chipperatl Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 What are your goals for birding in 2021? One more Yard Bird to get to 150 May try to beat my County high of 206 for the year Add two more County Lifers Hit Michigan Top 100, will take around 250 birds. Hoping for more trips to U.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanbirds Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 1: Take my life list to 300 or higher. 2: Explore at least two hotspots new to me. 3: Get better photos of all my favorite birds. 4: eBird more. 5: Go birding outside my state at least once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 (edited) 1. FIND more rare birds and CHASE less. 2. Get to 300 birds for my Alameda County list. 3. Get to 250 birds for my Contra Costa County list. 4. Take the time to really study and get to know the birds I see, not just check them off on a list! Slow down a little and dig deeper. Edit: How could I forget? I’m hoping to defeat my Alameda County nemesis bird, White-winged Scoter. Edited January 1, 2021 by AlexHenry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanbirds Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 (edited) 2 minutes ago, AlexHenry said: 1. FIND more rare birds and CHASE less. 2. Get to 300 birds for my Alameda County list. 3. Get to 250 birds for my Contra Costa County list. 4. Take the time to really study and get to know the birds I see, not just check them off on a list! Slow down a little and dig deeper. I’ve just about given up on rare birds. I never find any. Edited January 1, 2021 by Seanbirds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colton V Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 3 minutes ago, Seanbirds said: I’ve just about given up on rare birds. I never find any. The only way to truly give up on rare birds is to stop birding. You never know when you might find a rare bird. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanbirds Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 (edited) 2 minutes ago, Colton V said: The only way to truly give up on rare birds is to stop birding. You never know when you might find a rare bird. True.... but that happens about every two years for me. I was INCREDIBLY lucky to get 3 rarities this past year. Edited January 1, 2021 by Seanbirds 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexHenry Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Seanbirds said: I’ve just about given up on rare birds. I never find any. Rare birds are just the icing on the cake. It’s much more important to get to know the residents and regular migrants in your area. Getting to know the usual birds helps you to understand the ecology and natural history of your area, develop a sense of place and belonging. Rare birds are just that - rare - they’re anomalies. They are really of less ecological importance than the regular birds. They are always fun though. Finding rarities is a numbers game, and the odds are stacked against you. You can do things, strategically speaking, to increase the odds of finding something unusual. But at the end of the day, even for very good birders, finding a rare bird is unusual. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aveschapinas Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 1. Go birding somewhere beyond the distance I can walk. 2. Go birding with other people. 3. Do Christmas bird counts and Global Big Days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanbirds Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, AlexHenry said: Finding rarities is a numbers game, and the odds are stacked against you. You can do things, strategically speaking, to increase the odds of finding something unusual. But at the end of the day, even for very good birders, finding a rare bird is unusual. But people like @Connor Cochrane and @blackburnian find rarities all the time! I just don’t understand why I can’t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 47 minutes ago, Seanbirds said: But people like @Connor Cochrane and @blackburnian find rarities all the time! I just don’t understand why I can’t. It also depends on where you live sadly. Rarities are more likely on the coasts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanbirds Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 9 minutes ago, Avery said: It also depends on where you live sadly. Rarities are more likely on the coasts And I’m stuck in the center of the continent! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 I was lucky that the five rare birds I found in 2020 all showed up in my yard, so I didn’t really have to put too much effort in ?. For me: 1. To get to 100 species at one of my hotspots. 11 more to go, should be do able. 2. Get to 150 at my other hotspot. 19 more to go, possible, but definitely going to be a challenge. 3. Get some better audio recordings. 4. I’d like to get to get to at least 200 species for my province. Which I guess is akin to exploring more local birding areas. 5. I really want to find a nighthawk that’s roosting. Only have ever seen them flying. 6. Do at least one checklist a week for the hotspot I made across the street. I usually go everyday, but when it gets colder it’s gonna be a bit tougher to motivate myself. Only have to go until April 16th then it will be practically complete except for a couple missing weeks in the summer/fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 1. Do 365 complete checklists. 2. Get to 300+ for my life list. 3. Up my county list to 200. 4. Hit 170 for my yard list. 5. Find owls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdNrd Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 1. Get my county list to 350 2. Get my life list to 400 3. Bird more in my yard 4. Find more rarities 5. Do CBC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueJay Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 Get my life list to 150 Get my yard list to 65 Find my own rarity as opposed to chasing one down 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 6 hours ago, Seanbirds said: 1: Take my life list to 300 or higher. 2: Explore at least two hotspots new to me. 3: Get better photos of all my favorite birds. 4: eBird more. 5: Go birding outside my state at least once. that is exactly mine, but i want my list to 250, as it is only at 127 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Most of these sound too much like work. I bird to get away from pressures, not to add more. Use 'sp.' entries more and stop forcing a bird into an ID if I'm not sure. Put more details in eBird, esp. gender and breeding codes. Get serious with Larkwire and learning calls. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Cochrane Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I guess my big goal will be to hit 300 for the year in my county. It’ll take lots of heading out, and hoping the rangers at the OP will let me in on my bike, but that should be possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birding Boy Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 My goals are: 1: Get my year list to 250 2: get my life list to 350 3: Get my county year list to 225 4: up my yard list to 150 5: Get better pictures. 6 learn more warbler songs. 7: Visit Michigan’s upper peninsula! 8: Find a Saw-Whet owl. A nemesis bird for me. Well, that’s a lot of goals, hopefully I can complete some. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Cochrane Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 16 hours ago, Connor Cochrane said: I guess my main goal will be to hit 300 for the year in my county. It’ll take lots of heading out, and hoping the rangers at the OP will let me in on my bike, but that should be possible. I guess I would like to get my species w/ audio count up to 150 for the county. Just really so I can record more and have a larger collection of recordings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 On 1/2/2021 at 8:36 PM, Birding Boy said: 7: Visit Michigan’s upper peninsula! We spent a week in the UP in September. It's a beautiful area, although I didn't get to bird as much as I'd have liked. See if you can get up to Whitefish for spring raptor migration, or at least as far as Mackinaw City. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraphile Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Recognizing a few these must wait until we get COVID under control: 1. Study & learn bird species' behaviors to help with IDs. 2. Learn bird songs & calls 3. Crack 300 on my LifeList 4. Improve my bird photography skills--especially BIF & warblers 5. Get back to group birding with the local birding groups 6. Visit Hawk Mtn. during Spring (or Fall) migration 7. Pelagic birding 8. More birding in general & in more locations overall, especially in other parts of the country/world 9. Take my granddaughter birding ❤️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraphile Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 On 1/2/2021 at 3:58 PM, Charlie Spencer said: Most of these sound too much like work. I bird to get away from pressures, not to add more. Use 'sp.' entries more and stop forcing a bird into an ID if I'm not sure. Put more details in eBird, esp. gender and breeding codes. Get serious with Larkwire and learning calls. I had not heard of Larkwire before. Do you find it helpful, @Charlie Spencer? I have CDs and, of the course the calls on ebird, but find it hard to effectively learn the sounds using those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 38 minutes ago, floraphile said: I had not heard of Larkwire before. Do you find it helpful, @Charlie Spencer? I have CDs and, of the course the calls on ebird, but find it hard to effectively learn the sounds using those. I can't say if I've found it helpful or not yet. I purchased the starter edition a few months back but only looked at it for about an hour. That's why my goal is use it seriously. Once I've done that, I'll decide whether upgrades are worth my time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 One goal down. Yard bird #150. A single Common Redpoll at my feeders. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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