10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2011

Since New Zealand is currently consumed by rugby fever and we haven’t the time to indulge in anything so tedious as birdwatching, I thought I’d dive back under the sea to introduce one of New Zealand’s most iconic aquatic organisms, the Australasian Snapper ( Pagrus auratus ).

New Zealand 212

New Zealand Goats Fish Japan 212

10,000 Birds

JULY 13, 2014

It’s mid-July, which among other things means that those of us in North America are starting to check local mudflats for returning shorebird migrants and waiting impatiently for the AOU to hurry up and create five species from the Clapper-King rail complex (the reasons for which we covered last year ). Gowen et al.

Elephants 254

Elephants New Zealand Sparrows Ostriches 254

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 23, 2013

Rare species, like North Island Brown Kiwi , have been reintroduced. It’s a model that is now happening across New Zealand, and it was nice to experience it near my friend’s house in Taranaki. New Zealand fantails were very common. Birding New Zealand New Zealand endemics'

New Zealand 197

New Zealand Sanctuary Mammals Wildlife 197

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 279

Penguins Albatross Georgia New Zealand 279

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Just a quick post today to appreciate one of New Zealand’s most attractive birds, the Paradise Shelduck. They are endemic to New Zealand, but unlike many endemic species that have not suffered at the hands of humans, in fact they have expanded their range as forests have been opened up for pasture.

New Zealand 194

New Zealand Sanctuary Suffering Ducks 194

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

A European Starling in New Zealand made the news this week. This particular species is not native to New Zealand (similar to its status in North America). The woman in the video found it as a chick at a few days old and hand reared it. This is not the first talking European Starling on YouTube.

New Zealand 214

New Zealand North America Laws Raised 214

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2013

People ascribe near mythic status to the members of the family Delphinidae (and other related families). If you love the idea of swimming with dolphins, New Zealand is a great place to do it. Not, may I hurry to add, because I had some issue with swimming in the ocean in New Zealand on South Island in near winter.

Dolphins 204

Dolphins Sharks New Zealand Albatross 204

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Conservation was in the news again in the last few weeks here in New Zealand, and unfortunately not in a good way. As most people know cats, both feral and domestic, have a pretty big impact on wild birds and other wildlife, and the effect of mammals is particularly profound in New Zealand.

New Zealand 178

New Zealand Possums Hedgehogs SPCA 178

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

There are few families of birds where despite a cosmopolitan distribution I’m always so pleased to see any species of the family. I can spend months in some locations without seeing a single one, in fact in 10 years in New Zealand although I hear them on a monthly basis I have seen them precisely 3, yes three, times.

Owls 223

Owls Somalia Gambia Sudan 223

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

Long before I moved in New Zealand, or visited or even knew much about the wildlife here, way back then I knew about the Poor Knights. In New Zealand I’d even dived the astonishing Milford Sound in Fiordlands National Park, but I didn’t make it to New Zealand’s most famous dive site until January of 2009.

New Zealand 240

New Zealand Belize Vanuatu Fiji 240

10,000 Birds

JULY 27, 2024

This seems like a strange – but welcome – turn of events after having failed to see this species several times in the region. I experienced a perfect illustration of this many years ago when I was traveling in New Zealand with my family. The post Vineyards near Koblenz appeared first on 10,000 Birds.

New Zealand 246

New Zealand Rabbits Adoptable Family 246

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2011

How many species there were is probably lost to history, but there were certainly many hundreds. Sadly, as I’ve explained before , most of these species became extinct as humans arrived on the islands, and with it one of the most astonishing radiations of birds imaginable. But here’s the thing. It didn’t used to be.

Tonga 203

Tonga New Zealand Samoa Fiji 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

As I sat waiting for the bus home there was a wind, hardly a rarity here in New Zealand, but it was a warm wind, and that certainly is. The spring the birds I’ll show you today is far from the seat of New Zealand’s government where I now work. Sparrows are from the family Passeridae. Long may it last.

