10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2024

On my 21-day Kenyan safaris we reckoned to find around 600 species of birds and around 60 mammals, both impressive totals. In 2023 I attempted to keep a year list of mammal encounters: the list barely exceeded 20 species, while it became complicated by seeing bats and voles that I was unable to name specifically.

Fur 182

Fur Otters Bulgaria Estonia 182

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 17, 2019

Barnacle geese breed mainly on the Arctic islands of the North Atlantic, while the nearest wintering areas also lie along the northern coasts of Europe: the Netherlands and the Baltic Sea (Estonia, Finland, Denmark and Sweden). Here in Serbia, in the south of the continent, this species is a proper rarity.

Geese 143

Geese Serbia Estonia Ukraine 143

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

They are of the race islandica , a sub species of the nominate race, limosa. Rings are not the only way of marking birds, and with a number of species wing tags are more often used. Audouin’s Gull is an attractive species restricted as a breeding bird to the Mediterranean, but many winter in North Africa.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Morocco Iceland Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2023

Not a cover species The Black Kite is not actually black, but of course, misleading bird names are not exactly rare. No surprise then that the species is listed as Vulnerable. But then, sanity (or maybe respect for you, the reader) prevailed. Fortunately, they are quite common in Shanghai. It is also called Chinese Bulbul.

Iraq 130

Iraq Birds China Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2022

This is a rather photographer-friendly species, staying on the same branch for quite a while and even returning to it after catching some insects – you can see this on video here and here. While the source does not say so directly, it hints that this means the species is not as intelligent as Eurasian Magpies (which pass the test).

Finland 147

Finland Birds McDonalds Israel 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2024

A Japanese book on Hokkaido birds lists 6 species of woodpeckers – I saw three of them, presumably the most common ones. Indeed, the species seems quite adaptable to changing environmental conditions. ” The logic behind this is that both the beetles and the woodpecker species depend on the same resource, decaying wood.

Woodpeckers 183

Woodpeckers Renter North Korea Finland 183

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

As soon as I looked at it more closely it was quite clear that it wasn’t a scaup of any species, despite its resemblance to a North American Lesser Scaup. I hadn’t considered the possible parentage more than the two probable species involved, but intriguingly a Pochard drake x Tufted duck looks quite different.

Geese 185

Geese Latvia Falcons Ducks 185

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2023

An Englishwoman, she thought, originally, that she would stay within the British Isles, to see the five or six native species. As she notes, Eastern Europe contains significant pockets of agriculturally undeveloped land, and thus has a far greater diversity of species “from invertebrates to large carnivores” than in Northern Europe.

Barn Owls 113

Barn Owls Owls Finland Serbia 113

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2016

There are three species of ptarmigan, all found in Alaska. The Willow Ptarmigan, which is the most numerous, can also be found in Russia, Finland, Scandinavia, and Canada. Unlike other grouse species, the male Willow Ptarmigan remains with the female throughout the breeding season to help raise the chicks.

Alaska 102

Alaska Finland Indiana Russia 102

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Given the complexity of the research, the result feels like a bit of a letdown – “northern populations start migration earlier than southern populations, especially in autumn” The species name of the Chestnut-eared Bunting is fucata , from the Latin “fucare”, to paint red.

Eggs 204

Eggs Birds Bangladesh China 204