2022 Year Lists!

[chipperatl]

For my county only.  Bold numbers are new highs for me.  

Highlights:

• I've seen 13 of what I call Code 4 and 5 birds this year.  Typical year I see 6.  
• 4 new County Lifers (1 away from #250)
  • White-winged Crossbill (Feb)
  • Whimbrel - self-found, 1st County record (April)
  • Connecticut Warbler - Lifer (May)
  • Red-necked Phalarope - self-found, 1st County Record, Lifer, and 200th May species for the County
• First Spring Records (May) for the following, all found within 1/2 mile of each other.
  • Franklin's Gull - self-found
  • Black-bellied Plover
  • White-rumped Sandpiper - self-found
• New species added to monthly totals
  • January - 6 new species added to January List
  • February - 5 new species, including 1st Eastern Towhee for Feb
  • March - 5 new species added
  • April - 2 new species added
  • May - 6 new species added including 2nd County record of Black-necked Stilt.
  • June - 1 new species added
• Highlights from only other place I've really birded outside of county
  • 7 lifer's in N.C.
    • Swainson's Warbler - audio only
    • Clapper Rail
    • Painted Bunting
    • Gray Kingbird
    • Cattle Egret
    • Northern Bobwhite - audio only

[Zoroark]

1 hour ago, chipperatl said:

I've seen 13 of what I call Code 4 and 5 birds this year.  Typical year I see 6.  

Curious, what do you mean by this? I haven't seen any birds above an ABA Code 2 this year. I was close on two 3s (RGDO and RTBE) but missed both; however, the AFCD doesn't have an ABA code, and mine may not count anyway. In fact, I think I have only ever seen a single species above Code 2 (NOJA, 4).

And I completely forgot to actually mention the increase to my lifer list. I've added 40 new species this year, bringing my lifer total from 338 to 378:

Quote

Date	Species	State
16 Jun 2022	American Oystercatcher	SC
16 Jun 2022	Least Tern	SC
13 Jun 2022	Eastern Meadowlark	SC
09 Jun 2022	Chuck-will's-widow	SC
04 Jun 2022	Acadian Flycatcher	SC
04 Jun 2022	Wood Thrush	SC
31 May 2022	Brown-crested Flycatcher	NV
31 May 2022	MacGillivray's Warbler	NV
24 May 2022	Cordilleran Flycatcher	NV
24 May 2022	Virginia's Warbler	NV
22 May 2022	Willow Flycatcher	NV
22 May 2022	Dickcissel	NV
09 May 2022	Franklin's Gull	NV
26 Apr 2022	Pacific-slope Flycatcher	NV
30 Mar 2022	Yellow-footed Gull	NV
24 Mar 2022	Bell's Sparrow	NV
17 Mar 2022	Olive Warbler	AZ
16 Mar 2022	Common Black Hawk	AZ
16 Mar 2022	Gray Hawk	AZ
16 Mar 2022	Merlin	AZ
16 Mar 2022	Chihuahuan Raven	AZ
15 Mar 2022	Zone-tailed Hawk	AZ
15 Mar 2022	Arizona Woodpecker	AZ
15 Mar 2022	Scott's Oriole	AZ
15 Mar 2022	Hepatic Tanager	AZ
14 Mar 2022	Rufous-winged Sparrow	AZ
26 Jan 2022	Burrowing Owl	NV
21 Jan 2022	Black-legged Kittiwake	NV
21 Jan 2022	Prairie Falcon	NV
19 Jan 2022	Blue-headed Vireo	GA
18 Jan 2022	Forster's Tern	SC
15 Jan 2022	Black-and-white Warbler	SC
12 Jan 2022	Barred Owl	SC
11 Jan 2022	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker	SC
11 Jan 2022	Swamp Sparrow	GA
11 Jan 2022	Rusty Blackbird	GA
05 Jan 2022	Bonaparte's Gull	NV
05 Jan 2022	Iceland Gull	NV
05 Jan 2022	Pacific Loon	NV
01 Jan 2022	Common Loon	NV

Edited July 2, 2022 by Zoroark

[chipperatl]

2 hours ago, chipperatl said:

:

• I've seen 13 of what I call Code 4 and 5 birds this year.  Typical year I see 6.  

  1 hour ago, Zoroark said:

  Curious, what do you mean by this? I haven't seen any birds above an ABA Code 2 this year. I was close on two 3s (RGDO and RTBE) but missed both; however, the AFCD doesn't have an ABA code, and mine may not count anyway. In fact, I think I have only ever seen a single species above Code 2 (NOJA, 4).

  And I completely forgot to actually mention the increase to my lifer list. I've added 40 new species this year, bringing my lifer total from 338 to 378:

   

I have some “math” to code birds based on eBird data for my County and the immediately surrounding Counties.  Takes in to account abundance, and timing.  Works fairly well except for a Harlequin Duck that stayed for months at a nearby lake/small stream.  My math codes it as a Code 2 because so many people reported it, and for so long.  Besides that it works pretty good for judging rarity of a bird around here.  

[Zoroark]

@chipperatl Ah, I see. We had a Rufous-backed Robin that stuck around from late October through the beginning of April with about 250 observations, and a further 25 or so observations back in 2017. (And now that I checked, RBRO is actually an ABA Code 3.)

