10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2018

I remember my first Bald Eagle so vividly. I dragged the guy I had just started seeing (reader, I married him) on a frosty February morning to an eagle walk at Croton Point Park (Croton-on-Hudson, NY). It was a pretty frigid winter that year, and there were ice floes, which is why so many eagles were appearing so far south.

Bald Eagle 113

Bald Eagle Eagles Philadelphia United States 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2011

Feeding birds is generally regarded as a harmless past-time, a wholesome way for people to share nature and enjoy wildlife with the family. Another example would be the Eagle Lady in Alaska. The Eagle Lady has also died and now the town bans the feeding of eagles and other birds. She added more corn.

Bald Eagle 262

Bald Eagle Deer Minnesota 2000 262

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2024

I have encountered a few of the more quirky members of the family, including the brilliant and aptly-named African Emerald Cuckoo, India’s ultra-shy Sirkeer Malkoha, and the fascinating Lesser Ground Cuckoo in Costa Rica. It reminded me of a Roadrunner, which is, of course, also a member of the cuckoo family.

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Cyprus Africa Europe Asia 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2015

Since we’ve covered some generalities already, once a month I’ll be exploring how a species, genus, or family of birds got its name, and how those names fit in with our larger understanding of, and relationship with, birds. No one calls you a doofus when you have a Golden Eagle at the ready to eat their face.

Falcons 260

Falcons Eagles Meat Geese 260

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2023

Booted Eagle by Kostas Papadopoulos The next morning was a lazy one, a late breakfast and even later excursion. Later in the day, roadside birds included a Booted Eagle and a Levant Sparrowhawk. What amazed me is that, instead of the usual 6 or 8 slices, this pizza was cut into tiny, bite-size slices!

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Greece Pelicans Stray Dog Tortoises 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2023

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. There’s an eagle… a White-tailed Eagle , a relatively common and numerous breeding species of riparian forests along large water courses and fishponds.

Bulgaria 264

Bulgaria McDonalds Eagles Wolves 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 27, 2016

By the cliffs we find several Eurasian Crag-Martins and a consolation species – a family of Golden Eagles in the air! Scattered Pied Avocets , Spotted Redshanks in good numbers, cows and water buffaloes grazing, two Black Storks , bare mudbar and… a perched eagle! The Greater Spotted Eagle is a threatened species.

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Greece Boars Woodpeckers Eagles 259

Critter News

MARCH 21, 2009

I come from a Portuguese family and I have no problem dumping on the Portuguese. Portuguese environmental groups - including SOS Lynx, A Nossa Terra and Almargem - have denounced the deliberate shooting of the country's only nesting male Iberian Imperial Eagle. Tags: Stupid eagle portugal fox hunting. This makes me angry.

Portugal 100

Portugal Eagles Spain Fox 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2022

I’ve said it before, but this large raptor with the massive, eagle-like bill is not a Hawk or Eagle , but a genetic Falcon. Lately, I’ve seen Crested Caracaras showing up in all sorts of unexpected places, and Las Mesas was not an exception. On this outing, the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds put on the best show.

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Eagles Falcons Sparrows Species 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 16, 2021

There’s a ( Eurasian) Blue Tit ( Cyanistes caeruleus ) flitting around some flowers and butterflies, while what is likely another European member of the family Paridae – possibly either a Willow Tit ( Poecile montanus ) or Marsh Tit ( Poecile palustris ) – seems to alight on the letter “T” in “Natura”.

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2020 Chile Bald Eagle Europe 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

Raptors to look for in this reserve are Golden Eagle and Short-toed Snake Eagle , European Honey-buzzard and Peregrine Falcon. The commonest owls are Eurasian Scops Owl and Tawny Owl , while rare ones include Ural Owl and Eurasian Eagle Owl. About 120 species have been recorded so far.

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Serbia Woodpeckers Owls Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

I started the campaign for the protection of Beljarica, raising public awareness and collecting more than 10,000 petition signatures, not only because of its Eurasian Otters , White-tailed Eagles , Black Storks , Icterine and Eastern Olivaceous Warblers , etc., but because this large spillway protects the city from flooding. Photo: VICE.

