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. I have now seen the species in eight different years. Of course, Paso Ancho is also a hotspot for many other beautiful species and endemics.

Mexico 217

Mexico South America 2020 America 217

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2011

I never would have thought that a film that focused entirely on North American sparrows could be so delightful. After all, there is only so much sparrow that non-birders can take and this film is chock full of sparrows! Well, each species gets its own segment, and the filmmakers alternate narrating duties.

Sparrows 173

Sparrows North America United States America 173

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. Happily, the sparrows finally arrived this weekend and have strutted around my feeders enough for me to fully admire their beauty.

New York 259

New York Sparrows Birds Breeding 259

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2022

In pastures of the hot lowlands, they tend to be lines of stunted Gumbo-Limbo trees or some other heavily pruned species. In addition to those birds and the Squirrel Cuckoo pictured above, the following are some of the more common hedgerow species of Costa Rica. Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and other hummingbird species.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Birds Sparrows Squirrels 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2014

The next hour plus netted me a host of other species, including my two other targets, Virginia Rail and Common Gallinule. After Gumear Falls Road I crossed Route 209 to the Linear Park and tracked down an Alder Flycatcher that is always present there, my eighth flycatcher species of the morning.

Breeding 153

Breeding New York Downers Breeders 153

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2024

Apparently, the species name rutila means “red, golden red, reddish yellow”, which sounds a bit like a contradiction in itself. It is well known that chicks of this morph immediately start having an identity crisis when combining the knowledge of their species name with the information gathered from a look in the mirror.

Killing 176

Killing Birds Breeding Breeders 176

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2023

Some 320 species have been recorded here, and in springtime it is possible to observe more than 150 bird species in a week. However, during a storm the chains that kept it anchored broke off and the raft is now stranded on the shore, accessible to stray dogs and not used for breeding. The lake lies at a mere 35 m / 115 ft a.s.l.

Greece 233

Greece Pelicans Stray Dog Tortoises 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2022

Snowy Plovers also breed half an hour north of my home, so we have those in common. With 85 species in 6 hours, I’d like to think it was well repaid. While I can claim full credit for the sparrow, Jonathan got the next one. But the past several years he has worked on several projects in Ensenada, just south of San Diego.

San Diego 254

San Diego Turtles Mexico Sparrows 254

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 16, 2012

Then, while walking along a phragmite-lined ditch, a small sparrow flushed, flew a few feet, and dropped back down. I immediately knew it wasn’t one of the usual Savannah Sparrows that populate the old landfill. But this bird, which let me study it at my leisure as it went about its business, didn’t fit either species.

Sparrows 142

Sparrows Dogs Geese Rights 142

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2024

Seeing 50 species of birds on an early summer day in lowland England isn’t difficult, but on the moors of the Pennines – the rugged hills that form the spine of northern England – it’s not so easy. Though they remain a legal quarry species, they are rarely shot. Scoping from the road for Black Grouse.

Sheep 208

Sheep Breeding Ducks Hunters 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2021

Of course, I also go there several other times each year; I have, after all, seen 160 species at this endemic-rich site. The reason for this annual pilgrimage is a single species, the Sinaloa Martin. All sightings southeast of the species’ Puerto Vallarta-to-Los Mochis breeding area are of migrating birds.

Nicaragua 263

Nicaragua 2015 2016 Mexico 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

This sort of biozone mixing can create a tremendous richness of species. Each of these habitats attracts its own group of species. Rusty-crowned Ground-Sparrows and Stripe-headed Sparrows are also fond of this brushy grass habitat. Among those are Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers , a species I love. And they sing a lot!

Mexico 246

Mexico Nicaragua Lamb South America 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

The obvious choice was the Mallard , that plucky familiar northern hemisphere species that is the father of the even more familiar domesticated duck. In fact, as the species was quickly identified as as creating hybrids with Grey Ducks, the opinion was by the 1920s that the species shouldn’t be released further.

