Short-term Birding Goals (1 Viewer)

[lgonz1008]

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.

Hawaii does something very similar to what Cuba does, which isn't bad from a conservation standpoint, but it also forces and limits birders to go with guides that could potentially by racking up the prices to make a bit more, since who else can you go to so you can see those birds?

 

[Patudo]

My short-term birding aim is to see as much of the hobbies (Eurasian hobby, Falco subbuteo) nesting near me as I can. The youngsters fledged around the middle of August and by the end of September will leave as the autumn weather sets in.

My notes from 6 September last year end with: "...as I watched the young hobbies weaving and swerving to capture insect after insect, consuming the choiciest parts and discarding the wings and shell-casings that drifted down, transformed by the sunset glow into tiny fragments of gold, into the lake, I could not help thinking that few other sights could better evoke that sense of how beautiful and ephemeral late summer in the south of England can be."

 

[kb57]

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.

If you live in one of the minority of countries that drive on the left, you end up driving 'on the other side of the road' almost whenever you travel - I can only think of Ireland, Japan and one time in Ladakh, India (which brought its own issues...) when I've been able to drive on the left when traveling.
The switch is really not that bad to get used to, and the fact that the steering wheel position is different helps you to remember what side of the road you should be on. I'd worry more about rules of the road and local driving customs which might vary between USA and Australia.

 

[Jos Stratford]

If you live in one of the minority of countries that drive on the left, you end up driving 'on the other side of the road' almost whenever you travel - I can only think of Ireland, Japan and one time in Ladakh, India.

Plus all of eastern and southern Africa, most of south-east Asia (Thailand etc), Australia and New Zealand.

Agree that it isn't actually that difficult in reality - just remember, whether left side or right side, you as driver should be sitting near the middle of the road. If you're by the grass, you're on the wrong side of the road 😅

 

[pbjosh]

Agree with others that the change is not hard. It helps to rent an automatic the first time so you aren’t sitting on the other side of a stick shift that still shifts the same, putting first away and fifth towards you.

A bit of caution and paying attention at your first couple “backwards” roundabouts and you adapt very quickly!

 

[Farnboro John]

Plus all of eastern and southern Africa, most of south-east Asia (Thailand etc), Australia and New Zealand.

Agree that it isn't actually that difficult in reality - just remember, whether left side or right side, you as driver should be sitting near the middle of the road. If you're by the grass, you're on the wrong side of the road 😅

Its much more difficult to remember on a bicycle or motorbike, and I've nearly come unstuck myself wondering why the car coming at me was on the wrong side (he wasn't, I was!)

We had an awful moment in the USA with a car coming at us determinedly as we left the Little Bighorn battlefield, and we were on the correct side of the road - how bad would it have been for a party of Brits to have been wiped out by another party of Brits (which they must have been) driving on the wrong side!

John

 

[leonardo_simon]

Plus all of eastern and southern Africa, most of south-east Asia (Thailand etc), Australia and New Zealand.

Agree that it isn't actually that difficult in reality - just remember, whether left side or right side, you as driver should be sitting near the middle of the road. If you're by the grass, you're on the wrong side of the road 😅

Unless you are driving your own car in another country.

 

[ovenbird43]

Plus all of eastern and southern Africa, most of south-east Asia (Thailand etc), Australia and New Zealand.

Agree that it isn't actually that difficult in reality - just remember, whether left side or right side, you as driver should be sitting near the middle of the road. If you're by the grass, you're on the wrong side of the road 😅

Indeed, I found I adapted surprisingly quickly when I went to South Africa, it's easy to just follow the flow of traffic. The only time I found myself inadvertently driving on the right side was on empty country roads.

 

[ovenbird43]

I've been very focused on learning and seeking out other nature this summer, particularly Odonates and Lepidopterans, so I suppose my first short-term goal is to refocus a bit on birding and not let fall migration pass me by. I did well on warblers in the spring, but I'd like to get Buff-breasted Sandpiper and American Golden-Plover for the year. I'd love to attract a Rufous or other non Ruby-throated hummingbird to my yard, but other than hoping and watching the feeders, I think that's actually a longer-term project requiring some landscaping work to make my yard more attractive to wintering hummers. I'll likely have the time (and hopefully money) to travel a bit in December, but as of now I don't have any firm plans. Or even vague plans honestly!

