2023 Birding Summary (Late Post)

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Last year’s birding started with the most anticipated trip of my life, but a few work trips added little sprinkles of feathered friends to fluff out my life list.

India

In January, I traveled to Asia for the first time. I spent about 3 weeks in India on a tour with Rockjumper Birding.

My priorities went something like this: tigers, gharial, Indian rhinoceros, birds.

Luckily, we hit all the targets AND saw about 400 birds. It was a really great trip with a great group.

But the tigers were, by far, the bird of the trip. I will die on this hill

Hawaii

In April, I was extraordinarily lucky to be able to go to Hawaii for work. And most of my time was spent in a small room discussing paperwork, which was very exciting.

But I did spend a weekend exploring the big island, including a day tour of a permit-only National Wildlife Refuge and a day at Volcanoes National Park.  

Of course, the refuge tour was for birds. If you have a chance to see several native honeycreepers in Hawaii, you go see effing honeycreepers.

There are rules. That’s one of the rules.

Note: If you’re on the big island, you should see honeycreepers at the national wildlife refuge. It’s a relatively accessible tour and can be done in less than a day, with a guide who can’t be beat for local knowledge or ability. You should see them because these remaining species are up against what may very well be insurmountable odds; their very survival, at this point, deserves your appreciation.  On top of that, they’re highly evolved for very specific behaviors and habitats.  They’re just interesting AF – and if that’s not enough, they’re also beautiful.

Puerto Rico

Okay, I was back in Puerto Rico for a week in May, and mostly I saw aquatic species.

But I did spot a few birds along the way! Including an endangered blackbird and our only remaining native parrot species.

We’ll call that a win.

Texas

I didn’t concentrate on travel or birding much in the second half of the year. I have a crazy puppy. Let’s not discuss it.

But south Texas was a great opportunity to easily add several new species to my life list, so my binoculars were at the ready.

I was super lucky to be joined by a coworker who is an avid birder, and we went on a couple excursions together between meetings.

Awesome new birds include the Green Jay, Baird’s sandpiper, and the golden fronted woodpecker.

A few “easy” species eluded me, but I was really happy to see so many different birds and habitats during this short work trip.

Results

New bird species: 326

Total 2023 species: 484

Life list total: 2506

Heck yeah! My life list clicked over 2500 this year!

When I saw how many species I still needed after India, I was convinced I wouldn’t make it without another birding adventure.

I was lucky to have some neat, albeit short, trips later in the year, though. Not only did I end up documenting more than 2500 birds… but they were really diverse, interesting birds, too.

So many endemics (on islands) and new Asian species! It was a good year.

And also, there were TIGERS…

And tigers were without a doubt, emphatically, undeniably the “bird of the tour”.  And the bird of the week or the year or my life.  Tigers always win.  #teamsherekhan😊