10,000 Birds

MAY 3, 2011

They are found in the Bahamas, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks and Caicos, Antigua, Barbuda and Jamaica. The whistling duck call carries with it the crimes of big business, the failures of governments and the ignorance of irresponsible hunters. They are also the rarest.

Antigua and Barbuda 247

Antigua and Barbuda Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Jamaica 247

10,000 Birds

MAY 24, 2020

These colorful songbirds occur in two populations, a western one which winters in Mexico and Central America and an eastern one which winters in South Florida and Cuba. Only in their second fall do the males achieve their spectacular plumage. In winter, they occur in rank thickets and woodland edges where they feed mostly on seeds.

America 264

America Arizona North America Texas 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Populations in the eastern part of its range, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles are resident while those in the western part of its range such as Florida, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas are migratory. Its wintering range includes most of northern South America.

Dominican Republic 252

Dominican Republic Puerto Rico Miami Florida 252

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2023

Some birders from outside of Europe were quick to jump the train and show the very best of their countries, so we have quite detailed coverage of birding areas in e.g. little-visited Cuba or endemics-rich Namibia, as well as the well-known New Zealand. What is hiding in the future?

Europe 257

Europe Netherlands Namibia Cuba 257

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

This incredibly widespread species ranges around the Northern Hemisphere (and much of the Southern as well), and is found in locations as disparate as the Arctic tundra, Hawaii, Cuba, and the Galapagos – as well as many places in between.

Owls 259

Owls New York New York City Cuba 259

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2020

Luis Gonzalez is a Miami resident and IT major who was originally born and raised in Cuba. His only birding regret was not starting sooner while he was still in Cuba and his final goal is to be able to bird at least once on every continent of the world, although he is mostly a Florida birder.

Canada 205

Canada Cuba Miami Florida 205

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

It’s not known for sure whether the entirety of the population of the species always wintered on the island of Cuba but by the time people cared enough to find out that’s where they were going. By about 1940, reports began to come saddled with the depressing qualification “last certain” From Cuba in 1940.

South Carolina 199

South Carolina Cuba Missouri Mississippi 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 28, 2024

” Since Jorge is from Cuba, where these birds are relatively common, we all believed him. (After birding and passing through a large number of habitats, our total for the day was 109 species.) So there we were, taking in this spectacle, when suddenly birding buddy #3 called out “ Flamingos! Flamingos !”

Mexico 242

Mexico Cuba Chile South America 242

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2015

The Florida Bonneted was initially regarded as a subspecies of the widespread Bonneted Bat ( Eumops glaucinus glaucinus ), which ranges in Cuba, Jamaica, and Peninsular Florida. The Florida Bonneted Bat is the largest of Florida’s bats weighing 1.2 ounces, a body length of 6.5 inches, and a wingspan of 21 inches.

Bats 170

Bats Florida Endangered Species Cuba 170

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2023

Fortunately, two species of Mergansers sometimes stray to Cuba, and so my friend suggested, correctly, that ours was a female Hooded Merganser. Having seen them in Europe, I knew it was a Merganser. But which one? You see, North American Mergansers do not normally reach central Mexico, and I had never seen any.

Mexico 238

Mexico Morocco Cuba Jordan 238

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

Some of those “statistical errors” came as surprises to me, e.g. Cuba, Bolivia, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Thailand (this is also a clear message to their tourism boards to invest more into promoting avitourism).

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2011

Photographed in Cuba , the bird appears to be a melanistic Green Heron though it might perhaps be a dark form or even stained by algae. The jury is still out but what a cool bird! Hat-tip to Shawn.

2011 145

2011 Deer Cuba Hunters 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2013

One of the perks about living in Miami is that plane tickets to the bird-rich Caribbean, Central, and South America are often cheaper than going to places like Arizona, Colorado, or California.

