10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2011

But what is really remarkable about hummingbirds is the way that each particular species has filled its own niche in the constant battle for nectar. This is the story of the nectar wars from Tandayapa Lodge in north-west Ecuador. In fact close to 20% of all bird species in high Andean environements are hummingbirds.

Ecuador 250

Ecuador Giraffes ALA Species 250

10,000 Birds

MAY 11, 2019

A wonderful variety of bird species are waiting to be seen and among them are many a birder’s favorite avian group, the wood-warblers. Among the most desired bird species during May migration, brightly colored, beautiful and boldly patterned, how can a birder not get hooked on spring warblers? Great Green Macaw!

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Species Belize New Jersey 203

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular. Photo by Dušan Brinkhuizen (www.sapayoa.com).

California Condor 242

California Condor Ecuador Blackbirds Parrots 242

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Before my first trip to the tropics many years ago I always wondered how is it even possible that new bird species are discovered with all the deforestation and general habitat obliteration going on all over the world. I mean, we as a species are today basically everywhere. But still new species are found.

Solomon Islands 246

Solomon Islands Ecuador Colombia Rats 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2012

Colombia is not only home to nearly 20% of all avian life on the planet but this birding mecca also accommodates an incredibly high percentage of highly sought after species. Nearly 80 species are endemic and found nowhere else in the world. But we just could not ignore the plentiful antpitta species too.

Colombia 262

Colombia Ecuador South America North America 262

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2013

studied how Plain-tailed Wrens and Rufous Antpittas in Ecuador reacted to audio playback of their songs versus playback of general background noise. News Bird Call Playback Ecuador Plain-tailed Wrens Rufous Antpittas' Researchers from Princeton University and the University of the South (both in the U.S.)

Ecuador 239

Ecuador Endangered Species Birds Research 239

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2011

On a recent filming trip with Tropical Birding in Ecuador I had the awesome experience of getting up close and personal with two bizarre manakin species. This bird is a Choco endemic found only in northwest Ecuador and southwest Colombia.

Ecuador 252

Ecuador Colombia Research Birds 252

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2013

Pat O’Donnell over at Costa Rica Living and Birding maps out a potential hummingbird-only big day route that could net the ambitious birder forty species of hummingbird in one day in Costa Rica (and potentially more). That made me wonder – what is the single day record for seeing the most species of hummingbird?

Costa Rica 207

Costa Rica 2002 Ecuador Species 207

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2019

Ecuador or Botswana, respectively). 17%: Ecuador, Peru. While Peru was seen as the best country for “birds and ancient sites”, Ecuador was seen as “much safer” and best for its size and easiness of getting around. If I were answering those same questions, my answers would probably be Ecuador, Uganda and Thailand.

Papua New Guinea 214

Papua New Guinea America Costa Rica Sri Lanka 214

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2019

In such a case, you might opt to book an eastbound flight, or a series of flights, from Lisbon to Sao Tome and Principe, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, then Sri Lanka, Thailand, Borneo, PNG, Tahiti, Ecuador, Guyana and finally to Costa Rica…. The main island of Sao Tome has about 100 species and 17 endemics among them. for savanna species.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Sri Lanka Rwanda Papua New Guinea 203

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong.

Sparrows 279

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 279

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2012

And while I’ve seen a number of different toucan species, every one is a thrill, even the toucanets! The Crimson-rumped Toucanets ( Aulacorhynchus haematopygus ) I was privileged to observe at Refugio Paz de Las Aves in Ecuador were absolute cripplers, as the parlance goes. Look at that monstrous bill!

Kansas 213

Kansas Ecuador 2010 Species 213

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 24, 2024

Black-tailed Trogon ( Trogon melanurus) Mainly a species of the Amazonian lowlands (two other disjunct populations exist from central Panama to northern Colombia and in western Ecuador and northwestern Peru) they are heard more often than seen as they tend to remain well above the ground, favoring the forest canopy to subcanopy.

Ecuador 235

Ecuador Colombia Panama Peru 235

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2011

Also we had some great views of a female Long-wattled Umbrellabird near the town itself, and finally we drove to higher elevation where we photographed the four species of toucans: the Plate-billed Mountain Toucan , the Choco Toucan , the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan , and the Pale-mandibled Aracari ; all in a matter of a couple of hours.

Ecuador 171

Ecuador Birds Farming Industry 171

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2020

The first, A Guide to the Birdsong of South America , was released in 2015 and helped raise nearly $15,000 for a pair of non-profit environmental organizations in South America; Aves Argentinas and the Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco in Ecuador.

Costa Rica 278

Costa Rica Nicaragua Cuba Mexico 278

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2011

So, having been to Ecuador before, I knew that a few days in Quito and surrounds would be good for the old lungs before embarking on our quest for Seedsnipe. There are four species of seedsnipes (Thinocoridae) and all are endemic to the Neotropical region, including Patagonia and the Andean zone.

Ecuador 253

Ecuador Florida Australia Species 253

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2012

In Ecuador it is found mostly in the tropical and sub-tropical forest of the east and west slopes. The place of this Bird Love action is the Sumaco National Bioreserve located on the east slope of the Ecuador in the legendary Loreto Road. Here is my contribution to Bird Love Week from the tropics.

Ecuador 173

Ecuador South America Parrots America 173

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2022

More than 20 species are recognized, many look similar and to throw a bit more challenging flavored sauce into the Megascops mix, there might be a few more species awaiting description. One of the more recently, officially recognized screech-owl species is the Choco Screech-Owl.

