2022 Year Lists!

[Kevin]

What is your year list so far?

What do you expect your year list to be like by the end of the month? 

What was your favorite bird so far? 

[IKLland]

I’m at 108.

My life list is as 257.

By the end of the year I want my life list to 300.

And by the end of the year I want my year list to 250. 
 

My favorite bird so far was probably the two pine siskin I saw yesterday. Though not rare here, I’ve been searching a while for them.

[Charlie Spencer]

This morning I was reduced to entering an Incidental for a single Blue Jay in a Goodwill parking lot.  Why bother, you ask?  It's the first one I've seen in a couple of months.  There's usually a handful screaming through my back yard regularly, annoying the other species.

57 on the year so far, 33 of them on Jan 1.  The high point was probably the Blue-headed Vireo three days ago.  I did pick up two lifer Gadwalls yesterday.  You'd think a lifer woudl be the high point but they'd been reported at a wastewater pond for a couple of weeks, often a few times a day.  The pond was five minutes out of my way and I had the birds with five more of stopping the car.  Easy-peasy; Stevie Wonder could have listed these birds.  The vireo was unexpected, flying across the road at one of my patches just as I was leaving for the day.  Even though I had to contort myself around in the car and shoot in a hurry, I got better images of it than I did the stationary-but-distant Gads.

Edited January 22, 2022 by Charlie Spencer

[meghann]

I'm at 130 so far, which is behind last year's numbers by this point, but last year was a rocking winter for Georgia, and this year so far is meh.

Usually I would say my favorite bird is the Burrowing Owl affectionately referred to as Charlie that has been showing up in Georgia for four years now. I also REALLY love Vermilions, but I think the bird that made me most excited so far this year were the Horned Larks. I got good looks at them for the first time.

As far as goals. . .I always like to match or beat the previous year's, so I've got my work cut out for me. Last year I hit 299 for the year. 300 would be awesome. Always looking for new life birds. Hitting 350 on that would be nice.

[Avery]

I’m not a super competitive lister, so I don’t pay too much attention to county, or even state lists. If it’s rare, I’ll chase it. 

That said, I’m at 140 for the year, already almost halfway to what I had last year! My goal is to surpass what I had last year (284). 
I bet by the end of the month I’ll have 5-10 more species. 
 

Favorite bird so far has to be my lifer Whooping Cranes from today!

[meghann]

12 minutes ago, Avery said:

 

Favorite bird so far has to be my lifer Whooping Cranes from today!

Saw that in Instagram! So jealous! There is a small family of them hiding in southern Georgia, and I went there looking for them, but never could find them.

[God's Child]

9 hours ago, Kevin said:

What is your year list so far?

What do you expect your year list to be like by the end of the month? 

What was your favorite bird so far? 

My year list is at 76 for the time being and I'm not really expecting it to get much higher by the end of the month. Unless I manage to get to some new hotspots that is. By far my favorite bird was my lifer Long-tailed Duck. 

[BirdNrd]

I'm at 170 so far with the best being a Tundra Swan/Harris's Sparrow.

[Birding Boy]

2 minutes ago, God's Child said:

My year list is at 76 for the time being and I'm not really expecting it to get much higher by the end of the month. Unless I manage to get to some new hotspots that is. By far my favorite bird was my lifer Long-tailed Duck. 

Congrats! I haven’t seen a Long-tailed in so long.

[neilpa]

I'm at 108 total and 72 for my state/county. I should be able to grow that before the end of the month.

As for favorite bird, it's hard to pick just one so I'm going with all the Maui honeycreepers

[chipperatl]

I'm at 58, and keeping pace with my county best from last year.  No lifers.  Have dipped on 2 geese I should have gone after sooner, Snow and Cackling.  

I'm guessing I'll end January around my high of 63.  Depends on what I can find on the river tomorrow.  

Favorite bird, probably the dark morph Rough-legged Hawk I saw last weekend.  

Overall our county is 5 more birds in January than the best we had last year for the whole month, 85 to 80.  2 other birds have tired or exceeded my January best last year, but I think that happened last year also.  

[dragon49]

My sig has most of the info.  27 for the year with no lifers, and a Life List of 69.  I didn't keep track of my 2021 list, but I did find 25 lifers last year.  I expect to get some more lifers this year, but not a ton because I always visit the same spots.  I only take a dedicated birding trip once a week and my other daily incidental sightings are most-likely going to be the same.

