10,000 Birds

MAY 5, 2013

The munias, or mannikins, or silverbills, as the genus’ members are called, are finches belonging to the Estrildidae , and the 40-odd species range from Africa throughout South and Southeast Asia to Australia. However, around 90 % of Indonesia’s population is Muslim and the cage bird trade is a huge, huge problem.

Indonesia 190

Indonesia Asia 2012 Africa 190

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2012

Indonesia hosts 1,597 species, of which 126 are endangered – 19 critically. It is unclear if the Invisible Rail stamp will be blank.

Indonesia 162

Indonesia Raised Owls Birds 162

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2014

It varies in appearance across its enormous range, and a new genetic study — Dispersal and speciation in purple swamphens (Rallidae: Porphyrio) — bolsters the case that this “supertramp” is actually a superspecies that could be split into six different species. Above: Swamphen in Australia by James Niland).

Papua New Guinea 219

Papua New Guinea Philippines New Zealand Florida 219

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2024

Given that according to the HBW, the species prefers dense primary and secondary montane forests, the note that the bird also forages among kitchen waste (in the same HBW entry) seems somewhat incongruous. Fish & Wildlife Service has a web page for this species – but it contains absolutely no information.

Burma 240

Burma India Indonesia Thailand 240

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2015

This map shows the distribution of the World’s bird species, based on overlying the breeding and wintering ranges of all known species. I used to live in Botswana, where there are about 450 bird species in an area a few dozen miles from the capital; then somewhat naively moved back to Serbia with mere 250 species around the capital.

Sri Lanka 257

Sri Lanka Botswana Africa Serbia 257

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2013

Its genus name refers to supposed similarities between it and the African mousebirds , and its species name refers to waxwings. The Olive-flanked (or Yellow-flanked) Whistler ( Hylocitrea bonensis ) is endemic to to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, where it lives inconspicuously in montane forests. Spellman et al.

Saudi Arabia 248

Saudi Arabia 2008 Indonesia Colombia 248

10,000 Birds

JUNE 29, 2023

Yet, I was not aware of any of Arjan’s big year updates in English, so I had no clue where he was or how many species he managed to see. After 3 months of South and Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Australia, Arjan’s count stood at 2,060 species. And I wanted to learn about his travels in detail.

Papua New Guinea 264

Papua New Guinea Guinea Suriname Brazil 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 15, 2015

You’d think that dressing in green to hide from predators inside a dense rainforest is as a strategy as plain as day, yet only a surprisingly limited number of bird species on Borneo have ventured down that evolutionary road. Interestingly, the females are more varied between the species and are far more readily identified.

Indonesia 196

Indonesia Asia Birds Groups 196

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2012

Adding to their mystique is the remoteness of their home, the undeveloped and rarely visited islands of New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. There are, however, two species that are more accesible than the rest of the family.

Indonesia 224

Indonesia Guinea Australia Cooking 224

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2023

The Chinese Hwamei is a second-level protected species in China – as a consequence, according to Chinese law on wildlife protection, it is prohibited for local people to capture and keep the species in captivity without a permit. Still, a few spend the summer here.

Indonesia 189

Indonesia Thailand Legislation illegal 189

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2021

Fortunately, China itself has a large number of bird species and habitats. According to a Wikipedia entry, China has 1413 bird species – though strangely, another list found online, purportedly based on Birdlife International, claims only 1288 species. One of my target species for the trip was Indian Blue Robin.

China 264

China Pandas Birds Zoos 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2011

Here are the clues: 1. Some references indicate that this country has nearly 900 different species of birds. 3. Corey has written about one of the species, which I will most likely see when I go. 5. And another list shows 6 endemics and 11 endangered species. Instead, name one of the endemic species in this country.

Myanmar 150

Myanmar Bolivia 2011 Venezuela 150

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago covers 1,417 species, 601 endemics, 98 vagrants, 8 introduced and 18 undescribed species. So–the book covers islands that belong to the Republic of Indonesia and to Malaysia. But, it doesn’t cover all or Indonesia or all of Malaysia. Co-author Frank E.

