I had set myself a target of 250 Arizona birds in 2013 and as I had 269 in 2011 and 259 in 2012 this wasn't supposed to be too difficult. But 10 days in the UK, 50 days in Australia, Malaysia and Cambodia, 11 days in North Carolina, 7 days in California, 5 days in Illinois and 3 in Washington DC I was gone for about 3 months. This meant that when semester ended on December 19th I was six species short of the 250.
I went to Babbitt Tank hoping for Chestnut-collared Longspur on Tuesday 17th but found the tank completely frozen over and the whole area birdless. I drove to Prescott and back on Thursday 20th to get the Tundra Swan but dipped on the Red-shouldered Hawk. My plans to go to the Grand Canyon on Saturday 22nd to look for the Varied Thrush and California Condor were scuttled by bad weather. I managed to add three species on the Camp Verde CBC on Sunday 23rd but missed out on the hoped-for Black-chinned Sparrow and Northern Shrike! On Friday 27th I drove down to Sedona where I had no trouble finding Canyon Towhee but three stops along Oak Creek failed to produce an American Dipper. So with 4 days to go I find myself on 249. The next hope is that the Flagstaff: Mt. Elden CBC on Saturday December 28th might produce something.
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