2017's eBird Challenge

It's not too late for a 2017 wrapup post, is it? I hope not, because I'm still reviewing all I did and learned over the last year.

One of my projects was to participate in the eBird 365 challenge from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology-- that is, to submit at least one checklist per day. I'll admit, sometimes i didn't send in my sightings on the actual day, but I entered my data as soon as I could the next day. Usually, though, I used the app on my phone to send in data right from the field. It was a lot of fun trying to find a few minutes every day to count birds wherever I happened to be.

I don't know my final total number of checklists; the app only saves about a month worth of data at a time and I didn't think to email myself each month. But I do know my total number of bird species: 127. Since I also finished my Master's degree this year, I'm pretty pleased with my total.

A few of my favorite birds from this past year:

The Red-headed Woodpecker showed up in my yard very briefly

At Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg, FL, this Great Horned Owl had taken over an active Osprey nest! The park staff told us all about it when we got to the visitor center and asked them about the nesting owls.

My lifer Clapper Rail, spotted in Ocean City, MD

And the 'Oregon' subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco that I excitedly tallied, but neglected to photograph, while I was in Spokane, WA for the NAI national conference. 

I had so much fun doing the challenge, I've already started tallying birds for 2018 as well. I'm aiming for 200 species, but will be satisfied if I can at least make it to 150. I'm definitely targeting my birding excursions more this year, and already have 43 species.