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Short-term Birding Goals (1 Viewer)

qwerty5

Controversial opinion generator
United States
There's recently been some talk on BF about mostly long-term birding goals and target species. So, I've been thinking, do any of you have short-term birding goals? These would be goals you hope to reach in the next few years, or maybe in the next few months. This could include specific birds you want to find, or any other goals you might have. Mine are:

Reach a total of 200 life birds by the end of 2022. I need 55 species to accomplish this goal, so it might be tough (depending on next year's vacation), but it's pretty realistic I think. In the same time my goal is to reach a total of 10 species of shorebirds and 10 species of waterfowl (Anatidae) by the end of 2022. I currently have 4 of each group, so this goal should be a breeze.

A few of my targets for the next year or so (all would be lifers):
Cerulean Warbler
Summer Tanager
Hooded Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Prairie Warbler
 
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One of my short-term goals was just completed, as I was hoping to finally pick up Buff-breasted Sandpiper as a fall migrant.

I'd like to see the following birds for my Wisconsin State List, in no particular order:

Long-tailed Duck
At least one Scoter species
Red Fox Sparrow
Long-eared Owl
Glaucous Gull
Stilt Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Hooded Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Kentucky Warbler (Lifer)
Worm-eating Warbler (Lifer).
Le Conte's Sparrow (Lifer)

There are other potential state birds, but those are at the top of my head and should be mostly straightforward except for a couple. I don't actually expect to get ALL of these in the next 12 months, but we will see.

I have a birding trip set up for California in January. My targets are California Condor, Island Scrub-Jay and Red-whiskered Bulbul. Also hoping to pick up some other "plastics"

Outside of these my plans are much more nebulous. Potential future birding spots in the next couple of years include Austin Texas, Key West, SE Arizona, Cairns Australia, and NW Ecuador.
 
One of my short-term goals was just completed, as I was hoping to finally pick up Buff-breasted Sandpiper as a fall migrant.

I'd like to see the following birds for my Wisconsin State List, in no particular order:

Long-tailed Duck
At least one Scoter species
Red Fox Sparrow
Long-eared Owl
Glaucous Gull
Stilt Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Hooded Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Kentucky Warbler (Lifer)
Worm-eating Warbler (Lifer).
Le Conte's Sparrow (Lifer)

There are other potential state birds, but those are at the top of my head and should be mostly straightforward except for a couple. I don't actually expect to get ALL of these in the next 12 months, but we will see.

I have a birding trip set up for California in January. My targets are California Condor, Island Scrub-Jay and Red-whiskered Bulbul. Also hoping to pick up some other "plastics"

Outside of these my plans are much more nebulous. Potential future birding spots in the next couple of years include Austin Texas, Key West, SE Arizona, Cairns Australia, and NW Ecuador. It would be nice however to pass 1500 on my life list and 640 on my ABA list, which seems reasonable.
 
Enjoy getting local birds while you still can! I have just recently moved back to Europe (first time in about 25 years actually living here, and I wasn't a birder before), so I am loving getting birds locally. I still have 2-3 species that I could perhaps find within a few kms of my home, and I'm not actively out twitching or trolling for them as I will enjoy it more when I just turn one up casually. I still have about 20 species I can get in Switzerland and then there will be a few vagrants, maybe a couple per year that I could twitch if I wanted to. But I am not going crazy to see them - if I knock them all out in the next few months, what will I do for the next few years? Local birding is generally really dull. While a good morning during migration in the right spot might yield 50 species, a typical non-migration 2-4 hour outing nets me 20-30 species, sometimes even less.
 
Short- term goals are based on Scotland avoiding a further lockdown (massive spike in Covid cases recently). So, assuming things settle down, I intend to catch up with the birds I missed during the winter/ spring lockdowns. Reliable, banker year ticks such as sanderling, velvet scoter, LTT Duck, barnacle geese, golden plover, willow tit. Hoping to make it to Caerlaverock WWT in November to make up for not getting there in January. Until then, hoping to get an osprey before they all bugger off, though the absence of Osprey on my list was due to bad luck and timing rather than anything Covid- related.
 
