[Umpqua Birds] Re: Happy New Year!
- From: Matthew G Hunter <matthewghunter@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: UB <umpquabirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2015 09:15:00 -0800
Sounds like fun Jimmy. I hope we can get out more than a few times together
this year. Happy New Year and Good Birding Everyone!
Matt
Happy New year Umpqua Birders! I am excited to do a lot of birding this
year!
Ebird asked local birders to issue a challenge for a local big year and I
am going to take it up! I was planning on doing a state big year but a
couple of things ended up work working against me. One, my car is on its
way out, and the money I save in gas by not driving across the state will
help me save up for a new car. Two, if I want to see rare birds there are
plenty of opportunities for me to do so in this county! The nine hour drive
to Enterprise to look for a Mckay's Bunting, for example, could instead be
used to bird for nine hours locally and find cool stuff here! Third, I will
become a better birder by covering local areas myself instead of finding
good birds where others know they are. For example, there are a lot of Pine
Grosbeaks showing up around the state. I could drive to somewhere where
others have found them, or I could check appropriate habitat in the county
and find them myself! It will be harder, and undoubtedly I will make a
couple of trips that are fruitless, but when I do finally find them it will
be much more rewarding! And I will learn more from my misses!
So I'm going to try and do a Douglas county big year, and my goal is 300
checklists and 245 species! I also want to improve my birdsong skills,
specifically for neotropical species in the county. It will be tough, but I
am excited to explore new areas of our diverse county looking for different
bird species! If I'm taking a trip on a weekend Ill let you all know in
case someone wants to join me!
Happy New Year!
Jimmy Billstine
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