2022 Targets and Goals (1 Viewer)

[Mysticete]

It just occurred to me...with some degree of luck AND if I can pull off a longer trip than I thought I would be able to Hawaii, I might actually be able to pass #700 on my ABA list. Given one of my life long goals has been to hit 700 birds on my ABA list before I am 45, that would be fantastic!

 

[Farnboro John]

But the Nazgul are not birds. Nor, arguably, the winged creatures upon which they ride.
And so, be careful when peering at the skies. Because as you gaze, they may be standing at your side.
.

Schoolboy error by me there, my apologies Pippin!

John

 

[Richard Prior]

Schoolboy error by me there, my apologies Pippin!

John

All very confusing for a bear of little brain like me………..

Anyway, like Birdboybowley I have a big birthday next year so early June in Finland/ Norway is the plan, quite a few Northern species that would be new for me, Hawk Owl the top of the wish list.
Locally I shall continue my quest for Three toed Woodpecker and sightings of Tengmalm’s Owl and Rock Partridge (both of which are heard onlys for me up to now) and try to achieve the magic 100 in a year for the Garden/Yard List.

 

[ovenbird43]

Have one confirmed trip to Guyana in February and a possible trip to Ecuador in May, nothing else planned before that, but still want to grow my state list a bit (missing obvious targets from Spring/Summer).

Here is what I'm planning/hoping to get:

1. Guyana
   1. Harpy Eagle
   2. Capuchinbird
   3. Gray-winged Trumpeter
   4. Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock
   5. Rufous-winged Ground-Cuckoo or White Bellbird (either of these is unlikely but both are among of my top birds that I want to see)
2. Ecuador (Northwest Area)
   1. Oilbird
   2. Long-wattled Umbrellabird
   3. Giant Antpitta
   4. Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe
   5. Black Solitaire (unlikely but beautiful bird of the Choco)
3. Florida (all of these would be lifers that I'm somehow still missing and somehow I still haven't seen Carolina Chickadee in Florida...)
   1. Wood Thrush
   2. Blue-winged Warbler
   3. Kentucky Warbler
   4. Mississippi Kite
   5. Whooping Crane

Hopefully this helps me get well past my 1,000 species goal but who knows, so far the only confirmed trip is Guyana and thinks can easily fall apart or line up perfectly in a few months time.

If I get to be greedy (and I usually am), I'd say that I'd like a long weekend/short week (5 days) in either Jamaica or Guatemala to aim for either the island's endemics or Central American megas (Horned Guan, Resplendent Quetzal and Pink-headed Warbler mainly).

I look forward to hearing about your Guyana trip, the information in your "regions for solo birding" thread inspired me to start considering a trip there.

 

[ovenbird43]

None of my 2022 plans are concrete yet, but I do have some tentative travel ideas, which I'll firm up later depending on financial situation, covid, and work/life scheduling.

1. I plan to cash in some airline credit (from flights canceled early in the covid-19 pandemic) and either go to Oaxaca, Mexico in March/April, or Puerto Rico whenever time permits. In Oaxaca I'd be targeting all Oaxaca Valley endemics, Sumichrast's Wren, and a few West Mexican endemics I've missed/not had an opportunity to see yet (Slaty Vireo, Red Warbler). For Puerto Rica, I'd be targeting all island endemics.

2. I have vague notions of going somewhere off-continent in late 2022. Mostly looking at South America, considering Colombia, Ecuador (been many times but still need many species in the SW), perhaps Guyana/Suriname, or if fortune really smiles on me then Argentina/Chile.

3. More locally/regionally I'd be looking to add state (Mississippi) birds. Grasshopper Sparrow is probably the lowest-hanging fruit, rare but regular in southern MS in the winter, I've just not yet had luck chasing or finding my own. Short-eared Owl maybe next most likely. Life events will continue to take me to SW Florida multiple times in 2022, maybe I'll find a way to get down to the Dry Tortugas and finally get Masked Booby. And who knows what other vagrants might be on offer when I next go down.

 

[lgonz1008]

I look forward to hearing about your Guyana trip, the information in your "regions for solo birding" thread inspired me to start considering a trip there.

Definitely will write up a trip report for the country, I just booked my flight for it earlier this week and excitement is through the roof. Still missing some key items for the trip, like a lamp of owling, good hiking boots since my last pair fell apart from walking too much in them, and a cap for the sun (yes, I'm a Florida birder that doesn't own a cap or hat, never said it was a good thing to do).

Main reason I chose Guyana now was because it was a lot cheaper than going pre-Covid (and don't want to imagine 2 or 3 years from now), but me and 2 people joining me also went extra cheap, so no flights for us and a lot of driving, so let's see how that affects the species total and the Jaguar sightings! I'm hoping that it means we get more chances for birds usually skipped or missed in the plane-aided tours like White Bellbird or a Crake/Tinamou species or two (longshots I know).

 

[opisska]

I have one primary goal for 2022: to get home from Kenya! Considering how things are evolving right now, it might take me most of the year Leaving tomorrow, amid a steep rise in cases and already growing web of nonsense restrictions (for our transfer in Dubai on the return journey we already now need a PCR AND antigen test - brought to you by the redundancy department of redundancy!)

If we ever return to Europe, my next wish is to do eastern Turkey in spring, the most promising WP destination for me, with by far the most species likely for my WP list. I know the area has recently gotten a bit of a bad press but frankly, I don't buy that much, I have been to Turkish Kurdistan in 2007 at the height of tensions and the visit was completely fine, Kurds are fantastic people (and the Turkish army's biggest fear is not PKK, vut harming a tourist and getting bad press)

Then clearly, I'd love some more foreign birding. I think Aus/NZ will be completely lost for years, so then the next best thing is would probably be Neotropics again, I simply can't get enough of that - Colombia, Guyanas, Pantanal or Diamantina? Let's wait and see...