Jamaica 203

Jamaica Puerto Rico 2013 Cuba 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

Cuba (twice), South America (twice), Europe and Morocco (once) and Bali (once). During the period from 1994 through 2006, I mostly dedicated myself to itinerant ministry. In other words, I travelled, sometimes every weekend. Most of this travel was in Mexico, but I also visited different regions of the U.S.,

2006 192

2006 Morocco Birds Mexico 192

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

Flamingos represented Vegas and Miami and pre-Castro Cuba. Flamingos represented tropical beaches — even though the various species have habitats ranging from alkaline lakes to Andean plateaus. They were dyed a vivid hue that annoyed Tom Wolfe.

Cuba 164

Cuba Miami Massachusetts Penguins 164

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2014

The Lost Macaw of Cuba. Bird Species Threatened — Many with Extinction — by Global Warming. Thought To Be Extinct For 100 Years. Rails: The Once and Future Kings of the Pacific. Bachman’s Lost Warbler. Hey, What About the Great Auk? Carolina Parakeet: Mystery of the Incas. Which Bird Species Have Gone Extinct in Costa Rica?

Marsupials 198

Marsupials Costa Rica Elephants Cuba 198

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2012

Black-and-white Warbler by Carlos Sanchez With the northern Bahamas just to the east and Cuba just to the south, southeast Florida biogeographically sits on the northern edge of the Caribbean and so the wintering wood-warbler species are mostly those typically found further south in the islands.

Florida 162

Florida Miami Cuba Bahamas 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2023

Our first outing, back in August, we saw 54 species — a number that JL said would be impossibly high in Cuba. I’ll just call my friend JL, as Cubans tend to be nervous about having much of an online footprint. But I can say that it has been a blast showing him around. And 50 were lifers for him!

Mexico 264

Mexico Cuba Species Turkey 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

The storm, which spawned more than 80 tornadoes across the US and killed 35 people, was 900km away when the birds, apparently acting independently of one another, fled south, with one bird embarking on a 1,500km flight to Cuba before making the return trip once the storm had passed. Amazing, if confirmed.

Science 155

Science Iraq Oregon Charlotte 155

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2012

I say this not only because he is president of the Grosse Pointe Audubon Society and because his official bio says he “has traveled across North America and to Cuba, Iceland, and Thailand to view and research birds”. William Rapai (pictured left) is a newspaper reporter and editor who is clearly also a birder.

Michigan 258

Michigan Bahamas Endangered Species Research 258

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2016

Cuban Vireo is a bird I would never have expected to see unless I went to Cuba and I went and got one on the cheap! Am I ever glad that I had witnesses to see me seeing the bird, especially considering I failed to get a picture. Garganey , 11 June, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, New York.

2016 172

2016 Puerto Rico New York City New York 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

Dunn starts in Alaska with the goal of seeing Rufous Hummingbird at the northern extreme of its migration (which he does with some effort and a few bear sightings) and ends in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, “the end of the world,” with the sighting of a Green-backed Firecrown feeding at a firetree in cold drizzly rain.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Bolivia Ecuador 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

Sadly, as we drove to Maricao I started getting a pretty bad sinus headache that, by the time we reached the picnic area that Kirwin, Kirkconnel, and Flieg recommend as the best spot to find Elfin-woods Warbler in their great book, A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and the Caymans , was causing me serious pain.

Puerto Rico 100

Puerto Rico Birds 2017 Cuba 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2012

As the storm was pulled northward across Cuba and the Bahamas, it began to temporarily weaken, lose convection, and suffer from dry air intrusion before it began interacting with an incoming trough. Perhaps more due to being underbirded, there have been no reports of Razorbills from Cuba or the Bahamas (both would be first national records).

Florida 243

Florida Cuba Bahamas 2012 243

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2019

As an homage, a contemporary edition of the Bond’s field guide Birds of the West Indies was featured in the twentieth 007 film, Die Another Day (2002), where Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in Cuba poses as an ornithologist. The name of the author was carefully scratched off the front cover of the book. Anthony Levesque arrived in Guadeloupe in 1998.

