Swarovski Optik and 10,000 Birds

Though 2008 was a great year for 10,000 Birds things in 2009 are looking even better.  Because, in addition to all of our normal birding and blogging something happened at the end of 2008 that was simply so cool, so amazing, and so exciting that it has taken until now for 10,000 Birds to pick [...]

Starting the Year at Sodus Point

As the saying goes, one good year deserves another. So, in the interest of starting 2009 off right, at least from a birding perspective, Seth and I decided to scope out the waterfowl on frosty Lake Ontario. Along with our friend Dean, who was staying with me over the holiday, we struck east for Sodus [...]

Answer to the Just For Fun Avian ID Quiz #12: A Tale

It’s Friday.  That means it’s time for the answer to Wednesday’s Just For Fun Avian ID Quiz #12: A Tale.
Happy New Year from the Quizmaster!   And that’s just one more clue to this quiz.  Can you get the answer now?
A quick review.  The question was to determine what these three phrases meant:
- Nice Forgery
- Earlier [...]

Feeder Birds in Saugerties

While home for holidays in I didn’t just go chasing after a Northern Hawk Owl.  I also watched the feeders frequently, often outside my parents’ house hidden in a woodpile.  Seriously.  In a woodpile.  You see, the woodpile is next to the deck which is where the feeders are, and the deck is attached to [...]

Swarovski Optik and 10,000 Birds

Though 2008 was a great year for 10,000 Birds things in 2009 are looking even better.  Because, in addition to all of our normal birding and blogging something happened at the end of 2008 that was simply so cool, so amazing, and so exciting that it has taken until now for 10,000 Birds to pick [...]

10,000 Birds Month in Review: December 2008

Seeing as this is the last month of a pretty great year here at 10,000 Birds, I thought I would celebrate December of 2008 by trying to write the month in review in verse.  This might really suck but it might be good too…but before I get into that I’d like to wish everyone a [...]

Spix’s Macaw - the world’s rarest parrot

A few days ago I wrote about the Puerto Rican Parrot Amazona vittata, an island endemic which had come perilously close to extinction through a combination of habitat destruction and hunting. Numbers of both wild and aviary birds are now slowly being built up by skilled and dedicated aviculturalists in Puerto Rico and there is [...]

The Puerto Rican Parrot

As Dr Jamie Gilardi, exec-director of the World Parrot Trust said in his interview with us for Parrot Month, one of the greatest threats facing parrots today is habitat destruction. Most of us probably think of the Amazon basin when we think about deforestation on a huge scale, but sadly tropical forests across the world [...]

Welcome Wednesday: Swan Watch

Some months ago we here at 10,000 Birds learnt about Charleen Turner, and her amazingly patient (and loving) documentation of a pair of Mute Swans and their cygnets that she’d been watching through the summer. Charleen had a gift for telling a story and had taken hundreds of photos too - a combination that seemed [...]

October

Do you feel it in the air? The last whispers of summer are slipping away. Many of us grow wistful this time of year, and dear Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was no exception. Fortunately, she could find words for the sense of loss that accompanies the passing of a cherished season. One of the greatest [...]

Winged Explorer

The advent of advanced computing and the internet has been a incalculable boon to birders everywhere. However, the one area where birdwatchers have been slow to cross the digital divide has been in the realm of species identification. We birders just haven’t had good reason to leave our field guides on the shelf. But with [...]

Review of The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State

I’m a New Yorker.  I was born in the Hudson Valley and grew up in the Catskills, went to school in the Southern Tier, lived in Albany, our capital city, explored the Adirondacks and the North Country, repeatedly visited western New York and now live in New York City, easily the best city in the [...]

What is the Christmas Bird Count?

This is is the most magical time of the year, one filled with holiday cheer, festive celebrations, and… surveys of winter avifauna? That’s right! For the American birding community, the holiday season heralds more than blinking lights, tree trimming, and rampant consumerism. It’s also time for the Christmas Bird Count.
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is [...]

Are you a birder if you don’t carry binoculars?

When I was having dinner with the highly-entertaining YC Wee and KC Tsang (doyens and co-founders of the Bird Ecology Study Group) in Singapore earlier this month, I was asked a casual question that at first sight seemed rather clear-cut: “as a ’serious’ birder do you think that birders who go birding with cameras but [...]

Last Bird of 2008: Pink-footed Goose in Queens

On the very last day of 2008 I braved the cold, wind, and icy precipitation to get one last bird for my Anti-Global Warming Big Year, and the last bird was a doozy.  The Pink-footed Goose is a vagrant in North America, and should be somewhere in Europe right now.  The one that was first [...]

