#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 

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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