Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Well, it's New Year's Day of 2020, and last night was the end of my 2019 "Peregrination".  It's been one Hell of a Ride!!
I had started 2019 with a "Life List" of 574 birds in the American Birding Association area (basically, the U.S. and Canada).  My goal was to add 75 species, figuring that, after 40 years of birding, I should have a Life List of around 650 birds.
I started out on New Year's Day of 2019 helping with the Cowlitz Christmas Bird Count with Bob Reistroffer.  My travels took me from Alaska to Florida, from New Brunswick to southern California.
I saw parts of Canada and the U.S. that I'd never seen, historical sites that I'd only read about, and got to visit family, and make friends across North America.
I put in over 45,000 miles of driving, made three air trips, and spent 190 nights away from Home.  At the end of it all, I'd succeeded in seeing 91 New "Life" species of birds, and I was Eleventh in the ABA Area for number of species seen in North America in 2019!
I am so glad I had the opportunity to do this, and am lucky enough to have a Loving Wife that supported me.
I will continue to update my "Daily Blog", as I'm using it as a personal 'diary''; an aid to help me remember one of the wildest years of my life!  You, Gentle Reader, are more than welcome to follow along if you wish; don't Judge me for being four months behind on it . . . I'd rather be birding than writing!
I'll leave you with this thought from a birder from down Oregon Way:

“You may hear voices that dismiss listing as obsessive-compulsive behavior.  You may hear voices who announce that they don't chase rarities, waste gas, etc.  You may hear voices that scold listers as people who put birds at risk in their quest for new species.  Of course, in any human enterprise there are some folks who push boundaries.  We all have to live with that. It doesn't mean we have to stop following our enthusiasm. “

          Paul T. Sullivan, Oregon Birder

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