#BigYear2017 in review

Happy New Year!!! 2018, can you believe it? Wow has the time gone by fast.  This post is a recap of the year that was #BigYear2017, all the fun stuff, places visited, good times and future plans. Below are some of the highlights.

Family, in memoriam 

Pescadero Beach SP, California

Team Ruddy Turnstoned 2017

• 18 lifers--Wow!! I had a really good year, 2016--12, 2015--13 new and in 2014 I had 29 lifers. I traveled to new places like California/Pelagic trip and Washington in springtime, which produced new birds. Ohio produced +2 new lifers!! I am still thankful of the trips taken, birds seen, and friends I've been with making memories and good blog posts! Thank you all and God Bless. That puts me at #604 Life Birds so far. That's 97 new birds in less than 6 years.                                                                                                                  
• My ABA Bird of the Year is . . . .the code 1 California Quail during my California trip. I choose this bird because it was life bird #600 for me!!! And since life bird #500 was in Cali in 1991, I wanted the next big milestone to be in Cali.  Of course, the pelagic trip the day before helped with 9 lifers on the boat.

California Quail

#590 Yellow-billed Magpie

#602 Western Screech Owl

My Ohio Bird of the Year, is a 3-way tie!!!  I birded Ohio so much this year, trying to pickup many FOYs, that when rarities/lifers flew into the state, I was lucky enough to have time to drive and see them. So the following triple threat Ohio birds of the year are . . .

                 Sooty Tern, code 2--September hurricane blew this Atlantic Ocean bird all the way into eastern Ohio. Lucky, I've seen SOTE as a lifer back on July 6, 1988 in Hatteras, North Carolina.  But this was a second chance look and so close to home. Great state of Ohio life list bird!
                Long-tailed Jaeger, code 1--September, Labor Day drive up to Findley Reservoirs
               Calliope Hummingbird, code 1--October. The last code 1 hummer I need as a life bird. The Calliope lives west of Denver, and at 4000 ft elevation. Why was it here in Delaware?? Just so every birder in Ohio could come see him.

Sooty Tern, hard to picture

Sooty Tern

#603 Long-tailed Jaeger

Unfiltered in Findley

Calliope Hummingbird #604

• 5 states visited--Ohio(166 birds), Texas(137 birds), Washington(+28 foys), California(+35 foys), Nevada(+11 foys)

• 377 total species--Finishing it strong!! That's my personal best and all because I birded more in Ohio, oh and California too.  I ticked many Ohio common birds this year. This puts me at a 351 species per year average over 5 years. STATS.  In 2013--338; 2014--359; 2015--322; 2016--360; 2107--377

Pic of the year, from WA

Tulip Town in Skagit, WA

Below is a list of some of the major new first of year birds(FOYs) I saw in Ohio, during the last 45 days of birding in 2017.

#365 Long-tailed Duck
#366 Red-Throated Loon
#367 Black Scooter                                                                   

Dusk in Ohio, pointing out Short-eared Owl

#368 Snowy Owl
#370 Snow Goose
#371 Ross Goose
#372 Rusty Blackbird
#373 Snow Bunting
#374 Lapland Longspur
#375 Short-earred Owl
#376 Great-horned Owl
#377 Mew Gull


**heard only 2017**
Great-horned Owl, White-tipped Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Worm-eating warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Hooded, Prairie & Cerulean warblers 
 

Rarities seen in 2017--
             Code 4  none
             Code 3  Aplomado Falcon, Tropical Parula, Clay-colored Thrush,
                          White-collard Seedeater--all seen in LRGV, Texas 

• Misses--Not as many of them, especially Ohio species. I  birded OHIO more, alot more. Getting out every Sunday since May helped me see/hear them, so I'm thankful. So in 2018, my goal will be to get them early and keep trying.  Misses included: 

        Greater White-fronted goose, Greater scaup, American Woodcock, Least, Yellow-bellied & Alder empidx., Franklin's Gull, Upland Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Baird's SP, Long-eared Owl, Connecticut, Mourning & Pine warblers. That's only 14 Ohio birds, the least amount of misses so far.

• 2018 trips--So far two planned trips, but likely some to follow. 

           1. March--Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas--lifers needed Mountain Plover, Tamaulipas Crow and other Mexican rarities
           2. March--Corn Creek, Nevada--lifers need Sage & Bendire's Thrashers, Sagebrush Sparrow
           3. Sometime--Seattle, Washington--7 years in a row out there, still could use a Northwest Crow
           4. Ohio-- I still need Iceland Gull!!  I need cold snowy ice weather.  Biggest week in American Birding--you know where to find us in May
           5.  South Carolina/Florida--I smell a beach trip this summer
           6. Chase a rarity. Can this be the year of a Code 5 chase??

**I'd like to dedicate this #BigYear2017 to my grandmother, Louise Gambill, thank you and God Bless


Next up: Let's start off #BigYear2018 with a . . . .??