10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

In 2008, with my family decided to build the Limneo Lodge , a small accommodation with only 9 rooms. With more than 312 so far recorded bird species, Lake Kerkini National Park offers great birding year-round. Other important breeding species include Black and White Stork , Lesser Spotted , White-tailed , and Booted Eagle.

Greece 264

Greece Wildlife Boars Otters 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2019

Common Nightingales were singing, a squadron of Dalmatian Pelicans was in the air and everything was exactly where it should be, including myself. At mid-day, we took a boat tour of the heronries and the pelican islands with Nikos. Dalmatian Pelican © Dusanka Stokovic-Simic. Belles, rising steeply two kilometres (1.2

Greece 203

Greece Pelicans Buffalo Fish 203

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2023

While the P-a-P Wildfowl Trust’s main thrust is the breeding and release of five duck species, the habitat encourages a number of native wetland birds to inhabit and proliferate the area. Due to the plethora of bird species around, invariably we were to experience something breathtaking.

Trinidad 264

Trinidad Birds Ducks Fish 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

Part of its attraction lies in it being a monotypic bird in the family Hypocoliidae – there are no other bird species in its genus and family. In the headlights circle in front of us, an Indian Nightjar takes flight, our first bird of the day and species 137 of this trip. Or because it is endangered – it isn’t.

Iran 246

Iran India Pakistan Afghanistan 246

10,000 Birds

MARCH 24, 2024

There are beautiful beaches, a plethora of amazing food and drinks, a multitude of family fun locations, a world-renowned zoo, and one of the biggest birding festivals in the US. My family visited San Diego every year as part of a Disneyland-SoCal Road trip to escape the rainy Christmases at home near Portland, Oregon.

San Diego 237

San Diego Sea Lions Lions Birds 237

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2011

Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Ringer Anhingas and darters , cormorants and shags , frigatebirds , gannets and boobies , pelicans , and the tropicbirds all share a characteristic found in no other living bird: Their feet are totipalmate.

2011 163

2011 Pelicans Papua New Guinea California 163

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. He pointed out the differences in the day’s five gull species, all of which flew fairly close to the bluff from which we watched.

California 227

California Sea Lions Marine Life Puffins 227

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 2, 2015

There are few places in the United States where simply driving around can leave you with a list of 30+ species, many of them large and spectacular. It’s a family vacation, sure, but there’s always time for birding and in Florida, the birding often finds you. I’ve spent the last week in southwest Florida.

Owls 231

Owls Tenant Florida United States 231

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2019

The week of President’s Day this year found me, my family, and some close friends spending a week in a beach house on Tybee Island, a low-lying, barrier island just east of Savannah. Boat-tailed Grackles were ubiquitous and at any time a Brown Pelican could fly overhead. How did I find so many species?

Georgia 201

Georgia Cats Neutering Feral Cats 201

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2019

I saw 863 species of birds, bringing my life list to 1,820. I also spent a week in northwestern Costa Rica on a family vacation, a long weekend in Barbados, a week in Georgia, and two week-plus-long trips to visit relatives in southern California. How can I narrow down the eight-hundred-sixty-three species to ten?

2019 152

2019 Barbados Uganda Costa Rica 152

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. No rails or gallinules.

Ducks 246

Ducks Groups North America North Dakota 246

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Africa has more than its fair share of storks, with 8 of the world’s 19 species gracing the continent. 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. It is also related to Wood Stork of the Americas and Milky Stork of Asia.

Africa 250

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 250

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Way back on 16 May I managed to see my 312 bird species in Queens to add to my Queens list. Somehow I forgot that the last time I predicted what the next ten species I would see in Queens would be was back on 30 December 2013, when my list was sitting at 302. The godwit was my forty-first shorebird species in Queens.).

2010 160

2010 2013 2011 2012 160

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Because when we look at the birds that make up the family Sulidae – not just the tropical boobies, but their burly temperate-zone cousins the gannets as well – we see a pretty incredible group of birds. Osprey and Brown Pelicans can pull off some impressive dives, but the none have the panache of a Sulid.

Birds 224

Birds Buffalo Pelicans 2012 224

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Now my Queens list stands at a whopping 302, which means I have actually added thirteen species since my last predictions. Brown Pelican Lapland Longspur Sooty Shearwater Whimbrel. My shorebird list in Queens is now at thirty-eight species! (It It is pictured at the top of this post.).

2012 159

2012 New York City Jamaica 2013 159

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Matheson Hammock County Park is a special place to many who grew up in the Miami area, filled with the nostalgia of taking one’s first swim in the ocean, seeing their first Brown Pelicans , or dip netting through the seagrass beds to find Pygmy Seahorses (the most coveted and prized catch).

Miami 163

Miami Florida Pelicans Birds 163

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2020

Brown Pelican – This is a bird that will just take some luck while I am staring at the ocean. Either way, the odds of actually getting a Brown Pelican in Queens are pretty low. Sedge Wren – There are records of this species in Queens, generally along the coast in fall. Below are my predictions exactly as I made them.

2018 175

2018 2019 2015 Kansas City 175

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

The third weekend of January, I travelled to the coastal city of Acapulco to give a seminar on family finances at a church there. And my one lifer for the trip was a family of Rufous-naped Wrens that apparently live in the same garden. We saw lots of the usual Heron, Egret, Cormorant, and Pelican suspects.

2006 178

2006 Morocco Birds Mexico 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2022

And I did manage to see a large number of new birds — 45 new species, to be specific. I will start by telling you about encounters in Turkey with two special bird families. I really should have encountered these families in Mexico, as they both occur here. New places, new birds! My only problem is, where to start?