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Serbia Boars Otters Birds 298

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2021

The eggs hatched out around 20th June after 28 days of incubation and the Pied Oystercatcher family were soon on the move. This moves the family closer to a reef that gets exposed on low tides and better feeding opportunities. Usually the first thing we look for when we visit Pied Oystercatcher families is look for footprints.

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Breeding Feral Cats Eggs Feral 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2021

The tail is much shorter and not wedged like the Wedge-tailed Eagle. They may well have all been from the same family. Quite often the wing panels almost appear white and the wings are upturned in flight. The outer feathers are very open as you can see in the above photo. Black-breasted Buzzard interaction.

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2015 Eagles Family Birds 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

This Little Crake was on migration in Cyprus Raptors are always exciting to encounter, and I was delighted earlier in the year to enjoy a couple of sightings of wandering White-tailed Eagles in Norfolk. I haven’t done well with Golden Eagles, with just a single bird, seen briefly, in Greece, in May.

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Cyprus Greece Spain Europe 245

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

In 2008, with my family decided to build the Limneo Lodge , a small accommodation with only 9 rooms. Other important breeding species include Black and White Stork , Lesser Spotted , White-tailed , and Booted Eagle. Overwintering raptors include Greater Spotted , Golden , and Imperial Eagles. My name is Nikos Gallios.

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Greece Wildlife Boars Otters 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Typical species include busy Secretarybirds that patrol the grasslands, families of Common Ostrich , White-bellied Bustards , Yellow-throated Sandgrouse , vultures, snake-eagles and numerous seedeaters, including lovely Purple Grenadiers and Green-winged Pytlias , to mention just a few. And of course the big game is an added bonus.

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Tanzania Africa Stud Leopards 249

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2024

I had long yearned of seeing a wild Harpy Eagle and was genuinely thrilled to hear about an active nest not too far from where we would be staying. Selfishly, I was a bit disappointed that the lack of water turned our two-hour commute via river to see the nest of the mighty Harpy Eagle into a no-go. Which birds?

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Guyana Brazil ALA Eagles 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

And Giant Otters are still common in the rivers around Karanambu Ranch, home of the late “otter lady”, Diane McTurck, who used to rehabilitate orphaned otters and whose family still runs the lodge. View from 10:18 onwards to see my first glimpse of a juvenile harpy eagle close to Surama village.

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Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2020

My birding there in normal times tends to be in winter and early spring: I’m getting Common Mergansers and Bald Eagle for my year list in January, scouting for the Christmas Bird Count in late November and early December, and making sure to find Wilson’s Snipe in the early spring.

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Bald Eagle New York City New York Birds 239

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2018

White-tailed Eagles normally take flight silently, yet, while checking some Common Starlings and hoping for Rosy Starlings , I heard a few noisy wing-beats, enough to turn and see a young eagle flying with a wing tag. To prove more how young and inexperienced it was, the eagle even landed on the ground a mere 15 metres behind my car.

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Eagles Otters Serbia 2016 211

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2021

Brasserie au Baron has its origins in a bistro run by the Bailleux family since 1973 in Gussignies, a small French town along that lies along the river Hogneau right at the border with Belgium’s Hainaut province in the Francophone south of that country. Good birding and happy drinking! Brasserie au Baron: Saint-Médard Cuvée de Noël.

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France Eagles Shelters Suffering 246

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

But Swarovski Optik is a family-owned business, so the then CEO, Mr. Swarovski, categorically rejected the advice and decided: factory stays in Austria, and the prices will only go up! At the end of the 20th century (and before the ELs were born), the factory hired consultants to help it restructure and maximise profits.

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Austria Factory Asia Battery 299

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 29, 2011

Having flown to Washington State on a family vacation the first obstacle was easily out of the way, which you knew already if you ever read this blog. Bald Eagles competed with hauled out Harbor Seals for our attention and we were told that the concentration of eagles was due to the salmon not yet running in the rivers.

