This web site and my blogs on ecoregion birding have focussed on WWF-defined terrestrial ecoregions. Scientists have also defined marine ecoregions (see the link at the top of this page, including a link to the article mapping all global marine ecoregions). These should also be useful for organizing bird records and understanding distribution patterns, albeit… Continue reading An Ancient Mariner on South Africa’s Agulhas Bank
Author: douglasjgraham
Karen issues in the Tenasserim-South Thailand Semi-Evergreen Rain Forests
Have just spent a couple days intense and marvelous birding in Thailand’s Kaeng Krachan, one of the largest and most famous of Thailand’s national parks. It is located in the Tenasserim-South Thailand Semi-Evergreen Rain Forests (IM0163) ecoregion, one that largely occupies the Tenasserim Range separating the southern extension of Myanmar from Thailand. It has a range of montane and lowland… Continue reading Karen issues in the Tenasserim-South Thailand Semi-Evergreen Rain Forests
Zambezian Baikiaea Woodlands: trophy hunting for the birds?
The Zambezian Baikiaea Woodlands Ecoregion (AT0726) extends over a large area of Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The ecoregion is dominated by Baikiaea plurijuga, commonly known as Zambezian teak, although it is not related to the true teaks of southeast Asia. See some photos of this impressive tree, which defines the ecoregion, at the link above. I’m writing… Continue reading Zambezian Baikiaea Woodlands: trophy hunting for the birds?
Golden-cheeked Warblers of the Edwards Plateau Savannas
The Edwards Plateau Savannas ecoregion (NA0806), largely one and the same as “Texas Hill Country”, is famed in the North American birding world for two bird species. The Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapilla) is an endangered skulker breeding here in oak scrub and thickets and in nearby areas to the north and in Mexico to the south. The… Continue reading Golden-cheeked Warblers of the Edwards Plateau Savannas
Lake Tanganyika: at the foot of the Albertine Rift Montane Forests
I’m on the shores of the northernmost part of Lake Tanganyika, in the city of Uvira, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The ecoregion here is the Albertine Rift Montane Forests Ecoregion (AT0101), one of three ecoregions that border the lake. The photo below shows the mountains that sweep down to the lake; now denuded in… Continue reading Lake Tanganyika: at the foot of the Albertine Rift Montane Forests
Zambezian and Mopane Woodlands: carbon-based birds
Have just visited in April 2015 a small part of the Zambezian and Mopane Woodlands Ecoregion (AT0725) (see the link for a map and general description): the vicinity of the Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia and stunning Victoria Falls, on the Zimbabwe side. The ecoregion generally is dominated by the remarkable mopane tree (Calaphospermum mopane), or butterfly tree.… Continue reading Zambezian and Mopane Woodlands: carbon-based birds
Thomas Jefferson’s ecoregion: Southeastern Mixed Forests
When Thomas Jefferson was building his beloved Monticello home near Charlottesville, Virginia in the late 1700s, in the Southeastern Mixed Forests Ecoregion (NA0413), he perhaps did not think of his environs in quite those terms. We were still 250 years out from the concept itself of an ecoregion and even well before the founding of ecology as… Continue reading Thomas Jefferson’s ecoregion: Southeastern Mixed Forests
Buffalo birds in the Northern Mixed Grasslands Ecoregion
While having our breakfast, at Phil and Connie’s place near Pincher Creek, Alberta, we also feasted on the magnificent view from their balcony. We saw a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird, Rufous and Calliope Hummingbirds, lots of White-crowned Sparrows, a male Wilson’s Warbler and other delightful birds of the area. France and I were visiting the Calgary area in mid-August… Continue reading Buffalo birds in the Northern Mixed Grasslands Ecoregion
Launching the Blog
Welcome to our blog France and I have launched a plan to visit each of the 109 terrestrial ecoregions of North America (see the overall map of North American ecoregions on the About page). Sixty have already been visited and birded, so 49 to go – this will take quite a few years… In this… Continue reading Launching the Blog