 

[dandsblair]

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.

We have done most birding in Australia (3 long trips) including Cairns and surrounds on our own.
What we did a few times is days out with Birding Pals where we just paid for fuel or bought lunch (it was $10 to register on BirdingPal site), The locals were usually very happy to show some areas for difficult birds and were all really friendly.

 

[qwerty5]

I just completed my one of my goals yesterday when I picked up 7 shorebird lifers, to give me a total of 11. The only reason I got so many is because of a very nice birder who found and showed me all the shorebirds in his scope. I probably would have gotten 1 or 2 lifers if it hadn't been for him.

 

[DavidSwanepoel]

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

Perhaps more of a medium-term birding goal (money dependent), but would like to chase the last relatively easy-twitchable species to push my country list to probably just north of 730 species - currently sitting on 722.

 

[Mysticete]

I ran into this post the other day looking for something else, and thought it might be fun to do a recap of where people sit regarding their goals, since we are about 1 year forward from the original post, and Covid is sort of behind us. Did you succeed or did you fail? Did you goals shift? Do you have new goals?

 

[Mysticete]

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 (Actually got two, Black and White-winged)
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.

Starting off, I did manage to achieve some of my goals, including seeing the above species in bold. I knocked off 6 of my initial target species, although none of my potential lifers in the state. I did try for LeConte's Sparrow in Michigan but dipped. I did get my lifer Purple Sandpiper, which wasn't even on my potential state wants list because they are not reliable wintering birds. I also added Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Henslow's Sparrow, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and padded out my state shorebird list a bit.

Travel wise California was a success, getting most of the "plastic" targets that are likely to get added to the ABA list, as well as California Condor and Island Scrub-Jay (not to mention Island Fox and Gray Whale). I also did pretty good in South Florida, really only missing one target (Golden Warbler form of Mangrove Warbler) and getting a bonus La Sagra's Flycatcher. Probably not going to do much travel for most of the upcoming academic year, although I might use Thanksgiving break to drive out to Sax Zim Bog, and MAYBE do a midwest migration trip in May. I am currently planning a trip this summer however to NW Ecuador...that is where a big chunk of my birding money will be going.

So what about you folks?

 

[ovenbird43]

I've been very focused on learning and seeking out other nature this summer, particularly Odonates and Lepidopterans, so I suppose my first short-term goal is to refocus a bit on birding and not let fall migration pass me by. I did well on warblers in the spring, but I'd like to get Buff-breasted Sandpiper and American Golden-Plover for the year. I'd love to attract a Rufous or other non Ruby-throated hummingbird to my yard, but other than hoping and watching the feeders, I think that's actually a longer-term project requiring some landscaping work to make my yard more attractive to wintering hummers. I'll likely have the time (and hopefully money) to travel a bit in December, but as of now I don't have any firm plans. Or even vague plans honestly!

I did get American Golden-Plover about a week after this post, but not Buff-breasted and I didn't attract any unusual hummingbirds to my feeders. Travel-wise, I ended up doing a road trip through Texas in December that netted a good handful of ABA ticks from the lower Rio Grande Valley (including Social Flycatcher and Bat Falcon), and then a successful trip to Puerto Rico in March that got all the island endemics except the parrot. This summer I leaned into the Odonates even more and even started "chasing" a few rarer species, I found it every bit as fun and rewarding as for birds.

 

[kb57]

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...).

Well I stayed Covid-negative and made it to Portugal in October 2021, and even got back again for a brief visit the following month, for reasons which I'll reveal in due course..
The October trip was a bit of a disappointment for passerine migrants (no pied flycatchers, which is almost unusual) but I did see an osprey, added some other species to my year list I'd missed like avocet and marsh harrier, and added a plastic tick to my life list with black-headed weaver. I've continued in the birding doldrums post-Covid, although I'm optimistic that is going to change as I reorganise my life to include a bit more leisure time.

 

[Lerxst]

Short term goals
#1: Surpass 1,000 straight days with a daily, complete eBird checklist (easy: I am 24 days away)
#2: Submit audio recordings for at least 1,000 different species to Macauly/eBird (I have a ways to go, I am only at 584)
#3: Reach 5,400 for my life list -- probably about 3 years away from that

After that, I'll need to find some new goals.