10,000 Birds

AUGUST 14, 2012

The wonderful family Meropidae contains 27 dazzling species, of which Africa is endowed with no less than 20 species, the balance occurring across Asia and with one as far afield as Australia. We have both resident and migratory species, and this post will briefly discuss each of the 20 species of African bee-eaters.

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Africa Gabon Uganda South Africa 263

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Where a birder goes in the Caribbean determines which birds are seen including toy-like todies, Carib hummingbirds, cool pigeons, quail-doves, unique avian families and outrageous woodpeckers. One such special place is the Centro Manu, a small family run reserve that features several star bird species of Costa Rica’s Caribbean lowlands.

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Costa Rica Puerto Rico Birds Owls 263

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. Yes, you read that right. Violet Sabrewing.

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Costa Rica Nashville Tennessee Turtles 274

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

They are one of the most famous families of birds, and for good reason. Trinidad and Tobago has historically had seventeen species on record, sixteen on Trinidad and six on Tobago. Oftentimes even the uncommon to scarce residents play nice, one can easily view fifteen species on a single visit to the twin island republic.

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Trinidad South America Venezuela 2019 257

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2011

By age 2 she could identify over 10 species of birds in our Johannesburg, South Africa, yard by call alone. Astounding because she picked up birding before she could speak and surprising because this ability was definitely not inherited from anyone in my family, myself included. And perhaps 20 others by sight. BIRD FEEDERS.

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Birds Game South Africa Wildlife 278

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 15, 2020

Even photos of the rarest of birds can be found, even heart-wrenching images of bird species that are no longer with us. Species like the Gyrfalcon , the aerial powerhouse of the tundra, of stunning, breeding-plumaged May warblers. These are all of the toucan species that occur in Costa Rica.

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Costa Rica Birds Woodpeckers Species 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 9, 2015

However, there are those species which have a hard time bringing attention to themselves such as Yellow-shouldered Blackbird , Giant Nuthatch , and Vinaceous-breasted Parrot. Regardless of their popularity, these species and the threatened ecosystems they inhabit are equally spectacular. Curassows are such stately birds.

California Condor 211

California Condor Brazil Parrots Texas 211

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2011

And wouldn’t you know it, I was right. The Green Heron ( Butorides virescens ) is a spectacular species familiar to anyone who pays attention to the places where water meets land. One could dwell on how convoluted its family tree is… the Butorides complex, as it’s called, is surprisingly complex.

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Jamaica Fish Adoptable Ducks 254

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2011

This has happened before, Archaeopteryx and the bird family tree have had an often tenuous relationship. The trait must then be identifiable as to whether or not it exists in a certain species. That’s what Archaeopteryx is. Recently, the news came out that beloved Archaeopteryx is not really a bird ancestor.

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Mammals Europe Groups Family 245

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Originally considered monotypic, two species are now recognized. Drakensberg (or Orange-breasted) Rockjumper is a Drakensberg Mountain species whose range is shared with the tiny landlocked kingdom of Lesotho. Males of this species are more brightly colored in their non-breeding winter plumage. the Rockjumpers.

South Africa 219

South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Africa 219

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 9, 2014

Few if any species are as emblematic of the Neotropics as Ramphastidae, the family that includes the toucans, toucanets, and aracaris. On the trip to Costa Rica that I just returned from I was pleased to see both of those species as well as Black-mandibled Toucan and Keel-billed Toucan. Yeah, it was a heck of a trip.

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Costa Rica Horses Farming Collecting 230

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2021

When you travel north along the highway from Broome towards Willare and Derby you come to a wide bridge with a sign that says “Cockatoo Creek” I would highly recommend that you pull up on the right after you have crossed the bridge and park where the plaque is for the official opening of it. There was also a Black-necked Stork.

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Cattle Ducks Zebras Australia 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 29, 2021

and 180 bird species ( Ferruginous Duck , Black Woodpecker ; Icterine , Eastern Olivaceous and Barred Warblers ) recorded so far. I made this tour myself several days ago (late July), and will report mostly on the species I actually found, as well as some mammals. It is a spacious floodplain between the River Danube and the levee, 2.1

Farming 264

Farming Fish Birds Boars 264

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. No surprise to that; these two species always initiate the migratory season here. This is not the first time el Temascal has surprised me with its combination of high and low species.