Costa Rica 256

Costa Rica Owls Panama Argentina 256

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2021

Actively birding in Costa Rica as well as Nicaragua and Panama as well as the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Organization committee for the Arenal Annual Bird Count. Volunteer reviewer for eBird in Costa Rica. I also share the enthusiasm that I have for conservation and encourage people to do the same.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Experience Experiments Nicaragua 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

In 2012, I reviewed The Jewel Hunter , an absorbing narrative in which author Chris Goodie travelled throughout Asia, Africa, and Australasia to observe and photograph every Pitta species in the world. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Bolivia Ecuador 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2021

But when I felt familiar with perhaps half of the species around my town, I started to feel that my field guide is now too bulky and too hefty to carry, and that was the era before smartphones and phone apps. of January 2019, which resulted in 10,711 species, 40 orders, 246 families and 2,313 genera. Subspecies are not included.

Botswana 264

Botswana Africa Birds Ecuador 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2011

The quest to see a particularly challenging species is something I dream about, plan for, study and rave about. And every so often the experience is heightened by witnessing a challenging species doing something extraordinary, giving me a unique perspective into its shy life that is, for the most part, hidden from human eyes.

Ecuador 150

Ecuador South Africa United States Hunting 150

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2013

In early December we had the privilege of filming the inaugural Peru Birding Rally Challenge , a six day, five night event where teams from around the world compete to see the most species of birds. The bears hung around the next day too and some of the birding teams risked losing a few species to enjoy the sighting. Holy mackerel!

Bears 213

Bears Mammals Peru Ecuador 213

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

The story of the White-winged Guan , in some ways resembles the re-discovery of some species thought to be extinct. A Guan was collected in 1876 in a mangrove forest near the border between Peru and Ecuador. The decades of storage in a museum came after it was regarded as an extinct species. Most species go extinct.

Collecting 270

Collecting Peru Neglecting Ecuador 270

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

What happens when you visit one of the best birdwatching sites in the region with the highest number of endemic bird species in the Americas in the world’s birdiest country? The afternoon we arrived, we explored the low portion and picked up nearly 50 species in four fly-bitten hours… word to the wise, don’t wear shorts!

Colombia 268

Colombia South America Birds America 268

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2012

The idea is that some finches from what is now Ecuador ended up on the Galapagos Islands, and subsequently diversified into a number of different forms … they speciated … filling various niches that on the mainland would have been filled by a number of different species.

Tortoises 246

Tortoises South America Panama Culling 246

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2015

This spectacular, turkey-like bird roams the floor of tropical forests from eastern Mexico south to northwestern Ecuador. In most countries, long, sweaty, expedition birding is required to see the only curassow species in Middle America. It also ranges widely from Mexico south to western Ecuador. Ain’t I great?

Costa Rica 189

Costa Rica Turkey Ecuador Hunting 189

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

Although most New World Barbets live in the tropical forests of South America (“the bird continent”), us birders in Costa Rica are fortunate to have two species to watch and listen to. The Prong-billed Barbet is in the Semnornithidae, a family shared with the Toucan Barbet of western Colombia and Ecuador.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Colombia Ecuador South America 203

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2013

I must mention one guide in particular: Eduardo Patrial, who has helped me more than anyone else to make sense out of a virtual avalanche of new knowledge of bird calls, behaviors, and habitat preferences of an avifauna that is over 600 species strong with new additions every year. Spotted Puffbird on the Serra Trail!

Parrots 205

Parrots Brazil Ecuador Eagles 205

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2014

Although watching thousands of gulls in the Niagara Gorge was sublime, more bird species (and warmer weather) eventually brought him to Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and other very birdy, tropical places.

Costa Rica 154

Costa Rica Ecuador Peru Colorado 154

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2021

You can’t say the same about migration: you can’t say that every book about birds is necessarily about migration, for the simple reason that only about 4,000 bird species migrate (with some 1,800 of those traveling long distances). (Well, purely physical attributes play a part, too: they’re pretty good looking.).

Alaska 261

Alaska Kenya Georgia Russia 261

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2013

The species is being re-introduced in Colombia and Ecuador where the condors are either locally extinct or persist in very low numbers. Populations of Andean condors have experienced a steady decline in the last three decades. It is estimated that only a few thousand birds remain in the wild.

Livestock 213

Livestock Chile Colombia Ecuador 213

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 3. Corey has written about one of the species, which I will most likely see when I go. 5. And another list shows 6 endemics and 11 endangered species. Instead, name one of the endemic species in this country.

Myanmar 150

Myanmar Bolivia 2011 Venezuela 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2015

Yep, those two guys identified 331 species in one small area, sans vehicle. Can you imagine even identifying more than 250 species while walking and using a canoe in one day? Essentially, their record was broken in 1986 by Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe when they recorded 342 species during one calendar day in Kenya.

Costa Rica 191

Costa Rica Kenya South Africa Ecuador 191

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2014

But I had seen one in 2006 and I have since seen them twice more so the species never rose to the level of nemesis bird for me. I mean, sure, I’ve had my share of dips but none of them were multiple attempts at a single species that did not end up in victory within three attempts.

Costa Rica 242

Costa Rica Hungary Honduras Woodpeckers 242

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2015

More species of jays can be found here than in any other country on earth. Sixteen resident species to be exact. This species is also called Dickey’s Jay in reference to Donald Dickey who had a life-long fascination with the birds of north-west Mexico. Mexico is the best country in the world for jays.

Mexico 177

Mexico Ecuador Peru Science 177