Musing over a life list

[Leslie Kinrys]

We just got back from Arizona. I added Brewer's Sparrow, Mountain Plover, Lark Bunting, Ferruginous Hawk, Le Conte's Thrasher, Rufous-capped Warbler, Sprague's Pipit, Black-capped Gnatcatcher and Elegant Trogon. That takes me up to 539 birds for North America and 680 birds on my life list.

[GStuart]

Rufous-capped Warbler, Black-capped Gnatcatcher

I've been to Florida Canyon many times and these two have eluded me every single time.

[thouc]

I reached my official 300th bird (not counting the Painted Bunting) in Ontario today with the Smith's Longspur down at Long Point. My 5 new birds under 2016 were Dickcissel, Eurasian Collared-Dove (only one not a lifer), Pacific Loon (pretty crappy view, but I take it since it was the at least 8th time I've gone to a location where it had been reported), Le Conte's Sparrow and Lark Sparrow.

/Thomas

[Reuven_M]

I had 6 new Ontario birds in 2016. I don't twitch much so new birds are very difficult!

Ross's Goose (self-found)
White-winged Dove
Eurasian Collared-dove (seen in Europe previously)
Marbled Godwit
Red Knot (self-found, seen in Europe previously)
Nelson's Sparrow (self-found)

Bringing my Ontario list to 318 and my world list to 429.

[Pat Hodgson]

My new totals from end of year:
Yard: 103 (+4), common raven, tundra swan, indigo bunting, yellow-bellied flycatcher
Ontario: 297 (+7), Eurasian wigeon, Acadian flycatcher, yellow-throated warbler, black vulture, parasitic jaeger, long-tailed jaeger, lark sparrow
ABA area (Canada plus 49 US states ex. HI): 579 (+4), Nanday parakeet in FL, marbled murrelet and greater white-fronted goose in BC, and gain of one from past sightings of western scrub-jay that now include both California scrub-jay (1998) and Woodhouse's scrub-jay (1997)
World: 2055 (+177), all from Peru except for the murrelet and parakeet as above, and a few from splits

[Walter Fisher]

Time for an update again...

Ontario Birds - 310 (2016 additions: Cattle Egret, Common Ringed Plover, Stilt Sandpiper, Smith's Longspur, and Yellow-throated Warbler).
Local Park Birds - 194 (2016 additions: Greater White-fronted Goose, White-winged Scoter, Black Scoter, Bonaparte's Gull, and Golden-winged Warbler) at Rosetta McClain Gardens, Toronto
Backyard Birds - 104 (2016 additions: 0!).

Good birding,
Walter

[Dinusaur]

Yes it is time to update. I have added 30 lifers to my Ontario list and the same number to world list (Vacation to New York City didn't produce anything new). Notables for the year being:  Gyrfalcon, Dickcissel, Yellow-throated Warbler, Common Ringed Plover, Buff Breasted Sandpiper, Le Conte's Sparrow, Barred Owl, and Smith's Longspur. In summary:

Ontario: 233
World: 373.

Still a long way to hit that Ontario 300 mark.

[JW Mills]

Time for an update since there have been some changes in the last year.
First of all I finally got around to inputting my British Columbia sightings into eBird.
Second, after spending 5 weeks in the Philipinnes my stance on seeing birds in other countries has changed. Now I'm looking forward to seeing more birds on our next trip to the Philippines!
B.C.  101
Ontario 262
Canada  299
Philippines 30
World  325

[winz]

Time for an update since there have been some changes in the last year.
First of all I finally got around to inputting my British Columbia sightings into eBird.
Second, after spending 5 weeks in the Philipinnes my stance on seeing birds in other countries has changed. Now I'm looking forward to seeing more birds on our next trip to the Philippines!
B.C.  101
Ontario 262
Canada  299
Philippines 30
World  325

5 weeks in the Philippines!! I would settle for 2 weeks.. with about 200 endemics and over 600 resident and migratory birds.. there's lots to see.

[JW Mills]

Time for an update since there have been some changes in the last year.
First of all I finally got around to inputting my British Columbia sightings into eBird.
Second, after spending 5 weeks in the Philipinnes my stance on seeing birds in other countries has changed. Now I'm looking forward to seeing more birds on our next trip to the Philippines!
B.C.  101
Ontario 262
Canada  299
Philippines 30
World  325

5 weeks in the Philippines!! I would settle for 2 weeks.. with about 200 endemics and over 600 resident and migratory birds.. there's lots to see.

Trouble was with all the family related get-togethers along with Christmas and New Years we only had two half-day trips specifically for birding.
The next trip will be different!

[Leslie Kinrys]

We were in Texas and Arizona in the first half of this year. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, I added Northern Bobwhite, Aplomado Falcon, Red-billed Pigeon, Northern Beardless-Tryannulet, Tropical Parula, Audubon's and Altimira orioles.

In SE-Arizona, I added Scaled and Montezuma Quail, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Poorwill, Buff-collared Nightjar, Mexican Whip-poor-will, Blue-throated Hummingbird, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Tufted Flycatcher (a rarity), Thick-billed Kingbird, Botteri's Sparrow, Varied Bunting.

This puts me at 563 species for North America. My life list is now at 704 species.

[thouc]

I added 9 species to my Ontario list this year, however, one of them disappeared before the end of the year.

Smith's Longspur (lifer)
Thayer's Gull (lifer, at least for a few months)
Ruff
White-winged Dove (lifer)
Summer Tanager (lifer)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (lifer)
Tricolored Heron
Northern Gannet
Tufted Duck

/Thomas

[Dinusaur]

Nice list Thomas.

I have added 26 lifers to my Ontario list in 2017; a few notables are:
Gray Jay, Barrow's Goldeneye, Ruff, Whip-poor Will, Willow Ptarmigan, Prothonotary Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, Tri-colored Heron, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Northern Gannet.

A two week- social visit to India towards later half of Dec helped me adding 18 new lifers to my World list.

Ontario Lifers: 259
World Lifers: 424

[MikeN]

2017 was my first full year of birding (half of 2016) so there were a lot of lifers this year. The list stands at 294 so this year I imagine it will take some work to add to it.
Lots of highlights this year.

Smiths Longspur - Longpoint
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Marie Curtis
Tricolored Heron - TTP
Fork-tailed Flycatcher - TTP
Anna's Hummingbird - Carleton Place
Black-throated Gray Warbler - Ottawa
10 lifer day on the Bay of Fundy off Digby NS

Many miles and good times.

[Walter Fisher]

Time for my 2017 update...

Ontario Birds - 316 - My 6 additions were Willow Ptarmigan, Blue Grosbeak, Ruff, Magnificent Frigatebird, Tricolored Heron, and Tufted Duck.
Local Park Birds - 194 - My 1 additon for 2017 was a Hooded Warbler (All birds observed at Rosetta McClain Gardens in Toronto).
Backyard Birds - 113 - My 9 additions included Iceland Gull, Great Creasted Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Blackburnian Warbler, and Indigo Bunting.  Plus an unidentified shorebird - Likely a Greater Yellowlegs.

Good birding in 2018,
Walter