10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2013

So naturally, I got to thinking about kinglets, and their Palearctic kin, the “crests,” and where they belong in the avian family tree. The family Regulidae comprises six small, hyperactive species that range through the great boreal and temperate forests North and Middle America, North Africa, and Eurasia.

Family 184

Family Guatemala Japan Mexico 184

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Similarly, descriptions of species repeated across volumes do not lose their accuracy with each publication. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed. Why are these issues?

Costa Rica 217

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 217

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. The shrikes are one of the most handsome of bird families. An everyday bird, the Woodpigeon.

Cyprus 212

Cyprus Greece Spain Europe 212

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2020

While the 480-odd species recorded within T&T may outstrip our fellow Caribbean islands by leaps and bounds, it pales in comparison to the massive lists of mainland South and Central America. T&T boasts a fascinating level of biodiversity, however the relatively small size of the islands puts a limit on individual species diversity.

Trinidad 259

Trinidad Family America Species 259

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2023

I mean that in a good way: By automatically showing one’s new year list each January 1st, and comparing it to one’s last several year lists, they always make me want to hit the ground running with as many species in my first week as I can manage. For example, of the 9 duck species we saw, 7 are winter-only.

Blackbirds 147

Blackbirds Ducks Mexico 2020 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

South Africa 229

South Africa Malaysia Africa China 229

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

A nice example is the male Black-breasted Thrush. The Latin species name is dissimilis (different, unlike), possibly because the female looks quite different from the male (though based on that explanation, dissimilis would have to be a very common species name). Baihualing has its share of attractive thrushes. Then it is tame.

Horses 197

Horses Family Blackbirds Species 197

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

Or would be, had I encountered more of them – so far, I have seen only a very small share of the approximately 233 woodpecker species, and got decent photos of an even smaller number – not much more than 10% of all of them. So, writing a post about them is easy.

Woodpeckers 235

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2024

This is the home of the Rusty-naped Pitta , admittedly one of the less glamorous of the family, particularly the subspecies found in Yunnan, but still a nice sight and still a pitta. The scientific species name of the Rusty-naped Pitta oatesi honors Eugene William Oates (1845-1911), an English civil servant in India and naturalist.

Burma 203

Burma India Thailand Indonesia 203

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

The text goes far beyond just those two birds, however, as Doug works his way through the puzzles presented by the incredibly wide diversity of bird behavior, even within species, citing current research and new and old theories, reasoning out the most likely and unlikely answers. The six middle chapters are my favorite reading. ” (p.

Science 218

Science Albatross Research Owls 218

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2022

As this African Green Pigeon shows, the color should offer good camouflage for species living on trees. In case you do not know that brimstone is sulfur, the Brimstone Canary brings the point home by having the Latin species name sulphurata. Different bird families, I know. Lucia for the birds. Celebration everywhere.

South Africa 203

South Africa Africa Saint Lucia Camels 203

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

For example, many photos are shot in poor light, obscuring the true colours. Lees and Gilroy delineate vagrancy status and trends for every bird family worldwide, highlighting examples, synthesizing research, and framing it all with their own thoughts and conclusions. Yes, this is a shameless plug, but it’s also true.].

Sri Lanka 230

Sri Lanka Malaysia Suriname Malawi 230

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

There is something about a mature rainforest, for example, that cannot be replicated by any human. For the purpose of this post being of a reasonable length, I’m only going to touch on members of the Tyrannidae family of New World Flycatchers which can be found in the cocoa estates of Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad 217

Trinidad Abandon Abandonment Abandoning 217

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 18, 2021

Insects and a host of other invertebrate life have evolved with these plant species, and thus depend on them. Of interest to birders, Tallamy also presents data demonstrating that the breeding success of chickadees, for example, numbers of surviving chicks, correlates positively with the number of native trees in the immediate vicinity.

North America 264

North America Wildlife Mammals Breeding 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2024

Their discoveries, writings, art, and lives are woven in and out of chapters focused on bird families (thrushes, shorebirds, warblers), places (Florida, Texas), significant points in North American ornithological history (Wilson versus Audubon in Philadelphia), and the big topics of taxonomy and conservation. The mind reels.

Philadelphia 245

Philadelphia Birds Investigation North America 245

10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2022

At this moment, Baihualing is the eBird hotspot in China which has by far the largest number of species – 486. With 398 species, Nanhui is trailing far behind despite being covered by a much larger number of checklists (2225 compared to 608). So, it is certainly justified to cover this spot in more than one post.

Litter 216

Litter China Abandon Abandonment 216

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Each family is given a double-page spread. Each species is described only by features that may (although not always) be seen in flight; those impossible to notice in flight are omitted. Each species is described only by features that may (although not always) be seen in flight; those impossible to notice in flight are omitted.

Europe 244

Europe Asia Cyprus Turkey 244

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2022

The one bird I did not see here, however, was the Bateleur Eagle … One highlight in the area is the Saddle-billed Stork , likely to be the tallest species in the stork family. The African Spoonbill is one of the six global spoonbill species, and the main African one (there are also some Eurasian Spoonbills in Africa).

Ostriches 147

Ostriches Parrots Eggs Africa 147

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2024

The proximity to the Myanmar border is reflected in the presence of Burmese Shrikes here – on the wrong side of the border, but it is well known that this species has never been particularly good at geography. This photo explains the scientific species name haemacephalus (bloodheaded).

