It's December 31st, 2010 and I've seen 233 bird species since January 1st. Going in to the year, I hoped to see 175 species, but I beat that goal by a whopping 58 species thanks to the trip to Alaska and a few bonus species on the east coast to close the year out. I added 23 life birds this year, 16 of which were on the Alaska trip. I really didn't expect to see so many species....233 is actually 69% of my entire North American life list.
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| Downy woodpecker at suet feeder in Eden, New York in December |
I also had a goal of seeing a year bird during every month of the year, which I succeeded in doing. Here's the year bird total by month:
January ~ 87 species
February ~ 19 species
March ~ 25 species
April ~ 21 species
May ~ 37 species
June ~ 24 species
July ~ 1 species
August ~ 2 species
September ~ 3 species
October ~ 2 species
November ~ 4 species
December ~ 8 species
I was in an unofficial competition with Dave over in England, who also started the year with a target of 175 species. He ended with 192 species seen in the British Isles, but 237 species including his trip to Florida which edges me by four!!
I think 2010 is going to be a tough year to beat, but my goal for 2011 is 200 species. I hope to reach 100 species by the end of January, which may just be possible since I'll be birding on both coasts. Another lofty goal I may not be able to attain is to add 11 more life birds to bring my North American life list to 350. Stay tuned....we'll see how I do!!
4 comments:
I'll be watching with interest Monika :-)
Well done on you successful year, I hope you have as much fun and success next year. Good health and happiness to you whatever you may see :-)
It's been fun reading about your year list. It's also been fun helping you "get" a year bird or two here and there. I hadn't realized how fun it can be to work on a year list. 2011 will not be giving me pleasure vicariously; I'm starting my own year list today. I'll also plan a goal of 200 species even though I probably will not be birding in the East. Good luck to you and I wish you a healthy and happy New Year.
Best wishes for 2011 monika - if your going for 200 I might as well too! We won't be travelling far though not at diesel now at 6 quid a gallon ($9.25). We do have a wedding in the SW in early April (a BI lifer possible) and a week booked in SE Scotland in mid May.
Cheers
D
Warren - Thank you!
The K and Dave - This will be interesting with everyone going for 200. It'll be fun
But over $9 a gallon for diesel? Yikes! People are worried about gasoline topping $5 a gallon here this year.
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