2025 Birding Goals (6 Viewers)

[TicoTyler]

Want to work on getting a few of my in-country heard-only lifers onto my seen list. Sitting at 22 out of 720 for Costa Rica as heard only. In a similar vein, I recently upgraded my recording setup and want to work on my list of birds of Costa Rica with less than the Merlin needed 100-150 recordings to train sound ID. I'm at around 200 right now but would like to double that in 2025.

Also, have a bit of travel planned. Among some targets I have in mind are Snowy Owls in Pennsylvania in February (it's an irruptive year), a bunch of common new lifers on a trip to the UK in May, and potentially a cool pelagic trip in July to San Francisco with some auklets, guillemots, albatross, etc.

 

[Leafbringer]

I hope to see some birds of prey a bit closer than I have in the past, and take better photos. I'd love to see an osprey and white-bellied sea eagle.

 

[Patudo]

Hobby or Merlin or Peregrine. The first two would be lifers, the last would just be nice to see as anything more than a distant dot which I only know is a Peregrine because a nearby birder with a scope says 'that's a peregrine' at it.

Can't help you with merlin, but the other two should be absolutely doable. It sounds like you're in the East of England; if so any of the rooftop carparks near Norwich Cathedral (or any location known to have a pair, really) should be great on bright clear days in Jan-Feb-March. Bring good optics, as the pair hurtling through the sky on courtship flights can be a real test for even the experienced observer. Or go when the young are about to fledge or have just fledged; you really can't miss them then. Hobby: the doldrums of high summer are actually one of the best times for this species. Find anywhere with large concentrations of swallows/martins/swifts, and when they all move away as one, get ready. Or stake out any wetland with lots of dragonflies in Sept. Good luck and let us know how you get on!

My goals for 2025 remain the same as last year and most of the years before. See peregrines doing cool stuff. See hobbies doing cool stuff. Try to (so far as possible, and realizing that you often have to be patient) be better at putting yourself at the right place at the right time, and try to do it more. That's all I really want from my birding. Very simple goals on one level, but I could happily spend the entire year trying to accomplish them.

 

[Farnboro John]

Orkney is supposed to be good for Merlin (also Hen Harrier).

John

 

[kids]

I've had a look at the UK list and picked out the species I haven't seen and kind of feel I should have by now, cos they're not extraordinarily rare and are recorded often in my area.

Any of the Divers, not fussy which, I'd just like to see one so they don't stay as the pages of the birdbook I skip past cos I never see those.

Hobby or Merlin or Peregrine. The first two would be lifers, the last would just be nice to see as anything more than a distant dot which I only know is a Peregrine because a nearby birder with a scope says 'that's a peregrine' at it.

Nightjar. Frustratingly lingers on my heard-but-not-seen list!

Raven. I look hopefully at crows making odd noises, but they never are one.

Siskin. Seen often, in places I visit, but never by me!

Redstart. Another which seems to be avoiding me, despite being seen regularly by other people in the same places.

Waxwing. My new most-wanted bird!

Siskins and raven - Llyn Brenig in N Wales , good chance of Osprey too

 

[Euan Buchan]

Don’t really have a goal but I suppose it I had to choose is get more pics of The Jay at my local patch. I think I’ll be going abroad sometime but I’m definitely going back to the Hebrides in the summer.

 

[temmie]

• I hope to clean up Morocco in March during a family trip. I need 6 species after having been there 3 times but always randomly strolling without much targeted birding;
• I want to target approx. 5 species of butterflies in the Netherlands and France (I'm running out of species in Belgium), all in June;
• I want to do a 'big' week somewhere in June trying to see 1000 species of plants in Belgium, in a couple of weekends.
• I am guiding West-Papua in July where I will mainly focus on quality of sightings for a group of birders / photographers, and want to add another week before and/or after but still undecided about that extension;
• I am guiding a dedicated group birders in Colombia in November, so it's the perfect trip aiming for a big list (600 species in 2.5 weeks). Maybe I'll try to squeeze in an extension (Helmetcrest trekking).

I hope to get all of the above in balance with my full-time job and family with young children. 🙃

 

[Peter.home]

I've had a look at the UK list and picked out the species I haven't seen and kind of feel I should have by now, cos they're not extraordinarily rare and are recorded often in my area.

Any of the Divers, not fussy which, I'd just like to see one so they don't stay as the pages of the birdbook I skip past cos I never see those.

Hobby or Merlin or Peregrine. The first two would be lifers, the last would just be nice to see as anything more than a distant dot which I only know is a Peregrine because a nearby birder with a scope says 'that's a peregrine' at it.

Nightjar. Frustratingly lingers on my heard-but-not-seen list!

Raven. I look hopefully at crows making odd noises, but they never are one.

Siskin. Seen often, in places I visit, but never by me!

Redstart. Another which seems to be avoiding me, despite being seen regularly by other people in the same places.

Waxwing. My new most-wanted bird!

Merlin seems to be a very unpredictable bird, in my part of the south of England.
Any area of farmland or coast is possible, but never guaranteed, and doesn't seem to stay put for long.
Hours in the field until you stumble across one really.

 

[Farnboro John]

Merlin seems to be a very unpredictable bird, in my part of the south of England.
Any area of farmland or coast is possible, but never guaranteed, and doesn't seem to stay put for long.
Hours in the field until you stumble across one really.

In the South of England Harty Marshes on the Isle of Sheppey or The Burgh in West Sussex (near Arundel) are both good bets. A day out at either will get you harriers as well.

John

 

[earthdragon64]

I'd like to get to 200 species on my Scotland list, currently on 194. I'd also like to get my plant list up to 850, currently on 847 so it's doable.