United Arab Emirates 174

United Arab Emirates Saudi Arabia Oman Yemen 174

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 250

Jordan Guatemala South America Birds 250

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2013

The middle period of the year was very barren for new species, and this being New Zealand for birds in general. I have a deep love for members of the babbler family (or families now) and so the ten minutes I spent with a pair of Chestnut-crowned Babblers was heaven. Well, no, but yes?

2012 157

2012 New Zealand Thailand Albatross 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2017

Mainland island sanctuaries are popular in New Zealand for any number of reasons. Dunedin sells itself as the wildlife capital of New Zealand, in no small part due to its impressive seabird colonies (more of which later this month), but in Orokonui they now have a sanctuary to find rarer forest birds. New Zealand Pigeons.

Sanctuary 133

Sanctuary New Zealand Pedigree Protection 133

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 31, 2012

Living in New Zealand is fun and all, don’t get me wrong. Whether or not species are lifers or not in Asia for me is actually something of a guess, as my note-taking when I visited the region 10 years earlier could charitably be described as sloppy, and while I have some lists I lost a lot of sighting.

New Zealand 201

New Zealand Fur Malaysia Woodpeckers 201

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2013

Of course Africa could not to be left out of the pink weekend so I have researched all African species whose official or alternative names include the word “pink”. Its mostly found on the ground in thickets or the edges of dense vegetation and usually in small family parties. Another not very pink species is the Pink-footed Puffback.

Africa 252

Africa Somalia Mozambique Pelicans 252

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2016

But there is one such bird in New Zealand, and it is, as far as I know the only songbird where the young bird has a unique name (I’m sure I’ll be corrected in the comments). On South Island, in a very few places, you might find a Jackbird. Jackbirds are young South Island Saddlebacks.

New Zealand 150

New Zealand Parrots Rats Bats 150

10,000 Birds

JULY 25, 2018

You might remember, or maybe not, that the last spot I birded, prior to boarding a plane for New Zealand, was Nisqually NWR, in a snow storm, and -5 ° F. Today, I saw a handful of Mallards , two Common Mergansers, and a Wood Duck Family. USA species – 111. Australia species – 242.

New Zealand 172

New Zealand Seattle Qatar South Africa 172

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Here in New Zealand our shambolic exercise in not picking a new flag is becoming a) political and b) something that people will quickly stop paying attention to when the Rugby World Cup starts. They are large, scruffy looking kingfisher by ancestry, five species of that family founds across Australia and New Guinea.

Australia 210

Australia New Zealand Guinea Hunters 210

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2014

The broadbills are always a family* that birders visiting South East Asia want to see, and who could blame them? They are, with the pittas, the Old World’s only representatives of the otherwise American sub-oscine passerines (the New Zealand wrens being afforded their own distinct lineage).

Madagascar 167

Madagascar Malaysia New Zealand South America 167

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2012

Or, one of the 145 species of Glass frogs living in the Cental and South American rainforests, I could look through the transparent skin on their undersides and see their internal organs. All species of frogs and toads share the fact that they are amphibian creatures, they have two types of skin gland, four legs, and, well, they jump.

Reptiles 244

Reptiles Madagascar Family New York City 244

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2014

Parrots captivate me more than any other bird family. For one, they are remarkably diverse with a little over 380 species spread over every continent except Europe (only introduced) and Antarctica. However, they do not occur evenly across their familial distribution. I am a self-proclaimed psittacophile. Most do not.

Parrots 205

Parrots Brazil Mauritius Dominica 205

10,000 Birds

MAY 18, 2016

It’s that time of year where I complain about the Austral winter, which arrived suddenly yesterday and has been inflicting gales, thunderstorms and tornadoes on New Zealand. I photographed these at a birdbath, but the species is very confiding everywhere. A different individual. Inspecting potential food. Was food!