Indonesia 159

Indonesia Brunei Malaysia Papua New Guinea 159

10,000 Birds

APRIL 3, 2023

Its mood is not helped by the ambiguous review on eBird: “Although not actually pale, this brownish songbird is one of the plainer thrushes in its range” The Latin species name of the Dusky Thrush is eunomos (I guess that is Greek, but whatever) – meaning well-ordered. One page is dedicated to the Long-tailed Shrike. (yes,

Blackbirds 239

Blackbirds Birds Indonesia Bhutan 239

Critter News

APRIL 12, 2010

It takes place in Indonesia. Tags: reptiles indonesia lizards crocodile endangered species. The skins are being used for handbags and other products. This link has a horrible photo and a worse video. Just warning you.

Reptiles 100

Reptiles Indonesia Endangered Species PETA 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

In fact, the best known member of the family, Central America’s aptly-named Resplendent Quetzal , looks less like Michoacán’s trogons than, say, Africa’s Narina Trogon , or the Red-naped Trogon of Indonesia. Honesty requires that I confess to having seen none of these species. Wikipedia has been used.).

Mexico 226

Mexico Indonesia Arizona North America 226

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2023

The somewhat shoddily edited Wikipedia entry on sunbirds states that there are 145 species in one paragraph and then talks about 146 in the next. There isn’t really a lot of interesting information on the individual sunbird species – but the photos hopefully still make this a post worth looking at.

Indonesia 224

Indonesia Asia Species Raised 224

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013

Here, I show you a few images of Savanna Nightjars , a Southeast Asian species I was able to observe nicely and commonly on Java and South Borneo in 2012 and 2013. Here is a further series of images from another typical day-roost of the species: roof-tops. Birds Indonesia nightjars' Legs: The Expendables 2.

Goats 226

Goats Indonesia Science Experience 226

10,000 Birds

MAY 13, 2022

For once, eBird gives a good description of the Asian Glossy Starling, calling it a “Fierce-looking, large songbird” As are humans, this species is fairly urbanized – it “sometimes enters urban areas to roost, e.g. in Singapore” (HBW). “Odd, me?”

Singapore 259

Singapore Birds Zebras Feral 259

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2014

There is one thing however that makes the Sunda Teal a rather highly desired species, and the name is a bit of a give-away: the species’ magic is in its range. Birds dabbling ducks Indonesia waterfowl' Muara Angke – the place where you get to scan THIS for Black Bitterns and rails. No, definitely not the birding.

Los Angeles 165

Los Angeles New York City Timor Indonesia 165

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.

Congo 264

Congo Africa Madagascar Kenya 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 28, 2013

They belong to the same species like those found back in Europe, Sus scrofa – which inhabits a belt stretching from northern Africa and Europe all the way to Indonesia, but a different subspecies, S.s. The next two species are the Southern Grey Shrike and the Tawny Pipit , also characteristic for this habitat type.

India 253

India Birds Boars Eagles 253

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2013

Genetic studies, however, indicate that it is closely related to Bubo (Sibley and Ahlquist 1990) and in fact is nested within the genus (Wink and Heidrich 1999). Banks et al. 2003 , PDF).

Owls 178

Owls Indonesia 2002 North Carolina 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2024

The Ochraceous Bulbul looks similar to the Puff-throated Bulbul, with which it shares a genus – the similarity made one of my travel companions doubt the whole framework of species distinctions. Paul Conrad (1836-1885), a German naturalist in the East Indies, after which the species is named ( Pycnonotus conradi ).

Vietnam 237

Vietnam Fowl Birds Iran 237

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

From a birder’s perspective however, this is both a shame and a blessing, as I will show below based on my observations of the species on the island of Java in November. The prinias are a group of around 25 Old World warbler species found in Africa and Asia. The Brown Prinia is an Asian species with a very peculiar range.

