10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2017

Spring is in the air, and all around the Baja desert I am seeing a plethora of species, all looking for love, in what appears to the right places. A member of the small Ptiliogonatidae family of silky-flycatchers, of which there are only three other species besides our local Phainopepla , Phainopepl nitens.

Costa Rica 104

Costa Rica Panama Nevada Guatemala 104

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 22, 2013

And now we enter into a family of birds more or less unknown to non-birders. And truth told, over the years they’ve been something of a square peg for ornithologists too, not fitting precisely into any of the known families of birds. I would never have believed it, but if the science says so who am I to argue otherwise?

Jordan 191

Jordan Guatemala South America Birds 191

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

In all of North America, only one avian species serves as both the beloved mascot of seven states as well as the totem to two professional sports teams (and an infinity of amateur ones!) The family Cardinalidae encompasses a plethora of New World passerines. Within this family, one finds more familiar footing with the genus Cardinalis.

St. Louis 179

St. Louis United States Belize Guatemala 179

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2019

It would be uber cool to lay eyes on a rare lifer, on species that only seem to live on the pages of a field guide but isn’t that somewhat discriminatory? And why spend time only looking for one or two species when those hours could be used to put binos focused on a few dozen? Aren’t all birds worth watching?

Costa Rica 202

Costa Rica Panama Birds Nicaragua 202

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2014

The Yellow-rumped Warbler ( Setophaga coronata ) complex is one of the most abundant and widespread representatives of the New World warbler family in North America, present in many parts of the United States even through the winter months, when the birds feed on small fruits and other foods, including sap.

United States 232

United States 2011 Guatemala North America 232

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

One of these islands may have been the present day Northern Central American Highlands which includes Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and parts of extreme southern Mexico (Chiapas). Alex also masterfully worked another tricky species into view for us during that first afternoon, Ruddy Crake (a close relative of the Black Rail ).

Honduras 212

Honduras El Salvador Costa Rica Arizona 212

10,000 Birds

APRIL 27, 2016

While it is exceptionally well used by joggers, bike riders and multigenerational families out for a walk, bird watchers from all the world are now taking advantage of its easy access to the many local bird species. My personal bird count for walking the malecón is now at 67 species.

Guatemala 101

Guatemala Mexico Canada Research 101

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

En route they will be “birding in nearly every country in mainland North and South America,” and, as they say on their excellent blog , “Our journey is about collecting valuable data on bird species, their status and distribution, current conservation issues, and more along the way. Bicolored Antbird.

San Diego 185

San Diego South America Costa Rica America 185

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2011

Mike Freiberg grew up in Philadelphia, PA, where his family introduced him to the world of birding. As his passion for birding grew he decided to travel Latin America; he has spent time in Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela and a great deal of time in Brazil. Over time the hobby grew into a career. in Animal Ecology.

Brazil 160

Brazil Venezuela Iowa Guatemala 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 3, 2015

But I do have rules about whether I can have said to have visited a country, ie does the country “count” which I have inherited from my family, particularly my Dad. But I have visited Guatemala, Lesotho and Zimbabwe to actually visit them and count them, even though I spent less time in them than I did Zurich.

Botswana 162

Botswana Lesotho Bald Eagle Elephants 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

The hope and claim is that transferring this process to gull identification works more easily and just as accurately (at least for species) as an examination of plumage and molt patterns. Species Accounts. Gulls Simplified covers 25 species. From the Laughing Gull species account. These vary according to species.

North America 198

North America El Salvador America Nicaragua 198

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

But a a package, if I had to rate the best places I’ve ever been birding, the only place I can think that comes close is Mweya, in Uganda, or maybe Tikal, in Guatemala. The highlight again happened before we left the camp, a family of Crested Firebacks. And places I have seen more birds.

Lemurs 158

Lemurs Rhinoceros Uganda Leopards 158

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2012

Anyway, it was some ungodly hour that we all awakened from our beds at Hotel Don Udo’s in Copan Ruinas and piled into the back of two trucks for our four-wheel drive excursion high into the hilly terrain near the border with Guatemala. What were these birds competing for? What a bird!

Honduras 175

Honduras 2009 Falcons Guatemala 175

10,000 Birds

APRIL 9, 2013

The remarkable Resplendent Quetzal photographed in Guatemala by Adam Riley. A Long-tailed Sylph, one of the America’s many long tailed hummingbird species, photographed in Colombia by Adam Riley. A Great Argus in full call, this species’ tail consists of the longest feather in the bird world. Widowbirds. Sugarbirds.

Papua New Guinea 236

Papua New Guinea South Africa Africa Zimbabwe 236

10,000 Birds

APRIL 8, 2012

Catbirds are a group of rather distantly related species all named for the fact that they make sounds that remind some of a cat meowing. Birds called catbirds include two species in the New World family, Mimidae, four from the bowerbird family, Ptilonorhynchidae, and one from the Old World babblers, Timaliidae.

Papua New Guinea 181

Papua New Guinea Ethiopia Guinea Belize 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 28, 2018

After a brief look at a map, my rough guesstimate is that the territory from Guatemala and Belize south to the Darien gap is roughly equal to New England, or Florida and the eastern parts of Georgia and the Carolinas north to the Virginia line. Central America is much smaller than the land encompassed within the borders of Canada and the USA.

Costa Rica 114

Costa Rica Guatemala Nicaragua Birds 114

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2019

beats have still managed to share 82 checklists and accounted for 737 species. Middle American Screech-Owl – Megascops guatemalae. To get as close as I can to a true reflection of species collaboratively collected by the beats, I update the post just before kissing my family goodbye and heading to the airport.

2019 119

2019 Jamaica Eggs Woodpeckers 119

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 15, 2012

This bird represented only the second documented record of this species in Florida. 2012 has certainly been a bumper year for me with an estimated year list of around 3,000 species after extensive travels to South Africa, Ethiopia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Russian Far East, United Kingdom, Peru, Guatemala and Panama.

2012 146

2012 Guatemala Birds Florida 146