10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2016

Today is the United Nations World Wildlife Day, a time to celebrate and raise awareness of the living world around us. For a split-second I was considering the white morph of the Booted Eagle… while noticing that they do not have long stork necks and that they were… Egyptian Vultures ! What are your best wildlife moments?

Wildlife 189

Wildlife Tigers Asia Europe 189

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. Sometimes people find themselves the victims of ill-informed home owners associations that have a phobic view of wildlife. Another example would be the Eagle Lady in Alaska. Grackle Guy?

Bald Eagle 261

Bald Eagle Deer Minnesota Eagles 261

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

That’s because this fascinating part-Caribbean, part-south American country holds well over 800 species of avifauna making it without doubt one of my top three countries in all of the continent to visit. That’s quite the list of charismatic and unique wildlife to add to your potential list of sightings.

Guyana 279

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2015

But “Hawk”’s active ingredient, a deadly second-generation anticoagulant, bromadialone, has been implicated in the deaths of Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Cooper’s Hawks, and other raptors : American Kestrels, Barn Owls, Golden Eagles, Great Horned Owls, and Turkey Vultures. Thanks for your concern for wildlife, Syngenta.).

Mountain Lions 269

Mountain Lions Rats Rodents Lions 269

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

Birds of Kruger National Park covers the 259 species most frequently seen in the park, about half of the total number of birds documented there. This still leaves the user flipping through sections, looking for the species in question, though I don’t think there are many species with this habitat overlap.

Ecuador 188

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Mammals 188

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

The 18th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival is less than a month away and while we don’t have snow down yet here in New York City I am pretty sick of cold weather and could use some warmth and Florida sunshine! This Bald Eagle was a sight worth seeing! John’s National Wildlife Refuge” trip.

Wildlife 157

Wildlife Bald Eagle 2015 New York City 157

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 2, 2015

“It is next to impossible to persuade people in India to donate money for injured raptors,” says Nadeem Shehzad, co-founder of Wildlife Rescue , a registered non-profit in the Chawri Bazar area of Old Delhi. Watch this remarkable video about Wildlife Rescue, and read their blog. It is our duty to save them.”.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 263

Wildlife Rehabilitation India Rescue Wounded 263

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2019

And here in Europe, they are the real deal, an indigenous species and not domesticated animals gone wild. Photographed within Beljarica: five White-tailed Eagles by Snezana Panjkovic. Two hundred metres further on, two young White-tailed Eagles were soaring. I think all were males, at last two huge ones certainly were.

Serbia 246

Serbia Otters Boars Hunters 246

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2011

A question I am frequently asked by birders and wildlife enthusiasts is: “ if I only visit Africa once, where should I go ?” This country boasts over 1,000 bird species, vast wildernesses, a superb network of protected areas, the greatest concentration of large game and predators on the planet, excellent lodges and friendly people.

Tanzania 243

Tanzania Africa Stud Leopards 243

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2014

eagles and vultures ) so we need to pay attention. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service , there are about 10 billion breeding birds in the US. A recent meta study ( The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States ) that applied strict inclusion criteria and some fancy statistics estimates that 2.4

Killing 274

Killing Cats Fish Feral Cats 274

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2012

What this land-locked country lacks in endemic birds it more than makes up for in accessibility of tough species, numbers of birds and the overall wildlife experience. It is also home to the largest concentration of African Elephants on the planet and over 450 bird species. We are currently filming in Botswana.

Botswana 235

Botswana Lions Zebras Elephants 235

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2021

Once I observed a man walking his two small dogs here, passing by a perched White-tailed Eagle but looking down at grass and not noticing the largest raptor in Europe at all. The eagle seemed well-used to people and paid no attention either. Photo by Branislav Dencic.

Otters 264

Otters Protest Protesters Protesting 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2015

My work as a wildlife rehabilitator over the past forty-five years has allowed me a unique perspective on a disturbing trend. Consider this: ninety percent of birds treated at wildlife centers are admitted as a result of human interactions that have nothing to do with “nature.” People passed the eagle often.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 190

Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Rescue Wildlife 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2013

Fish and Wildlife Service, which granted permits to rescuers who moved Peregrine chicks away from bridges, more precarious spots than cliffs or buildings for young just learning to fly. But some wildlife researchers note that just 40 years ago, less than a dozen Peregrines inhabited California, and the U.S. total was roughly 100 birds.

California 210

California Endangered Species Falcons Jordan 210

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2018

As one of our country’s most biodiverse rivers, this entire habitat is considered ‘high priority’ in the Wildlife Action Plan of the state Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. In the area live 15 species from Tennessee’s threatened and endangered list, as well as 11 aquatic species from the federally endangered list.

Georgia 214

Georgia Bald Eagle Tennessee 2018 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

On a sandbar in the center of the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, hundreds of ducks swirled around each other or lay down to take cover against the punishing wind. The waterfowl flock was made up of two very unique looking species: the Fulvous and Black-belled Whistling Ducks. What made my eyes widen? But it was just too cold.

Ducks 124

Ducks Wildlife Texas Bald Eagle 124

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

I was happy to read that the wood stork ( Mycteria Americana ), a bird near and dear to me, was down-sited from the status of endangered to threatened species. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As a biologist working for the U.S.

North Carolina 225

North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 225

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2019

The route Corey and I took in advance of the 2019 African Birding Expo may not be the only optimal way to go, but this approach yielded an absolute bounty of wildlife excitement in just 48 action-packed hours. Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle … wow!! What makes this destination so magnificent?

Uganda 226

Uganda Senegal Africa Game 226

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

JANUARY 8, 2014

I also couldn’t help but notice that the drone passed by at least one eagle nest (the operator probably had no clue it was there) and wondered how much an eagle would tolerate from a small unmanned aircraft. And we would know what to watch for if the eagle didn’t like it and would back the drone off.