Regarding my favorite bird so far, tough question, I'm going to sleep and will answer tomorrow.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2022 by dragon49

[dragon49]

I exceeded the time to edit my post, so here's a reply.  Not sure if the OP was asking for our favorite bird from 2022, or of all time.  Not even sure if he meant a species or an individual bird.  Thinking it was only for 2022, I deleted the pic of the Black Vulture that I posted as it was from last year.  In any event, here is the bird again, my favorite individual bird of all time and one of the best pictures of anything I've ever taken.  I had a fun experience with the Black Vulture, as it startled me by shaking the dock I was resting on when it slammed hard into the railing.  The bird was nice enough to keep posing, so I got up and took this gem:

 

[Charlie Spencer]

18 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

This morning I was reduced to entering an Incidental for a single Blue Jay in a Goodwill parking lot.  Why bother, you ask?  It's the first one I've seen in a couple of months. 

And of course, four hours later, guess what showed up at the backyard suet feeder?  

Edited January 23, 2022 by Charlie Spencer

[Quiscalus quiscula]

I'm at a sad 21 species. Winter birding here is not very exciting, and I doubt I'll get any lifers until spring, but the highlight was two Bald Eagles who flew into my yard and landed- new yard birds.

[PalmWarbler]

6 minutes ago, Quiscalus quiscula said:

I'm at a sad 21 species. Winter birding here is not very exciting, and I doubt I'll get any lifers until spring, but the highlight was two Bald Eagles who flew into my yard and landed- new yard birds.

I'm also at a sad 26 species. I haven't even been out actually birding since the last day of last year.

[Aidan B]

I'm at 191 for this year, and I expect I'll finish the month around 195 if I'm lucky. 

I've had too many good birds so far this year to choose a favorite. Brambling, Thick-billed Longspur, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Eastern Phoebe, Long-tailed Duck, Neotropic Cormorant, Northern Shrike, Trumpeter Swan, Northern-pygmy Owl, Mountain Bluebird, Swamp Sparrow, and Lapland Longspur are just a few. 

[Charlie Spencer]

On 1/22/2022 at 12:06 PM, Charlie Spencer said:

57 on the year so far,

Now 62 after stopping at a tiny estuary reserve in Little River SC, on an impromptu run to see my Mom near Southport NC.  

[Aaron]

I’m at 132, but 117 of those were from Costa Rica. I’ve only done backyard birding since I’ve been back (except one trip up in the mountains), so I’m missing some very common species such as Canada Goose, Northern Flicker, and so on. I might add a few more before February, but i’m a bit too busy with university to actually go anywhere, so it may stay the same. 
 

The best was definitely 2 male long-tailed manakins lekking! 

[stitch58]

Haven't been able to get out much yet. Just hit 63 today. Got some good ones today though, Bullock's Oriole (in NJ & a lifer!), Yellow-breasted Chat & Short-eared Owl.

[God's Child]

On 1/22/2022 at 8:10 PM, Birding Boy said:

Congrats! I haven’t seen a Long-tailed in so long.

Thanks!!! I loved seeing them! So crisp and beautiful despite the fog. 

[God's Child]

On 1/22/2022 at 8:07 PM, God's Child said:

My year list is at 76 for the time being and I'm not really expecting it to get much higher by the end of the month. Unless I manage to get to some new hotspots that is. By far my favorite bird was my lifer Long-tailed Duck. 

I'm at 77 now with Cooper's Hawk. Not sure what'll happen from here on out now. 

[Clip]

On 1/23/2022 at 4:46 PM, Quiscalus quiscula said:

I'm at a sad 21 species. Winter birding here is not very exciting, and I doubt I'll get any lifers until spring, but the highlight was two Bald Eagles who flew into my yard and landed- new yard birds.

I just took a look at your county because I have always found winter birding pretty good. For certain it is here in Florida but it was good when I lived in Colorado too. That said your county does not seem to have much reported for the year yet. I'm not sure if this is due to lack of birds to see or if there are just too few birders out looking. You may be in a unique position to be the person who really develops your area in ebird. I don't know if you have noticed but you can help create birding hotspots. Keep your eyes out for parks, trails...that might be birdie. Bird them a few times and then suggest them as hotspots. You may find as you explore and expand your horizons that birding in the winter in your area is better than you think. Most of the birders here on what bird have the benefit of following in the foot steps of others and utilizing ebird information. You may have to make your own. Bundle up though I bet it is pretty cold where you are. 

[Clip]

I'm waaaayy behind where I was this time last year. Currently at 117 vs. 164 last year at this time.

[Charlie Spencer]

On 1/23/2022 at 10:54 PM, Charlie Spencer said:

Now 62 after stopping at a tiny estuary reserve in Little River SC, on an impromptu run to see my Mom near Southport NC.  

63 after picking up a Royal Tern on the way back.