When my wife Patty started birding 11 years ago (I started when I was 12), we decided to keep a joint life list (both of us had to see/hear the bird). We started 2012 with 571 lifers and reached 600 on Dec. 21 with a Sage Sparrow in Albuquerque, NM (a bird that eluded us in west Texas a couple of times). Overall, we have tallied lifers in 21 states plus BC Canada: Texas (318), Arizona (48), California (45), Alaska (39), Colorado (38), Massachusetts (23), Florida (15), BC Canada (15), New Hampshire (13), Washington (12), Maine (8), New Mexico (7), Virginia (7), Maryland (3), Pennsylvania (2), Montana (2), Wyoming (2), Minnesota (1), Oklahoma (1), New Jersey (1), Rhode Island (1), Utah (1). Another 2012 milestone was reaching 550 photo life birds (ABA North American): https://picasaweb.google.com/100559297474933995697/NorthAmericanPhotoLifeList552 95% of the photos have been taken since 2010 when I got my first digital SLR camera and zoom lens. I will be doing a photo Big Year in 2013 with a goal of 400, and hopefully, I will also get close to the 600 mark overall. Our last milestone was reaching 120 yard birds with a Broad-tailed Hummingbird last week (our 5th hummer yard species), which is still visiting our backyard feeders. Happy birding New Year, Isaac Sanchez Austin Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner