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

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

A recent proposal ( 555 ) to the AOU’s South American Classification Committee deals with newly published information about relationships within the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae, and what it means for the classification of these wonderful, fascinating birds. But let’s take a look at how things are shaping up for the future.

Family 179

Family North America Netherlands New Zealand 179

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2022

As is my self-declared tradition of speaking of groups of birds within the species gamut of Trinidad & Tobago, allow me to introduce you to yet another group of three. While the entire Tyrannidae family of Tyrant Flycatchers is massive, the Myiarchus group of those recorded on these two islands comprises just three species.

Trinidad 217

Trinidad ALA Groups Family 217

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

It covers 403 species: 172 nonpasserine species and 231 passerine species in the Species Accounts, 198 species beautifully illustrated by the author in the Plates section. The scarcity of information on the young of some avian species is astounding. Woodpeckers are a family of focus for Tuttle-Adams.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 261

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 261

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 219

Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 219

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2012

Ourselves, for instance; just consider how many sweet or gritty stories you’ve seen about Olympic athletes’ family backgrounds over the last few weeks. We’re going to look at its family tree today, at where it fits in the grand avian assemblage, at what makes it at once unique yet not so alone after all. But not all.

Family 178

Family Guatemala Stray Humane 178

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2012

The family has representatives throughout the forests North America, Eurasia (including North Africa), and Indomalaya. In North America, we have, traditionally at least, four species, the most familiar of which is the White-breasted Nuthatch ( Sitta carolinensis ). In 2007, Garth M. What should we call them?

Species 268

Species North America Nevada 2007 268

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2023

The Crested Pigeon family remained in the tree away from danger for quite some time with both parents present. Although Crested Pigeons are quite a common bird Australia-wide you don’t always find a nest, so that you are able to observe the family grow.

Breeding 201

Breeding Australia Eggs Family 201

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2021

Many species seemed to come in threes, and today I shall continue my examination of these. Three species of antshrikes are resident in T&T. These endearing birds are almost always found in pairs or small family groups, and I often have difficulty deciding which bird to photograph as both males and females are equally beautiful.

Trinidad 223

Trinidad Bears Family Groups 223

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

I’ve been fortunate to see two Penguin species in the wild (African and Galapagos) and have dreamed of seeing more–maybe even all!–especially The goal of Around the World For Penguins is simple: Describe the 18 species of penguin and their breeding grounds “from the perspective of a traveller.”

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia Albatross New Zealand 278

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2023

This year we have had high numbers of Magpie Geese once again in the Broome area and this last weekend we observed our first family groups for the season. The Magpie Geese families are on the move and the family groups that we saw last weekend all consisted of three adults and ten or more goslings.

Geese 147

Geese Breeding Australia 2017 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2015

It’s simple, with a deck of sixty cards divided into five habitat groupings, and each card depicting birds that are either common, uncommon, rare, raptor, or ace. Each player plays a card and can count any species from the same habitat group as the card played. It’s fun, fast, and easy to learn.

Game 201

Game Family Groups Birds 201

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2021

One bird species that we occasionally observe around Broome is the Yellow-billed Spoonbill, but we had not seen one for a few years until recently. We soon observed several bird species and then a Yellow-billed Spoonbill flew overhead. Not only is it a bird species we rarely encounter, but we had never found a breeding colony before.

Breeding 241

Breeding Australia Cattle Family 241

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

Torresian Crows Corvus orru are the most common of the Crow family in the northern part of Australia and are the most likely of the Crow species that you will encounter. In Broome it is the only Crow species and we do not have Ravens , so it makes identification easy.

Australia 216

Australia Eggs Family Groups 216

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2022

Over the course of the following hour or so we observed many different species *coincidentally* alight on the wall near to the body of the fallen yellowlegs. Did the Black-bellied Whistling Duck represent his family, “showing face” as we say here in the Caribbean? Pectoral Sandpiper (L) and White-rumped Sandpiper (R).

Elephants 273

Elephants Ducks Humane Family 273

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

We saw several species of this challenging family, after some time I managed to graduate with the ability to classify them as “streaked” or “unstreaked” When it came down to the actual species, however, I left it to the expert! I learned that Stout Cisticolas often stick together in small groups.

Kenya 205

Kenya Washington Groups Game 205

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2022

The exploration of triads within the avifauna of Trinidad and Tobago has taken me through various families and species groups on this blog. On the smaller island of Tobago there are three species of woodpeckers and three species of woodcreepers – one of each is found on Tobago but not Trinidad.

Woodpeckers 245

Woodpeckers Trinidad South America Hunting 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 12, 2024

Since this latter martin appears to winter in northern South America, and no one knows where the the Sinaloa Martin winters, it has been suggested that the two species might winter together there. I have now seen the species in eight different years. Of course, Paso Ancho is also a hotspot for many other beautiful species and endemics.

