10,000 Birds

JULY 2, 2024

It’s a book that counterpoints and combines facts and personal experiences, science-based and eloquent writing styles, textual description and visual information, a history of abundance and an uncertain future. There are also introductions to a couple of related species within the family sections–Golden-Plovers and Willets.

North America 264

North America America 2006 Delaware 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2012

My family and I have taken our show to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. We haven’t seen many birds yet, but did enjoy the sight of a juvenile Peregrine Falcon unruffled by a mob of belligerent Blue Jays. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

Michigan 159

Michigan 2012 Falcons Birds 159

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2019

A falconer and his bird from the Mosaico de Cavaleiro in Mértola, possibly the oldest depiction of falconry in Iberia. Colorful birds adorn many of the pages of the so-called Cervera Bible and several captivating miniatures portray hunting scenes with falcons.

2016 154

2016 Portugal Belgium Falcons 154

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2013

Speaking of hawks, two talented and extremely knowledgeable falconers, Marie Gaspari Crawford and Chloe Bowen, shared with us their birds and their experiences. It’s small enough to provide hands-on, interactive experiences with experts that may not be so easy to achieve at larger festivals with crowds of people.

Nevada 208

Nevada Barn Owls Cows Lamb 208

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2011

The lagoon outside offered other experiences too. Golden Gate Park was next and it delivered with a family of Great Horned Owls , nesting Cooper’s Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks , coyotes, an annual American Bittern , Belted Kingfishers , Brown Creepers , and a host of small songbirds that I’m still getting to know.

San Francisco 242

San Francisco California Condor Coyotes Iceland 242

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 8, 2013

However, the great birding experience that is Sani starts lower down. A family of endangered Wattled Cranes might be a highlight of the lower sections of the Sani Pass road, by Adam Riley. Buff-streaked Chats and Cape Rock-Thrushes sing from boulder tops, and family huddles of Ground Woodpeckers emit their rather gull-like shrieks.

Lesotho 207

Lesotho Rats Africa Woodpeckers 207

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

Raptors to look for in this reserve are Golden Eagle and Short-toed Snake Eagle , European Honey-buzzard and Peregrine Falcon. The good side of this popularity is presence of restaurants and inns (from personal experience I can recommend a place for carnivores called Vodopad – By the waterfall).

Serbia 264

Serbia Woodpeckers Owls Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Steve Howell has spent decades of experience in the field studying the birds of Belize, Costa Rica, and especially Mexico. Checklist for Belize lists 622 species in 76 families, of which 104 are rare or accidental and four introduced. This is particularly helpful for bird families that might be new to birders.

Costa Rica 245

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2021

Groups them by family too and by their shape” His extra long arm extended and passed me that precious book. One such surprising experience happened with grouse. In keeping with gamebird tradition, my first experience with grouse wasn’t one of a bird on a branch or something singing from a tree. “Check it out!”

Costa Rica 264

Costa Rica Chickens Pennsylvania Litter 264

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2011

Kirby Adams had a magical experience with his Best Bird of the Year and he blogged about it on his blog, Sharp Tern. My family also farms so that limits places we are able to go throughout the year. The African Pygmy Falcon finally showed itself after years of being a nemesis bird I didn’t even know I had.

2011 165

2011 Ohio North Dakota Bald Eagle 165

10,000 Birds

JULY 7, 2020

They portray the nesting cycles of Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Robin, illustrating the various ways in which birds create families. Do they have families too and do they take care of them? Some of the chapters focus on a specific bird, most are about bird families like hawks, tanagers, wrens, etc.,

2020 264

2020 Birds North America Sparrows 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2012

if you look at my year list you can figure out what the bird is…and, trust me, there is a bird up there After the cool, skulking, secretive lifer my overwhelmed brain decided that the nearby perched raptor was a falcon and ordered my mouth to let all within earshot know that I had a falcon. What a bird!

Honduras 205

Honduras 2009 Falcons Guatemala 205

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2015

Recent publicity about these remarkable tribes has resulted in tourists wanting to experience this wild land and its attractions for themselves. Quality time was spent with a friendly Hamar family at their homestead of grass huts surrounding their cattle corral.

Ethiopia 255

Ethiopia Sudan Leopards Cattle 255

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2019

Snowcap and White-tipped Sicklebill – Choice hummingbirds in a speciose, fantastic family of birds. One of those occasions was by invitation from the San Vito Birding Club , a memorable experience I will cover in another blog post. We saw both of these beauties at known sites near the edge of Braulio Carrillo National Park.