Bald Eagle 215

Bald Eagle Mississippi Eagles Ducks 215

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2019

It’s that coastline, however, that called me to Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge, an oasis drawing migrating waterfowl like a magnet. Is there anything better for a birder than when the target species are literally everywhere , with nothing to obstruct them? Louisiana, I do so love you for your birding opportunities!

Louisiana 115

Louisiana Wildlife Bald Eagle Geese 115

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

For mankind to snatch away a species’ very existence is wrong on so many levels that I can’t begin to explain them. However, despite our best efforts to wipe them off the face of the earth, some of the more vulnerable species have managed to hang on. Fish and Wildlife Service. this species breeds.

Albatross 235

Albatross Endangered Species Bald Eagle Alaska 235

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. The mission of wildlife rehabilitators is to return injured birds to the sky, or the sea, or wherever it is they came from. Soon the girls emerged. How could you not?

Puffins 274

Puffins Wildlife Rehabilitation Bald Eagle Eggs 274

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 5, 2019

The lush understory supports a multitude of different ecological niches yet still affords good sightlines to spy the species within. And what a wealth of species the Royal Mile holds. While the species sounds delicious, the nearly tailless bird presents a very bland appearance. Red-chested Cuckoo.

Uganda 241

Uganda Monkeys Africa Eagles 241

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2015

This year was my third year helping to lead trips at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Like my two previous visits I spent one day that I didn’t have to lead any field trips doing a run through central Florida looking for some of the specialty species of the region. ” Was I? Yes, dear fisherman, yes!

Cattle 225

Cattle Bald Eagle Florida Endangered Species 225

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 26, 2021

I was asked by a new birder about the site’s potential and I remarked we should expect between 40 to 50 species for our circa two kilometre stroll. A crop of Eucalypt trees had been planted and clearly coppiced, apparently to feed recovering koalas from Steve Irwin’s [he of Crocodile Hunter fame] family’s zoo and wildlife hospital.

Koalas 257

Koalas Zoos Birds Hunters 257

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2014

So I asked seven wildlife rehabilitators, “Tell me your favorite (or one of your favorites) release story – the kind that makes you keep going, in spite of everything.”. “A We let a one-eyed Bald Eagle go after a year of battling state officials in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky. That was 9 years ago.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 247

Wildlife Rehabilitation Ohio Tulsa West Virginia 247

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Paging through a fieldguide, it’s always with a sense of dismay and sadness that I come across reference to an extinct species. Madagascar, however, has had more than its fair share of extinct or lost species and Madagascar Pochard was firmly on this list. Then in 1991, a fisherman on the lake caught a male in his fishing net.

Madagascar 254

Madagascar Lemurs 2006 Owls 254

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

Their habitats vary widely in both rural and urban landscapes; open habitats are preferred and the species generally shuns only extensively forested areas and wetlands 1. To show how adaptive this species is, the following photograph was sent to me by one of my readers and I use it with her permission.

Hunters 192

Hunters Hunting North America Game 192

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Nevertheless, only the most important news I did follow, those about the decision-making process on future sales of elephants and their ivory at a global wildlife summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, the first such meeting since 2013. We are facing a plague of poaching that is again decimating the species. One may say so.

Elephants 213

Elephants Botswana Zimbabwe Africa 213

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2023

My British total was a mere 172 species – not bad, but not very good. Every one of my 171 species was a bird that I found myself. It keeps a monthly record of sightings, so I can tell you that it was in February that I recorded my highest monthly species total (106), while my lowest total was in August (39).

Estonia 245

Estonia Portugal Greece Barn Owls 245

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2018

I think most of you know how important our National Wildlife Refuge system is to me. After all, I have written several posts on wildlife conservation and the Wildlife Conservation Pass that my co-founder Ingrid Taylar and I have been encouraging for years. I will close with a video from Colusa National Wildlife Refuge.

Wildlife 103

Wildlife Sacramento Bald Eagle Falcons 103

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2023

This is how it looks like: Or at sunset: A species I did not come for from Shanghai is the Black-crowned Night Heron. Its species name graydoni is in honor of Philip Newenham Graydon (1864-1940), a British planter in Sabah. Why that makes Mr. Graydon worthy of having a bird species named after him is a mystery to me.

Birds 243

Birds Elephants Eagles Rhinoceros 243

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2015

Many species that are currently common may stay that way, and some species will likely increase…and hopefully species besides House Sparrows , European Starlings , Rock Pigeons and Eurasian Collared-Doves , which those in North America know as the four avian horsemen of the apocalypse. Whats in it for birds?

North America 246

North America San Francisco Suffering California 246

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2018

I chalked up 132 species in a pretty relaxed eight days, during which birds shared the agenda with culture. With 154 eBirded species almost single-handedly spotted by the UK expat Geoff Laight, the Paljuvi is the latest addition to the top-5 list. With 154 eBirded species, the Beljarica shares the 4th place on the list.

Serbia 187

Serbia Bulgaria Farming Turtles 187

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2015

Kelly Preheim was talking about the large numbers of Snowy Owls on the nearby National Wildlife Refuge. The next spring she reported that her first class was doing very well and were able to rapidly identify nearly 200 species. Ben Lizdas at Eagle Optics provided immediate assurance that they would do something.

South Dakota 266

South Dakota Nebraska Missouri Killing 266

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2013

The only time that the joyous chaos of the coot flock is wielded in one common goal is when the resident Bald Eagles take flight and every single individual skitters away a short distance, as if the difference between free coot and eagle food is about 20 feet of waterspace. Even so, the eagles went hungry while we were there.

Florida 216

Florida Bald Eagle Eagles Ducks 216