I forgot about this thread...looking back, I don't think I've made any updates since 2013! Lots of firsts in the years since.
2020 has been a little slow with just two lifers: Barn owl (my most recent, in September 2020), and orange-crowned warbler (February 2020)
In general, first sightings from around my local areas have gone down over the years, as to be expected as the list grows longer, and leaves fewer species left unseen! But this year with the Covid lockdowns and many birding parks and spots closed for at least 1/2 of the year made it even more difficult to land any lifers.
In 2019, I had 5 firsts: Bufflehead, short-tailed hawk, scarlet tanager, western tanager, and Tennessee warbler.
2018 had just two: Golden-winged warbler and vermillion flycatcher
2017 I had 4: white-faced whistling duck, least grebe, Acadian flycatcher, and indigo bunting
2016 had 9: Ruddy duck, lesser scaup, common nighthawk, American oystercatcher, scissor-tailed flycatcher, eastern wood peewee, cave swallow, eastern kingbird, and yellow-billed cuckoo.
2015 had 10: American white pelican, swallow-tailed kite, reddish egret, Virginia rail, short-billed dowitcher, long-billed dowitcher, whimbrel, blue-crowned parakeet, budgerigar, Blackburnian warbler.
2014 had 18: Mute swan, northern pintail, peregrine falcon, whip poor will, spotted sandpiper, neotropical cormorant, American goldfinch, yellow-headed blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, eastern meadowlark, black-throated green warbler, Cape May warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, ruby-crowned kinglet, bank swallow, tufted titmouse, cedar waxwing, Swainson's thrush
2013 had 18: White-cheeked pintail, red-tailed hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, American flamingo, yellow-breasted chat, northern parula, Carolina wren, black-whiskered vireo, La Sagra's flycatcher, savannah sparrow, barn swallow, American robin, northern waterthrush. That fills in everything since my last post in this thread which was in early 2013 after listing magnolia warbler, great crested flycatcher, blue grosbeak, Connecticut warbler, and red-eyed vireo.
