10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

For example, I was going to add “no tail” to the list of features above, what all frogs share, when I remembered that there are indeed a small family of Tailed frogs, four species in New Zealand and two in North America (though, the tails are quite tiny). But, within the frog group there is a tremendous range of diversity.

Reptiles 202

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 202

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. Its range also extends to nearby Madagascar. This colossal bird is now placed in its own family Balaenicipitidae and it forms an ancient link between storks and pelicans.

Africa 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

10,000 Birds

JULY 14, 2011

This clade, Mayr says, is “most likely the sister taxon&# of Madagascar’s terrestrial mesites (!). The relationships among these families have been pretty well sorted out, and the entire clade belongs in a clade of landbirds ( passerines, parrots, diurnal raptors, mousebirds, owls , etc.)

Madagascar 166

Madagascar Louisiana Penguins Germany 166

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

In one of the first of Dee’s observations about gullers he calls them: “men leaving their homes and their families to spend time peering at arsey birds in some of the arseholes of the world.”. At some stage, in the darkness with Claire and Callan, Tim Dee was stalking a nightjar in Madagascar.

Angola 215

Angola United Kingdom Mozambique Botswana 215

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Not, as Linneaus thought, an ostrich, nor even, as later scientists concluded, a distant cousin of pigeons deserving of family rank, it was an honest-to-goodness pigeon, deeply embedded within the family Columbidae. The Dodo lived on Mauritius, an island east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It gave up flight long, long ago.

Solomon Islands 279

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius 2006 279

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 3, 2014

They are Ecuador for the Galapagos, Gabon for the bais, Madagascar, New Guinea and New Caledonia for everything. Given that they are a family of obscure deepwater whales that are very hard to see, I would imagine this is a contender for one that will never leave my list. A beaked whale. Any beaked whale. Hammerhead shark.

Sharks 188

Sharks Leopards Snow Leopard Whales 188

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

Filming the plovers of Estero Lagoon Plovers are a significant part of the shorebird family, comprising 66 species worldwide. James has led professional wildlife and birding tours for 15 years and his passion for birding and remote cultures has taken him to far corners of the earth from the Amazon and Australia to Africa and Madagascar.

Florida 220

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 220

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2018

1300kms off the coast of East Africa and over 1000kms NE from Madagascar is a tiny speck in the ocean. They are all recognisable from their families in Africa and are simply referred to by prefixing with “Seychelles” With most species being the only representative of their family, it made identification easy.

Seychelles 100

Seychelles Madagascar Africa Zebras 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2011

James has led professional wildlife and birding tours for 15 years and his passion for birding and remote cultures has taken him to far corners of the earth from the Amazon and Australia to Africa and Madagascar. We can all play our part by choosing operations that give back.

Dominican Republic 213

Dominican Republic 2011 Deer Kuwait 213

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

And, as a bonus, your spouse/partner will probably want to go birding with you more often… Tags: Portugal , Worldwide Birding Adventures • Camping tents - Check out our pop up tents , family tents , and more! These Blasts From The Past Sometimes you just have to smile!

Portugal 194

Portugal 2011 Deer Africa 194

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

The Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching offers two types of information: Species Accounts–descriptions of 112 birds within 15 families as they appear over and on the water, and Where to Watch, brief descriptions of 47 sites on the North American eastern coast and interior recommended for seawatching.

Ducks 246

Ducks Groups North America North Dakota 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 31, 2023

Some entire family groups are unique to the region, this holds true for the genus Cinclocerthia – tremblers. The tiny islands of the southern Caribbean are much more famous for sprawling white sand beaches and azure water as they are for birds; but there are several regional endemics that thoroughly stir the imagination.

Madagascar 130

Madagascar Litter Species Family 130

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

Retz’s Helmetshrike is one of the 8 helmetshrikes within the larger family of Vangidae – apparently, a family that evolved from a single Madagascar-based species. I guess this is the wind, not a highly individualistic hairstyle. Typical for the wonderful world of ornithology, it is not a shrike.

Elephants 147

Elephants Congo Birds Africa 147

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2017

Both men lead trips for tour company Tropical Birding (Barnes is a founder), and they have also co-authored Wildlife of Madagascar (another WildGuide volume, 2016), Birding Ethiopia (with Christian Boix, 2010) and Wild Rwanda (with Christian Boix, 2015). Warbler Rainfrog is one of the few rainfrogs that prefers disturbed habitats.

Ecuador 188

Ecuador Wildlife Reptiles Mammals 188

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

But there is one kind of tick that I genuinely do enjoy, and as I do more and more birding it becomes harder and harder to get; new families. Getting entirely new families is easy when you start birding. Sometimes you may even lose them, like the aforementioned woodswallows which are probably no longer a family.

Family 167

Family Wombats Uganda Fiji 167

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Madagascar has 2 species of weaver, Sakalava in dry country and Nelicourvi Weaver from the rainforest zone. Image taken by Adam Riley in Perinet, Madagascar. The masked weaver complex of yellow weavers with black faces consists of numerous species. Photo taken by Adam Riley in South Africa. Image taken in Samburu, Kenya by Adam Riley.

Tanzania 250

Tanzania Buffalo Kenya Namibia 250

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2011

Veraguan Mango by Carlos Bethancourt Although the Neotropical region supports fewer bird families than Africa, there are considerably more bird species here than anywhere else on earth. This means that there are some astoundingly large families of birds in Central and South America.

Panama 236

Panama Costa Rica 2011 Cleveland 236

10,000 Birds

JUNE 24, 2024

Here is the answer: Sunbirds and spiderhunters are both part of the Nectariniidae family, but they have distinct differences in terms of their morphology, behavior, and habitat preferences. So, I did what everyone would have done short of reading a book (god forbid!) – I asked ChatGPT.

Vietnam 243

Vietnam Birds Woodpeckers Bangladesh 243

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 24, 2012

It’s actually a member of the family Artamidae, which includes the woodswallows (not actually swallows), the butcherbirds (not actually shrikes) and the peltops (which actually are peltops, since there are no others). The Australian Magpie is not actually a magpie, a fairly common state of affairs for birds from the colonies.

New Zealand 171

New Zealand Kangaroos Australia Birds 171

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

I have thoroughly explored vast parts of the continent as well as neighboring Madagascar, in the process seeing over 2,000 birds on the continent and all but one Malagasy endemic. Madagascar’s mammals are equally remarkable; over 100 species of endearing lemurs and bizarre carnivores amongst them!

Papua New Guinea 247

Papua New Guinea Equatorial Guinea Madagascar Tanzania 247

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2022

While the HBW describes the bulbul family as “often rather plain”, I find them usually quite attractive, though in an understated way that may not appeal to the flashiness-seeking HBW authors. The Black Drongo is a very common member of the family. Going with a Chinese friend or guide is thus recommended.

Birds 173

Birds Woodpeckers Kangaroos Madagascar 173

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2018

Can the whole family live together in harmony during the school holidays? Madagascar Turtle-Dove – Streptopelia picturata. Is it wrong of me to go birding to get away from the kids now that they are at home all day? August is the make or break month for relationships. Bravo if you have. Lesser Noddy – Anous tenuirostris.

2018 100

2018 Australia Los Angeles Woodpeckers 100