Mission Accomplished

Unless a red-breasted nuthatch -- or something even more unlikely -- wanders into my yard today, I am calling this "medium year" complete with a list of 138 birds! Give that at different points in the year I told myself I'd be satisfied at 100, then 120, that's not bad. As I knew from my Intention, accounting would be tricky: as a newish user of ebird, all kinds of species that I certainly identified as an adult, and/or probably had pointed out to me as a kid, appear to be new for my digital life-list. Still, I'd say I hit the mark of six lifers:

Wilson's snipe (1/2, Dutch Gap) doesn't seem like something I'd IDed before. Another birder listed it as one of his notables as Mom and I stepped onto the platform over the wetland, and there it was just a couple of yards away, easy to identify from field markings.

Red-cockaded woodpecker (7/1, Piney Grove, Sussex Co.). My handwritten notes at the top of the notebook page for this outing read: "A very humbling field trip on which most others did things like ID by ear hooded warblers [and keep walking] and I was all 'towhee!'" The trip was planned with the hopes of seeing a red-cockaded; these pine lands are preserved with controlled burns, creating this bird's preferred habitat. We walked for an hour or so before one of the leaders spotted one, many yards -- yet not too many! -- off the gravel road. It didn't scoot to the other side, it didn't fly away. It very obligingly let everyone get a nice look at its field marks.

Limpkin (11/5, Three Lakes Park, Henrico Co.). This stray was blown up to Virginia in a storm, and all fall birders reported it on a listserv and in a Facebook group. It seems to still be there now, so looks like it will winter with us. Once one finds its hangout for the day, it's a mellow and easy to identify wader.

The next few species were courtesy of a guided trip to island four of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. It was a foggy day; we were treated to the automated foghorn sounding! People who regularly get permission to visit said it wasn't their best list for the location, but I had a great time. The gannetts were sleek and gorgeous. Surf scoters have a terrific schnoz! The purple sandpiper obligingly got rather close so we could be sure of it.

Northern gannett 11/20

Purple sandpiper 11/20

Surf scoter (and probably the black scoter, too) 11/20

I'll remain steadfast to the memory of seeing flamingos in the wild when visiting CDF's Florida family in the 90s and am not really counting the strays seen st Pea Island on 9/26. As much as I love to collect things and to keep a list, this year I most enjoyed stuffing my head with birdy memories. On the trail the Pea Island visitor center, swans flew over my head, enormous and wooshing. From one of the scopes inside the visitor center, I thought I'd get a better look at one of the many juvenile tricolored herons, and in the process of looking, I glimpsed a bittern hiding in the reeds. It was there that a friendly birder offered all and sundry directions to spot the flamingos that day. I duly traipsed to the appointed dune at the north end of the Etheridge Bridge and was pretty sure I had them with my binocs. Some folks right behind me offered the view through their scope: clearly large and pink waders! 

Pea Island flamingo view Sept 26

 

Other birdy memories include the excitement of mix flocks: who will I find? Can I catch them all? Today in an effort to be sure a brown-headed nuthatch was on the list, I went to the University of Richmond. The mature pines there hosted one along with a sapsucker, juncos, chickadees, house finches, goldfinches, titmice, and a red-bellied woodpecker. 

There are also the more isolated species, like the summer tanagers in a beautiful bit of maritime forest by the Bay at Kiptopeke State Park. There were no notable birds there, but the soundside trail at Jockey's Ridge Sate Park is another delicious maritime habitat. 

While I am happy birding solo, I joined several group outings this year, with mixed results. Coworker B is always fun and was my buddy for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel trip. From there we went to a local park and she encouraged me to list the clapper rails hanging out in the wetlands: if every time it calls you say "there it is again, why can't we see it" you are identifying it. While many were better than me at Piney Grove, all were friendly. One Audubon group at Bryan Park in the summer was disappointing with too many know-it-alls and the fellow who declared it "a bad day for birding." Look, we are outside, the barn swallows gave us a good show darting under our feet as we stood on the bridge, and we saw plenty of old friends. No day birding is "bad." The local Feminist Bird Club met for a talk at Woodland Cemetery followed by birding. The list again featured familiar species but the history talk was good and the company good. I heard ravens while hiking with S in West Virginia, saw a Baltimore Oriole on Upper Lake with other Mount Holyoke alumns, and at Jamestown with K and J, I could barely focus on the ranger giving the tour over the wrens, titmice, osprey, eagles, etc.

Halfmoon Mountain Trail, WVa 3/5

Finally, Mom joined me several times, including the January 2 walk that kicked off the year so well, and for stay at Kiptopeke in November. At Eastern Shore National Wildlife Refuge, we spotted and IDed a little flock of first year black-crowned nigh herons. 

My carpool companion for the trip to Piney Grove was trying to bird in every Virginia county (this year??), which is super ambitious. And since then I've wondered what my next goal might be? There were any number of birds I never go this year: no nightjars because I didn't tent camp; somehow never got a kingbird; no screech owl; no wood thrush. The Merlin app heard warblers and vireos I never got my eye on whose calls were too generic for my ear so I never wrote down. Is the goal "list more in 2024" or is it simply "get better"?