Bird Observer

28/10/2026

An extraordinary autumn morning at Whaddon, Buckinghamshire. Thousands of migrating birds, a clearing sky and an intriguing question about flight altitude.

https://bird-observer.org/can-visible-bird-migration-turn-invisible/

An extraordinary autumn morning at Whaddon, Buckinghamshire. Thousands of migrating birds, a clearing sky and an intriguing question about flight altitude.

24/10/2026

A map visualisation of my extensive nocturnal records. 🙂

Explore the new PatchBird Nocturnal maps. Records I collected from May 2024 to October 2026 – including visits with no detections.

It's an early visual overview, not a scientific analysis.

https://www.patchbird.org/map-visualisation

20/10/2026

Two autumns, the same Aberdeen road, and two self-found Yellow-browed Warblers. Sometimes bird migration produces remarkable coincidences.

https://bird-observer.org/a-familiar-unfamiliar-the-yellow-browed-warbler

A year ago I found a Yellow-browed Warbler along a coastal road in Aberdeen. Yesterday, after watching the morning migration, I heard that familiar unfamiliar call again. Another one. About 500 metres from last year’s bird.

20/09/2026

PatchBird has a new interactive survey map, making it much easier to find a point and take part. The method couldn’t be simpler: fifteen minutes, every bird you detect, and do it regularly.

https://bird-observer.org/patchbird-is-now-on-the-map

PatchBird’s new survey maps make joining easier: find a point, count every bird for fifteen minutes, and return to repeat the survey.

06/09/2026

Years of hearing antpittas without seeing them ended in Colombia with superb views of Chestnut-crowned and Brown-banded Antpittas.

https://bird-observer.org/antpittas-are-no-longer-only-voices/

Years of hearing antpittas without seeing them ended in Colombia with superb views of Chestnut-crowned and Brown-banded Antpittas.

06/09/2026

World Shorebirds Day 2026 looks at recent progress for shorebirds and why continued monitoring of local sites matters beyond a single day or count.

02/09/2026

Alpine Swifts first bred in Hungary in 2020. Six years later, numbers are growing and new breeding sites are appearing. A new breeding bird is becoming established.

01/09/2026

Whether you are an experienced birder or just beginning to discover shorebirds, your counts are welcome. Visit a local site, record what you find and help us build a record that grows stronger year after year. By taking part, you also join a worldwide community of people who watch, count and care about shorebirds.

Sign up and tell us where you’ll be counting →

https://www.worldshorebirdsday.org/get-involved/

31/08/2026

The Global Shorebird Counts start tomorrow! From 1–7 September, count shorebirds at your local sites and share your eBird checklists with WorldShorebirdsDay. Big counts, small counts or zero counts — they all matter.

19/07/2026

A personal exploration of the Andean tapaculos: why they are so elusive, how geography shaped their evolution, and why they continue to fascinate ornithologists and birders alike.

https://bird-observer.org/the-secret-life-of-the-andean-tapaculos/

A personal exploration of the Andean tapaculos: why they are so elusive, how geography shaped their evolution, and why they continue to fascinate ornithologists and birders alike.