Letters to Pop: 31 December 2015 - Year-long bird challenge results

Thursday, December 31, 2015

31 December 2015 - Year-long bird challenge results

Several people have asked me how I have done on the 2015 Birding Challenge. I am happy to say quite well. I knew going in that I was going to be unable to meet all the criteria, so I used this as a personal challenge.

The rules?
1. Bird every day.
2. Post at least one list to ebird everyday.
3. Bird in all 29 counties of Utah.
4. Bonus points for birding in 10 different locations in each county.

I added my own personal goal of getting to 300 life birds.

How did I do?
1. Birded 332 days
2. Posted 541 checklists.
3. Traveled to 11 counties.
4. Lowest number of locations in a county was 5 and the highest was 17.

And my personal goal of reaching 300 life birds?
Ha! I finished the year at 302. I found 302 today which is just in time birding. Whew. Number 302 was a rare (for this area) Brown Thrasher. Perhaps blown off course in his southward migration.

In addition, I spent quite a bit of time in California this year, and while it doesn't count on my Utah Challenge, I hit 3 counties, 14 locations and saw 130 species of birds.

This was a really good challenge for me. It made me get out of my comfort zone and learn to look. I found many new places and drove on roads I didn't even know existed. It was wonderful on many levels. Utah is a geological treasure trove and I hardly began to see it all. It is wonderful to know that I will do this next year as well. It is all out there waiting for me to start again tomorrow. I may be looking for birds, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the scenery: the change from desert floor to high mountain forests and everything in between.

So for 2016, I will repeat this challenge with the additional personal goal of reaching 300 species in Utah. I already have 227 species, so I only need to find 73 more. I know a guy who has 293 species in Salt Lake County alone, so it should be doable. I also met another birder who has more than 100 species in each of the 29 Utah counties. Oh my. I have a lot to strive for.

But can you see the rabbit hole I am falling into? State bird counts. County bird counts. Does it end?

In addition to that, I try to get a decent photo of each bird. Not as easy as it sounds. Here are a few of my favorites.

Clark's Grebe with two babies on her back.