Tag: scoters

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Sunday Spent Searching for Scoters in Queens

By Corey • November 2, 2009 • 3 comments

Sunday was my day for birding this weekend and I had an ambitious plan to wake up very early, get into Forest Park, and spend hours searching each and every grove of pines for roosting owls before Danny got out of church and headed to the coast with me in search of scoters. I failed [...]

Looking at Surf Scoters

By Charlie • November 17, 2008 • 5 comments

It’s that time of year (at least in the northern hemisphere) when birders fortunate enough to visit the coast once again get a chance to see one of the most funky ducks in the world - the marvellous Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata. Surf Scoters breed in Alaska and northern Canada (they’re the only species of [...]

What is a Scoter?

By Mike • December 30, 2006 • 5 comments

When winter rolls around and most of our breeding birds have departed for points south, we on North America’s temperate shores turn our attention away from the trees and toward the water. Winter means waterfowl. While any river, lake, or pond might harbor a greater abundance of ducks, geese, and swans, the excitement isn’t [...]

Asides

First Bird of 2010

What was your first bird of 2010? Let us know in the comments…and, if you wrote a blog post or have a picture of your first bird of the year online somewhere, well, leave a link in the comments too.
Happy New Year from all three of us at 10,000 Birds! And here’s hoping you see many great birds, including lots of lifers, in 2010!

‘Mermaids’ battered by boats

“Each year, about 87 manatees are killed by collisions with boats, the single greatest cause of premature mortalities. This is more than seven times number of manatees that the Fish and Wildlife Service estimates can be killed without impairing the species’ recovery. Meanwhile, boating in Florida is at an all-time high and increasing with more boats in the water…”. Another good example of why the International Year of Biodiversity ought to matter.

Residents Crying Foul…

…over Common Peafowl. Seems that Longboat Key, Florida, has way too many of the gorgeous gregarious birds and has to continually cull the flock. And Longboat Key isn’t the only community in the U.S. with a peafowl problem: apparently California and Texas locations have had issues as well. So introducing non-native birds because they are pretty might not be the best idea? Who would’ve thunk it?

Say Hello to the Limestone Leaf-warbler

Is a new Old World warbler better than an old New World warbler? You be the judge! A new species, dubbed the Limestone Leaf-warbler (Phylloscopus calciatilis), has been discovered in the karst limestone regions of Vietnam and Laos. As ever, BirdLife International has the scoop.