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I’ve been in Hong Kong for three days and it hasn’t stopped raining until today. And rain in HK (as us lazy types like to type it) is not for the faint-hearted. The world turns a slate-grey, the view from the hotel window disappears in a cloud of drizzlymist (that’s just for you Corey!), and [...]

Migration - that extraordinary time of the year when the world’s animals are on the move, when we’re reminded that international borders mean nothing to the rest of the planet’s lifeforms, that while we complain about cramped seats on a jumbo jet and how tired we feel after a ten-hour flight there are bundles of [...]

When I was in Hong Kong (a report from the world-renowned Mai Po wetland is on its way) I went to a small offshore island called Po Toi with friend and tour-leader Martin Williams. Po Toi is gaining a reputation as a hotspot for finding vagrants to Hong Kong (this year alone it’s produced eg [...]

The Japanese, so I’ve discovered, are REALLY into New Year. I’m a bit surprised given that the dates for the New Year are based around the Gregorian calendar rather than Moon/Sun phases which is more usual in the Far East. Surprised or not, what this means in practical terms is that the little [...]

Much as I would like to spend another 24 hours awake writing up a long blog about what a great day I had - and I did, even if I didn’t break any listing records - I do need to get a little sleep before I use the two hours of available time tomorrow [...]

The taxonomy of the “Black Kite” Milvus migrans is a complicated affair. It appears that there may well be three species within the traditional Black Kite grouping: Yellow-billed Kite, consisting of both M. (m.) aegyptius and M. (m.) parasitus (breeding in northeastern and southern Africa, respectively); Black Kite M. (m.) migrans which breeds through Europe [...]

What’s all this about then? An essay on the subtle differences between the calls of various species of Sylvia warbler? No. How about a story all about searching for an elusive ficedula that was almost certainly a new bird for science? Not this time. Well then what Charlie? My friends, in “talking tuk-tuks” we’ll be [...]

Never let it be said that we here at 10,000 Birds don’t aim to bring you, our readers, the world. And not just its 10000 bird species either: despite the impression we may give of being sweaty men who love nothing more than hiking out to the middle of nowhere laden down with optical gear [...]

Blue-winged Pitta Pitta moluccensis
Singapore Botanic Gardens, 24 February 2006
 
In the middle of January 2006 an absurdly showy Blue-winged Pitta Pitta moluccensis was found over-wintering in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, remaining faithful to a small area of low, dank vegetation in a section of the gardens called the Ginger Garden. Over the next few weeks every [...]

Nanning People’s Park, GuangXi, China
November 12th and 16th 2006
 

 
November 12 2006: Nanning People’s Park, Guangxi, China

In mid-November Jo (my girlfriend) and I went on a rather special trip to China to adopt a baby girl. Much of our time was spent in the relatively undeveloped city of Nanning in the Province of GuangXi in the [...]

Grey Thrush Turdus cardis
Nanning, China. November 2006
 

 
On a recent short trip to China I found the Grey Thrushes in the photos below tucked away in a sheltered herb-garden within the Nanning People’s Park (photo above). Like most Asian thrushes (and unlike many European species) they were extremely wary, and difficult to see well: there were [...]

Narita, Choshi Fishing Port, and Narita-san Temple Complex, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
29 - 31 January 2006
 

Narita High Street - the Temple is ten minutes down this road.

 
The following report is of a short trip to the small Japanese town of Narita, about an hour’s train ride north-east of Tokyo. Narita is the site of the [...]

Dhaka Botanical Gardens
04 October 2005

Dhaka (the romanized spelling of the Bengali name was changed from Dacca in 1982) is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. Founded during the 10th century it is located in the geographic center of the country in the great deltaic region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. The city [...]

Singapore Botanic Gardens
07:30 - 12:00, 09 August 2005

With just a few hours spare before a flight down to Melbourne I decided to have a look around the renowned Singapore Botanic Gardens (SBG) - a mix of manicured plantings and remnant rainforest located about twenty minutes by taxi from the city centre.

It’s probably worth pointing [...]