10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

They are one of the most famous families of birds, and for good reason. Ridiculously common in its home range of northern South America, no-one had ever seen a Glittering-throated Emerald here before, and I was determined to be among those who laid eyes on it.

Trinidad 262

Trinidad South America Venezuela 2019 262

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 20, 2014

’s bird family tree in a new tab and follow along as you read. The Hoatzin, which may have reached South America by raft , has resisted placement in basically every study ever done. In 2008, Nick Sly published a review of Hackett et al. titled Avian relationships – What do we know? Open Jarvis et al.’s

Family 279

Family Parrots 2014 Birds 279

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2015

The authors argue that most major groups, including the sparrows, wood-warblers, blackbirds, and cardinals then diversified in North America and subsequently colonized South America in a series of overwater (before the Isthmus of Panama had formed) or overland dispersal events.

Sparrows 258

Sparrows North America South America Blackbirds 258

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

But, unlike most books focused on a bird family, this one is organized geographically. Each chapter focuses on a specific geographic area of penguin population: (1) Antarctica, (2) South Georgia, (3) Falkland Islands, (4) South Africa and Tristan de Cunha, (5) New Zealand and Australia, (6) South America and Galapagos.

Penguins 278

Penguins Georgia Albatross New Zealand 278

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2022

Wood-Wrens , birds of the family Henicorhina , are very small wrens of Central and South America that like to live very close to the ground, in dense forest underbrush or elfin forests. The only one that occurs in western Mexico, where I live, is the Gray-breasted Wood-Wren.

Mexico 197

Mexico South America America Species 197

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2015

Growing up in South America, I distinctly recall the arrival of “the swallow with a deeply forked tail”. They fly from extreme northern North America to the southern tip of South America and are seldom seen perched during migration. I later learned about the Barn Swallow’s amazing annual migration.

South Dakota 169

South Dakota South America North America Wyoming 169

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2023

Between March and May, we say goodbye to more than half our duck and wood warbler species, as well as about half of all our shorebirds, vireos, hummingbirds, buntings, sparrows, and orioles, and many members of other avian families. For a few, only a few, species actually winter in Central and South America, and summer up here in Mexico.

South America 172

South America Pigs Mexico Species 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

However, as DNA and morphological studies have indicated, despite the barbets of Asia and Africa looking quite like the ones in the Americas, they aren’t closely related to each other. The two families of New World barbets, the Capitonidae and the Semnornithidae, are actually more related to toucans.

Costa Rica 173

Costa Rica Colombia Ecuador South America 173

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2020

I had a very nice visit with his family — so nice that I didn’t get to do all that much birding. The family can be found from Mexico to South America, but even this species, while the northernmost of all, does not make it to the United States. I did visit my new friend’s home shortly after our meeting.

Mexico 174

Mexico South America United States Mammals 174

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2017

The White-naped Xenopsaris is a member of the Tityra family (Tityridae), a newish family of mostly South American birds carved from various oddball birds formerly lumped with the manakins, the tyrant-flycatchers and the cotingas. It was both mysterious and plain. . Birds like the tityras, the becards and the purpletufts.

Science 109

Science Argentina South America Uruguay 109

10,000 Birds

JUNE 11, 2023

If you have much interest in birds, you may well have seen videos of the very comical mating dance of male Red-capped Manakins , a species whose range stretches from southeast Mexico to South America. And who wouldn’t want to see a member of the toucan family? Well, we did not see a male, and we did not see his dance.

Mexico 173

Mexico Woodpeckers South America Species 173

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 26, 2021

A lot of destinations were mentioned, with Central and South America leading the way, New Guinea, Indonesia and Australia appearing only at the middle of the list, and African countries (South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar) lagging at the end of the list.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2014

Proving that cruelty knows no bounds, some (language unsuitable for a family blog) in Virginia Beach is shooting blow darts at birds. Birding in Israel? Report your sightings to help build an eBird-like database of the country’s avifauna. Meanwhile, an Oregon farmer caught a beating from a neighbor irritated by his loud “bird cannons.” (Who

Israel 197

Israel Science Hawaii South America 197

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2019

as I have some from the family in my garden. The Painted Lady is thought to be one of the world’s most succesful butterflies with a range covering the globe apart from Antactica and South America. It migrates through successive generations, similar to the Monarch butterfly.

Ireland 123

Ireland South America North America 2009 123

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2020

Guiding aside, Howell is a research associate at the California Academy of Sciences and the author of many books, including Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America (Princeton). Birds of Chile – A Photo Guide has 240 pages and more than 1,000 photos accompanied by a brief text to make bird ID easy.

Chile 207

Chile Birds South America Albatross 207

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 18, 2021

So the only Patagonia I would choose to visit in the future, is the Patagonia to be found at the southern end of South America. When they go low… How about the Tyrant Flycatcher family? Consider the striking Berylline Hummingbird. But it can only be found as a vagrant in Arizona.

Arizona 263

Arizona Mexico Los Angeles Houston 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2020

Cuba (twice), South America (twice), Europe and Morocco (once) and Bali (once). 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.

2006 163

2006 Morocco Birds Mexico 163

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2014

Together, these birds compose the family Alcidae , and they share adaptations that we recognize as penguin-like: an upright stance on land, black-and-white plumage, and — most important — wings that propel them underwater in pursuit of prey ( see them in action here ). © David J. See Cairns et al.

