My February and March bird list is beginning to look pretty similar from year to year. The list inches along slowly while growing by only a few birds at a time. Almost all of the new birds are predictable and on schedule. An obvious miss is replaced by a different common, if not expected, species….
A start of a new year brings fresh excitement to my yearly bird list. As I mentioned last month, I started using eBird this year to mix things up a bit. As a result, I managed to spend quite a bit more time birding this month and increased my January birds total over January 2019….
Whooping cranes in Illinois? As a former resident of Nebraska, home of the great Sandhill crane migration, I got really excited when I heard that there have been a pair of whoopers observed in Randolph County, IL. I grew up watching the sandhill crane spectacle, and in the process managed a few sighting of whooping…
I ended my 2019 birding year with a big whimper. I’m not sure that I added any new species after September. It’s possible that I did, but my record keeping efforts dwindled as well as my motivation to work for new birds. I thought that I would be able to push myself a bit harder…
OK, so my August/September bird list of new species observed for the year is rather embarrassing. I know it sounds like a broken record but this just isn’t my year for birds. So I’m going to quit stressing about my list but will continue to share it here for historical purposes. It’s also worth noting…
It was sometime in late June when word started to filter in about an unusual heron rookery in mid-town St. Louis. First I saw something on the MO-birds listserve, then maybe an Instagram photo or small Facebook post. Intrigued, I filed it away under the “must check out soon” category. Life was busy and I…
If you based success purely on my bird list for the year, only by the numbers, then I have had a rough year. I am still missing many common birds and really haven’t landed any extraordinary sightings. I am well below last year’s total at this same time, but that is largely because I didn’t…
All things considered, my May bird list isn’t terrible. I rarely get the opportunity to chase vagrants and rarities and my birding is usually the secondary activity during my outdoor pursuits. I still really enjoy taking the time to watch and listen for birds, and get excited both when I see a new life bird…
April is just a great month to be birding in Missouri. Many of the resident species return and begin nesting, shorebirds begin passing through in good numbers, and the spring warbler migration gets going making for plenty of opportunities. The MO-Birds listserve was popping with unusual birds that I couldn’t chase but it sounds like…
March birding proved to be average once again, although the 23 new year birds exceeded the 16 I had last March. In traditional fashion, March came in like a lion and out like a lamb. Early snowfall eventually gave out to some warmer temperature and plenty of heavy spring rain. The range in weather contributed…
