#2022 Big Year in Review

  Happy New Year!!! 2023, can you believe it? Wow has the time gone by fast.  This post is a recap of the year that was #BigYear2022🐦🐦, all the fun stuff, places visited, good times and future plans. Below are some of the highlights.

Teal Trail, Battelle Darby, Jan 22' dusk

• 0 lifers--Wow!! First time in a long time, no life birds. SMH. My lowest year for life birds since starting this thing;  2021--3, 2020--5, 2019--10, 2018--7, 2017--18, 2016--12, 2015--13 new and in 2014 I had 29 lifers. I only traveled to Florida this year for vacation, and birded around Ohio, but no 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 #629 Life Birds.                                                                                                                    

My ABA Bird of the Year is . . . .the code 2 Mangrove Cuckoo 

stock photo, id only

During my week vacation to Marco Island, Florida in May, I got go out birding two mornings at local eBird hot spots. Up off Shell Rd, is Briggs boardwalk. It is an old easy walking loop. I stopped by chance and it was quite. 30 yards in, this cuckoo flew past me and landed in a tree. I could tell by the distinctive long tail feathers as it flew. Very elusive. No pictures, I came back two days later, and got several heard only noises of the bird but no luck with another sighting. I have only seen the Mangrove once and it was as a life bird with Red & Louise, in June 1990.  

• My Ohio Bird of the Year is . . . .the code 1 Scissor-tail Flycatcher 

Wow, what another crazy Ohio life list bird!!!  Every year something else, more then once pops up in Ohio.  This time, it is the Scissor-tail Fly. And a male at that! Late in October, alert went out that in Licking county is a male STFX. Sure enough, it stayed for the weekend, and myself and JK drove over to see it, Weird, we parked in a field lot, and scoped the bird miles away on the power lines. This is the best photo I got maxxed Zoom.  Still, this bird is common in south during migration in Florida and Texas

• 3 states visited--Ohio(+178 foys) Florida (+ 27 birds) Georgia (+1 Brown headed Nuthatch)

• 206 total species--Wow, the least amount of species I have seen in a year. No Texas trip, no other state trips, and 48 hour work weeks/ 210 hours per month. No vacations, really hampered my birding in 2022.  I did keep track of my "Ohio only" birds this year and got 178!                      This puts me at a 325.5 species per year average over 10 years.                        

• STATS  In 2013--338; 2014--359; 2015--322; 2016--360; 2017--377; 2018--353; 2019--321; 2020--340; 2021--279; 2022-206

Burrowing owls, Marco Island

5 species, name them??

Fox Sparrow, Sharon Woods

King Rail, Prairie Oaks

Below is a list of some of the new first of year birds(FOYs) I saw in Ohio, during the last 45 days of birding in 2022.

#168 Wilson's Snipe
#169 Blue-winged Teal                                            

#170 Swap Sparrow
#171 Lincoln Sparrow
#172 White-rumped sandpiper
#173 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher--Ohio lifer    Licking county October 23rd, male
#174 America Pipit
#175 Long-billed Dowitcher     Thanksgiving day at Hoover
#176 Horned Grebe                    Thanksgiving day at Alum Creek
#177 Sharp-shinned Hawk
#178 Merlin                                Westerville Spring St roost Dec 18th

**heard only 2022**
 Ringed Neck Pheasant, Sora rail, Hooded Warbler

Rarities seen in 2022--only saw one Code 3 or higher birds this year
          

            None
             

• Misses--a lot of them, especially Ohio species. I  birded OHIO strong in January, getting 90 species in the first month!! But since I started working overtime every week, birding for causal fun was just not in the plans for 2022.  

Little Blue juvi, Hilliard

Orange-crowned Warbler, Oh

• 2023 trips--So far no planned trips, but likely to change. 

          
           1. Ohio--Biggest week in American Birding--open fully for business, we will try a Sunday or Thursday to go up to Magee and Howard Marsh
         
           2. Chase a rarity. Can this be the year of a Code 4 or 5 chase?? 

           3. Pacific NW in Spring 2023?? Need Hammonds Flycatcher and MacGillverys warbler

            4.  Bird in England or Italy??? If I am lucky, and still employed at MAG, maybe I can do brand training for Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lotus, Maserati or Lamborghini and get to travel. Then on my off day or extended time, I can bird some local parks??

Thank you to all my friends, family and birders for supporting me these last 10 years. What a ride. Could not of predicted it myself where I would be in 2022.  So here is to the future and more time to get back to Retracing the Steps with the Gambill Birding Dynasty.

Cheers

Brad

In Memorandum

Rest In Peace

Kathy Gambill Miller 1/12/2023