Costa Rica 203

Costa Rica Species Birds New York 203

10,000 Birds

JULY 9, 2017

My family and I enjoyed the Corn Hill Festival this weekend, which is definitely one of Rochester’s better events. As a bonus, I spotted one of our resident city Peregrine Falcons soaring along the Genesee River. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

2017 100

2017 Endangered Species Falcons Birds 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2023

It is home to four diverse forest ecosystems (deciduous, mixed, boreal, and lowlands), experiences seasonal weather systems ranging from cold dry Arctic winters to humid, thunder-storm filled summers, and, according to the latest official checklist, hosts four professional sports teams with bird names.* state and Canadian provinces.

North America 245

North America Birds Owls Canada 245

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2019

Clearly, author Phyllis Limbacher Tildes, the author of 24, soon to be 25, children’s books, is also a birder (and a little research brings up a presentation she gave at Ogeechee Audubon, Georgia with the biographical information and she and her family “love watching birds and wildlife seen near their lagoon on Skidaway Island.”

New York City 188

New York City Pelicans Penguins New York 188

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2016

Sharing those special birds with so many like-minded people of all ages may have been the most magical experience on race day. I should also mention that Eilat was easy to visit, service excellent and professional, the cuisine likewise excellent, and the surroundings safe enough to visit with the entire family.

Israel 189

Israel Costa Rica Eagles Raised 189

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2016

There are 28 chapters—“Waders,” “Large Waterside Birds,” “Owls and nightjars,” “Birds of prey” (pulling together vultures, hawks and falcons), “Aerial feeders” (swifts, swallows, martins), etc.—plus So, how do you find the species account for Kestrel if falcons are not placed between woodpeckers and parakeet?

Ireland 175

Ireland Birds Falcons Turtles 175

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

Within families, the species are arranged less taxonomically and more in line with “design and space considerations,” (Introduction), and on the plates themselves, species are arranged to facilitate comparison. I wish the flight images for the hawks, falcons, parakeets, and parrots were larger.

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Some birds are put next to each other to aid in the identification process, for example, falcons follow hawks. Additional helpful design features include the names of family groups against a yellow-and-white striped background on every page corner and having every bird image facing right (except for that Common Loon chick!),

Los Angeles 241

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 241

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Hence, the experiment was created: a plot was fenced off to keep the animals away and now willow saplings did survive being submerged for half a year. I do have experience with this species from Bodrum, Turkey; it is daring, bold and cocky, and is impossible to forget. And they both graze grass and browse younger branches and saplings.

Greece 203

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 203

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2013

Hornbills are spectacular under any circumstances, but when a pair lands in a bush beside you at eye-level and begin mutual preening , it makes for a spectacular experience. I was attending the 3rd Global Bird-watching Conference in Gujarat and suddenly surrounded not just be species that were completely new, but entire families of birds.

2013 169

2013 Costa Rica Birds India 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2017

Can a family-focused trip—even to one of the world’s most biodiverse countries—deliver enough opportunities for avian observation to satisfy this serious world birder? With enough planning, you can enjoy a family-friendly, bird-rich vacation in the Panama Canal zone. If you have kids, you’re probably as curious as I was.

Panama 100

Panama 2017 Monkeys Family 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2019

The Checklist is more than a taxonomic listing of species and chapter number and title; it also contains useful notes on each bird family. Finches, for example, are “especially prone to nomadism,” and Falcons, as many experienced birders know, are more closely related to parrots and songbirds than to hawks and eagles.

North America 118

North America Birds Prairie Dogs Barn Owls 118

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2024

They can be challenging to identify, especially if you haven’t seen one before, though with experience they are not really so difficult. If you see a flock of kestrels in southern Europe, then the chances are that they will be Lessers, for the Common Kestrel never flocks, though occasionally in summer you will see a family hunting together.

Falcons 241

Falcons Spain Europe Portugal 241

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2013

I haven’t done any surveys, but I would bet my binoculars that images and stories of hawks attract more attention and adoration from birders and the average person on the street than any other bird family. Families do not hike up mountains to sit all day on pointy rocks to watch woodpeckers. Those cameras are aimed at hawks.

Bald Eagle 249

Bald Eagle North America Falcons Owls 249

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Illustrations were created using diverse visual and physical source materials–skin collections from Australian museums and a database of over 300,000 photographs (plus, of course, the artists’ years of field experience). Each family group begins with a small box summarizing the characteristics of the family in Australia.

Australia 122

Australia Penguins Birds New Zealand 122

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2011

Many a birding trip starts with a longish drive from the airport to the first birding site with these common roadside birds being the first taste you get of a country’s wildlife, and I feel that many bird trip reports, interested mostly in mega-rarities, gloss over the amazing experience this first drive can give.

New Zealand 198

New Zealand Birds Thailand Falcons 198