Mexico 217

Mexico South America 2020 America 217

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2012

Their rather nondescript winter nature conceals some fascinating secrets, not the least of which is that they and their closest relatives, the three golden-plover species, are among the planet’s greatest flyers. I am not aware of any major taxonomic authority that has recognized this family-level split yet, however.

Family 190

Family 2007 Iceland Louisiana 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 13, 2024

Arriving at Surama Eco-lodge at the crack of dawn meant that typical forest-edge species remained at the forest edge, within the clearing of the lodge lurked a group of Smooth-billed Ani while Tropical Kingbirds manned the tops of trees. This lottery of birding means that what one sees is wholly up to the type of habitat available.

Guyana 239

Guyana Parrots Family Groups 239

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2024

Adult Audouin’s Gulls now passing show heavily abraded plumage after breeding I covered the main species in my 23rd June article “When the sea becomes a desert”. These also show up, often in family groups, from the east and steadily approach the point before turning south-west towards the Atlantic.

Falcons 302

Falcons Breeding Family Groups 302

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

And apart from local people, primate researchers sometimes spot it, but it is a species seen by fewer than ten living birders. A few years ago, in the American Birding Association FB group I posted a question: Where would you go if funds weren’t a problem? Some are incredibly rare and hard to find.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

MAY 9, 2024

Back when I was a kid growing up in California’s San Mateo County in the 60s and 70s, my family would occasionally drive 45 minutes west and south to Bean Hollow State Beach. Peter says that he doesn’t care much for guiding groups. All Brandt’s The same goes for the three species of loons flying by.

California 192

California Sea Lions Marine Life Puffins 192

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2021

We are too far into the year for many FOY sightings, but not quite far enough for most migratory species to make their return appearances. Still, in any given three-week period (which is the period I have dedicated to this latest group of thematic posts), dedicated birding will produce some sort of news.

Louisiana 263

Louisiana 2000 Mexico Hunting 263

10,000 Birds

JUNE 13, 2022

Readers with a pornographic mindset will enjoy the following information about the Dusky Moorhen: “Simultaneously promiscuous, forming breeding groups of 2–7 apparently unrelated birds; individuals sometimes switch groups between seasons. Within group, all males copulate with all females.” ” (HBW).

Australia 200

Australia Birds Feral Cats Kangaroos 200

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2024

I felt sorry for an American family that couldn’t understand anything said in our church services, so I started interpreting for them. The first Monday out after the festival, I took six people to Las Mesas, because it is almost within the city of Morelia, but offers a wide collection of habitats and species. So that happened.

Turkey 199

Turkey ALA Mexico Collecting 199

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2024

I saw 32 species here in my first 24 hours, some of them exciting ones. The Wood-Rails like to move around in a very visible group. My second lifer this trip was a migratory Yellow-throated Warbler , a species I could not hope to see my previous trip, which had occurred in early summer. flying by at night.

Barn Owls 213

Barn Owls Mexico Parrots ALA 213

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 259

Trinidad Turkey Squirrels Cows 259

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2022

The stars of the bird world take many forms and fame is often related to location but some species, some cool groups of birds are accorded priority no matter when or where they are seen. One such star avian family is the Setophagidae, the birds known as wood-warblers. 13 Warbler Stars from the North. See our eBird list here.

Costa Rica 280

Costa Rica Nashville Tennessee Turtles 280

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 204

Burma India Thailand Indonesia 204

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2021

The very last Sunday of the decade heralded our final CBC – with group sizes limited to five persons. For birders who have visited T&T in the past, the livestock station has always been a staple site for several key species that would be fairly difficult elsewhere. Safe to say no species was left behind!

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Livestock Groups Eagles 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

I remember the guide on my first Kenyan birding safari remarking that “birding groups always see far more mammals than those who come just to see animals. On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. Why not the stoat family or the badger family?)

Fur 190

Fur Otters Bulgaria Estonia 190

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 249

Botswana Africa Ecuador Birds 249

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

As mentioned in many other posts on this blog, the avifauna of Trinidad & Tobago consists of several species and family groups occurring very interestingly, in threes. Short-tailed Nighthawk (above and below) Overall, this species seems to be poorly known, which is understandable given its habits. Well, kind of.

Trinidad 130

Trinidad Bats Falcons Groups 130

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

A new paper out this month attempts to paint the most comprehensive picture yet of the origins and diversification of the American sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, cardinals, tanagers, and their kin, an enormous group of birds more than 800 species strong. We now know a lot more about who is a tanager vs. a sparrow vs. a cardinal.

Sparrows 256

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 256

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2021

Members of the Parulidae family are typically known to be highly migratory but there are many New World Warblers which aren’t. In T&T – or more specifically on Trinidad only as none of these can be found on Tobago – there are three species of resident warblers.

Trinidad 261

Trinidad Litter 2020 Family 261

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2020

The authors wrote: [Species] “are the currency of field guides and of birding, but deciding what to treat as ‘species’ is inevitably a subjective endeavour. … We have tended to a liberal (= realistic) direction when recognising species.” There are no species distribution maps, only textual descriptions.

Chile 205

Chile Birds South America Albatross 205