10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

They are species that breed in the US and then spend the winter in Central and South America, eating what’s avialable–especially fruit. Nyjer (aka Thistle) for goldfinches was introduced from Nigeria–someone had to experiment with that. Grape jelly for orioles was an experiment too.

Nigeria 252

Nigeria Belize Birds South America 252

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 252

Costa Rica Owls Panama Argentina 252

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2011

We will have posts on a variety of individual species of wood-warblers, wood-warbler taxonomy, searches for difficult-to-find wood-warblers, and a host of other topics. Many other non-migratory wood-warbler species are living their lives across the neotropics, doing their best to survive and pass on their genes.

United States 222

United States South America Cooking 2011 222

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

In this first installment, I will focus on my impressions and experiences in the highlands portion of our tour. Many Nearctic species and families reach their southern terminus in the Northern Central American Highlands, such as Common Raven , Red Crossbill , Steller’s Jay , and even Brown Creeper. We were off to a great start.

Honduras 252

Honduras El Salvador Costa Rica Arizona 252

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Most of these birds are small, finch-like species with thick, conical bills for cracking seeds or eating insects. Odd little grassquits singing from power lines in South America’s great cities. ” For these reasons, it is perhaps no surprise that bird bills have played a prominent role in their classification. (PDF:

2003 254

2003 Sparrows South America Family 254

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. I’d like to outline what a couple of these things are.

Tortoises 243

Tortoises South America Panama Culling 243

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 27, 2012

Grant McCreary of The Birder’s Library , who shared the experience with me, probably has pretty much the same problem. Purple Gallinules live in marshes in the southeastern United States, Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. What do you do with hundreds of picture of Purple Gallinules ?

United States 222

United States Florida South America Europe 222

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2012

The dichotomous republic of Trinidad and Tobago may be something of a cipher to anyone unfamiliar with the point where the Caribbean ends and South America begins. I actually turned down an opportunity years ago to see this species in Ecuador because I wanted the Dunston Cave birds to be my first.

Trinidad 250

Trinidad South America America Ecuador 250

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2011

On a trip to Suriname to find and film some of these spectacular species I was blown away by the birding. Suriname has approximately 735 recorded species, with many more to still be added to its total list. The surrounding grounds are a great introduction to some common, but nonetheless interesting, species.

Suriname 251

Suriname Guyana Birds South America 251

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

Guyana’s capital city of Georgetown, a quaint, sprawling network of roads and waterways is a regulated introduction to the country’s 800+ species of birds. Wing-barred Seedeater was formerly a common sight on Tobago but intensive trapping for the pet trade has extirpated the species from that island.

Guyana 241

Guyana Parrots South America Trinidad 241

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”. Not just any old ant though, you are on the lookout for army ants.

San Diego 228

San Diego South America Costa Rica America 228

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

This is my best place to pick up species that inhabit, or visit, the border between the Hot Country thorn forest and highland pine-oak forest habitats. It wasn’t the most colorful species of the day. And how am I doing on my species race for the year? But its rump was somewhat bright, I suppose.

South America 250

South America Sparrows Mexico Bears 250

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

These arid hills, cloaked in a mosaic of deciduous scrub and desert vegetation, form a northern outpost for several Neotropical species while also harboring several key endemics and southwestern Nearctic species. I had point blank life views of this tricky species from within a few feet.

Mexico 235

Mexico Costa Rica Arizona Bats 235

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2022

In Costa Rica, we have our pewees, 6 species of them. Millions of pewees fly over and stop in Costa Rica on their way to and from South America. A common bird of hot, tropical habitats, it is very much an edge species. Eastern Wood-Pewee. The original pewee is one of the migrants that passes through in large numbers.

Costa Rica 279

Costa Rica Pennsylvania South America Panama 279

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Experiments in the field (the famed Asa Wright Nature Center veranda) involving Bananaquits and bananas came up with numbers ranging from 7 to 16, but a tanager always came along to interfere with Bananaquits’ noisy appreciation of their namesake fruit. (2) Which hummingbird was more beautiful—Tufted Coquette or Ruby-topaz Hummingbird? (3)

Trinidad 239

Trinidad South America Birds 2011 239

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

When I got back into birding about six years ago, I would not have predicted the personal bonds a birder can form with certain species. While all birds bring us joy, and we certainly want to see as many as we can, some species just seem more… special. I’ll start with two species that are especially hard to find.

Mexico 182

Mexico South America Birds Turkey 182

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Galápagos: A Natural History, Second Edition by John Kricher and Kevin Loughlin gives the traveling naturalist the tools needed to fully appreciate and experience the Galápagos Islands. Where once there were 13 species of “Darwin’s finches,” there are now 17. I wish I had read this book.

2006 278

2006 Tortoises Sea Lions Porpoises 278

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

But it wasn’t the day’s first FOY species. As it turned out, these were not the only bad photos to help me flesh out my 2022 year list that day (species 201-211, on February 12th). But previous experience with Ejido Triquillo taught me that another species might turn up during the spring.

