If you were not aware, I’ve been an active birdwatcher since about 1972. We had a close friend of the family who had a love of birds, a great spotting scope, and the desire to go out and chase the birds. I’ve been on-again off-again pretty serious through the years leading to the point to where my “life list” is standing at 666 different species.
Carolina Chickadee (Mineola, Texas)
We traveled to Belize last December and started actively tracking our bird-watching numbers. So, for a Big Year, I started my “reckoning” on 1 December 2017. At last count, we were up to 369 different species (so far) this year with another couple of big outings planned before 1 December 2018.
Lark Sparrow (Mineola, Texas, 2018)
Great Egret with Perch (Mineola, Texas, 2018)
Great Egret with Perch (Mineola, Texas, 2018)
With that being said, I’ve adjusted my goals for this year — first, I want to obtain 1,000 birds on my life-list. I never thought I would make it that far but stints in Europe, Africa, Central America, and South Africa with my work allowed me to add birds to my list of which I had only dreamed. Secondly, I want to bust the “500 species” list for our big year! It will take some effort but I think we will get it. I will be blogging about it here.
Yellow-headed Blackbird (Kelowna, BC)
Golden Eagle (Kelowna, BC)
Western Meadowlark (Kelowna, BC)
California Quail (Kelowna, BC)
Lewis Woodpecker (Okanagan Falls, BC)
Say’s Phoebe (Kelowna, BC)
Evening Grosbeak (Kelowna, BC)
Finally, I also restarted my count from 1 January 2018 to have a “valid” Big Year. That number stands at 220 species — we’ll see if I can extend this out to 500 birds too.
Guianan Trogon (Belize)
Blue-crowned Motmot (Belize)
Amazon Kingfisher (Belize)
Collared Aracari (Belize)
Central American Pygmy Owl (Belize)
White-necked Puffbird (Belize)
Lesson’s Motmot (Belize)
Keel-billed Toucan (Belize)
Happy, happy birding all!
Stumbling Piper
Stumblingpiper 
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