10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Few places boast so many different bird species in such a small area — over 900 species (more than Europe, or all of the United States and Canada combined), including 75 different families, like 51 species of hummingbirds, 48 warblers, and 45 tanagers. It was close to 5 a.m., I was literally awake at 3 a.m.,

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica San Jose Nepal Europe 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

My target at the start of the year was 200 species in the UK and 300 in Europe, so I’ve achieved the latter, while the chances of reaching the former are pretty good. Nor have I see a skua (jaeger) of any species. An everyday bird, the Woodpigeon. This one was photographed in my garden on a wet day in April. Wood Sandpiper.

Cyprus 246

Cyprus Greece Spain Europe 246

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2012

There are few families of birds as bewitching as the birds-of-paradise. They have been a crucial part of the culture of the islands and forests where they are found for the last 50,000 years, and were amongst the first animals of the East to make it back to Europe with the earliest Portugese and Spanish explorations.

Indonesia 246

Indonesia Guinea Australia Cooking 246

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. Lion – much easier to see than an Aardvark In contrast to East Africa, encounters with mammals while out birding in Europe are relatively few. Why not the stoat family or the badger family?)

Fur 245

Fur Otters Bulgaria Estonia 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. With more than 312 so far recorded bird species, Lake Kerkini National Park offers great birding year-round. Other important breeding species include Black and White Stork , Lesser Spotted , White-tailed , and Booted Eagle.

Greece 264

Greece Wildlife Boars Otters 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2015

I’m a big fan of the antelopes, a group that is most commonly associated with Africa but which also occurs in Asia and, if you stretch the term to be cladistically meaningful, Europe and North America. By this I mean applying the term antelope to cover all of the family Bovidae, which would include the sheep, goats and ox.

Africa 225

Africa Wolves Goats Sheep 225

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2019

It’s a rush any new birder experiences: that of every species being a lifer. But the opportunities to see new species become more difficult with each one seen. But the opportunities to see new species become more difficult with each one seen. Even so, I was able to see 54 species, of which fully half were lifers.

Spain 214

Spain Europe Sparrows Mexico 214

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2012

One of the sweetest subsections of the duck family has to be the sawbills, formally known as mergansers. Mergansers are a family of diving waterfowl in Merginae , the seaduck subfamily of Anatidae. It is also a species in rapid decline, considered vulnerable by some authorities and endangered by others. Notice the sawbill?

North America 247

North America Thailand Russia Ducks 247

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2012

Specifically, rural northwestern Spain, at various points along the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route to the supposed burial place of Saint James the apostle and, before that, to the westernmost point in continental Europe, the supposed End of the Earth, the Finis Terra. My journey started off in the city of Leon.

Spain 231

Spain Europe Rodents France 231

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2011

The Hyacinth Macaw is more than just another pretty face; these birds are social with strong family values. The Hyacinth Macaw doesn’t start a family until it is seven years old. Such cavities are hard to find and are sometimes disputed by more than one species.

Protection 247

Protection Brazil Parrots Paraguay 247

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Its natural range in Europe was restricted the the surroundings of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and in Asia it ranged from Asia Minor to central China. Contradicting this relentless shooting were efforts to establish feral populations in many regions of Europe, both within and outside its natural range. Now, enjoy the pictures.

Feral 215

Feral Europe Asia North America 215

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.

Austria 299

Austria Factory Asia Battery 299

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2015

To us on the traditional side of the Atlantic, they’ll always belong to the family Iznogoudae , the birds who want to become warblers instead of the warblers. The genus Passer has several well-recognized and recognizable species in Europe, and still holds several enigmas. And do they ever try so hard.

Sparrows 258

Sparrows Italy Asia Kyrgyzstan 258

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.

Africa 266

Africa Gabon South Africa Uganda 266

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2023

Lake Kerkini National Park in the north of Greece is the very best birding area in the Balkan Peninsula and definitely among the top ten hotspots of Europe. Some 320 species have been recorded here, and in springtime it is possible to observe more than 150 bird species in a week. The lake lies at a mere 35 m / 115 ft a.s.l.

Greece 246

Greece Pelicans Stray Dog Tortoises 246

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2021

Of the thirty or so members of the family Icteridae that go by the name “oriole” on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, several species are partial enough to fruit that they even visit feeders that offer it as jelly, as the sugar-preserved form usually reserved for human consumption is known.

2017 263

2017 Portugal Europe Africa 263

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 24, 2021

Now that we’re officially into autumn as of yesterday afternoon, there may be a few swallows lingering along the riverways and reservoirs here, and some may be found here and there into October, but by and large, the several species of swallows we see around here are birds of the summer. Keulemans (1842-1912). 1246-1260).

2016 264

2016 Europe New York Africa 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2012

The Edwards’s Pheasant is a rather smart blue-black member of the pheasant family and it may be on the edge of extinction. It has recently been reclassified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List; this category is reserved for only the most threatened species in the world.

Vietnam 200

Vietnam 2000 Germany Asia 200

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Starting in the mid-1990s, there was a “where to watch birds in…” series of five site guides written by Nigel Wheatley and covering South America (1994), Africa (1995), Asia (1996), Europe & Russia (2000) and Central America & the Caribbean (2001). Family accounts for all 142 bird families recorded from the region.

