10,000 Birds

We’re almost a month into summer around here and I’m ready to relax. Too bad there’s so much to do in July! Where are you watching birds this weekend? Comment below on the excitement you have planned!
I and a small army of friends and family will, as is our tradition in the third weekend of […]

It’s hot out there, at least on my side of the Earth. Don’t let high temperatures keep you indoors! If you can brave the heat, you’re bound to see something beautiful. So where are you going birding this weekend? Comment below on the excitement you have planned!
I’ll be ogling avifauna at Ocean City, Maryland. This […]

I’ve always been an enormous fan of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I love everything they’ve done, but of their movies, I’m most enamored of Monty Python and The Holy Grail. What other comedy manages to lever its jokes off as proud and noble a straight-man as King Arthur himself (played by the late, great […]

Most of us in the good old U.S. of A. are looking at a long, lovely weekend in celebration of our nation’s independence from British tyranny. All around the world, students and teachers alike are celebrating freedom from tyranny of a different sort. So where are you going birding this weekend? Comment below on the […]

A great question was sent into the 10,000 Birds Clinic today that has triggered off a train of thoughts and that led inevitably to this post. The questioner, Kathy, sent in three photos of a rather scruffy bird she’d found by her Toronto home which she thought she could identify but wasn’t 100% sure. Somewhat […]

The jammy finger has made a mess of my laptop screen for the final time (I hope) and the winner of the fully-loaded iPod in the ten-letter anagram “what bird does this make?” part of our “Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America” GREAT give-away is….(drum roll)…

Debra Ross (and family). Congratulations, enjoy your […]

That’s too bad for me, because I can’t - but for the next twelve hours YOU still can win an iPod in the last half-day of our GREAT “Smithsonian Field Guide” give-away competition (thanks again to our generous chums at HarperCollins). How?

Work out the URLs that have made up the answers to the “GREAT give-way” […]

There’s an interesting article doing the rounds at the moment that looks at the early history of bird evolution and speciation by studying avian genetics. Simply put (which is the only way most of us CAN put it, I suspect) geneticists have analysed the make-up of specific slices of DNA from 169 species and then […]

Summer is well and truly upon us, isn’t it? School’s out, heat’s on, and there’s a whole lot going on up above us. Too bad I’ll be moving this weekend and thus unable to appreciate what promises to be a lovely weekend. Corey and Charlie will probably be enjoying themselves, but since those bums aren’t helping me […]

We’ve had a fantastic response to our latest give-away competition, and the emails have been pouring in. Sadly, though, a few cynical readers/visitors have hinted in those emails that they think that things are not all - well - ‘above aboard’, that we may have ever so slightly ‘bent the truth’ in the way that […]

Ah, June… here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re poised to enjoy the longest day of our year, the earliest summer solstice since 1896. South of the equator, the days will be proportionally petite. No matter how much daylight you’ve got, you’ve got to use it well.  So where are you going birding this weekend? Comment […]

Is migration over already? Well, not completely but a lot of birds have hunkered down. One one side of the Earth, we’ve got winter birds while on the other side, we’re watching resident breeders… those chicks grow up so quickly, don’t they? So where are you going birding this weekend? Comment below on the excitement […]

A few weeks ago I posted a very enthusiastic review of the new “Smithsonian Guide to the Birds of North America” published by HarperCollins, calling it ‘genuinely excellent’ and loads of other really nice things (the full review’s right here if you missed it), and - almost casually - mentioned that HarperCollins had offered us […]

Is it starting to get hot where you live or have you already been sweltering? Maybe you live on the side of the planet that’s cooling off. With the heat wave planned for NYC, this weekend is going to be a HOT one! So where are you going birding this weekend? Comment below on the […]

The Greenish Warbler Phylloscopus trochiloides is an abundant insectivorous Palearctic migrant breeding from eastern Europe across a broad swathe of the Boreal zone as far east as the Chinese coast. Birds winter in a far narrower area of the tropical deciduous forests of India, Sri Lanka, and east Asia. A small, slender, insectivorous species found […]

As part of our Young Birder’s Guide Giveaway, in which we are lucky enough to be able to give away three copies of Bill Thompson III’s terrific Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America, we asked readers to share their favorite tips for How to Get Kids Excited About Birds. Based on the […]

I’m just back from a superb two days birding in Cape Town, South Africa (just two days? For those who don’t know I work for an airline - I come, I go, what can I say…) with Brian Vanderwalt. It’s going to take me the best part of next week to work through all the […]

As May slips gracefully into June, many birds in the Northern Hemisphere have settled down to do those things that birds and bees traditionally do. While males are still a-courting, you’ll be able to use song to find the rarities. So where are you going birding this weekend? Comment below on the excitement you […]

I bird in Forest Park a lot. You know, in case you haven’t noticed,I figured I would point that out. I’ve seen two life birds there this spring, a Kentucky Warbler, which was a very quick twitch, and a Gray-cheeked Thrush, a bird I have probably seen before but failed to identify. […]

This is a reminder that some excellent book giveaways are about to end without YOUR participation. First and foremost is our Young Birder’s Guide Giveaway, wherein we’re giving away 3 copies of Bill Thompson III’s terrific Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. Can you believe we haven’t heard from any young birders […]