Spain 162

Spain Turkey Mexico Agenda 162

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2016

Here and there, spits of pale sand became playgrounds for families and dogs, or hunting areas for Great Blue Herons. Besides, I didn’t need a still image to identify my familiar Florida species. Brown Pelicans were the most numerous birds, flapping against the wind, diving for lunch, or floating along on the gentle waves.

Bald Eagle 154

Bald Eagle Florida Alligators Pelicans 154

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2013

Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I want to reach 500 birds in the ABA, get my Queens list to 295, see a total of at least 500 species, and get my World Life List to 1,100. But how did I see so many species this year?

2012 149

2012 Czech Republic Hedgehogs Hungary 149

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2018

We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts. I don’t know much about prairies, but I have discovered that there is more to them than just grass, and that they are home to hundreds of butterfly and bee species and thousands of moth species.

North Dakota 165

North Dakota Sparrows Birds Blackbirds 165

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 7, 2020

The book is divided into three parts: “Introduction,” “Avifaunal Overview,” and “Species Accounts.” Most birders will go straight to the “Species Accounts.” It’s important to note that the 301 species selected for this section are those of historical and current importance to the core study area, the northwest Bronx.

New York City 174

New York City New York Birds Breeding 174

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

I should add that the Big Owls taking over NYC social and even hard print media, dominating conversations with my nonbirder friends and family, are not the only owls in the five boroughs, but like a musical, the closer you are to Broadway, the closer you are to fame and fortune (and maybe even a higher quality rodent for dinner, who knows?).

New York City 223

New York City Fox Owls California Condor 223

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2018

Taking advantage of my son, Desmond, having this past Friday off from school our small family decided to do a three-day trip somewhere. Great Kiskadees , White-winged Doves , and, above all, Great-tailed Grackles were the species that couldn’t be missed. Nonetheless, it was nice to see a second endemic species. …

Monkeys 100

Monkeys Family Deer Pelicans 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 23, 2017

While neither is an endemic they are two of the five hummingbird species found in Puerto Rico and we wanted to make sure to see them, mostly for Mike’s sake as I had seen both in Culebra last year. Curse the lumpers who stole species status from the white-shielded Caribbean race of coot! Low light does not help when digiscoping.

Puerto Rico 115

Puerto Rico Birds Woodpeckers 2017 115

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

In the time we spent on Culebra I saw 49 species of birds, not bad for an island outside of the wintering grounds for most neotropical migrants and only measuring eleven miles square. I spotted eight species in my time on Culebra. Of herons and egrets I only saw two species.

Puerto Rico 119

Puerto Rico Birds Sea Turtles Chickens 119

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

It’s a species that I was able to see and photograph while visiting Australia last Christmas, or at least it would have been, had it ever existed. It is one of the many species that went extinct in New Zealand, only for once it didn’t. This is the story of the pelicans of New Zealand.

New Zealand 195

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 195

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 10, 2011

.” The higher waterbird clade is a wonderfully diverse group consisting of loons, penguins, tubenoses, storks, Suliformes , herons and ibises, pelicans , the Shoebill , and the Hamerkop. Four families are often recognized: storm-petrels, albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels , and diving-petrels.

Albatross 203

Albatross Penguins New Zealand Japan 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

In the southwestern of Western Australia (not where these photos were taken), the Little Corella actually is an introduced bird species listed as a category 3 declared pest ( source ). On the plus side, a website of the Australian Government provides a printout for an origami of an Australian Pelican.

Birds 220

Birds Pelicans Falcons Parrots 220

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 6, 2014

I’m in Sydney for a week of family, birding, diving and enjoying the subtropical climate. Everyone loves parrots and these small nectar drinking species are both astonishingly colourful and common. Australian Pelican. Australian Pelican. Okay, it may not be that hot, but it can’t be worse than Wellington.

Penguins 233

Penguins Pelicans Parrots Australia 233

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2017

Can a family-focused trip—even to one of the world’s most biodiverse countries—deliver enough opportunities for avian observation to satisfy this serious world birder? With enough planning, you can enjoy a family-friendly, bird-rich vacation in the Panama Canal zone. If you have kids, you’re probably as curious as I was.

Panama 100

Panama 2017 Monkeys Family 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 19, 2012

The flowerpecker, an attractive species, was actually responsible for Peter becoming a birder in the first place! Our next species was decidedly uncommon, a Black-headed Ibis circled overhead for a minute before flying off. I’m a big fan of babblers, and this was a particularly special species.

Thailand 159

Thailand New Zealand Terrapins Asia 159

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

You don’t actually have to go too far from Broome inland to find taller trees and different bird species. We went for a wander to see what species were further upstream and accidentally flushed a Barking Owl. There are several bird species here that you won’t see in the Broome area, so it is definitely worth a look.

Birds 166

Birds Owls Pelicans Species 166

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2017

As birders, we tend to spend more time in wetlands than most of our peers, neighbors, and family members. Despite our focused efforts at the La Fortuna Waterfall Trail, the first target bird remained elusive but once we reached our primary destination, we sort of made up for the miss by laying eyes on some other choice species.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Pelicans Nicaragua Ducks 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

The birdlife also varied from last year, although some species remained the same. As we walked from the car park to the bird hide we noticed a family of Magpie Geese on the edge of the billabong. Family of Magpie Geese. Australian Pelicans and crocodile. Trips Australia darters herons and egrets pelicans'

Pelicans 151

Pelicans Geese Ducks Australia 151

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2012

And it’s no wonder, considering how millions of years of evolution have bred species with the capacity to command a room well before they enter it, if you know what I mean! Not only is Toco the largest member of the toucan family, but it is erroneously reputed to have the biggest beak relative to its body of all the world’s birds.

Pelicans 182

Pelicans Birds Jordan Asia 182