Birding Year in Review

I just finished compiling a list of the number of birds that Libby and I saw in the last year, and it turns out it was a pretty productive year birding for us. A lot of birders keep "year lists" - some compete to compile the largest - in North America and the whole world. We weren't competing (we didn't even seek out birds solely for the sake of the year list), but I thought that with all the traveling we did around the country in 2009, it might be interesting to put one together.

So, the results are as follows:

We saw 402 different species of "countable" birds this past year. We also heard, without seeing, a further eight. We also saw three species that aren't countable, but exist in self-sustaining breeding populations, so they're not included in that total (Nutmeg Mannikin, Orange Bishop, and Aplomado Falcon in south Texas).

402 is larger than our life lists were at the end of 2008. Our lists at the moment are around 470, including lifers from so far in 2010.

Looking over the list, it serves as a kind of journal of the past year's travels and experiences. We birded in five states: California, Arizona, New Mexico (just the morning of the January First!), Texas and New York. We saw birds in southwestern pine forests, sub-tropical thorn scrub, the Sonoran desert, eastern deciduous forests, and at the edge of the Pacific Ocean; naming only a few habitats. We birded from over 10,000' above sea level to 226' below it.

We saw over 100 new birds last year. Our first new birds of the year were Black and Brown-capped Rosy Finches at Sandia Crest in New Mexico on January 1st, and our last new bird of the year was a Black-capped Gnatcatcher at Patagonia Lake in Arizona on December 31. In between, the bulk of our new birds were from Texas.

From the birds not on the list, one can tell where we in North America we did not go. We didn't go north during the winter, to the Atlantic coast, to the southeast, Alaska or Florida. We didn't go to sea (no Pelagic birds) or birding in the dark (few owls).

It's also interesting the birds we just missed. We went to the Central Valley area, but we never saw Yellow-billed Magpies. We birded in southern California and Arizona, but we missed Rufous-crowned Sparrows (but saw them on Dec 29, 2008!). We visited the Sierras and the local mountains, but we missed a few mountain species - most conspicuously White-headed Woodpecker.

My favorite bird of the year was probably the Crimson-collared Grosbeak in Texas. Other personal highlights would include Painted Buntings in Texas, the male Blackburnian Warbler and pair of Scarlet Tanagers in New York, finding the southeast Arizona warblers and Sinaloa Wren, and the Prothonotary Warbler that showed up in Creek Park.

Speaking of Creek Park, local birding was pretty good for us this fall, too. Creek Park hosted Lucy's Warbler, American Redstart, Vesper's Sparrow, and Summer Tanager in addition to the Prothonotary Warbler and Dusky-capped Flycatcher. A Black-and-White Warbler was at Neff Park, and Libby found a Tropical Kingbird when we went looking for the Wood Stork at the Whittier Narrows which many people have seen since!

All in all, it was a pretty remarkable year. This year will involve less travelling and fewer birds, and that's OK. For us, it's not about the numbers so much as it is about the experiences. After all, the numbers are only a reflection of all things we'll have to remember: the places we went, the birds that were there, and the people we saw them with.

Here's to more rich experiences in 2010!

Christmas Memories

Well, Christmas is officially over, now. It has been for a couple of days, but the holy day itself is almost a full two weeks gone.

Laggard that I am, I have now posted Christmas photos on Flickr. There are images commemorating the day before Christmas - which day we feasted most merrily with the Rowley family, and images from the day itself - celebrated with scrumptious brunching and jolly gift exchanges.

You can access them by clicking here - Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Birding with Bill, Becca, Mom and Dad

We spent some time birding with our family over Christmas time, which was fun. We saw lots of neat birds.

On Tuesday the 22nd, I took the day off work and we went down to Crystal Cove State Park together to look for some of the cismontane southern California specialties in the sage scrub there. It was blowing up a gale, but we persevered and did manage to eventually find a California Gnatcatcher, though we only saw it briefly.

Most remarkable, though, was the sad case of an Eared Grebe we found cast ashore. It was obviously in bad shape - its feathers were wet all through, it was emaciated, and was completely helpless to move itself at all. It just rocked in the surf's wash. We took it out of the water to see if we could find help, but in a couple of minutes its neck arched, legs extended, and then it relaxed completely. It died, right in front of us.

That wasn't pleasant to watch, but it served as a plain reminder of our own mortality, and the inherent thinness of the cord tying us to this world.

I have put up pictures from the day. One is of the Grebe.

There are also pictures from the Balboa Pier, where we had lunch as a family.

I don't have any other pictures from the birding trips we took, but we hit a lot of great places. We visited the Whittier Hills and found Hutton's Vireo and Phainopepla, Creek Park for the Dusky-capped Flycatcher, which cooperated swimmingly, Nutmeg Mannikins at Biola, and a Townsend's Warbler and Red-breasted Sapsucker from a stake-out at La Mirada Park.

One day we headed out toward Riverside, so we made a short stop at a very chilly Prado Regional Park for Vermilion Flycatchers and even a tame Ross's Goose that made me wish I had my camera (which was forgotten in our own car in Santa Ana at the time), and Oak Canyon Nature Center where we found Cactus Wrens and had smashing looks at California Thrasher. Bill and Becca got to pick up a lot of new birds, and we had fun doing one of the things we like to do with them!