I was able to find 70 new species in 2023, pushing my photographic total to 287 species out of about 700 in the United States. From here, it is going to get harder as I have already been able to see many of the common species in the lower 48 states. Still, there are a lot of fairly common birds left to be seen and many more less common that I might get by accident. Travel through work helps and as the days get longer again, the opportunity to bird in different parts of the country after work meetings opens up. Plus there are a lot of local birds that I still have not been able to capture, especially in the owl and raptor species and the ducks as well. So, lots more to do. These are 5 of my top 15 shots for 2023. Only the Western Bluebird and the Phainopepla were new this year. I remember the Western as so amazingly blue. Beautiful bird. Saw that near Newport Beach in California. Saw the Phainopepla in the high desert inside Joshua Tree National Park. The other three, the Black Vulture, Yellow-rumpted Warbler and Pine Warbler are pretty common, seen in lots of parts of the US, although the Black Vulture is local to the south and southeast. The Turkey Vulture is very similar with a red/baldish head and that is the vulture you see over the rest of the country.