 

[lgonz1008]

• I hope to clean up Morocco in March during a family trip. I need 6 species after having been there 3 times but always randomly strolling without much targeted birding;
• I want to target approx. 5 species of butterflies in the Netherlands and France (I'm running out of species in Belgium), all in June;
• I want to do a 'big' week somewhere in June trying to see 1000 species of plants in Belgium, in a couple of weekends.
• I am guiding West-Papua in July where I will mainly focus on quality of sightings for a group of birders / photographers, and want to add another week before and/or after but still undecided about that extension;
• I am guiding a dedicated group birders in Colombia in November, so it's the perfect trip aiming for a big list (600 species in 2.5 weeks). Maybe I'll try to squeeze in an extension (Helmetcrest trekking).

I hope to get all of the above in balance with my full-time job and family with young children. 🙃

If your job is being a full-time bird guide, I think you can get more field time than all of us!

Guessing the trekking is for Blue-bearded Helmetcrest?

 

[temmie]

If your job is being a full-time bird guide, I think you can get more field time than all of us!

Guessing the trekking is for Blue-bearded Helmetcrest?

Unfortunately I'm a simple office hamster running in a corporate wheel! Guiding is a freelance / twice-a-year affair...
Blue-bearded is indeed my dream!

 

[lgonz1008]

Unfortunately I'm a simple office hamster running in a corporate wheel! Guiding is a freelance / twice-a-year affair...
Blue-bearded is indeed my dream!

I'm in that same corporate world, so I get feeling! I was kindly told that it's impossible to ever take more than 2 weeks off at a time as long as I work in the office.

So whenever I join or lead a trip, I better make sure they are on the shorter end and be ready to spend more time and money on return trips.

 

[temmie]

I'm in that same corporate world, so I get feeling! I was kindly told that it's impossible to ever take more than 2 weeks off at a time as long as I work in the office.

So whenever I join or lead a trip, I better make sure they are on the shorter end and be ready to spend more time and money on return trips.

Thank you for reminding me that we in Europe can't complain too much about our holidays...!
But I'm doing this also thanks to some parental leave holidays I have still left; Don't tell my children I dedicate that extra holiday time to re-finding my sanity while birding abroad...

 

[lgonz1008]

Thank you for reminding me that we in Europe can't complain too much about our holidays...!
But I'm doing this also thanks to some parental leave holidays I have still left; Don't tell my children I dedicate that extra holiday time to re-finding my sanity while birding abroad...

It's still parenting if you are re-finding sanity to come back home!

 

[Farnboro John]

I'd like to get to 200 species on my Scotland list, currently on 194. I'd also like to get my plant list up to 850, currently on 847 so it's doable.

If the gaps include significant numbers of Shetland regulars, perhaps its time for an autumn holiday there! (My Shetland list stands at 241 and Scotland at 323, both just from holidays and twitches).

John

 

[Mysticete]

Well first off, there are the perennial goals that I keep putting up here but never actually complete, including knocking off some still missing Wisconsin or county birds (Kentucky Warbler, Bell's Vireo, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Winnebago county Northern Shrike), maybe see a few more herps (Fox snake!). Overall I just want to get out more than last year, in part to improve my mental and physical health.

On the international front, I have a sort of self-imposed goal of hitting 2000 on my life list prior to turning 46, which gives me about a year and a half. Not sure how realistic that is, sitting at 1715. However I have my first trip to the Old World Tropics (specifically Malaysia) this summer, so I think I can reasonably add ~200 species to the list, including a lot of new families. Was considering next winter to take a short trip to Central Chile, which should hopefully put me over 2000, but that will depend on my financial situation after this summer.

As far as birding-related goals go, I would like to finish the non-songbird portion of my checklist project, which given I am working on my last non-songbird order (Psittaciformes) should be doable, although then I have a lot of fine-tuning and annotating to go. I am hoping to start on songbirds in 2025 but I don't expect to finish that order this year.

 

[Lerxst]

However I have my first trip to the Old World Tropics (specifically Malaysia) this summer, so I think I can reasonably add ~200 species to the list, including a lot of new families.

Peninsular? Hope you go to Fraser's Hill, it is absolutely phenomenal.

 

[lgonz1008]

On the international front, I have a sort of self-imposed goal of hitting 2000 on my life list prior to turning 46, which gives me about a year and a half. Not sure how realistic that is, sitting at 1715. However I have my first trip to the Old World Tropics (specifically Malaysia) this summer, so I think I can reasonably add ~200 species to the list, including a lot of new families. Was considering next winter to take a short trip to Central Chile, which should hopefully put me over 2000, but that will depend on my financial situation after this summer.

As far as birding-related goals go, I would like to finish the non-songbird portion of my checklist project, which given I am working on my last non-songbird order (Psittaciformes) should be doable, although then I have a lot of fine-tuning and annotating to go. I am hoping to start on songbirds in 2025 but I don't expect to finish that order this year.

Chile is an amazing birding destination, but if your goal is as many species as possible in a relatively lower budget, you might be better off giving Southeast Brazil a chance, over 200 lifers can be easily seen if you've never birded Mata Atlantica within a week.

Your checklist project is also very interesting to me, it gives me a good idea of what places to prioritize the subspecies as well as the established lifers. Hopefully you can make good progress on it.

 

[Mysticete]

Chile is an amazing birding destination, but if your goal is as many species as possible in a relatively lower budget, you might be better off giving Southeast Brazil a chance, over 200 lifers can be easily seen if you've never birded Mata Atlantica within a week.

Your checklist project is also very interesting to me, it gives me a good idea of what places to prioritize the subspecies as well as the established lifers. Hopefully you can make good progress on it.

I basically have only two blocks of time I can normally easily schedule trips in, as a professor at a university with a heavy teaching load, January and June-August. I figured I can easily do Brazil in summer, but Chile would probably be better in January when it's in the Southern Hemisphere summer