10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

Babita Tours has many years of experience organizing tailor-made wildlife tours for private groups in this wonderful country. On a recent visit I threw my bags in the hotel room and went straight there, and got over 60 species of birds in a few hours and fantastic views of Nilgai , the largest antelope in India.

India 195

India Wildlife Tigers Rhinoceros 195

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 12, 2021

“I don’t know anyone else crazy enough to try 12s,” my friend answered when told that I am about to test NL Pure 12×42. With such a background, my decision to test the new birding frontier of Swarovski 12×42 extra-wide FOV binoculars didn’t appear strange at all – to me, at least. What do you think? Are 12s right for birding?

Birds 264

Birds Raised Rights Experiments 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2020

Factors like temperature, weather, and availability of food sources drive avian distribution, but the single most influential factor regarding how many species you might see this month is YOU. My business trip to Florida to host the Tests and the Rest Winter Conference 2020 was more than just a professional success.

2020 158

2020 Florida Ducks Owls 158

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2021

I strained to see them, could only see an occasional booby escape our bow, watch some of the hundreds of Wedge-tailed and Pink-footed Shearwaters zip by and hold on as our boat tested its speed. As we approached and drew nearly alongside the small seabirds, we also tested the limits of our optics, our balance, and our focus.

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Dolphins Sea Turtles Turtles 264

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

I recently birded the Tualatin River NWR near Portland, Oregon, and made that my test case for a deeper dive into the Mobile Track. The refuge is a popular birding location , and it has 229 species observed and nearly 8,000 checklists submitted.

Portland 258

Portland Oregon Washington Geese 258

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2023

As usual, my experience with such boardwalks was somewhat underwhelming, as was Eshowe as a whole, but there were still a few birds worth mentioning at the forest and in the area surrounding Eshowe. The White-eared Barbet is another bird species with an annoyingly sensible Latin species name, leucotis (white-eared).

South Africa 147

South Africa Africa 2018 Birds 147

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

Only a couple articles back I described the experience of a morning’s birding along this road. This skulking species always manages to elude me. A little annoyed at myself for squandering that opportunity, I sat with my coffee and breakfast and made a few test images using a few of the ever-cooperative Bananaquits on show.

Trinidad 227

Trinidad Squirrels Species Birds 227

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Myers, a professional birding guide in “real life,” summarizes the etymology and history of all common bird names (of bird families and groups, not all 10,000-plus species). The guide covers 265 of Maine’s 461 bird species: common nesting species, common migrants, and wintering birds.

Sri Lanka 235

Sri Lanka Malaysia Suriname Malawi 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2013

Indeed, can you truly experience the wonder of nature from the confines of a vehicle? This is what we have to remember: - Many species are easier to observe at close range from a vehicle than on foot. - Always, always, have binoculars and camera within reach when you are driving around on a birding trip.

LACS 134

LACS North Dakota Costa Rica Idaho 134

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2015

I had racked up only twenty-odd species, all of which I’d have to be blindfolded to not see if I spent a year in New York City. At least I could test them out. Did I have a lovely experience with the birds as well? My big year, after starting off with an incredible rarity , had fizzled.

New York City 155

New York City Squirrels Bears Owls 155

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

I savor the timeless experience of scanning these tropical waves for storm-petrels and lost jaegers. With around 400 species recorded for the area, yeah, it’s where we might all like to quarantine for a bit! Want to see a high quality video showing 53 species only be found in Costa Rica and adjacent western Panama?

Costa Rica 221

Costa Rica Birds Thailand Farming 221

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2016

and dreaming of a place where the heat is moderate, beer snake-cold and birds innumerable… Let’s say, where the average annual maximum varies from 22 to 24 degrees Celsius / 72 to 75 Fahrenheit and where some 700+ bird species – 24 of them endemic – are waiting for an intrepid birder… Answer to the riddle?

