swallow with a deeply forked tail”. They fly from extreme northern North America to the southern tip of South America and are seldom seen perched during migration. Swallows have migrated north to south along the Americas for millennia.

South Dakota 182

South Dakota South America North America Wyoming 182

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2013

This photo could have been taken in Florida’s Treasure Coast during the winter months or in South America during the same period. In South America, the small resident gull is the Gray Gull , the two species of large gulls are the Kelp and Band-tailed , and the abundant gull is the Franklin Gull. Photo: Alastair Rae.

Chile 222

Chile Peru South America Florida 222

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.

North Carolina 239

North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 239

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2014

Let’s say you’re a bird wrapping up your breeding season in the north of Scotland—where do your thoughts turn when winter beckons? If you’re like most, you head southeast, meeting up with your continental cousins near the Mediterranean or Arabian Seas. the Caribbean islands, and Ecuador and Peru.

Iceland 229

Iceland Stray Ecuador South America 229

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2013

Of all migratory birds breeding in North America, Swallow-tailed Kites are among the first to leave for the wintering grounds. Kites generally fly to Cuba and then over the ocean to arrive in the Yucatan Peninsula or areas further south. The local kites at this time of the year are about to start breeding.

Florida 261

Florida Cuba Colombia 2004 261

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Its wintering range includes most of northern South America. However, they do not settle down and setup breeding territories at my local inland locations until the latter half of April. By the end of September, the territorial birds that breed in the local parking lots are gone.

Dominican Republic 252

Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Miami Florida 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

The Sinaloa Martin is a large swallow, which seems to breed only along a narrow band of the Sierra Madre Occidental, in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, and Jalisco. It sports the intense purple back and head of its close relative, the Purple Martin , which is found in much of North America (summer) and South America (winter).

Mexico 246

Mexico South America 2020 America 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2014

Across the world’s northern oceans, 24 species of auklets, murres, puffins, guillemots, and related seabirds make a living catching food beneath the waves and breeding, often in large colonies, on coastlines and islands. Alcids are thought to have originated along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean during the Eocene or even the Paleocene.

Penguins 266

Penguins Puffins 2008 Sharks 266

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2013

Clapper Rails , as currently defined by the AOU, occur along the coasts of North and South America and Caribbean islands, and inland in southern California and Arizona. King Rails occur widely in eastern North America, in eastern and central Mexico, and in Cuba. The photo above, one of mine, shows a Clapper Rail in Louisiana.

Species 260

Species Cuba North America Louisiana 260

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2013

Perhaps because of threats to the ecosystems of the many places the Arctic Tern visits (Europe, Africa, South America, and North America), it may be on the decline. Some of those once-popular breeding spots now produce no chicks at all.

Bald Eagle 219

Bald Eagle Pandas Puffins Bears 219

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.” When we come to Gentoo Penguin again in the South Georgia chapter, for example, we’re referred back to its first appearance in Antarctica, utilizing the outline numbers.).

Penguins 279

Penguins Georgia Albatross New Zealand 279

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2012

When they are not getting ready to breed they are a pretty bland brown-and-white bird. Actitus macularius , as spotties are known to the scientific set, are widespread across North America and winter across Central and South America, even as far south as Chile.

New Jersey 211

New Jersey North America Chile South America 211

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2020

Maybe you are a lucky kid whose parents took you birding South America as a toddler, a rich heir with an inheritance to burn, a lucky diplomat choosing your tropical posts, an international bird guide or a bird tour agency owner? That gamble is rigged, so the house always wins.

Family 299

Family Birds South America Breeding 299

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2020

I haven’t seen any kind of breeding activity from my bird, but my observations are few, far between and for short periods of time. Despite the breeding activity bit, it appears that both birds have habits in common. Another search revealed that South America’s ubiquitous Turdus can live for 25 – 30 years in the wild.

2005 209

2005 Brazil South America 2018 209

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2014

The Great Grebe , Podiceps major , is a bird of South America where it frequents large waters and coastline on both sides of the continent. It prefers large waters and coasts during the non-breeding season, but seeks out wooded, well vegetated lakes and marshes for breeding. And did I mention that it was big?

Argentina 206

Argentina Uruguay Chile Brazil 206

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

While the native apple snail continued declining, another species of apple snail native to South America began to appear in canals and ponds in South Florida. The baseball-sized “Island apple snail”, as this exotic snail is known, spreaded through South Florida. Snail Kites now favor these ponds and breed around them.

Florida 246

Florida South America Bolivia Eggs 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

This is when we might see the greatest variety and numbers of wood-warblers, where we can watch dizzying groups of swallows zip through the skies as kettles of Turkey Vultures , and Broad-winged and Swainson’s Hawks flow towards South America. How many Sinaloa Martins also fly this way?

Costa Rica 338

Costa Rica West Virginia New York South America 338

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. This is how these charming flycatchers roll in southern Central America. In Costa Rica, we have our pewees, 6 species of them.

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica Pennsylvania South America Panama 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. Some of my happiest memories were sitting on the deck with a big ole’ cup of coffee and watching the parade of birds come in for the fruit.

Nigeria 252

Nigeria Belize Birds South America 252

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

However, the bulk of the population breeds in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties at the southern tip of the state, particularly around the mangrove fringed coasts and islets of Florida and Biscayne Bay. It might be a recent colonist from the Caribbean, as it was only first found breeding in Florida in 1942.

