10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2024

One always wants to see as many species as possible in a single day, whether on an ocean island with few species, or in Suffolk, England. It was in this latter region that he reports seeing 60 species on his first outing of this year. But how many species can one see over a few hours in the highlands of central Mexico?

Mexico 209

Mexico Birds Woodpeckers Sparrows 209

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2022

One of the reasons that I usually start each year’s species list with a visit to the wetlands of Lake Cuitzeo is that the site offers so many species that I can find nowhere else. And to add to my new year list, of course. There were Vermilion Flycatchers , of course. Not all the colorful species have feathers.

Eagles 210

Eagles Falcons Sparrows Species 210

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2024

Back when I was a kid growing up in California’s San Mateo County in the 60s and 70s, my family would occasionally drive 45 minutes west and south to Bean Hollow State Beach. Why, Bean Hollow, of course. Of course, I had known none of this when the day began. and my first member of the auk/puffin family.

California 183

California Sea Lions Marine Life Puffins 183

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2024

Visiting Guyana brought with it the unavoidable expectation of seeing some mind boggling species – some endangered, some emblematic, others downright bizarre. Before we boarded the flight to Guyana we already knew that probabilities of seeing one of the target species was slashed to near zero. Which birds? And waited.

Guyana 205

Guyana Brazil ALA Eagles 205

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

Of course, that means that the birds I saw on September 30 are now somewhere in blogpost limbo, not having appeared in the September post but also not legitimately belonging in the October one. If you want to pretend to combine learning Mandarin and learning about this species, watch this video. How exciting. Here they are.

Deer 217

Deer China Birds Owls 217

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

The Latin species name is dissimilis (different, unlike), possibly because the female looks quite different from the male (though based on that explanation, dissimilis would have to be a very common species name). The Blue Whistling Thrush is of course named for its whistling – you can hear it here. Then it is tame.

Horses 192

Horses Family Blackbirds Species 192

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Over the course of the following hour or so we observed many different species *coincidentally* alight on the wall near to the body of the fallen yellowlegs. Did the Black-bellied Whistling Duck represent his family, “showing face” as we say here in the Caribbean? Paying respects? Was it some sort of funeral?

Elephants 268

Elephants Ducks Humane Family 268

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2022

The exploration of triads within the avifauna of Trinidad and Tobago has taken me through various families and species groups on this blog. On the smaller island of Tobago there are three species of woodpeckers and three species of woodcreepers – one of each is found on Tobago but not Trinidad.

Woodpeckers 237

Woodpeckers Trinidad South America Hunting 237

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

Since this latter martin appears to winter in northern South America, and no one knows where the the Sinaloa Martin winters, it has been suggested that the two species might winter together there. 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 208

Mexico South America 2020 America 208

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2020

The best laid plans… Last week, I had hoped to get permission to get onto the campus of one or Morelia’s many universities, to look for a family of Wood Ducks that apparently have arrived to spend the winter in its unusual habitat of marshy forest. Mexican Whip-poor-wills , of course, have a Spanish accent! (As cuerpoRRUÍN!

Mexico 278

Mexico Family Laws Ducks 278

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

While the 480-odd species recorded within T&T may outstrip our fellow Caribbean islands by leaps and bounds, it pales in comparison to the massive lists of mainland South and Central America. T&T boasts a fascinating level of biodiversity, however the relatively small size of the islands puts a limit on individual species diversity.

Trinidad 255

Trinidad Family America Species 255

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 261

Nicaragua 2015 2016 Mexico 261

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2022

As is my self-declared tradition of speaking of groups of birds within the species gamut of Trinidad & Tobago, allow me to introduce you to yet another group of three. While the entire Tyrannidae family of Tyrant Flycatchers is massive, the Myiarchus group of those recorded on these two islands comprises just three species.

Trinidad 208

Trinidad ALA Groups Family 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2023

So, in order to show a few more photos of the bird than the usual two or three had I included this bird in a post of birds seen around Wolongshan, Sichuan), here is one dedicated to the species. The Latin species name is semitorques , which means something like “half-twisted” – but I have no idea why.

Vegan 174

Vegan Cats Animal Friendly Eggs 174

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 224

China Birds Pythons Eagles 224

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2024

I saw 32 species here in my first 24 hours, some of them exciting ones. My second lifer this trip was a migratory Yellow-throated Warbler , a species I could not hope to see my previous trip, which had occurred in early summer. A Roadside Hawk perched on a post next to, of course, a road. flying by at night.

Barn Owls 204

Barn Owls Mexico Parrots ALA 204

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2024

This is the home of the Rusty-naped Pitta , admittedly one of the less glamorous of the family, particularly the subspecies found in Yunnan, but still a nice sight and still a pitta. The scientific species name of the Rusty-naped Pitta oatesi honors Eugene William Oates (1845-1911), an English civil servant in India and naturalist.

Burma 195

Burma India Indonesia Thailand 195

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

As mentioned in many other posts on this blog, the avifauna of Trinidad & Tobago consists of several species and family groups occurring very interestingly, in threes. Short-tailed Nighthawk (above and below) Overall, this species seems to be poorly known, which is understandable given its habits. Well, kind of.

Trinidad 130

Trinidad Bats Falcons Groups 130

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. In 2023 I attempted to keep a year list of mammal encounters: the list barely exceeded 20 species, while it became complicated by seeing bats and voles that I was unable to name specifically.

