Birding in 2008

My birding year 2008 was a productive one. I got to take several trips, met new birding buddies, and picked up a grand total of 30 Life Birds, which brought my Life List to 309 species. For the year, I had 202 species, which blows my old record of 180 out of the water.

In January, I took a trip to the Orlando, Florida for a veterinary convention, and extended it with a visit to my family. I got 11 Life Birds there, including my number one target bird for the trip, the Florida Scrub-Jay.


I visited Magee Marsh Wildlife Area and Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in May for International Migratory Bird Day weekend, where I picked up Gray-cheeked Thrush and a heard-only Sedge Wren.

I did several day trips locally. One was with Oxbow, Inc., to bird the Oxbow area of the Ohio River, in southeastern Indiana. I picked up two Life Birds here - Stilt Sandpipers and my 300th bird, Green-winged Teal. Another was organized and run by the Cincinnati Bird Club to East Fork State Park, where I got Glaucous Gull as a Lifer.

I joined the Cincinnati Nature Center on their Saturday morning walks once or twice, plus, I did the Cincinnati Christmas Bird Count in December. No lifers on any of these trips, but good birding nonetheless. And, I birded alone quite a bit, which always refreshes my spirit.

I chased some birds that I didn't get - the Black Rail near Circleville and the Preble County Snowy Owl. That's OK; if we got them all the first time, birding would be boring.

Life Birds in 2008

BRANT [nj]
MOTTLED DUCK[fla]
GREEN-WINGED TEAL[ind, nj]
SURF SCOTER [nj]
WHITE-WINGED SCOTER [nj]
BLACK SCOTER [nj]
GLAUCOUS GULL [East Fork State Park, OH]
LAUGHING GULL [fla, nj]

Black Skimmers, Forster's Terns
and Laughing Gull, New Jersey

FRANKLIN’S GULL [East Fork State Park, OH]
ROYAL TERN [fla]
FORSTER’S TERN [fla, nj]
BLACK TERN [Armleder Park, OH]
BLACK SKIMMER [nj]
LITTLE BLUE HERON [fla]
TRICOLORED HERON [fla]
AMERICAN BITTERN [fla, Ottawa NWR, OH]

American Bittern, Florida

GLOSSY IBIS [fla]
WHITE IBIS [fla]
ROSEATE SPOONBILL [fla]
AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER [nj]
SANDERLING [nj]
STILT SANDPIPER [ind]
SHORT-EARED OWL [Armleder Park, OH]

Short-eared Owl, Ohio

NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL [near Mason, OH]
ALDER FLYCATCHER [Charlie's Pond, Circleville, OH]
FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY [fla]
SEDGE WREN [heard only, Magee Marsh, OH]
GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH [Magee Marsh, OH]
HENSLOW’S SPARROW [Charlie's Pond, Circleville, OH]
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW [Charlie's Pond, Circleville, OH]

Henslow's Sparrow, Ohio

new Yard Birds for 2008:

Pine Warbler
Rusty Blackbird

How was your birding year?

First Bird of 2008

Do you do this? Every year on January 1, I look outside my windows to see the first bird of the New Year. Last year, it was a Song Sparrow. This year, American Goldfinch. Points go to my sister, who predicted "some kind of finch" would be the First Bird this year. A pretty good guess, since I am having a bumper crop of both House Finches and goldfinches this year. No winter irruptives yet, but I am holding out hope for a return of Purple Finches, which I have had here only once. My rural home, a former hay field, doesn't have enough trees for Pine Siskins, redpolls or crossbills, the other boreal birds which are being spotted all over Ohio this winter.


My 2007 Birding Year in Review:

I had a Year List total of 178, compared to 180 in 2006, the first time I ever kept a Year List. Of those, 164 were Ohio birds. The only out-of-state birding I have done is a week at the New River Gorge Birding Festival in West Virginia and a day trip to Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Indiana.

I had 20 Life Birds in 2007, compared to 30 in 2006 and 18 in 2005. This brings my total Life List to 277. The birds and their locations were:


Feb: Long-tailed Duck (formerly "Oldsquaw"), Camp Dennison gravel pits
Feb: Merlin, Armelder Park, Cincinnati
Feb: Lapland Longspur, Armleder Park
Feb: Snow Bunting, Armleder Park

May: Spotted Sandpiper, New River, W.Va.
May: Broad-winged Hawk, New River, W.Va. (Thanks, BT3)
May: Prairie Warbler, New River, W.Va. (ditto)
May: Canada Warbler, New River, W.Va. (ditto)
May: Cerulean Warbler, New River, W.Va.
May: Worm-eating Warbler, New River, W.Va.
May: Swainson's Warbler, New River, W.Va. (Thanks, Julie)
May: Black-billed Cuckoo (heard only), New River, W.Va. (saw in Sept, Magee Marsh)
May: Cliff Swallows, nesting under bridge over the Little Miami River, Cincy
May: Blue Grosbeak (a nemesis bird), Cincinnati Nature Center wetlands
May: Least Sandpiper, Killbuck, OH
May: Vesper Sparrow, Mohican State Park
May: Barn Owl, Higginsport, OH (along the Ohio River) followed by a look inside a nest box at the OOS meeting, near Mohican State Park, also in May

June: Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, nesting in Bexley, OH (Columbus suburb)

Sept: Sharp-shinned Hawk (another nemesis), Back to the Wild, Castilia, OH (free-flying, not a rescue bird)

Dec: White-winged Crossbill, Cincinnati area

What new birds have you seen this year?