BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mysticete" data-source="post: 1355356" data-attributes="member: 67784">Slow year for meBetween research hogging time, as well as distance from alot of good birding sites, this has been the slowest year I have had since I started birding, especially compared to last year, when I had business trips to Melbourne and Cape Town.My first trip to the Rio Grande of Texas was probably the biggest highlight.  about 20 lifers and additions to my ABA list, of which my favorites included Eastern Screech-Owl, Groove-billed Ani, and Clay-colored Thrush.  Daily sightings of Collared Peccary and a brief glimpse of Bobcat also were awesome.Locally, best bird I had was a self found Wood Thrush, probably the rarest self-found bird I have seen.  It's at best only casual in Wyoming, and to get great long looks, in the open, was excellent.  Other local rarities were Red Fox Sparrow on my local patch, and Blackpoll Warbler.I also managed to half the number of "local" lifers available for me, adding Chestnut-collared Longspur, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Red Crossbill, and Northern Goshawk to my life list.  Next year I hope to try for Dusky Grouse, White-tailed Ptarmigan, and Brown-capped Rosy Finch, birds I missed or didn't have time for a proper expedition to find.</blockquote>