There’s 92 species of birds on the list for the year already; some favorites are American Pipit, Loggerhead Shrike and Wilson’s Plover. I’ve never kept a year list before. I don’t generally “do” lists, but thought it might be entertaining for a while. I’m wondering what a reasonable expectation for the year might be… 200? 250? Any additional birds will accumulate slowly until Spring, unless of course there’s travel involved. 2013 was a good year for new birds for me and I took a couple nice trips that added to my (only in my head) life list.
In February, we went to Sanibel Island, Ding Darling NWR, Cape Coral and Ft. DeSoto. The weather was crappy and the drive was interminable, but I hope to get back to that area sometime. Lots of neat birds…
Common Ground Dove – easily overlooked, but striking when they show their rusty wings.
Monk Parakeets feeding in the same field we found this Burrowing Owl; hard to say which felt more unlikely to this Jersey Girl.
: )
We also saw Nanday Parakeets and a Long-billed Curlew on that trip. Talk about impossible to imagine birds!
This Vermillion Flycatcher was probably the least expected bird I added to my nonexistent life list last year – just gorgeous! A friend of a friend on FB gave me directions to a town just west of Tallahassee and I found it in the exact tree where he said it would be – imagine!
I’ve no idea what new birds 2014 holds for me…
Such beautiful birds, but that flycatcher is spectacular!
I’ve never done a list either Laura, but seeing has how I rarely leave my backyard, it wouldn’t be too long…lol! Love all your sightings for the year!
That’s a great list, especially since it’s only mid-January! You’re in birdy central down there; go get me a Painted Bunting!
Atsa lotsa different birds already!
Nice! They are on a short list of birds I would really like to see one day. I went to see a reported Painted Bunting once and found out that I was wrong about my assumption that it was a male. The female is nice too but not what I was hoping to see.