Saint Kitts and Nevis 198

Saint Kitts and Nevis Antigua and Barbuda Dominican Republic Cuba 198

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

Ringer Bees Bees are small to very small hummingbirds, including Cuba’s Bee Hummingbird , the smallest bird in the world at about 2 inches long and weighing less than a dime (!). Magnificent Hummingbird ( Eugenes fulgens ) in Costa Rica © David J.

Family 241

Family Ecuador Costa Rica United States 241

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2011

Savannah Sparrows breed across the northern United States and most of Canada and Alaska and winter as far south as northern Central America and Cuba. It was nice, very nice, as the photos below hopefully demonstrate.

Sparrows 162

Sparrows Breeding Cuba United States 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2015

Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and other islands that make up the Greater and Lesser Antilles. .’ Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean covers 39 species found in, as the titles says, North America and the Caribbean islands. It includes owls found in Canada, the U.S.,

North America 253

North America Owls America Dominican Republic 253

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2015

They breed in Canada and Alaska, but in the summer they can be found across the United States, as far south as Florida, Cuba, and into Mexico, and as far north as the Pacific coast of Alaska and the Atlantic coast of Maine. Bufflehead are black and white ducks, the male sporting a large white patch on an otherwise black head.

Florida 122

Florida Alaska Cuba United States 122

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Indeed, Puerto Rico is second only to the much larger Cuba in terms of bird species in the West Indies. (Herbert Rafaelle includes 284 species in his field guide , which covers both territories.) Both are situated at the convergence of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and have species from each region.

Puerto Rico 195

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Hawaii United States 195

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2011

Found only in Cuba and weighing in at a whopping 1.8 Giant Hummingbird by Arthur Grossett NUMBER 7 Not to be outdone by its larger relative at no.8, 8, the insect-sized Bee Hummingbird leaps one spot up due to the fact that this bird is the smallest bird in the world.

Colombia 279

Colombia Bolivia Ecuador Peru 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2017

In the interests of disclosure, I had the pleasure of being part of a Wings tour to Cuba led by Jon Dunn earlier this year, which gave me the advantage of hearing about the work he put into this and past volumes and about how the timing of this volume was just missing final decisions on the newest AOU taxonomic supplement.

North America 189

North America America 2017 Birds 189

10,000 Birds

JUNE 26, 2018

Bachman’s Warblers were seen so infrequently that they are probably known more for being extinct than as an integral part of the ecology of the southern United States and Cuba, but it would be interesting to still have them around.

Mauritius 108

Mauritius Stud Zoos Eggs 108

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2016

My holiday weekend festivities included pointing out common yet charismatic Cedar Waxwings all weekend to friends in Cuba, NY; everyone loves those little charmers. So whether you’ve been celebrating your nation’s birthday or the freedom to chase your own bliss, live that independence up!

Cuba 100

Cuba 2016 Jamaica Birds 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2017

Lists from nine countries have been shared this month with Cuba appearing for the first time. Hotel Nacional de Cuba. With Corey’s February jollies to The Bahamas (when he should have been at home looking for GGOs), Lichtenstein, Austria and Switzerland our country/province/principality/kingdom/territory list has swollen to 37.

2017 133

2017 Australia Sanctuary Woodpeckers 133

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2017

Donna is still recovering after a speed-reading accident, but has shared some more wonderful birds from her Cuba trip that will retrospectively be added to the March totals. Hotel Nacional de Cuba. Corey too, has been extravagant in his contributions as the waterhole at Forest Hills gets busy. bobolink site. 08 Jan 2017. bobolink site.

2017 100

2017 Australia Sanctuary Panama 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

Hotel Nacional de Cuba. Albegue del Socorro. 05 Feb 2017. Melodious Blackbird – Dives dives. bobolink site. 08 Jan 2017. Cuban Blackbird – Ptiloxena atroviolacea. 20 Mar 2017. Rusty Blackbird – Euphagus carolinus. Alley Pond Park–Oakland Lake. 08 Jan 2017. Brewer’s Blackbird – Euphagus cyanocephalus.

2017 100

2017 Australia Sanctuary Woodpeckers 100