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Louisiana 2000 Mexico Hunting 261

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2020

Local guide and birder David Mora Vargas has been spending much of his time at his family’s farm in the Sarapiqui lowlands. With around 400 species recorded for the area, yeah, it’s where we might all like to quarantine for a bit! A Fantastic Day of 200 Plus Species. An adult Tiny Hawk from another day and place.

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Costa Rica Birds Thailand Farming 209

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. The rest of the 216 pages long book is devoted to various African bird families and half a dozen individual species. He has authored several other books and many articles, largely on natural history.

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Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

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. Funny how sometimes you search for birds for ages and when you’re in the right area, or by chance, they are almost too easy to see.

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New Zealand Rabbits Adoptable Family 206

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.

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Botswana Africa Ecuador Birds 242

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Yet they also bring up questions, which I’m going to talk about right now before diving into the specifics of the guides themselves. An associated issue is that the Belize and Costa Rica guides share many of the same descriptions of species, written by Howell. Other species are splits and lumped and have had their names changed.

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Costa Rica Belize El Salvador Birds 210

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

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South Africa Malaysia Africa China 221

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.

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Trinidad ALA Groups Family 208

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.

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Trinidad Birds Ducks Fish 260

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.

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Breeding Australia Eggs Family 193

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2014

The second edition of the National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition has one of the longest book names in bird bookdom: National Geographic Complete Birds of North America, 2nd Edition: Now Covering More Than 1,000 Species With the Most-Detailed Information Found in a Single Volume. This volume is no exception.

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North America America Family Falcons 177

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

The species that manage to colonize these islands evolve in competition with relatively few other species, developing survival strategies based on interdependence, co-evolution, and mutualism rather than adapting to deal with a broad range of predators and competitors. A species, wiped off the earth, never to exist again.

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Cuba Columbus Parrots DC 242

10,000 Birds

JULY 6, 2021

If you had your choice of one bird family to pursue, to seek out and observe and photograph and kvell over, which one would you choose? A passion for one bird family is also very useful. Hummingbird species, on the other hand, number in the hundreds. So, when British natural history writer Jon Dunn (not to be confused with U.S.

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Costa Rica Brazil Bolivia Ecuador 264

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2021

All sorts of exotic and beautiful species may be seen. This would sound attractive even to me, except for one fact: almost all of those exotic and beautiful species are common down here in central Mexico. Southeastern Arizona is unusual, precisely because its species mix is as much Mexican as it is American.

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Arizona Mexico Los Angeles Oakland 260

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Whether you are traveling with your family, in a small group, or alone, our tours are customizable to suit your every need and wish. We work closely with Mayan communities where local expert birders are permanently monitoring the forest to know the right time and place to spot our unique birds.

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Guatemala El Salvador Belize Honduras 244

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. Pied-billed Grebe , photo by Steve Tucker. Not enough for you?

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Jordan Guatemala South America Birds 190

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. One species alive today offers a glimpse of such behavior: the Nicobar Pigeon ( Caloenas nicobarica ). .’s

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Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius 2006 274

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.

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Falcons Breeding Family Groups 296

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2021

Species formerly referred to as P. One recent study found that this species was sister to P. perdix , and also that race przewalskii (sometimes subsumed within suschkini , but generally paler) was basal to other taxa included within the present species. barbata , but present name has priority. So, I later looked this up.

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China Austria Birds ALA 245

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2021

Most days, that seemingly random place is right at home. Some call them trash, tours might not visit, but they can host more than the expected and common species. Some such vegetated spots can also attract oddball birds, species that wander to find a home in urban circumstances. This image is from a different site.

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Costa Rica Sparrows Rodents Rats 251

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 31, 2011

They are part of a family of New World Quail which includes Gambel’s, Mountain, Scaled and Montezuma Quail, as well as the Northern Bobwhite. The family stays very close to cover for several weeks, getting bolder as the young develop. The family group pictured below has been visiting my yard recently.

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California Rattlesnake Gophers Eggs 216

10,000 Birds

JUNE 10, 2022

Once you get to Costa Rica, you’ll already know those birds so well, it will be like meeting distant family members and famous folks for the very first time.Over and over! ” and you will know they are right. Right, say what?! This bird is a classic heard only species. You may say to yourself, “Ha!

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Costa Rica Birds Panama Species 248

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.

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Trinidad Turkey Squirrels Cows 251

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.

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Guyana Parrots Family Groups 234