New Zealand 100

New Zealand Family Species Birds 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2015

The small community it was in reminds one of a small New Zealand country town or village, and the manor was set back from the road along a long tree-lined driveway. Mousebirds are a uniquely African family and they really brought it home to me that I was back in Africa after a decade.

Africa 219

Africa South Africa Stud New Zealand 219

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2018

This weeks posting finds me north of the Whananaki area, which is north of Auckland, New Zealand. We are spending some time here on my wife’s family property right on the water. Unfortunately, there have been no new birds that I can check off my “Wish List” but if you have to hang out in a place, this is pretty awesome.

New Zealand 100

New Zealand Alaska Groups Laws 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2012

The next day in exactly the same spot I encountered a Shining Bronze Cuckoo , a species I have only seen twice in five years living in New Zealand. In both cases I was able to watch them for quite a while, quite a treat when it comes to skulky members of the cuckoo family!

New Zealand 157

New Zealand Game India Eagles 157

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2011

Nice. ((** all names have been changed to protect identities and have been substituted with (almost) randomly chosen substitutes suitable for a family of Alpine Accentors.)) small families putting less pressure on the adult members of the family). Davies et al. Ecological causes and reproductive conflicts. You disgust me.

2011 235

2011 Breeders Deer Breeding 235

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 30, 2013

Also known as the Flyeater, this tiny bird is the only representative of the Australasian warbler family found in mainland Asia, and very similar to my own Grey Warblers in New Zealand, even their songs. Then, among tall grasses, a flock of Bayan Weavers, the first representative of this family I had seen in 8 years.

Thailand 140

Thailand New Zealand Bats Family 140

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 5, 2018

It’s also the first drink featuring a non-North American species (I’ll admit there’s a bias in my selections that’s largely dictated by geography). What Kiwi Rising is named for is its use of the New Zealand harvests of another nonnative crop, the common hop.

New Zealand 100

New Zealand India Massachusetts United States 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 4, 2017

Like a lot of people I know, the body blows of the news the world at large were tempered by a year that was personally rather good. I saw Painted Wolves again, my favourite species ever. In particular they evoke the New Hampshire lake my extended family descends upon each summer and has done so from before I was born.

United Arab Emirates 100

United Arab Emirates Ethiopia 2016 Singapore 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2022

After writing this last sentence, I looked up the species in the HBW and found the sentence “Song poorly documented” in the appropriate section, while with regard to calls, the description is that “call is a two-note raspy nasal ‘ryeeh-reh’”. In New Zealand, the Spotted Dove is an introduced species.

Mountain Goats 147

Mountain Goats Singapore Giraffes Birds 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2018

I can’t claim that the playful bird image that accompanies this release is an obvious likeness of any particular species – it’s more of a generic songbird that most people (i.e., It’s also more modestly spiced than Hennepin, with lemon peel, coriander, and grains of paradise – a peppery seed in the ginger family often used in Belgian brewing.

Belgium 100

Belgium United States Skunks New York 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 14, 2014

But today, briefly, let’s recall that I am supposed to be the New Zealand beat writer. I’m pleased to do this because two bits of the puzzle of New Zealand’s faunal history were in the news today, and besides, it means I don’t have to think about some tropical idyll in this miserable Antipodean winter day.

New Zealand 207

New Zealand Sea Lions Penguins Lions 207

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 7, 2013

In his comment in last week’s post on the Marlborough Sounds , Beat writer Jochen described the New Zealand Fantail as one of the best birds in the world. wakawaka, the New Zealand Fantail is a delightful inhabitant of New Zealand, and one of my favourite local birds. You get a lot of shots like this.

New Zealand 226

New Zealand Samoa Fiji Killing 226

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2019

beats have still managed to share 82 checklists and accounted for 737 species. Our two newest contributors have shared from Mexico and China, bringing the countries birded this month (also including; Costa Rica, Greece, Serbia, USA, UK, India, UAE and New Zealand) to 10. New Zealand Bellbird – Anthornis melanura.

2019 171

2019 Jamaica Eggs Woodpeckers 171