Birding continues to be fantastic hobby for me. I absolutely love being outside, walking in nature, viewing birds, butterflies and plants. But this year, I just didn't grind it out as hard as I have been in the past. My love of the hobby hasn't changed, but I guess I really have tried to find a healthy balance between birding and the other important aspects of my life which are family, bbq, home renovation, work, schooling etc. From June 2015 to June 2016 I took four university courses, plus worked full time, finished a basement, installed a fence, sprinkler system, vacationed... You get it - I was busy balancing too many things.
I only had two birding lifers this year: Harlequin Duck and Gyrfalcon. I think my life list at stuck at 399 species (Canada & US). I saw a swallow species at Point Pelee back in November while birding with Jeremy Bensette, but I didn't get diagnostic plumage details for me to count it as anything beyond "Swallow Sp.". What will be my 400th species? (I'm hoping for Scissor tailed Flycatcher)...
I'm not sure that I even hit 200 species this year in Essex. Which begs the question: Was 2016 a Small Year Record?
It might amaze readers that I think my best birding moment of the year was seeing a third Scarlet Tanager in my back yard during this past fall. Its just a tier 1 bird - common in many peoples eyes. But seeing it while sitting on my back deck - a new yard bird - was a great experience. I actually saw three different tanagers that week.
I have just posted a few of my personal birding highlights this year in no particular order.
I only had two birding lifers this year: Harlequin Duck and Gyrfalcon. I think my life list at stuck at 399 species (Canada & US). I saw a swallow species at Point Pelee back in November while birding with Jeremy Bensette, but I didn't get diagnostic plumage details for me to count it as anything beyond "Swallow Sp.". What will be my 400th species? (I'm hoping for Scissor tailed Flycatcher)...
I'm not sure that I even hit 200 species this year in Essex. Which begs the question: Was 2016 a Small Year Record?
It might amaze readers that I think my best birding moment of the year was seeing a third Scarlet Tanager in my back yard during this past fall. Its just a tier 1 bird - common in many peoples eyes. But seeing it while sitting on my back deck - a new yard bird - was a great experience. I actually saw three different tanagers that week.
I have just posted a few of my personal birding highlights this year in no particular order.
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| Back yard bird? |
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| Love this Warbler |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Fall Phily... Just by chance while waiting for the tram... |
Good birding in 2017!
Dwayne
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| Sanctuary Pond Sunrise the morning after Alan Wormington passed away. Rest in Peace Alan! |
Sounds like you had a busy and productive year, Dwayne, congrats! Looking forward to seeing you at Pelee this spring.
ReplyDeleteJosh
Hi Dwayne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post, I enjoyed reading it!
You do sure seem busy--that's a lot to take on. There was a time in my life where I had a University night class and 55 hours of work per week and was driving out to Ohio every other weekend. I found that extremely challenging. I can't imagine doing some of that now that I have kids, though!
Oh, and I find it sort of funny that your both your North American life list and the eBird total for Essex County are stuck at 399! What will be bird #400 for you and Essex County?
I'm on species #50 for the year and my lifelist is at 119.
Happy birding!