Where do I go from here?? Part 2, 2019 follow up

 

CEO Birder, Arizona 2025 Mt. Lemmon

Wow!! Can you believe it?!? Six years since I first did this original post in 2019.  My have things changed!! If we only knew then what we know now.  In March 2020 was the COVID mess that dragged the world for three years or more. We also have had two presidential elections since then. The earth is changing with more severe storms and more water than ever before. Also, I a moment of silence, for all the loved ones, family and friends who have passed since 2019. may GOD rest their soul. 

Legend killer

Well, well . . . here we are again, in the middle of no where. It's the late spring of 2025 and birding is about to pick up. Here in Ohio, the wood warblers, both breeding and migrating ones are coming north now, with shorebirds to follow. So, at this point in the Blog, I thought I would do a recap of my birding adventures since 2019, and where the future leads me.



1991, gap years, 2011 restart:
I saw my 500th bird, in southern Cally with my grandparents. I was a freshman in high school and just finished my last push in 1991 to get it done.  YEAH!!  Then came high school, then college, then post college, then my dads' death, then a girlfriend, whom is my beautiful wife, then my thirties, now late 40's etc.  I got back into birding when I decided to visit my grandparents one spring in Texas. Then the next year, I invited my friend Sam to come done, and that's when the Code 5 Black Vented Oriole showed up . . . then I got back into listing and even Sam took an interest in the hobby. Take a look at the last 138 birds I've seen over the years, on the right side of the blog.

Ago, late 2019 post: 
The last life bird I saw was May 19th, 2019, the Swainson's warbler, last of the east coast birds. That puts me at #620 for the ABA area and that's 9 total new birds this year. So I am very happy with my trips to MN, AZ and Dayton. So now is a good time to review my list, and write down every Code 1 and Code 2 bird left to see (minus palegic birds). Once that was done, my list shows that I only need 18--Code 1's  and 42--Code 2's.  Now, I have taken those birds and grouped them into which states I can see them and times of year. Remember, these things have wings and can fly!!
So below is my states I need to visit and what I can see there.

2013 LRGV

Now, May 2025 post: 
The last life bird I saw was April 25th, 2025, the Roufus-backed Robin Code 3, a hard-to-get thrush, usually in SE AZ only. That puts me at #638 for the ABA area and that's 5 total new birds this year. So, I am very happy with my trip to AZ. Now is a good time to review my list and write down every Code 1 and Code 2 bird left to see (minus pelagic birds). Once that was done, my list shows that I only need 13--Code 1's  and 32--Code 2's.  Now, I have taken those birds and grouped them into which states I can see them and times of year. Remember, these things have wings and can fly!!
So below are my states I need to visit and what I can see there.

States                        Code 1 & 2 needs

California                   Arizona                 
Mountain Quail           CA Condor            
WhiteHeaded Wp        Pinyon Jay                  
Blackbacked WP         Am. 3 toed Wp    
Bells sparrow              Am. North Goshawk       
Hammonds empidx   Buff-breast empidx         
CA Condor                 Mexican Chickadee
Island ScrubJay          Hammonds empidx     
PacfGldnPlvr              Baird's Sparrow 
Black Rail                  Varied Bunting       
                                   Thk-Bill King Bird

                                   Chihuahuan Meadowlark  

                                    Montezuma Quail    
                                                           
Colorado                                 Oregon/Idaho
 Chestnut Collard.LS               Chuckar            
 Mountain Plover           WhteHeadWp/BBWP       
 Pinyon Jay                              Hammonds Ep.                       
 Gray Crown RF                      Boreal Owl       
 Black Rosy Finch                   Cassia Cross Bill
 Grtr Prairie Chkn                    Dusky Grouse
 Lssr Prairie Chkn 

                       


Maine                      Alaska       

Bicknells Thrush     Thk-billed Murre            
Razorbill           Horned Puffin                              
Dovekie                   Grouse                                         
Roseate Tern            Rock Ptarmigan

                                 Wood Sandpiper


Florida            East Coast Pelagic  

Salt Marsh sp    Black capped Petral
                          South Polar Skua or Great
                          Manx Shearwater

                          Dovkie--Feb/Mar

                          Razorbill--Feb/Mar
                          

Texas                               Minnesota   

 Black-capped Vireo       Borrel Owl              
 Mountain Plover            American 3 toe Wp

                                        Black-backed Wp

                                        Bohemian Waxwing

                                        Northern Goshawk

                                                       
Ohio                 Michigan UP                                                                      
rarity inland

or Lake Eire      Black backed Wp

missed                          Spruce Grouse

King Eider, female

Ancient Murlett

White Wagtail

                                                                                                

Wildcards

Northern Goshawk--north AZ, UT, MN
Chesnut Collar LS--CO east plains
Spruce, Sooty & Dusky Grouse--hard, harder, hardest :)
Black Rail--Sacramento CA, heard only?                          
Black Swift--??                     
Baird's sparrow--SE AZ, or MT plains for breeding, last "easy" sparrow

Bar-tailed Godwit--SF bay or Corpus Christi TX


                                                                                         
                                                                                         
2025 & 2026 trips

• 
  
• Stormy Petral II Pelagic--August 29, 30
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& beyond
The goal is to see almost all the remaining 44 birds listed, thus that would put me around 682, well within range of 700 ABA traditional area. That would set me up for my first trip to Alaska to hopefully see #700 there.