Species 167

Species New Zealand Ducks Game 167

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

Above them, on limestone cliffs, Alpine Swift and Crag Martin breed. About 120 species have been recorded so far. About 180 species have been recorded so far. Almost 230 species have been recorded so far. Forest covers 70% of the area (hornbeam, beech and oak). Use the Zrenjanin road to reach the area.

Serbia 262

Serbia Woodpeckers Owls Eagles 262

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2020

When our local government called for Michoacán’s residents to stay at home, I said goodbye to some 250 regional species, and shut myself in at home with the other 30 that regularly visit my neighborhood. And on this particular trip, I could see all these species on a single kind of tree. And what species!

Squirrels 171

Squirrels Sparrows South America Mexico 171

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

Other species expected in December include Velvet Scoter , the last flocks of Common Cranes , perhaps a Red-breasted Merganser , Long-tailed Duck or a Smew (if the winter gets cold), as well as the still missing Red-throated Diver. Although many of them can be found in city parks, too, at the top of Avala your chances are higher.

Serbia 300

Serbia Woodpeckers Ducks Birds 300

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2020

If conditions are right, the Palm Beach Agricultural Area can be teaming with various shorebird species such as Spotted, Solitary, Upland, Buff-breasted, Least, Semipalmated, Western, and Pectoral Sandpiper, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Black-necked Stilt. They especially like live oaks.

Florida 257

Florida Miami Falcons Birds 257

10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2022

pounds) heavy Colombia field guide with its 1900+ species. And that became heavier with each passing day… On the other hand, Europe’s Birds cover less than half of that number – 900+ species and a softback weighs 1.4 The number of species per page varies from one to two, rarely 3.

Europe 255

Europe Colombia Birds Ducks 255

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2023

This leaves Shanghai in June with basically just the year-round species and the summer breeders, maybe with a few added ultra-lazy individuals of migratory species. Fortunately, there are a few more such breeding species than most Shanghainese are aware of. Such as the Black-winged Cuckooshrike.

Birds 130

Birds Eggs Breeders McDonalds 130

10,000 Birds

MAY 27, 2024

Given how far Hokkaido is from Europe, it seems a bit surprising how many bird species wintering on this Japanese island have a name starting with “Eurasian” Or how many of these species I have also seen in my parents’ garden in Germany. It seems extra-pair paternity is very frequent in this species.

Iran 178

Iran Germany Research Humane 178

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2022

Some of the more conservative Light-vented Bulbuls in my compound were trying to make the wearing of a tie mandatory for the species. But the stars of the month were some breeding Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Anyway, back to the somewhat less interesting birdlife within my prison-compound. So, I took these photos for them.

Sparrows 147

Sparrows China Birds Tigers 147

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

The HBW even mentions the importance of Ruoergai for this species: “Key sites for migrants include the Ruoergai Plateau (China), which is also an important breeding area” Common Mergansers also seem to use these wetlands as breeding area. The raptors of Ruoergai deserve a separate post.

China 176

China Mongolia Russia Birds 176

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

I tried to get a better idea of what exactly the definition of cuckoo-dove is but am still not very clear about it – Wikipedia only offers the rather formal definition “any of several species of bird in the genera Macropygia , Reinwardtoena, and Turacoena of the pigeon family.” But I may well be wrong.

Geese 147

Geese Birds Fish Sparrows 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2022

Colorful bills and heads seem quite popular among Letaba’s bird species – see the African Jacana (blue and black) … … the Striated Heron (yellow and blue) … … and the Yellow-billed Stork (yellow and red). The Latin species name vermiculatus (worm-like) refers to the markings on the upperparts.

Zimbabwe 147

Zimbabwe Benin South Africa Gabon 147

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2017

Now that I can travel, I have perversely discovered the charms of really working over one spot of habitat across the seasons and the years; as such I’m on a mission to find 100 species of bird in Socrates Sculpture Park, a bit of Queens between the East River and Vernon Boulevard where artists create open-air displays. Why an asterisk?

