1+ week, 5+ day ago (376+ words) What is your favorite bird species? It is hard to choose just one species when you live in a country with around 2,000 bird species, but there is one that truly represents our diversity and multicultural identity: the Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima). This small endemic of the Colombian Andes symbolizes the beauty, fragility, and cultural richness we want to share with the world. We are Niky Carrera Levy & Mauricio Ossa Aristiz'bal, and we live in the heart of Colombia, in a region known as the Coffee Region (Eje Cafetero). It is located at the center of what is called the Golden Triangle, formed by Colombia's three most important cities " Bogot', Medell'n, and Cali " right in the middle of the majestic Andes mountains. What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide? We guide throughout all of Colombia,…...

1+ week, 23+ min ago (130+ words) Wikipedia, and every other source I could find, suggests that the Peregrine Falcon's name means that it comes from foreign lands, a name due to early falconers catching this bird during migration, rather than taking it from the nest. Still, when one birds in Spanish as well as English, it becomes hard not to think of the Halc'n Peregrino, or Peregrine Falcon, as the Pilgrim Falcon, since the word peregrino is usually used to refer to religious pilgrims. Among all my new species for France, the Song Thrush was my one worldwide lifer. Mute Swans were new to me only for France. But the reflected fall color did make for a lovely portrait. One of many Great Cormorants along the Great Canal, which feed the Chantilly Chateau's moat...

3+ week, 5+ day ago (380+ words) What is your favorite bird species? The one bird that has always been my favorite among all resident and non-resident species is the Bay-breasted Cuckoo (Coccyzus rufigularis); I've even named my company after its onomatopoeic local name, C'a. It's such an enigmatic species, very local, hard to find and observe, beautiful, graceful, and clever; it's the whole package! My name is Iv'n Mota. For a big part of the year, I live in the capital city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, but I also spend the summer months in the Western US, working as a Field Biologist. What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide? My main region is the southwest of the DR, in the Bahoruco Mountain range. An area with high biodiversity and endemism, but I also guide around the central mountains, the…...

3+ week, 3+ day ago (351+ words) After the great success (well, a few more readers than usual) of the post on 10 Cute Birds, we decided to shamelessly pander to our audience's interest in the topic. Maybe we will even have a third post on this. But before that, here are ten more cute birds. I don't know if there are snowglobes with a Snow Bunting in them, but if not, somebody should produce them. I asked ChatGPT for a prototype: Whenever I send a message to a friend and then immediately delete it, he sends me back an illustration saying "Jesus saw that post you deleted. The look of the owl seems to indicate a similar sentiment " though expressed in a much cuter way than an older male could. Not sure why this one did not make the first list " maybe because I felt it was…...

1+ week, 6+ day ago (394+ words) Which bird species do you think is the biggest attraction to visitors of your lodge (please only name one species)? What is the name of your lodge, and since when has your lodge been operating? Zomba Forest Lodge. We have been running it for the past 13 years. How best to travel to your lodge? What kind of services " except for accommodation and food " does your lodge offer to visiting birders? We have a guide who is roughly trained in birding who can take people out. We also have bird baths dotted around the garden. We also have mixed woodland around the lodge, so there are diverse habitats within walking distance of the lodge What makes your lodge special? The location and the fact that guests can wander the paths and explore freely. What are the 10 " 20 most interesting birds that your…...

1+ week, 4+ day ago (377+ words) I don't know how popular it is globally, but I love referring to shorebirds as "shorbs. It is a consequence of how round they are, which accentuates their preexisting cuteness. They make good candidates for plush toys, they're already the correct shape " and from a marketing perspective, one can make innumerable variations and editions of these plush toys: breeding, non-breeding, adult, juvenile, and so on. Each one marginally different from the next, but different nonetheless. Whoever takes this idea and acts upon it, you're welcome, I'm already your biggest customer. I've proselytised many people over the years turning them onto the spectacle of shorebird migration. In the hope that at the end of August each year more people feel the palpable excitement which bubbles over at the first "tiew tiew tiew of freshly arrived yellowlegs. In my home country of…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago (552+ words) What is your favorite bird species? I have many that I really enjoy, but some of my favorites are corvids for their intelligence, playful nature, and social skills. My favorite is the Common Raven. My name is Michael W Klotz, and I live half of my time in Langley and half in North Vancouver, British Columbia. What are the main regions or locations you cover as a bird guide? I personally will guide anywhere in Southern British Columbia. The new 10000BirdTours.com site covers North and Central America soon to expand to South America and beyond. How long have you been a bird guide? I have guided since 2015. How did you get into bird guiding? I was told by a very smart person once that if I make a living with the thing I am most passionate about, my "job" will…...

3+ day, 10+ hour ago (215+ words) Silver-breasted Broadbill: Pretty much all broadbills are cute, but this one gets extra points for being compact and fluffy at the same time. Ashy-throated Parrotbill: Maybe this species always desperately tries to be taken seriously, but with the red "hair, the tiny beak, and the curious eyes, it will only ever come over as cute. Sunda Scops Owl: With the stern but cute look of a cat admonishing its owner to hurry up with the food supply. Malaysian Pied Fantail: Count Dracula reincarnated as a cute bird. Willow Tit: I usually do not think of Hitler as cute but " Double-barred Finch: At some point in the past, anybody who was into Manchester music was wearing hoodies and trying to look cute. It only worked for a few, most of them girls " but it works for this finch all the time....

2+ week, 4+ day ago (137+ words) When we still lived in our house, my feeders attracted winter finches. I would have large flocks of Redpolls, squabbling over my nyger feeder. Shoving their way in for the seeds would be a few Pine Siskins, as well. Red Crossbills and White-winged Crossbills descend on our parks, searching for cone-bearing trees. Another winter wanderer is the Pine Grosbeak. They can often be found feeding on crabapple trees, which people have in their yards. Evening Grosbeaks (male, pictured at top of article) will visit feeders in large, noisy flocks, and will quickly empty them. When winter birding, we also check out farm fields. The leftover corn attracts Snow Bunting, Horned Lark, and, if we're lucky, Lapland Longspur. Seeing these feathered nomads, which don't appear every year, is a winter treat for local birders....

2+ week, 2+ day ago (248+ words) eBird calls the Blue-winged Pitta a "beautiful, rainbow-colored inhabitant of tropical forests. The scientific name Pitta moluccensis indicates that this bird lives on the Moluccas, a group of islands in the Dutch East Indies" which is not even correct for its non-breeding season. It is breeding even further North, specifically in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand, which is where I saw it. At least in Kaeng Krachan (Thailand), it seems to be quite common, given how frequently you can hear it. It does not seem to shy away from inhabited areas, which even includes the grounds of the Baan Maka Lodge, where I stayed. It even seems to build a nest nearby. Being close to people may not always be wise, however " the HBW notes that the pitta is sometimes hunted and "figures prominently in the cagebird trade. Possibly,…...