Florida 225

Florida Miami Breeders Tampa 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

On the contrary, the birds were quite satisfied with their new-found freedom and realms, and started breeding immediately after their escape in the spring of 2001, much to everyone’s surprise. Birding Birds Germany Invasive Species Week South America' Turns out, it wasn’t.

Germany 263

Germany 2000 South America Birds 263

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2019

This is the vital time to get outside and see what’s around because lifers could be in the neighborhood, rarely seen species might be just around the corner, and each and every “regular” bird is decked out in beautiful breeding plumage, many also filling the outdoor audio scene with song.

Costa Rica 178

Costa Rica South America Tennessee Philadelphia 178

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

The first shorebird arrivals are apparently birds that failed at a breeding attempt and don’t have time to re-attempt; they might as well head south early. By checking my Facebook feed on a daily basis, I had a broad idea about birds arriving into different countries in Central and South America.

South America 162

South America Colombia Peru Chile 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2012

They are found in South America, the Caribbean, and the gulf coast states in the southeastern United States. They do tend to wander after breeding which explains my first encounter with that New Jersey bird.

Wildlife 220

Wildlife New Jersey South America United States 220

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014

Perhaps the most complicated and bizarre mating system is that of the Rheas of South America. They live in flocks in the open country shrubland of Southern South America. Females end up mating with several males laying eggs in as many nests as partners they can have during a breeding season.

South America 161

South America Eggs Raised America 161

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

The dichotomous republic of Trinidad and Tobago may be something of a cipher to anyone unfamiliar with the point where the Caribbean ends and South America begins. I’ve been privileged to travel somewhat extensively through the Americas, but I still pulled a ton of lifers from the veranda before my first breakfast.

Trinidad 250

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 250

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2020

Many of these were still in their breeding plumage, a special treat for us here in the tropics as they would soon shed their richly patterned exterior for a drab and more mundane outfit. Pectoral Sandpipers pass through en route to southern South America, some going as far as Tierra del Fuego. Greater Yellowlegs.

Trinidad 231

Trinidad South America Blackbirds Game 231

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

The Yellow-green Vireo is another of those rare birds that winter in South America but only travels north as far as Mexico to breed. In spite of all these interesting species, there were two species that really made my day.

Mexico 264

Mexico Nicaragua Lamb Sparrows 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 27, 2015

Most birds use these ephemeral beaches as breeding grounds. They have adapted to breed during the dry season when sand bars are exposed and food is plenty. Depending on the age of the dry season, birds will re-start another breeding attempt or give up until the next year. Pied Lapwing. Photo Credits: Amy McAndrews.

South America 176

South America Fish Breeding Eggs 176

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 17, 2016

Nothing against the Rocky Pigeon but let’s be honest, if a breeding plumaged Blackburnian Warbler hops into view, It’s pretty easy to forget about that pigeon, Warbling Vireo , or even a Pine Warbler when you can treat the good old retinas to a striking combination of red-orange, black, and white.

Costa Rica 205

Costa Rica Emotional South America Panama 205

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2022

Wood-Wrens , birds of the family Henicorhina , are very small wrens of Central and South America that like to live very close to the ground, in dense forest underbrush or elfin forests. The only one that occurs in western Mexico, where I live, is the Gray-breasted Wood-Wren.

Mexico 247

Mexico South America America Species 247

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Odd little grassquits singing from power lines in South America’s great cities. But joining them now as our understanding grows are a host of small, often plain-colored seed-eating skulkers of high alpine grasslands and dense tropical reedbeds and grasslands. These are neither sparrows, nor finches, but tanagers.

2003 253

2003 Sparrows South America Family 253

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2024

It breeds on the shores of the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic, then gathers around the southern arm of Hudson Bay, to fly non-stop all the way to the southern tip of South America. Hudsonian Godwit Now this is a bird that needs no personal backstory to be special. But I will still provide one.)

Squirrels 246

Squirrels Mexico Kansas South America 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

We get to see a lot of them around here, and familiarity breeds, not contempt certainly, but perhaps apathy. The hard-checking, tough-as-nails Yellow-rumped Warblers , who will be here until the last northbound migrants chase them back to the boreal forests in May.

North America 236

North America North Carolina South America Tennessee 236

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

Recently a Fork-tailed Flycatcher was reported from a park in San Francisco, a long ways away from its home in Central and South America. This bird was photographed a few years ago in Connecticut, by Corey Finger. This is not only a MEGAVAGRANT, it is also an absolute CRIPPLER and hard to misidentify on top of that.

San Francisco 187

San Francisco San Diego Connecticut South America 187

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2019

With birds bedecked in their breeding best and filling the air with song, this is migration at its loveliest. Threatened by loss of habitat both on breeding as well as wintering grounds, a few species have even become endangered or at least on a perilous track towards that worrisome designation.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Species Belize New Jersey 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2013

Though the Large-billed Tern is a bird of freshwater rivers, lakes, and marshes of South America it does wander to North America on very rare occasions. As you can see in the image below it has a very distinctive pattern on its wings, to say nothing of the big ol’ yellow bill stuck on the front of its face.

Trinidad 199

Trinidad Nevada Illinois New Jersey 199