Africa 136

Africa Uganda Gorillas Rwanda 136

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 1, 2014

The lure of an staggering number of species at a particular location is a draw for many people. In fact, the number of “heard only” annotations next to a species names is more frequent in bird list resulting from rainforest birding than birding in any other habitat type. Birding in the Amazon Rainforest has its pros and cons.

Peru 189

Peru United Kingdom Birds South Africa 189

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

I like to see birds for a long time and hear their vocalization; even if these are common species. Ok, I had studied the storm-petrels, but these were far and could not get a long-enough view at them to test how well or badly prepared I was. For someone who wants to tick these species, the nuances of pelagic birding justify the end.

Peru 191

Peru Birds Albatross Experiments 191

10,000 Birds

JUNE 14, 2015

All the world’s redpolls probably represent a single species, and redpolls probably look different in different places more because of environmental influences on how their genes are expressed than because of stable underlying differences in the genes themselves. ” What to do?

Species 247

Species Research Humane Birds 247

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2015

Unbroken corridors connecting Finca Luna Nueva to outstanding habitat like the 50,000 acre Children’s Eternal Rainforest also help attract rare deep forest species like White-fronted Nunbird. Corey and I put the lodge’s birdiness to the test as members of the team covering Finca Luna Nueva for the 2014 Arenal Bird Count.

Costa Rica 250

Costa Rica Birds Farming 2014 250

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2015

Plasticity in humans is probably modulated primarily through experience and enculturation. Most likely, all individuals of a given species have very similar genes guiding very similar developmental processes, but produce different results because the plasticity itself is selected for.

Birds 124

Birds Research Pets Hunters 124

10,000 Birds

MAY 17, 2012

Knowledge is more likely to be shared via shared experience than the exchange of data, though both happen. Experiments had been done which involved strapping magnets to the heads of homing pigeons to see if you could confuse them. I was also eventually to learn that Efe do not have an uncanny built in sense of direction.

Compassion 213

Compassion Research Cooking Transported 213

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

I am deeply troubled and angry that the National Institute of Health wants to move almost 200 chimpanzees from this facility to a laboratory in Texas where they may be subjected to testing. This is a matter of human compassion to prevent the further suffering of animals that have already served this species in prior experiments.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Primates New Mexico Animal Research 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

This non-technical book is a development from a series of lectures, tried and tested in numerous adult education courses given to non-specialists. I don’t really know – from my own experience with school bullies or from Jack London’s novels? Cactus finch, Geospiza species. Galapagos cactus finch, Geospiza species.

Animal 115

Animal Bears Stray Dog Blackbirds 115

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

We are entering the mixed colony of 11 species ( Grey , Squacco , Purple and Black-crowned Night Herons ; Great , Little and, recently, Cattle Egrets ; Eurasian Spoonbill (below) and Glossy Ibis ; Pygmy and Great Cormorant ). I do have experience with this species from Bodrum, Turkey; it is daring, bold and cocky, and is impossible to forget.

Greece 198

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 198

10,000 Birds

MAY 19, 2015

The feature distinguishes birds from other species; All birds have them, no other species do. Beaks vary across different kinds of birds, and this great diversity in beaks is part of the great diversity of the 10,000+ species of birds that exist today; Beaks thus facilitated the diversification of birds.

Alligators 219

Alligators Chickens Research Reptiles 219

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2011

For Corey, this was a weekend without a single standout species but with many birds that were pretty darn neat. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. Mar 19th, 2011 at 8:26 pm Corey, I am jealous of your Red-breasted Merganser experience at JBWR and the flight shots.

2011 133

2011 Deer Owls Lions 133

Critter News

JUNE 4, 2009

Researchers can continue most experiments on mankind's closest relatives -- chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans -- after European Union lawmakers watered down proposals to restrict testing.

Medical Research 100

Medical Research Medical Research Apes 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2018

Since he first started walking his property, he’s located a slew of species so exciting that birders are starting to turn up at his doorstep. Nonetheless, a birder’s initial experience in Honduras sets him or her on an inexorable course towards the only species currently named for this gem of a country. Maradiaga.