 

Lake Erie in winter

Wood-warblers: Needed


Comila--code 3, Big Bend NP TX
Rufous-capped--code 3, AZ
Golden-crowned--code 4, south TX, missed 2018 bird, missed 2024
Fan-tailed--code 4, AZ
Slate-throated Redstart--code 4, Big Bend NP, TX


 Feel free to leave "good" comments on the blog, maybe we can meet up and BIRD!!

Next up: Summer of 2025 and planning 2026 trips. Also, any OHIO lifers please!! Come back White Wagtail.

#2024 Big Year in Review

  Happy New Year!!! 2025, can you believe it? Wow has the time gone by fast.  This post is a recap of the year that was #BigYear2024🐦🐦, all the fun stuff, places visited, good times and future plans. Below are some of the highlights.

Santa Ana NWR March 2024

    

• 4 lifers--Wow!! Triple life bird trip to LRGV, rare ones too! NV got me a warbler lifer! Its nice to see some life birds. Which ones will I see in 2025??  2024--4, 2023--0, 2022--0, 2021--3, 2020--5, 2019--10, 2018--7, 2017--18, 2016--12, 2015--13 new and in 2014 I had 29 lifers. I traveled to Texas LRGV and Nevada this year for birding and vacation/bird trips. On Thursdays and Sundays I birded around Ohio, but no new lifers!! I missed the one day wonder Ohio White Wagtail. 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 #633 Life Birds for continental ABA, lower 48 and Canada. Hawaii I have a separate list.                                                                                                                    

My ABA Bird of the Year is . . . .the code 5 Mottled Owl 

Follow on Instagram @ceobirder

Since we were in LRGV for family and ashes laid, we wanted to see rare birds too!  Just in luck they all stayed.  At a new private ranch, east of Salinaneo, they offer day and night bird trips. My birding friends went to the day trip on Friday, and Saturday night was the Owl trip.  The tour is highly organized and respectful of the process.  Earlier in the winter this Mexican owl came up to winter on the property. So now they have a distinct protocol, so only 3-5 seconds do we see the Owl with the light on it, and boom its over.  Pretty cool, first time ABA code 5!! 

• My Ohio Bird of the Year is . . . .the code 1 Northern Mockingbird 

Last Ohio need!! 

Its down to the end of the year, and I'm going thru my checklist, and notice I haven't seen Northern Mockingbird in Ohio yet.  What?  I saw plenty in Texas in March, but since I really have not been on the look out nor seen a NOMO.  So lucky, my birding friend has a local one at the train tracks in Worthington, so BOOM. Ohio Bird 173!!!! 

• 3 states visited--Ohio (+175 foys)  Texas (+63 birds)   Nevada (+42 birds)

• 280 total species--Wow, I got 64 more species then 2023, and that's because Texas is always key and plus 3 lifers. Then Nevada with 42 birds with another lifer was huge!! This year we got the mountain birds too except Townsends Solitaire!! I did keep track of my "Ohio only" birds this year and got 175!     This puts me at a 312.5 species per year average over 12 years.                        

• STATS  In 2013--338; 2014--359; 2015--322; 2016--360; 2017--377; 2018--353; 2019--321; 2020--340; 2021--279; 2022-206; 2023--216; 2024--280

Barn Owl Dec OH 

Eastern Screech Owl, May OH

Eastern Screech Owl, March TX

Roadside Hawk, Code 4 Lifer March TX

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 2024.

#165 Semi-palmated plover  Battelle, same
#166 Buff breasted sp   Battelle Darby teal trail wetlands Aug 15th                                       

#167 Orange crowned warbler, MAG October
#168 Black Scoters  Inglewood Dayton park

#169 Horned Grebe    same
#170 Boneparte Gull  Inglewood Dayton pk
#171 Fox sparrow, heard only Boyer Pers. 
#172 Northern Pintail duck  PickPonds
#173Northing Mockingbird   RxR tracks Worthington, thanks JK
#174 Sharp-shinned Hawk   flyby on 270N
#175 YBBS    heard only on CBC on 12/15

**heard only 2024**
 Sora rail, Yellow billed Cuckcoo, Great horned owl, Common Nighhawk, YBBS, Fox sparrow, Sedge Wren, Veery, Worm-eating, Kentucky, Hooded Warblers, Henslow Sparrow, 

Rarities seen in 2024- Code 3 or higher birds this year all in LRGV
          

            Mottled Owl code 5, Roadside Hawk code 4, Black collard Becard code 5, Clay Colored Thrush code 3, Alpamado Falcon code 3, Tropical Parula code 3,              

• Misses--a lot of them, especially Ohio species. I  birded OHIO on my days off. I really like my May trip to Clear Creek for warblers.  I got to bird at Magee Marsh this year, first time since 2019, it was early and rainy windy day, but had fun!.  

White Pelican, June Ohio

Northern Pintail, PickPonds

Black Scoters, Nov Ohio

• 2025 trips--So far planned trips, but likely to change. 

            1.  Arizona, Washington, someplace??
           

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

           4  North Carolina summer palegalic, need Black capped storm petral 

           5.  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 12 years. What a ride. Could not of predicted it myself where I would be in the end of 2024.  So here is to the future and more time to get back to Retracing the Steps with the Gambill Birding Dynasty.

Cheers

Brad