Africa 229

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 229

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 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 264

Compassion Birds Eagles Science 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2011

It can be during migration, in an enormous nesting colony, or with a very gregarious species. It was June 14 in 2008, when we stopped by the dam for a nice walk after lunch with family in the mountains. It’s a common species throughout Cyprus and Europe for that matter, but sometimes the common can impress.

Cyprus 162

Cyprus 2008 Europe Experience 162

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 21, 2021

It helps that there is a little bird hide almost on top of the hill, guarded by a Chinese lady and attracting a substantial number of species of birds and birders. The hide also attracts three species of minla – Blue-tailed Minla , Chestnut-tailed Minla and Red-tailed Minla. Possible, I guess.

China 264

China Birds Zebras Germany 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2014

Parrots captivate me more than any other bird family. For one, they are remarkably diverse with a little over 380 species spread over every continent except Europe (only introduced) and Antarctica. However, they do not occur evenly across their familial distribution. I am a self-proclaimed psittacophile. Most do not.

Parrots 205

Parrots Brazil Mauritius Dominica 205

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

Cuba (twice), South America (twice), Europe and Morocco (once) and Bali (once). The third weekend of January, I travelled to the coastal city of Acapulco to give a seminar on family finances at a church there. And my one lifer for the trip was a family of Rufous-naped Wrens that apparently live in the same garden.

2006 235

2006 Morocco Birds Mexico 235

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2019

Born in a different era, when bird photography was difficult, I gave many advice how to write the basic info, but the strangest thing to novices today turned out to be the advice on sketching the unknown species. Still, besides documenting rare species, forms, or odd individuals (e.g. Why should I sketch it, I am lousy at that.

Costa Rica 196

Costa Rica Birds Greece Colombia 196

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2016

The Azure-winged Magpie is a pretty member of the crow family found in Eastern Asia, from Siberia and Japan down to Hong Kong. It was in Hong Kong that I caught up with the species, as it is easy to find in the splendid wetlands of Mai Po. Oh that birds like it were more widely distributed in Europe today! Are they taunting me?

Spain 145

Spain Portugal Asia Japan 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2020

A pair of Pestvogelen : Bohemian Waxwings ( Bombycilla garrulus ) from Nederlandsche vogelen (“ Dutch Birds” ) by naturalist and illustrator Cornelius Nozeman (1720-1786) and Christiaan Andreas Sepp (1700-1775) and Jan Christiaan Sepp (1739-1811) of the famous Amsterdam publishing family.

Farming 243

Farming New York Europe France 243

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

Here they are a common breeding bird, one of our two species that migrate from here to Europe and then south. They are everywhere right now, as the families make their way from uplands down to the water’s edge. Why does this Common Ringed Plover have eight legs? With some serious legs. Calling for mom.

Eggs 247

Eggs North America Breeding Europe 247

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Elephant The big – two species of elephant are now recognized as occuring in Africa, the smaller and more secretive Forest Elephant and the larger, more familiar African or Bush Elephant. The little – the two species of black Buffalo Weavers obtain their appellation from their dark coloration that resembles their fearsome namesake.

Buffalo 246

Buffalo Rhinoceros Leopards Elephants 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2015

They are typically easy places to reach, easy to get about in, safe, and serve as a natural primer for many of the species you’re going to be seeing on a trip. To me they are quintessentially African, but these days the goose is well on the way to being and established native to Europe and guineafowl have been domesticated everywhere.

Africa 245

Africa South Africa Mongoose Birds 245

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 9, 2011

Of course, I’m speaking of the mysterious Wood Stork , Mycteria americana , the only representative of that famous family to regularly occur north of the Mexican border and present in large numbers along the northern coast of South Carolina, where I found myself a couple weekends back. This is a bird with some pedigree.

Pedigree 193

Pedigree North America South Carolina Brazil 193

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Illustrated by Chandler’s mainly excellent photos, the book shows about 180 species, or some 80 % of the total. Basically, it is an overview of the world’s 226 shorebird (in Europe: wader) species (following the IOC checklist), proceeded by essays on their plumages and behavior. What is it, then?

Botswana 178

Botswana 2017 Groups Europe 178

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2019

Just imagine a family excursion to Yellowstone to photograph grazing herds of elephants – equally wrong. E.g. someone capable of telling the CGI masterminds that the crows at the corpses couldn’t be the Carrion Crows of Western, but the Hooded Crows of Eastern Europe? Something was very wrong. Map by Wikipedia.

Protection 202

Protection Elephants Owls Laws 202

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2015

And the squirrel I will post about is indeed what it seems : a cute, little, ferocious, nest-predatory, butt-kicking, cuddly and adorable native critter of Europe, the Eurasian Red Squirrel. Germany, like most of Europe and very much unlike North America, is home to only one species of squirrel. And aren’t you glad it is.

Squirrels 162

Squirrels North America Germany Europe 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2016

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America covers 827 species, including resident, migratory, and common vagrant birds. The end result is that the whole “biographic” area (NCA plus southern Mexico and northern Nicaragua) is home to 41 endemic bird species.

El Salvador 235

El Salvador America Costa Rica Honduras 235

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2021

In fact, this is probably a species that has substantially expanded its original range through the pet shop route and the resulting escapees. Originally restricted to Africa, it is now also well-established in parts of Europe and South Africa. The HBW describes the species as “striking”, which is well deserved.

South Africa 264

South Africa Africa Lesotho Nigeria 264