Penguins 228

Penguins Puffins 2008 Sharks 228

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2020

The Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher is one of the relatively few birds that winter in South America, but fly no further north than Mexico for the breeding season. As were the Greenish Elaenias, birds in the Tyrant Flycatcher family. And on this particular trip, I could see all these species on a single kind of tree.

Squirrels 172

Squirrels Sparrows South America Mexico 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2022

There are also 14 species of New World Barbets and 2 species of Toucan-Barbets (all in South America). Unfortunately, I have so far seen only a few of them, and none of the ones in the Americas … but here are ten that I have seen and got halfway decent photos of. That Smith Family is so depressing”.

South Africa 213

South Africa Africa India China 213

10,000 Birds

APRIL 2, 2013

As a hanger-on of my wife’s family I find myself this week in Aruba, one of the ABC islands just off the coast of northern South America. While Caribbean has many great and wonderful birding islands, Aruba isn’t really one of them. Where others are lush, it’s dry.

South America 170

South America Netherlands America Sparrows 170

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 196

Jordan Guatemala South America Birds 196

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2013

The Common Black Hawk earns its name by being common throughout at least part of its wide range, being black or very dark as adults, and being a hawk in the family Accipitridae. Southwest all the way down through Central America to parts of South America and the Caribbean. Immature birds are streaked brown and white.

Chicago 247

Chicago South America Illinois 2013 247

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2022

The Ground Woodpecker (Drakensberg, South Africa) is listed as Near Threatened. At woodpecker family meetings, it usually stands a bit separate from most other species as it cannot meaningfully participate in discussions about wood (it mostly lives in rocky terrain without trees). Kind of like a diesel version.

Woodpeckers 239

Woodpeckers South Africa China Singapore 239

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? I’m not sure if they are as difficult a family to spot in the wild, but I certainly have had little luck with them in the past. Birds Borneo broadbill Christmas Gallery tropical'

Madagascar 167

Madagascar Malaysia New Zealand South America 167

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2013

This is a Green-barred Woodpecker , common and widespread throughout South America to the south of the Amazon River and to the east of the Andes. Considering its preferred habitat, there was a proposal that they be included in a family known as “forest flickers” using the generic Chrysoptilus.

Woodpeckers 167

Woodpeckers Argentina South America Adoptable 167

10,000 Birds

MAY 4, 2017

In a time of little published information about the rainforests of Central and South America aside from scientific journal articles and the works of 19th-century naturalists, the “little green book,” as it was called, became a must-read amongst nature-oriented travelers and researchers.

South America 157

South America Ecuador Reptiles America 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2012

It continued to cry as the adult rested for a moment, possibly wondering, (as so many of us watchers have done in our own family lives) “What do I have to do….?” They like gardens and city parks and are often one of the first birds seen by visitors.

Argentina 150

Argentina South America America Family 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 12, 2017

Starting in the mid-1990s, there was a “where to watch birds in…” series of five site guides written by Nigel Wheatley and covering South America (1994), Africa (1995), Asia (1996), Europe & Russia (2000) and Central America & the Caribbean (2001). Family accounts for all 142 bird families recorded from the region.

Africa 173

Africa Botswana Nigeria Namibia 173

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2019

This does not include the various changes made to Latin names, taxonomic ordering, nor changes to families.: Split from the Three-striped Warbler of South America, yet another species is added to the list of birds only found in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. Spot-bellied Bobwhite bites the dust.

Costa Rica 201

Costa Rica Owls South America Panama 201

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2014

Several generations of Leopoldina’s family operate the lodge, serving delicious food and hospitality in a clean, comfortable environment. Trips Cerro Montezuma Choco Region Colombia South America' Yet I could imagine spending a full week or more exploring everything this magical mountain area has to offer.

Colombia 266

Colombia South America Birds America 266

10,000 Birds

MARCH 26, 2016

The Sporophila family contains exclusively Neotropic species (within the flexible Thraupidae ) and S. caerulescens can be seen within the middle third of South America, predominantly to the east of the Andes.

Argentina 100

Argentina South America America Family 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2012

Now woodpeckers are a fairly diverse family of birds, comprising of approximately 30 different genera – from the massive campephilus genus (of which the Imperial and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers are now presumed extinct) to the dwarves of the woodpecker world, the endearing piculets.

Colombia 174

Colombia Woodpeckers South America Asia 174

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2014

They packed up in June of 2013 and headed south from San Diego with the southern tip of South America as their destination. Sixteen species within the antbird family (Thamnophidae) are considered true obligate army ant followers.

San Diego 191

San Diego South America Costa Rica America 191

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2011

He goes on to describe how early classifications of the nine-primaried oscines relied on bill shape to determine family boundaries. A new perspective on tanagers Much of the core of the tanager family remains intact. Odd little grassquits singing from power lines in South America’s great cities.

2003 217

2003 South America Sparrows Family 217

10,000 Birds

JULY 8, 2013

Seth and I made tentative plans to go looking for the bird again on the evening of the 6th but it seemed unlikely that I would be able to join him, what with family plans to go to the beach for the day. It is a bird of the Pacific coast of North and South America, breeding in western Mexico and southern California.

New York 150

New York South America New Jersey 2013 150

10,000 Birds

JULY 15, 2016

Chimney Swifts are remarkable birds who are having a harder and harder time finding brick chimneys in which to nest and raise their families. These fabulous birds fly all the way to South America for the winter, then return in the spring. How great to be able to turn a potential swift family disaster into a success!

Wildlife Rehabilitation 140

Wildlife Rehabilitation Sanctuary Connecticut South America 140