Birds of the Year: Final Chapter

 

There are some amazing birds in this final group of my bird shots of the year. The Acorn Woodpecker was a surprise with so many acorns stuck in its tree that I don't see how it can go hungry all year. I saw the Vermillion Flycatcher in an open municipal park area not more than a half mile from my hotel in Scottsdale. Such a shock to see a brightly colored bird sitting out in the open. Kids were biking by. Parents were walking their dogs and here was this beautiful orange bird with no one paying any mind. The Marbled Godwit is also a fan favorite as is any of the shorebirds as I don't see all that many in the midwest. Enjoy and this was a fun project to put together. 

Birds of the Year: Third Group

 

This 4th group of my favorite bird shots of the year include a Burrowing Owl from Florida, the first bird that I went out with an intention to find and two interacting pairs, the male and female White-throated Sparrows below and a juvenile Cowbird and its "parent" a Song Sparrow. It is quite amazing to see this huge bird being fed by the small parent. Cowbird are brood parasites, laying their eggs in other birds nest. Many species, such as this Song Bird raise these parasitic "children" as their own, even as they usually eliminate the rest of the nest. Quite the survival strategy and makes you very conflicted about how you feel about Cowbirds. 

Birds of the Year: Third group of 10 shots

Love this group of shots with a couple of my favorite birds of the year. The Pileated Woodpecker is a huge bird. Hard to miss when you are in the right territory (Indiana Dunes, this time around). The group also includes the Semipalminated Plover, a favorite shore bird and I got to see hundreds of them take off at once. The bird of the year has to be the Little Stint, not because it is a great picture but because it was a US rarity. We found the Little Stint on Cape May on the east coast which makes it a rarity as this is a bird from Asia. What was it doing in New Jersey? No one knows. I got to see the pros in action, calling in the bird in to the ABA and receiving a confirmation of the sighting within 10 minutes. Pretty cool. With the exception of the Song Sparrow and the Woodpecker, the other 8 birds were all seen at a birding festival I attended in Cape May, New Jersey. We spent the weekend going out to birding hot spots to see what we could find. Quite the three day experience. Looking forward to going again soon. 

 

Birds of the Year: Second 10

 

One of the best (and luckiest) experiences of the year was seeing the Sandhill Cranes in the Platte River area of Nebraska this spring take off in the morning for their long flight back to Canada. I was on a road trip to Denver for work and was able to drive through Nebraska at the right time of the year. I think I was a little late on the timing as most of the cranes had already headed north earlier in the week, but it was close enough. The rest of this second group of shots were also from points east and west, except for the American Goldfinch and the Grey Catbird, both of which I shot in Springbrook Prairie near my home. The Rock Wren came from Arches NP in Utah and the rest on a birding trip to Cape May, New Jersey, which was a lot of fun. 

Birds of the Year: First 10

 

2022 was my big year for birds. First time really that I went out looking for birds, researching where they would be on my various road trips and trying to get shots of new species for my life list. I recorded over 100 new species and I am now at 245 total, including 28 just in my own backyard. I selected 45 of the best shots of the year and here are the first 10.