Edit: upon rechecking my planning table, I found Morocco is actually better in expected WP ticks - it didn't use to be, but IOC splits pushed it over Turkey. Still I just feel Turkey more - Fish Owl! Mongolian Finch! See-see Partridge!

 

[Original PaulE]

My top 2 targets for this year are the ever elusive Green-winged Teal and the even more elusive Black Kite both of which I feel I should have seen by now. We have our first ever trip to Shetland booked for mid-may so hoping that will be a spectacular trip. I also hope to do more Sea-watching in 2022 than I managed in 2021!! If the Albatross turns up at Bempton again, will certainly make another attempt at it having failed last year!!
So quite a modest selection, fingers crossed for some success!!

Cheers

 

[Patudo]

My main objective for 2022 is to learn more about the hobbies (Eurasian hobby, Falco subbuteo) nesting near me. This year they showed up more or less when expected (I found one on my very first attempt) near their old nest tree before moving further westwards. From there they just disappeared until someone else relocated them around mid-August very close to their old nest tree. Next year I'll be more much prepared for the reverse ferret!

I was lucky enough to see a little of the spectacular hunts after hirundines described by Hargreaves and others in 2020, but none this year. To see more such hunts, and courtship displays, has got to be my top priority for 2022. I hate to spend time away from peregrine-watching at such a good time of the year for that, but what with lockdowns and all, I might only be able to get to my local patch anyway...

 

[kb57]

I've got some big changes planned for 2022 which should hopefully put me in a much better place if it all works out. However, one inevitable side-effect is I won't have much disposable income for travel, irrespective of any future Covid restrictions. So I guess I'm going to repeat what I say every year and hope to get out birding more often than I did this year.
I'll be doing a year list again of course, but probably much as I did this year and adding what I happen to see, rather than having too many particular targets. I think I only saw two lifers in 2021 - Northern Mockingbird (my only proper 'twitch' of the year) in Northumberland and Black-headed Weaver in Portugal, which was still 100% better than 2020 (Iberian Grey Shrike) - I don't have any massive expectations of a vast improvement in 2022.

 

[Swindon Addick]

My goals are pretty much the same each year: aim to see at least one lifer during the year and at least one year-tick every month. Add to that at least one lifer butterfly (still a fair few UK ones to go) and a dragonfly goal to see something I've not seen before or photograph something I've only seen. For dragonflies/damselflies, I'm not going to worry too much about an actual lifer, but there are a couple of species I've not seen a female of, and a couple I've got no decent photo of, so there are options.

I don't really set targets for specific species to see, but the absence of wood lark from my life list is starting to get annoying o maybe this is the year I actually target it. I do however have a fairly long list of favourite reserves I've not visited for a couple of years, so there may just be a lot of travel with no particular species in mind.

 

[Farnboro John]

My goals are pretty much the same each year: aim to see at least one lifer during the year and at least one year-tick every month. Add to that at least one lifer butterfly (still a fair few UK ones to go) and a dragonfly goal to see something I've not seen before or photograph something I've only seen. For dragonflies/damselflies, I'm not going to worry too much about an actual lifer, but there are a couple of species I've not seen a female of, and a couple I've got no decent photo of, so there are options.

I don't really set targets for specific species to see, but the absence of wood lark from my life list is starting to get annoying o maybe this is the year I actually target it. I do however have a fairly long list of favourite reserves I've not visited for a couple of years, so there may just be a lot of travel with no particular species in mind.

Thursley is a good place for Woodlark even in winter, and the last few years when Colin the Cuckoo has been visiting there have been stunning views of Woodlark in the Parish Field there, as well as Colin and Redstarts.

John

 

[Streesh]

My birding goals are mostly tied to habitat. This year I'd like to become thoroughly familiar with a relatively large local area here in New Jersey (USA) called the Sourland Mountains (not really mountains). I have absolutely not figured out "how to bird" this area and suspect it would yield a lot of rewards for repeated attention. It's a large and sprawling area, with many ebird hotspots, not always contiguous. I have a larger interest in micro-habitats and how birds fit into them that pursuing these paths would further.

My very long term birding goal is to bird the entire length of the Amazon, in order if possible. I would have to break this up into years of separate trips, and obviously not be able to go over every inch - but birding tour companies do cover a lot of it. I've already done a starter area, in southern Ecuador, and have had 2 trips canceled due to Covid, but, fingers crossed for Peru! Alas, not to those lakes that are accepted as the most likely sources of the Amazon - can't handle either the height or the trek. But wouldn't that be magical!

 

[ovenbird43]

None of my 2022 plans are concrete yet, but I do have some tentative travel ideas, which I'll firm up later depending on financial situation, covid, and work/life scheduling.

1. I plan to cash in some airline credit (from flights canceled early in the covid-19 pandemic) and either go to Oaxaca, Mexico in March/April, or Puerto Rico whenever time permits. In Oaxaca I'd be targeting all Oaxaca Valley endemics, Sumichrast's Wren, and a few West Mexican endemics I've missed/not had an opportunity to see yet (Slaty Vireo, Red Warbler). For Puerto Rica, I'd be targeting all island endemics.

Puerto Rico in March it is - turns out I can't cash in my flight credit for international flights (seems silly, if I have X dollars to contribute toward a future flight, what does it matter whether it's domestic or international?), but whatever, it made my decision easy. Also convenient that no covid testing will be required prior to departure or return. So - all island endemics except for Puerto Rican Parrot (not going to hit that spot) plus a handful of regional endemics will be my targets. I've also set aside some time for the small island of Vieques to do some snorkeling and visit to the bioluminescent bay, plus target Bridled Quail-Dove.

The rest of the year is still wide open, we'll see!