Myanmar 181

Myanmar Sri Lanka Nepal Niger 181

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2022

Both Trinidad and Tobago share over a hundred species but within the mix are many that are found on one island and not the other. The disparity in species could be stark, for example if one were to bird on different sides of the planet. I don’t keep lists but one of my guests did and the final tally was 166 species.

Trinidad 258

Trinidad Turkey Squirrels Cows 258

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2021

Family-owned since 1972, the property’s first guests were volcanologists from the Smithsonian Institute. When the researchers returned home during their time off, they would tell their friends and family about the magic of this place, and year after year more and more people began arriving.

Costa Rica 154

Costa Rica Reptiles Mammals Research 154

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 11, 2021

Similarly, the Alpine Leaf Warbler is one of the more attractive species in an otherwise almost indistinguishable family of identical leaf warblers. (“But the difference in wing bars, Kai!”). As in many bird species, the less attractive female is easier to photograph. We also got a few other species there as well.

North Korea 242

North Korea China Birds Woodpeckers 242

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2023

If you have much interest in birds, you may well have seen videos of the very comical mating dance of male Red-capped Manakins , a species whose range stretches from southeast Mexico to South America. For example, highland Michoacán has two gorgeous trogon species. This tree’s roots can be pretty cool, too.

Mexico 170

Mexico Woodpeckers South America Species 170

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2022

Wood-Wrens , birds of the family Henicorhina , are very small wrens of Central and South America that like to live very close to the ground, in dense forest underbrush or elfin forests. It’s a long drive, at least an hour of steadily climbing twists and turns; but there are high-altitude species I can only see there.

Mexico 194

Mexico South America America Species 194

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 248

Botswana Africa Ecuador Birds 248

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2021

Just last year, 5 new bird species and 5 new subspecies were discovered in a few short weeks of fieldwork on the islands of Taliabu, Peleng and Batudaka. In recent years Indonesia has been competing with the Andes as the region giving rise to the biggest number of undescribed bird species (naturally, all of them endemics).

Indonesia 264

Indonesia Timor Brunei Guinea 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2019

However, I know almost none of the German names of the birds here and am even a bit surprised there apparently is a German name for each species (I cannot imagine there is too much use for German names of some purely Asian species). For example, there is the Black-faced Bunting. Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (male). Well, no more!

China 192

China Eagles Cats Owls 192

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 10, 2020

A metaphor for life, I am tempted to say, if this wasn`t such a meaningless thing to say … November is a good time for several species of buntings, of which I am quite fond of. While Long-tailed Shrikes are the second hand car dealers of the Nanhui bird world, some of the other members of the shrike family are a bit more subtle.

Stray 244

Stray Asia Industry Family 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2022

Examples are the fairywren species and the Varied Sittella. Last year when we camped at Langi Crossing the family of Varied Sittellas that are usually in the area had birds amongst them that were clearly juvenile. I always seem to hear some of the smaller shriller sounding birds, which Grant does not.

Suffering 187

Suffering Australia Fish Humane 187

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2022

Among these, one must certainly include the New World-only hummingbird family. This peak lines up with the arrival of multiple migratory hummingbird species. And while these species will stay for the entire winter, they will never be as easy to see as they are during these two months. Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Spain 147

Spain Jordan Turkey Species 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Despite depicting 540 species/56 families, it is a lightweight book of 173 pages, easy to pack and carry. Mammals of South Asia follows the latest taxonomy, describes all the species recorded within the region and provides a range map for each species. Larger species, that is, excluding dolphins and whales.

Mammals 177

Mammals Asia Sri Lanka Bhutan 177

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds. So, when British natural history writer Jon Dunn (not to be confused with U.S.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Brazil Bolivia Ecuador 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2023

Even the Latin species name soror (“sister”) indicates the similarity to another pitta species (blue-naped). The eBird description of the Small Niltava starts with the surprisingly dull statement that “size distinguishes this species from other niltavas” Who would have thought.

China 232

China Birds Pythons Eagles 232

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Bad developments indeed, particularly as the White-backed Vulture was found to be a good avian biomonitor species – if it does badly, most likely the environment as a whole will do badly, too. I could immediately tell them it was an Egyptian Goose – an invasive species in Germany but not at Kruger. students comes in handy).

Elephants 147

Elephants Congo Birds Africa 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2021

Some other members of the shrike family were a bit less testosterone-driven at Nanhui – like this Bull-headed Shrike … … this rather attractive-looking Tiger Shrike … … or one of the many Brown Shrikes passing through Nanhui on migration. Then, I was not sure whether this was the right thing to do. ” Hm.

LACS 232

LACS Birds France Japan 232

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2019

Consider, for example, the Summer Tanager. This is an easy species for me to see in my region — any time BUT in summer. The winter-only nature of migratory species can cause other name problems, such as with the Indigo Bunting. Rufous-sided, for example, would still work perfectly. What is the problem?

Mexico 113

Mexico America Species Family 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2024

This post starts like every birding blog post should start – by showcasing some bulbul species. Yes, I am joking. According to the highly successful book ” 7 Habits of Highly Successful Birding Blog Post Writers”, only about 50% of birding blog posts should start with bulbuls).

Birds 145

Birds Owls China Research 145