Fur 181

Fur Otters Bulgaria Estonia 181

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Bad developments indeed, particularly as the White-backed Vulture was found to be a good avian biomonitor species – if it does badly, most likely the environment as a whole will do badly, too. I could immediately tell them it was an Egyptian Goose – an invasive species in Germany but not at Kruger. students comes in handy).

Elephants 147

Elephants Congo Birds Africa 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2023

Before I was born, it used to be a rare breeding species in mountainous areas south of Belgrade, but became extinct after the 1960s due to intensive poisoning of wolves. Stopping for a large cappuccino at a drive-in McDonalds en route, soon I entered a hamlet of a dozen family homes mixed with a dozen small apartment buildings.

Bulgaria 262

Bulgaria McDonalds Eagles Wolves 262

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2021

The males can compete with Painted Buntings for their neon colors, and the females, like those of that related species, have their own subtle beauty. (It’s It is always a species they have dreamed of seeing for years.). Of course, plenty of non-endemics also turned up to have their picture taken.

Woodpeckers 216

Woodpeckers Hunters Falcons Breeding 216

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2021

We have observed huge flocks of Galahs there on previous visits and other times there are more bird species, but only one or two of each species. Walking out onto the bridge we soon observed a good mixture of other bird species. Brolga had come into drink and there were all three species of Ibis present. Cattle Egret.

Cattle 263

Cattle Ducks Zebras Australia 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2024

Their discoveries, writings, art, and lives are woven in and out of chapters focused on bird families (thrushes, shorebirds, warblers), places (Florida, Texas), significant points in North American ornithological history (Wilson versus Audubon in Philadelphia), and the big topics of taxonomy and conservation. The mind reels.

Philadelphia 243

Philadelphia Birds Investigation North America 243

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2022

It also summarizes the vagrancy status of every bird family in the whole wide world, which makes it fun to read as well as superbly educational. per cent of individuals of a species at a given time” and a vagrant bird as a bird that shows up outside of this range (p. The Family Accounts are the fun part of the book.

Compassion 258

Compassion Birds Eagles Science 258

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2021

We share seven resident species with different parts of the United States: the Rock , Canyon , Cactus , (Brown-throated) House , Marsh , Sedge , and Bewick’s Wren can all be seen within a half hour of Morelia. (I The raucous Spotted and Gray-barred Wrens are in the Cactus Wren family. First, they answered “my” song.

ALA 166

ALA United States Mexico Family 166

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

For the purpose of this post being of a reasonable length, I’m only going to touch on members of the Tyrannidae family of New World Flycatchers which can be found in the cocoa estates of Trinidad and Tobago. There are of course, many other birds which feed on flying insects, such as jacamars and trogons.

Trinidad 210

Trinidad Abandoning Abandonment Abandon 210

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Where a birder goes in the Caribbean determines which birds are seen including toy-like todies, Carib hummingbirds, cool pigeons, quail-doves, unique avian families and outrageous woodpeckers. One such special place is the Centro Manu, a small family run reserve that features several star bird species of Costa Rica’s Caribbean lowlands.

Costa Rica 263

Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 263

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Fortunately, other spots in the same area offer similar birds, which of course I would not have known without our guides. Similarly, the Alpine Leaf Warbler is one of the more attractive species in an otherwise almost indistinguishable family of identical leaf warblers. (“But the difference in wing bars, Kai!”).

North Korea 235

North Korea China Birds Woodpeckers 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

South Africa 221

South Africa Malaysia Africa China 221

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2022

Both Trinidad and Tobago share over a hundred species but within the mix are many that are found on one island and not the other. The disparity in species could be stark, for example if one were to bird on different sides of the planet. I don’t keep lists but one of my guests did and the final tally was 166 species.

Trinidad 251

Trinidad Turkey Squirrels Cows 251

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2022

Working man that I still am, I can not yet spend every day of January trying to build my year list of species. But in winter, one of its major species is a migrant with a wonderfully quirky name: the Lucifer Hummingbird. Of course, reality is different, and most of my photos show a black gorget, as seen in the shot above.

Woodpeckers 158

Woodpeckers Mexico Species Family 158

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2023

Between March and May, we say goodbye to more than half our duck and wood warbler species, as well as about half of all our shorebirds, vireos, hummingbirds, buntings, sparrows, and orioles, and many members of other avian families. There were, of course, many other pretties to be seen. They are our summer consolation prizes.

South America 167

South America Pigs Mexico Species 167

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2023

I mean that in a good way: By automatically showing one’s new year list each January 1st, and comparing it to one’s last several year lists, they always make me want to hit the ground running with as many species in my first week as I can manage. For example, of the 9 duck species we saw, 7 are winter-only.

Blackbirds 147

Blackbirds Ducks Mexico 2020 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Species formerly referred to as P. One recent study found that this species was sister to P. perdix , and also that race przewalskii (sometimes subsumed within suschkini , but generally paler) was basal to other taxa included within the present species. barbata , but present name has priority. So, I later looked this up.

China 245

China Austria Birds ALA 245

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 28, 2024

By Hannah Buschert Hannah Buschert started birding in college thanks to a required Biology of Birds course and a professor who included Sir David Attenborough’s Life of Birds to punctuate lessons. The first we went to was a family home with generations of mezcaleros and the process being completed in their front courtyard.

Mexico 183

Mexico Birds Oregon Puffins 183

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. The rest of the 216 pages long book is devoted to various African bird families and half a dozen individual species. He has authored several other books and many articles, largely on natural history.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264