[Avery]

On 7/1/2022 at 11:33 PM, Connor Cochrane said:

Month	Month Total	YTD	New
Jan	194	194	194
Feb	142	203	9
Mar	195	247	44
Apr	309	408	161
May	214	432	24
Jun	206	518	86

January and February were pretty slow, barely even left the county during the first two months. I got most of the winter species that are local, but was fairly busy during those first two months and couldn't get out a lot. March picked up in terms of new species, mostly because of a weekend road trip down to Southern California and and the beginning of spring migration. April was definitely the best month of the year, as I went down to Texas for spring break. I was able to pick up a lot of new species and really increase the year (and life) lists down there. After that, the new species in may were mostly local pacific migrants which I still needed to pick up for the year. During June I went on a trip to Europe, which accounted for all 86 of the new species that month. 

 

I like @Zoroark's section about additional trips and targets, so I'll lay mine out below:

 

I have 3 main trips planned out for the rest of the year, each with some opportunities for lifers and year birds. 

1. ABA Camp Colorado - I've never done an ABA camp, and I feel like it's something I have to do as a young birder.  There's a few lifers I'm hoping for while I'm up there (Boreal Owl, Ptarmagin, Brown-capped Rosy Finch), but it should also offer some opportunities for some nice year birds as well.
2. Northeast Visiting Family - At the beginning of August I'm going to be going to multiple states in the northeast to visit some family members and look at some colleges while I'm out there. While it is a pretty slow time of year, I should hopefully get a few lifers (Big targets are Common Eider, Black Guillemot, Puffin, Mourning Warbler and Bicknel's Thrush). It should also provide an opportunity to clean up on some species I missed while in Texas.
3. Panama - It seems like I'm going to have the opportunity to visit Panama over Christmas. I have tons of targets there, too much to explain here.  

If you end up going up MT Mansfield for the Thrush, theres been a good flock of RECR (type 10) the flock was the biggest ever recorded in the state 70+ last week. 

[chipperatl]

After a long drought the American Avocet last week brought me to 209 for the year in the county.  

[Connor Cochrane]

My trip out east has brought my US year list up to 473

[IKLland]

I’m at 242 for the year. 

[Peromyscus]

I'm at 188 for the year, all within ~50 miles of my house. This is over 20 species more than I saw in all of last year.

[Kevin]

Except for number 256 with Lesser Goldfinch, I have not gotten a year bird since mid May. 

[Peromyscus]

I had a ~two-month drought in year birds starting in late May. I've seen 7 year birds in the past two weeks or so.

[Zoroark]

At only 320, this year has been quite strong so far with four trips (but only one where I got to pick the destination and time). I'm definitely hoping to still go on that trip along the California coast later this year. So far, I'm thinking 360 might be a good year goal if that trip does happen. I would love to pass 400 lifers this year; only 16 to go.

I've also caught wind of a special opportunity to do a southern Texas trip in 2023, but that obviously won't help for this year's total. ?

[Birds are cool]

I am at 241 for the year, and I have only taken one trip out of my state this year. I hope to get three hundred this year. With fall migration and another trip to new York in the winter, that could easily happen.

[Aidan B]

I'm at 344 for the year. I'm aiming to try and hit 400, but I'm not really sure if I have much of a chance to get there. 

[Birds are cool]

1 hour ago, Aidan B said:

I'm at 344 for the year. I'm aiming to try and hit 400, but I'm not really sure if I have much of a chance to get there. 

Good luck.

[Avery]

I’m at 283 for the year, with 30 new lifers. Hopefully I can squeeze in a couple more. I managed to find one rare sparrow last year at a spot where my nemesis Nelson’s has been spotted historically, so I’m hoping to find one there this fall since I leave VT before they start to move through. 

[Quiscalus quiscula]

31 minutes ago, Avery said:

30 new lifers.  

!!

[IKLland]

5 minutes ago, Quiscalus quiscula said:

!!

I’ve got 44 lifers this year, but my life list started out only at 250 or so. 

[Quiscalus quiscula]

Just now, IKLland said:

I’ve got 44 lifers this year, but my life list started out only at 250 or so. 

I actually don't remember how many lifers I've gotten this year, but my life list certainly made a jump of at least 20.

[BirdNrd]

32 minutes ago, IKLland said:

I’ve got 44 lifers this year, but my life list started out only at 250 or so. 

I've only had 6!

[Zoroark]

2 hours ago, BirdNrd said:

I've only had 6!

Six is better than zero! As we build our life lists, it'll be more difficult to add to them. One of my biggest goals for 2021 was to fill in a lot of the easy species for Clark County.

I did get a new lifer today and a continuing "mega" rarity for the county, which I'll post on the daily checklist thread once I finish checking for hidden shorebirds in my photos.

[BlueJay]

I was very lucky to go on a safari this year so my year total is 373 and I've gotten 241 lifers so far.

[Charlie Spencer]

22 hours ago, Kevin said:

Except for number 256 with Lesser Goldfinch, I have not gotten a year bird since mid May. 

Six since Memorial Day, but two were lifers, a third was a photo lifer, and a fourth was the first time I'd ID'ed the species by call.  Family obligations and that darn work thing have presented me with opportunities to do other things.

139 on the year.  I need 1 to tie last year's mediocre 140, 11 to tie 2020's personal annual record.

[PalmWarbler]

I’ve gotten 61 lifers so far—Alaska and then Iceland. 

[IKLland]

I’m at 246 for the year.