There's recently been some talk on BF about mostly long-term birding goals and target species. So, I've been thinking, do any of you have short-term birding goals? These would be goals you hope to reach in the next few years, or maybe in the next few months. This could include specific birds you want to find, or any other goals you might have. Mine are:

Reach a total of 200 life birds by the end of 2022. I need 55 species to accomplish this goal, so it might be tough (depending on next year's vacation), but it's pretty realistic I think. In the same time my goal is to reach a total of 10 species of shorebirds and 10 species of waterfowl (Anatidae) by the end of 2022. I currently have 4 of each group, so this goal should be a breeze.

A few of my targets for the next year or so (all would be lifers):
Cerulean Warbler
Summer Tanager
Hooded Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Prairie Warbler
I could swap you some of my Anatidae for your Parulidae! 28+ species of the former is easily attainable each year here on the NW coasts of Europe. In contrast my Parulid warbler life list is still in single figures...

I must admit I've started to get somewhat de-motivated to get out birding as the year has gone on, firstly through lockdown restrictions then work pressure. My short-term aim is to hopefully stay Covid-negative in order to travel to Portugal for 10 days next month. This will be back in familiar surroundings in the Ria Formosa area of the eastern Algarve, with consequently few opportunities for life-list additions- although I should catch up with a few species I've missed this summer in Britain (pied flycatcher, Northern wheatear (!), possibly osprey...).
 
My short term goal is pretty simple: ID all the birds that show up at my house for food. I'm not that far for my current birds (been actively working on this for just a few months). However, I'm sure as the seasons turn, the species in attendence will as well. Should be interesting.
 
I'll limit my short-term goals for up to 2022, I have more planned already for 2023, but that's unstable at this point, so here are my goals:
  • Bird North Florida during the Winter (I'm missing a few common water birds for most people upstate like Snow Goose and Virginia Rail) and make a trip to Fort de Soto during Spring migration (want to get the few missing migrant songbirds I can't readily get in the East Coast of Florida)
  • Take a proper birding trip to South America (this one is almost guaranteed this upcoming February)
  • Do a weekend trip to a Caribbean island (want to get some of the Caribbean family endemics)
  • Reach life list to 1000 species (currently at 629, but considering I can still get lifers even in Florida during the winter, I'm hoping a trip to Guyana and a trip to Dominican Republic or Jamaica will get me past the 1k threshold)
 
Outside of these my plans are much more nebulous. Potential future birding spots in the next couple of years include Austin Texas, Key West, SE Arizona, Cairns Australia, and NW Ecuador.
When are you planning Cairns? Are you planning a solo trip or with a guide? The region seems ripe for great birds (and bird families), but tours for it always seem to be a bit on the expensive side.
 
We had a fantastic local free lance guide in Cairns in late 2018 and it was not too costly, IIRC. Can get his contact info to any who want it.
 
Cairns area is very simple to do alone ...or at least it would be if Australia was open :)
Good to know, Australia seems like one of those countries that's easy to bird on your own, though certain families seem to enjoy giving you a hard time because of how skulking and hard to find they can be or because they have a lot of representation and some species look pretty similar.
 
When are you planning Cairns? Are you planning a solo trip or with a guide? The region seems ripe for great birds (and bird families), but tours for it always seem to be a bit on the expensive side.
The 2023 International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology is having their meeting there in July 2023 (was suppose to be 2022...but Covid). It will probably be local birding on my own or with colleagues, along with some guiding. I have been looking at a few guides...Eyes on Wildlife had a 4 day tour that was about the most affordable, although it was still north of $2000.
 