Mexico 237

Mexico Guatemala South America United States 237

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 264

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 15, 2011

What species is shown? Though wood-warblers, the mostly brightly colored birds of the family Parulidae, are only found in the New World we felt that birders the world over would be pleased to see a plethora of posts about these striking and sought after species. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

United States 159

United States South America 2011 2012 159

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

In a time of little published information about the rainforests of Central and South America aside from scientific journal articles and the works of 19th-century naturalists, the “little green book,” as it was called, became a must-read amongst nature-oriented travelers and researchers.

South America 187

South America Ecuador Reptiles America 187

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2020

For, in birder lingo, a split occurs when subspecies are determined to be, in fact, entirely separate species. If you happen to have seen both species, your life list can increase without you even leaving the house. Two former species can also be joined into one, the same way. This Bullock’s Oriole migrated from up north.

San Diego 226

San Diego San Francisco Baltimore Mexico 226

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2015

Florida is perhaps the one place in the United States where you can rack up a pretty great list of birds, including some of North America’s most impressive species, simply by walking down the sidewalk for an hour or so. That was largely due to the vagaries of a single rental car and two young children, but it wasn’t so bad.

Florida 216

Florida North America Neglecting South America 216

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

He is also a serious birder (and a birding friend), and his birding observations and adventures are used throughout the book to introduce evolutionary questions and illustrate the mental interplay between personal experience and scientific curiosity. The book is smartly organized into 12 chapters. that’s three birds). ” (p.

Science 246

Science Albatross Owls Costa Rica 246

10,000 Birds

APRIL 24, 2014

The overall perception by birders and naturalists is that a visit to the rainforest of South America will yield a long bird list, and that the forest is teeming with birds. In fact many are never occupied by any of these species. He learned that species flocks occupy and defend a territory as a flock.

Birds 173

Birds South America Peru Experience 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2011

Found throughout South America in ever-dwindling numbers these extremely beautiful birds – threatened by habitat destruction and collection for the wild bird trade – are often difficult to see and hard to find. The experience is one of the ornithological highlights in the world. That’s right – birds eating clay.

Peru 255

Peru Parrots 2011 Deer 255

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”. What an amazing experience!

San Diego 178

San Diego Mexico Costa Rica South America 178

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 live in the southeast of Europe, for a while lived in the south of Africa and also have extensively birded western and central India. I am talking 600 or 700+ bird species.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2011

The sighting was easily the best I have ever had of the species, and it was in and out of view for about twenty minutes, foraging in small circuits but always coming back to the stand of thick brush where I had first spotted it. Read about them here but also get out and experience them.

Tigers 163

Tigers United States Jamaica Pennsylvania 163

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2014

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. We hope that our journey will provide important information about many Neotropical bird species as well as inform conservation.”. Their first contribution to 10,000 Birds is here.

Guatemala 181

Guatemala San Diego Mexico South America 181

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2014

Lovely Cotinga is the flagship species at Pico Bonito, where it is perhaps easier to see than anywhere else within its range. More than 400 species have been recorded at the lodge to date. Central American Pygmy-Owl is another key species at the lodge. However, for me, there were birds to be seen. Photo by James Adams.

Honduras 171

Honduras Monkeys America Birds 171

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2018

It actually makes a lot of sense, the geographic features of the isthmus between North America (including Mexico, because Mexico is part of North America) and South America cut across political lines, as do birds. In addition, 67 species are listed in a chapter entitled “Marginal, Dubious, and Hypothetical Species.”

America 214

America El Salvador Costa Rica Honduras 214

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 24, 2015

I didn’t realize how many new species I would see within the city itself! It’s a strange experience looking up from a city street to gaze at birds native to South America; even more ironic considering humans drove the only native parrot/parakeet species, the Carolina Parakeet , to extinction.

Austin 135

Austin Texas Mississippi Non Human 135

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 28, 2017

We might not get the variety of a New Jersey autumn but we do get major numbers of species that winter in South America. Most of them fly on the Caribbean side, especially along the coast south of Limon, and that’s why I guided the Birding Club of Costa Rica down that way this past weekend.

Costa Rica 189

Costa Rica Parrots Farming Birds 189

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

The island contains 80,000 breeding Sooty Terns, in addition to 4,500 breeding Brown Noddies and another 100 breeding pairs of the huge Magnificent Frigatebirds, not to mention pelicans, herons, Black Skimmers , other tern species, and so much more. Turning to face the wind, I gently tossed the birds into the air.

Florida 216

Florida Birds Groups Breeding 216

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

processed the entire genomes of 48 bird species and compared nearly 42 million base pairs of DNA (Hackett et al. Now we move on to the Neognathae , which also has two very deep branches that lead to all the other living species of birds. Erich Jarvis discuss key findings. ). were revolutionary for using 32,000 base pairs!) This is why.

Family 279

Family Parrots Birds 2014 279

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2024

Osborn, a passionate field biologist who participates to the core of her being three re-introduction projects aimed at saving three very different, endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala)*, and California Condor. She crafts her prose with a visual immediacy that bring you directly into her experience.

California Condor 180

California Condor Falcons California Coyotes 180