Friday, January 1, 2016

The Year Ahead

I have learned that 150 county birds and 250 state birds are good targets for me, and I will use these as my goals for 2016. My ABA goal is more difficult but although I failed on this in 2015 I will again aim for 350. A trip to Europe in June and July means that my world goal for 2016 is 450 species; if I also travel to Asia and/or Australia then 550 or 600 might be possible.

My top goal, the same as last year, is to reach 400 species for Arizona. This time I need just 3 new species. There are still some shorebirds I could pick up; Five-striped Sparrow, Bell's Sparrow, Sinaloa Wren, McCown's Longspur and Sprague's Pipit will be around; or I could make an effort to get Black-billed Magpie, Gray Jay or Chukar. Someday I will find Swamp Sparrow or Rose-breasted Grosbeak too.

Lifers will be hard to come by unless I embark on a tour. I have thought about Alaska, Bulgaria and China but have no current plans and cannot even guess at the number of lifers I might see.

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