The 2023 International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology is having their meeting there in July 2023 (was suppose to be 2022...but Covid). It will probably be local birding on my own or with colleagues, along with some guiding. I have been looking at a few guides...Eyes on Wildlife had a 4 day tour that was about the most affordable, although it was still north of $2000.
That sounds like a hefty price for 4 days, especially since some tour companies seem to do 8 days for less than $3k in the region (Australia: North Queensland | pibird). But then again, in those you have to share with others, here it would be a private 1-on-1 as opposed to 7 or 8 participants.
 
Reach life list to 1000 species (currently at 629, but considering I can still get lifers even in Florida during the winter, I'm hoping a trip to Guyana and a trip to Dominican Republic or Jamaica will get me past the 1k threshold)

A 1-2 trip to Guyana could easily net 400+ species if your goal were maximizing species count. If you've never been to S America, that could probably be 350+ lifers!
 
That sounds like a hefty price for 4 days, especially since some tour companies seem to do 8 days for less than $3k in the region (Australia: North Queensland | pibird). But then again, in those you have to share with others, here it would be a private 1-on-1 as opposed to 7 or 8 participants.

Agreed that price seemed steep, but then I have not hired many guides, and never in a wealthy country. Given the Australian standard of living and economy, maybe the price isn't so outrageous... be glad you're not looking for a guide in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, or City of London :ROFLMAO:
 
That sounds like a hefty price for 4 days, especially since some tour companies seem to do 8 days for less than $3k in the region (Australia: North Queensland | pibird). But then again, in those you have to share with others, here it would be a private 1-on-1 as opposed to 7 or 8 participants.
Yeah unfortunately I can't do an actual tour, as I have to build my trip around a meeting. I'd have no problem birding around Australia if I could use public transit to get everywhere I need to, but that isn't workable for a lot of key sites. I am nervous about driving "on the other side of the road", so apprehensive about renting a vehicle and doing it by myself.

I've actually have used guides on a couple of trips to London...they weren't all that expensive really. I am sort of sketching out a plan for Hawaii summer 2022 if Covid makes foreign travel dodgy. That's far more expensive even with minimal guiding. I would say no guiding, but Hawaii is well known for having some sites that are restricted access, and you need someone to accompany you if you want to see certain endemics.
 
That sounds like a hefty price for 4 days, especially since some tour companies seem to do 8 days for less than $3k in the region (Australia: North Queensland | pibird). But then again, in those you have to share with others, here it would be a private 1-on-1 as opposed to 7 or 8 participants.
And if you look at the itinerary for that trip, 2 of the 8 days are just "arrival" and "departure", while another day is a trip to Michaelmas Cay, easy enough to arrange on your own and something I will probably do with a friend of mine who is going and into snorkeling. And another day is mostly just birding sites in Cairns itself. So really they are comparable tours as far as the actual birding goes.
 
And if you look at the itinerary for that trip, 2 of the 8 days are just "arrival" and "departure", while another day is a trip to Michaelmas Cay, easy enough to arrange on your own and something I will probably do with a friend of mine who is going and into snorkeling. And another day is mostly just birding sites in Cairns itself. So really they are comparable tours as far as the actual birding goes.
Didn't consider that, however, unless you plan to do a lot of rainforest birding (which is half of the things to do around Cairns), I'd try to bird the open areas on your own if you have a bit of free time and a car. No matter what place you are, if it's open habitat, the birds tend to be less skulky and relatively easy to ID.
 
A 1-2 trip to Guyana could easily net 400+ species if your goal were maximizing species count. If you've never been to S America, that could probably be 350+ lifers!
Here's hoping I get that many, I'm thinking I should be able to, but the guide told me to expect around 350+ plus species and I already have a few of the widespread Neotropical birds and many wading birds in my life list (Great Kiskadee, Limpkin, Roseate Spoonbill, etc.), so I'm expecting around 300 lifers, but you better believe I'll try to get closer to 350 lifers if possible!
 
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