A belated Happy New Year's to any of you who have come across this. This has been an interesting birding year for me. I had fewer total species (355) than I had in the previous three years. And certainly life birds were harder to come by; I had 22 life birds this year.
Winter Finches in South Dakota - last winter was a particularly good winter for finch (and related species) irruption. Until last winter, I had had only a single visit ever by Common Redpoll. They were regular visitors last winter, in good numbers. I also had regular visits from Red Crossbills, as well as my life White-winged Crossbill, all in our backyard. The highlight in my yard, though was a brief visit by a Lesser Goldfinch, the first SD winter sighting of this species!
Winter Birding in Northern Minnesota - I went on a WINGS trip to Northern Minnesota with Chris Woods leading. It was an amazing time, with a great bunch of birders. We saw a very uncommon Black-Legged Kittiwake, several Snowy Owls, a couple of Barred Owls, and my Life Northen Saw-Whet, Great Gray, and Northern Hawk-Owl, but the bird of the trip, and really my bird of the year was Boreal Owl. We had the incredible fortune to see 8 of them on a single day, and witnessed several hunting during the day.
Lifer Northern Lapwing in NJ - on a visit to see my Parents, I decided to go after a group of three Northern Lapwings that spent the better part of the winter in NJ. It took me two trips, but ultimately got great looks at this bird, which is an uncommon visitor to the States.
Early Spring in Louisiana - I spent a couple of days on the Gulf Coast after a business trip. The first day we (I ran into another birder from Philadelphia) focused on the Coast, with a very nice cross section of warblers, and water birds, highlighted by multiple Clapper Rails heard in a memorable setting. The second day, we visited the north side of Lake Pontchartrain, where I picked up several specialties only found in this mature pine forest - Red Cockaded Woodpecker, Brown Nuthatch, Henslow's and Bachman's Sparrows. Great preview of Spring.
Warbler Spring in South Dakota - for whatever reason, we had a particularly good spring in South Dakota for Warblers. I had three new County Warblers (Palm, Blackpoll, and Magnolia), and four new State warblers, including Cape May, and Golden-winged. And although it certainly isn't a warbler, I can't overlook a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, seen at the spring meeting of the South Dakota Ornithological Union.
A Couple of Nemesis Birds in Colorado- on a long weekend in Colorado with my wife, I managed to find two birds that had long eluded me. First, we visited Pawnee National Grasslands, and were finally (after 4 previous visits over the years) rewarded with great looks at McCown's Longspur. The next day, I hiked into the beautiful Skunk Canyon, just outside of Boulder, and found Green-Tailed Towhee. A very satisfying trip.
Anna's Hummingbird Visit - Hummingbirds have gotten interesting in the fall the last few years. We had a month-long visit by an immature Anna's Hummingbird, the third state record. Before this year, there had only been a single visit by an Anna's, in 2008. This year, there were three separate birds seen in different locations.
Birding in Bermuda - my wife and I went on a brief visit to Bermuda in October. While there, I was able to do a fair amount of birding for what was a non-birding trip (fraternity reunion). Nothing really out of the ordinary, but some good birds, including Great Kiskadee (the equivalent to House Sparrows in the US), an endemic sub-species of White-eyed Vireo, European Goldfinch, and some nice warblers. I did not get to see Bermuda Petrel, as we were a bit early, but had a chance meeting with David Wingate, who, since the age of 15, has devoted his lite to saving this rare species. It was almost as memorable as seeming the Petrel.
So I really learned a lot by putting this summary together. I did not do as much business-related travel this past year, which is probably responsible for the relatively low total number of spacies. And I must admit to myself, and you, that I had been feeling sorry for myself about this. But after spending the last hour thinking about the year, it was truly memorable in many ways. The joys of birding come from multiple directions, and I need to be more conscious of how many exciting chapters are being added to my birding life. Only now have I realized that it really was a great year.