Birding Up and Down the Rio Grande Valley

never got around to finishing up my Rio Grande Valley trip report, which is a crime because this last installment is packed with action. Imagine that after a delirious few days in the Rio Grande Valley, your trip was almost at an end. If you were me, this is how your final frenetic day would [...]

Swarovski Optik and 10,000 Birds

Though 2008 was a great year for 10,000 Birds things in 2009 are looking even better.  Because, in addition to all of our normal birding and blogging... 

digiscoped White-breasted Nuthatch in Forest Park Queens, NY, 1/4/09

Starting the Year at Sodus Point

As the saying goes, one good year deserves another. So, in the interest of starting 2009 off right, at least from a birding perspective, Seth and... 

Starting the Year at Sodus Point

The Puerto Rican Parrot

As Dr Jamie Gilardi, exec-director of the World Parrot Trust said in his interview with us for Parrot Month, one of the greatest threats facing parrots today... 

the puerto rican parrot - one of the world\'s rarest parrots

Last Bird of 2008: Pink-footed Goose in Queens

On the very last day of 2008 I braved the cold, wind, and icy precipitation to get one last bird for my Anti-Global Warming Big Year,... 

Pink-footed Goose in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, NY

Feeder Birds in Saugerties

While home for holidays in I didn’t just go chasing after a Northern Hawk Owl.  I also watched the feeders frequently, often outside my parents’... 

Dark-eyed Junco in an Eastern Hemlock

So why have a ‘Parrot Month’ on 10,000 Birds?

Last month we posted a short ‘trail’ for a theme we were planning for January about parrots (at Next Month... 

almost a third of all parrot species are threatened with extinction

Birding Up and Down the Rio Grande Valley

never got around to finishing up my Rio Grande Valley trip report, which is a crime because this last installment is packed with action.... 

Birding Up and Down the Rio Grande Valley

Northern Hawk Owl in Peru, NY

When a Northern Hawk Owl, normally a denizen of the far white north, was reported in Peru, New York, as a result of local birders combing the area... 

Northern Hawk Owl in Peru, NY.

Eurasian Wigeons

It occurred to me recently that I’ve still been missing something rather obvious - as the majority of visitors to 10,000 Birds are based in the US and I’m... 

eurasian wigeons slimbridge wildfowl and wetlands trust uk

‘kamtschatschensis’ Common Gulls, Japan: Jan 2008

As often seems to be the case a debate is currently raging on various birding fora concerning the subspecific identification... 

kamchatka gulls january 2008 japan choshi fishing port

Newest Posts

Spix’s Macaw - the world’s rarest parrot

By Charlie • January 6, 2009 • No comments yet

A few days ago I wrote about the Puerto Rican Parrot Amazona vittata, an island endemic which had come perilously close to extinction through a combination of habitat destruction and hunting. Numbers of both wild and aviary birds are now slowly being built up by skilled and dedicated aviculturalists in Puerto Rico and there is [...]

Swarovski Optik and 10,000 Birds

By Corey • January 6, 2009 • 2 comments

Though 2008 was a great year for 10,000 Birds things in 2009 are looking even better.  Because, in addition to all of our normal birding and blogging something happened at the end of 2008 that was simply so cool, so amazing, and so exciting that it has taken until now for 10,000 Birds to pick [...]

Starting the Year at Sodus Point

By Mike • January 5, 2009 • 6 comments

As the saying goes, one good year deserves another. So, in the interest of starting 2009 off right, at least from a birding perspective, Seth and I decided to scope out the waterfowl on frosty Lake Ontario. Along with our friend Dean, who was staying with me over the holiday, we struck east for Sodus [...]

National Bird Day

By Charlie • January 5, 2009 • 3 comments

As part of ‘parrot-month’ we’re supporting “National Bird Day” an initiative designed by Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute in coordination with the Avian Welfare Coalition to take action by drawing attention to the exploitation of other countries’ native birds by the U.S. pet industry on January 5th — National Bird Day.

The trade [...]

Unpacking My 2008 Year List

By Mike • January 4, 2009 • 5 comments

As is my wont at year end, it’s time to ruminate on my previous 52 weeks of avian observation. A year list is a lovely thing, both as a running account of birds gone by and a driving motivation to seek out more of the same. Every time a glorious new year begins, the counter [...]

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