2007 was a great year for birding for me, much improved by two semesters worth of classes and field trips with Joe Morlan’s excellent ornithology series at CCSF. In total I saw 192 species, a major increase over the 120 I saw in 2006.
The following were life birds for me in 2007:
Bewick’s Wren, Black Scoter, Black-capped Chickadee, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Brant, Cackling Goose, California Condor, Cassin’s Vireo, Cattle Egret, Common Tern, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Green Heron, Hermit Thrush, Hermit Warbler, Herring Gull, Horned Puffin, House Wren, Nashville Warbler, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Orange-crowned Warbler, Pacific Loon, Pectoral Sandpiper, Pine Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Red-throated Loon, Redhead, Rufous Hummingbird, Short-eared Owl, Snowy Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Swainson’s Hawk, Tricolored Blackbird, Vaux’s Swift, Warbling Vireo, Western Kingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, White-throated Swift, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Wilson’s Snipe, Wilson’s Warbler, Wrentit, and Yellow Warbler
Yep, that’s 44 lifers in 2007! It helps, of course, that 2007 saw me birding much more often, and with much more experienced birders, and that my attention turned from the BOBs (Big, Obvious Birds, eg. Red-tailed Hawks and such) to the SBBs (Small, Brown Birds), so I saw many lifers that are common bush birds in the area.
Sarah & I are planning a 3-week trip to Patagonia and Buenos Aires in March/April of 2008, so 2008 should be a banner year for birding as well, since virtually every bird in the region will be a lifer – I can’t wait!
Here are some of my favorite bird photographs that I took in 2007:
Northern Shoveler
Common Merganser
Osprey
Eared Grebe
California Condor
Brandt’s Cormorants in breeding display
Snowy Egret
Tree Swallow
American Goldfinch
Savannah Sparrow
Pied-billed Grebe and chicks
Killdeer
Gosling
American Avocet
Pre-juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron
Forster’s Tern
Juvenile American Robin
American Avocet chick
Belted Kingfisher
Townsend’s Warbler
Red-tailed Hawk
Surf Scoter
Brown Pelican
Fox Sparrow
And finally, a bird of a different sort, “captured” in 2007:
My new raven tattoo – not quite finished, but very close!
beautiful shots!!
may the birds have their nests this 2008.. or so the saying goes.. i think… 🙂
happy new year!!
~streetfotografy.wordpress.com~
you had an amazing 2007 with your bird photography! I am in aww with words! Happy New Year to you and your family! Might 2008 bring many great nature adventures!
A magnificent collection, Adam! Wonderful!
Happy New Year! Hope you have a great 2008!
Well, it took me a while to decide… But I finally settled on my favorite picture in this post: (no, it’s not your tattoo, though that is very pretty, indeed)… It’s the pie-billed grebes.
Happy New Year! Looking forward to your 2008 birding. Patagonia and Buenos Aires! Wow!
Franco: Thanks for visiting and the kind words!
Monarch: Same to you! Looking back, I’m pretty pleased with the years bird photos, all told.
Montucky: Thank you, and you too!
Winterwoman: Everyone loves the baby grebes. With any luck there’ll be another nest near the same site this year – the chicks sure are neat-looking, what with their stripey heads and all.
Congrats on a great year of birding Adam, all the photos are wonderful, my favorite would have to be that Townsend’s Warbler. Great work 🙂
Thanks, Bernie – the Townsend’s Warbler is one of my very favorites as well!
Kudos from one braniac to another. 🙂