Honduras 144

Honduras Birds Farming America 144

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Understanding a pointed finger may seem easy, but consider this: while humans and canines can do it naturally, no other known species in the animal kingdom can. It’s no coincidence that the two species that pass Hare’s pointing test also share a profound cross-species bond.

Wolves 100

Wolves Fox Dogs Apes 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2017

There is no experience comparable to birding a dump, and, I have to say, I have never experienced a dump like this one. Seeing this giant, awkward yet majestic bird walk through the densely littered landscape was a surreal experience. (4) I saw this Greater Adjutant in Assam, India, where they scavenge in the Guwahati city dump.

2016 112

2016 India Ducks Costa Rica 112

Critter News

JULY 20, 2009

Testing drugs on animal is unpleasant. There is only one alternative to testing drugs on animals: testing them on humans. Once we are no longer so advanced, should we then be valued less and then subjected to experiments for this new and "unique" species of the future? No one likes doing it. How about this?

Medical Research 100

Medical Research Animal Research Medical Research 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

Betty’s Bay was also a great place to see all of South Africa’s cormorant species, including the endangered Bank Cormorant. We observed far fewer Lesser Flamingos, a near-threatened species. It was the first of six bustard species I would see over the course of both trips. And then there were the Flamingos.

South Africa 254

South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 254

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

The experience is one of the ornithological highlights in the world. The field site I am assigned to is located in one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world and home to a particularly rich avifauna that numbers well over 500 species. That’s right – birds eating clay. Scarlet Macaws.

Peru 255

Peru Parrots 2011 Deer 255

10,000 Birds

MARCH 6, 2011

If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. On Sunday at Kissena Park I saw five species of sparrows. A mixed species flock of sparrows (american tree, field and chipping) was by the bike track parking lot. What was your best bird of the weekend?

2011 155

2011 New York Deer Philadelphia 155

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

Most of all, I love showing people birds, species both common and mysteriously evasive. Whether a birder is eager for eyefulls of common species or needs to test the birding Zen and. Although we didn’t start out the birding that way, on the third day, we did find ourselves wondering if we were approaching 300 species.

Costa Rica 190

Costa Rica Species San Jose Birds 190

Animal Person

NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Though most people don't think about it this way, when you choose to eat animals or wear animals or use products that were tested on animals or have animal byproducts in them, you are choosing harm. It's about not fetishizing one species while making an industry of torturing others. You are choosing violence.

Vegan 100

Vegan Factory Farm Factory Farming Slaughtered 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2011

About the Author Mike Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but what he really aspires to be is a naturalist. Turkeys, 3 or 4 species of woodpeckers, all kinds of song birds grace our view constantly. Stop by our blog for some nice shots and share the experience!! As I said, we are blessed.

2011 150

2011 Deer South Dakota Costa Rica 150

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2021

And my decision to take this as a learning experience led to some interesting conclusions — and even some pretty cool birds. It was time to test the umbrella method again. I had already chosen to go back up to Lake Cuitzeo on this particular day (October 25th). Wet mudflats are the muddiest mudflats. But so worth it!

Blackbirds 229

Blackbirds Shelters Ducks Mexico 229

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2022

Solid Air: Invisible Killer- Saving Billions of Birds from Windows is the summation of Dr. Klem’s expertise, experience, and professional life–what we scientifically know about bird and glass collisions, a handbook on how to prevent them, and, not insignificantly, the story of a remarkable career.

New York City 259

New York City Illinois Science Killing 259

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2024

Phoebe Snetsinger was an American birder who first passed the 8,000 species mark. Before leaving the safety of the car I heeded the park’s advice and checked for animal tracks belonging to any biting, gnawing, mauling, trampling, stabbing or disembowelling species. Having learned from my Namibian experience I walked away briskly.

Mozambique 226

Mozambique Ghana Namibia Birds 226