Washington 194

Washington Protection Puffins Rhinoceros 194

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2018

Through multi-partnerships, cooperation, federal funding, and the private conservation efforts of one family, 616 acres were officially added to the Cherokee National Forest in September 2018. Bald Eagle. It’s still possible (amidst the scurry to take from public lands) to protect our pristine wilderness areas. Magnolia Warbler.

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Georgia Bald Eagle Tennessee 2018 214

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

” We are currently offering the opportunity of a lifetime to see a Harpy Eagle that is nesting in the Amazon lowlands, and guides are ready to work! With Mercedes, you will be treated like family, and guaranteed to have the trip of a lifetime! Birding guides have been working hard to keep trails open at the lodges.

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Ecuador Birds 2019 Cattle 264

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.

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Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2014

En route, the teenagers were chatting away when suddenly I screamed “Eagles!”, Bald Eagles ,” I said encouragingly/defensively/lamely. From June 1 to September 26, Hog Island offers week-long residential birding and nature programs for adults, teens, and families. Soon the girls emerged.

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Puffins Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eggs 274

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2024

However – and I am not saying this out of misplaced national pride – there is one bird in the Netherlands that proves Jefferson wrong and Buffon right: the White-tailed Eagle (or Sea Eagle ). It’s the only Dutch eagle. Our eagle makes Baldy look imparfait, even a bit manqué. Skeins of Greylag Geese completed the picture.

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Beavers Netherlands Eagles Geese 170

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

Red backed and Variegated Fairy Wrens reeled as they hopped through the undergrowth while a family of Grey Shrike Thrushes took to feeding. A huge Wedge-tailed Eagle soared high overhead on thermals suggesting that the morning was beginning to wane and our drinks were waiting. A poor picture of a male Variegated Fairy Wren.

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Koalas Birds Zoos Hunters 263

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2011

So much so that the two species are placed within their own family, Chaetopidae. Another highlight is the eyrie of a pair of Verreaux’s or Black Eagles , one of the handsomest eagles on the planet! The species is insectivorous and nests amongst the scree and boulders on the steep mountain slopes.

South Africa 257

South Africa Penguins Africa Birds 257

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2014

These consist of Red-crowned Crane , Blakiston’s Fish-Owl , and Steller’s Sea-Eagle – all among the most massive and spectacular representatives of their families. The following morning we left around dawn to head to the Notsuke Peninsula to finish out the Big Three with Steller’s Sea-Eagle.

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Japan Massachusetts Asia Birds 206

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2022

One of the most interesting aspects of watching birds in Africa is to see different members of bird families that I already know from China. An information for those Indian readers of the blog who only know “Kingfisher” as a brand of beer: It is also a bird family. Different bird families, I know.

South Africa 254

South Africa Africa Saint Lucia Camels 254

10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2024

There are five families: Stilts & Avocets (Family Recurvirostridae), Oystercatchers (Family Haem), Plovers (Family Charadriidae), Sandpipers and Allies (Family Scolopacidae), and Jacanas (Jacanidae), with Family Scolopacidae representing the bulk of species (as it does worldwide).

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North America America 2006 Delaware 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2021

Shorebirds – or “shorbs” for the cuteness factor (as if that needed any enhancement) – remain one of the most fascinating families of birds for me. Obliging species like Grey-headed Kingfisher , Long-crested Eagle , and even a pair of Greater Blue-eared Starlings ensured we didn’t get anywhere quickly.

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Buffalo Kenya Trinidad 2019 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2019

Collared Scops Owl – A Cat Head Eagle. For some of the more common or exciting birds, I know the Chinese names as well, such as Maotouying for owl (literally “cat head eagle”, which I think is both cute and accurate) or Xianbasedong for Fairy Pitta (“eight color fairy thrush”). Well, no more!

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China Eagles Cats Owls 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2013

We got good looks at Yellow-breasted , Crimson-breasted , Yellow-vented , and Orange-bellied Flowerpeckers along with more mundane representatives of the sunbird family, Plain Sunbird and Thick-billed Spiderhunter. We saw a number of these distinctive raptors, along with Crested Serpent Eagles and Oriental or Crested Honey Buzzards.

Malaysia 211

Malaysia Singapore Monkeys Asia 211