New York City 105

New York City New York Illinois Wisconsin 105

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2019

After getting to the letter C last week in a roughly alphabetical order, I will show the second 10 species today. Start with Eurasian Tree Sparrow , an unlikely high-ranked target for anybody watching birds in Shanghai. It looks fairly flashy in its breeding plumage, much less so in winter.

Latvia 125

Latvia Sparrows Abandon Abandoning 125

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

I love sparrows, so seeing a feather-worn Vesper Sparrow this past July filled my heart with joy. We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts. Baird’s Sparrow was one of those elusive creatures.

North Dakota 142

North Dakota Sparrows Birds Blackbirds 142

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Instead, they are summer visitors, moving up to Colorado in the warm months to breed before returning to wintering grounds in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. During the summer breeding months, Lark Bunting males – a sparrow species – are jet black, their white wings contrasting beautifully with the dark bodies.

Colorado 102

Colorado Legislature Arizona North America 102

10,000 Birds

JUNE 12, 2014

Defining Belgrade bird specialties is the hard part – there is no defined criterion, beside attractiveness which often comes from how uncommon some species is. E.g., a few weeks ago I guided a British couple around Belgrade, visited about four major sites and found more than 60 species. Black Stork – spring/summer.

Serbia 179

Serbia Eagles Sparrows Falcons 179

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2020

It was also when October came with cool weather and bunches of White-throated Sparrows, shy Hermit Thrushes. This being an uncommon species in upstate New York, I appreciate having an abundance of Cliff Swallows to look at. Swallows Everywhere. Costa Rica is a great place to watch swallows, especially Cliff Swallows.

Costa Rica 324

Costa Rica West Virginia New York Panama 324

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2019

Occasional spots of dense willows add additional cover for some species, while just a few yards away, you can find open, grassy areas, as well as patches of Ocotillo, and Prickly Pear Cactus. This area boasts a “life” list of species of 224, so I have quite a ways to go, with my paltry 47 species in 6 visits.

Florida 100

Florida Mexico Sparrows Fox 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2019

While the Northern Hemisphere hasn’t progressed even a third of the way through calendar spring, we are now entering the beginning of summer for the teeming masses of birds staking out breeding grounds. Here’s hoping for more than House Sparrows and starlings! Be there to greet them!

2019 113

2019 Sparrows Birds Breeding 113

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

The book is divided into three parts: “Introduction,” “Avifaunal Overview,” and “Species Accounts.” The authors’ detailed delineation of problems with the accuracy of NYC breeding bird surveys or with the limits of historical writings may test a reader’s patience. Most birders will go straight to the “Species Accounts.”

New York City 152

New York City New York Birds Breeding 152

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Just last year, 5 new bird species and 5 new subspecies were discovered in a few short weeks of fieldwork on the islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka. In recent years Indonesia has been competing with the Andes as the region giving rise to the biggest number of undescribed bird species (naturally, all of them endemics).

Indonesia 264

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2014

Despite our near constant doom-and-gloom prognostications we still manage to see wood-warblers, though most of April is spent looking at the several species that are early arrivals, mostly species that winter in the southeastern United States and therefore can get back to we northeasterns rather quickly.

New York 226

New York United States New York City Louisiana 226

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 1, 2015

Add more than 350 pairs of White Pelicans to that picture, numerous herons and up to 700 pairs of Pygmy Cormorants breeding in the same reedbeds (cover photo)… It must be bursting with activity in spring, but I was there in mid-September. Checking the birds on the stork’s nest, I found both House and Spanish Sparrows.

Greece 252

Greece Pelicans Geese Albania 252

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

The bird was a sparrow, that much was clear, but it didn’t seem to fit any of the easily boxes the other North American sparrows can be fairly easily sorted into. Superficially, it resembled the Black-chinned Sparrow of the southwestern United States with its gray chest and chestnut streaked with black back.

New Jersey 226

New Jersey North Carolina Sparrows Connecticut 226