Burma 168

Burma Laos Cambodia Indonesia 168

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2012

The Yellow Bittern is a tiny heron, substantially smaller than the Butoroides (Green and Striated) species and slimmer too. It is an adherent to fresh water lakes, canals and swamps from India through East Asia, Indonesia and New Guinea. It likes plenty of cover as one would imagine of a bittern species and especially favours Pandanus.

Singapore 175

Singapore Indonesia Asia Guinea 175

10,000 Birds

MAY 7, 2014

The 28 odd species of this genus are found in the Sunda (the islands of Indonesia, Malaysia and the southern bit of Thailand) and the Philippines, and are named for the inescapable (in this region anyway) Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, he of the founding of Singapore fame. Sometimes it is good to stop and smell the roses.

Philippines 167

Philippines Malaysia Indonesia Thailand 167

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2016

More than 30 different raptor species pass through this area, called the most vital flyway in the western Palearctic. But he’s got stiff competition, including peers working to save Tree Kangaroos in Papua New Guinea, Sumatran Orangutans in Indonesia, and Snow Leopards in Pakistan.

Papua New Guinea 100

Papua New Guinea Snow Leopard Pakistan illegal 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? Borneo is the third largest island in the world; politically it is divided amongst three countries–Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Indonesia (Kalimantan) and the sultanate of Brunei. With a trip to South Africa on the horizon at the time, I thought I could handle it.

Brunei 195

Brunei Asia Birds China 195

10,000 Birds

MARCH 20, 2011

It may be as sick as deliberately targeting an endangered species for death. Birders know that the light’s not always perfect or even particularly good when you’re trying to tell one species from another. Speculation is useless in acts of vandalism. It may be as simple as trying to hit the big white one. The big white one. It flies on.

2011 244

2011 Hunting Kentucky Hunters 244

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2013

Let’s take Singapore’s Changi International Airport as an example; it is a huge hub airport with large numbers of people passing through in transit to Australia, Indonesia and south-east Asia. My personal list for Paser Ris runs to 75 birds over 15 visits that average out at around 25 species per outing. and take 23 minutes).

Singapore 166

Singapore Woodpeckers Parrots Zebras 166

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2017

Way back in the days when blog posts still got a lot of comments, I wrote a piece on why field guides that arrange species in a more or less strict taxonomic order regularly frustrate me. Taxonomy is constantly changing and so does the order of species in field guides. It was a nightmarish thing to do.

Brunei 190

Brunei 2009 2014 2016 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 10, 2025

There are two species of pittas on Halmahera. It is one of the 14 species in the genus Erythropitta and looks quite similar to many of the other pittas in this genus. One is the North Moluccan Pitta, Erythropitta rufiventris.

Species 135

Species Indonesia Birds 135

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2015

On my third visit however, I was far more fortunate as the species was surpisingly active, with the birds’ movements frequently giving them away next to the trails. This post is about the subspecies rufa from Java, because that’s the only subspecies I’ve seen so far.

Vietnam 169

Vietnam Timor Myanmar Asia 169

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2015

But what is even worse and adds insult to injury is the fact that their bills could have, in most species, inspired so much more than just “broad” I’ll show you by means of the three broadbill species I recently encountered on a trip to the island of Borneo. Gone, bird magic. A broad bill gone on a green broadbill.

Groups 117

Groups Asia Species Rights 117

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

And what does it tell us, other than the obvious “head for South America” or perhaps Indonesia? It divides countries into categories, where the next category has 200 more species. In some cases the data are outdated, e.g. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data.

Equatorial Guinea 230

Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Central African Republic Guyana 230

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

Other species have certainly expanded their ranges, but never in such a rapid and global scale. For reasons that are not quite clear, this species underwent a massive range expansion. In the east, this species can be found along the east coast of Africa, the Nile Valley,and into parts of the middle east and India and southeast Asia.

Cattle 173

Cattle South Korea Suriname Seychelles 173