I sat down yesterday and totalled up my life list from the jottings made in my field guide (National Geographic, 3rd ed).
And while I won't bore you all with the complete list, it totalled out at 198 -- a few more than I expected!
It, of course, includes birds I've seen all my life (before becoming a birder) such as the Northern Cardinal, American Crow, Blue Jay, etc. I'd estimate that I could probably identify around 20 species before I actually got into the whole thing.
The birds are all from Indiana (of course), Ohio (from trips to the Lake Erie shoreline) and one trip to southern California in 1994.
The most out-of-range birds on the list include Glossy Ibis (well north) and Yellow-Headed Blackbird (well east), both of which were seen along Lake Erie.
The most unusual bird of all, which I DON'T include in my 198, was a Paradise Shelduck seen at Muscatatuck NWR in March of 1994. As the bird is native to New Zealand, it was assumed that perhaps it was an escape from a Florida zoo or collection, following Hurricane Andrew in August of 1993. Escape or not, it was a beautiful thing to see flying free -- and seen by many.
quote:
Originally posted by Beverlybaynes
The most unusual bird of all, which I DON'T include in my 198, was a Paradise Shelduck seen at Muscatatuck NWR in March of 1994. As the bird is native to New Zealand, it was assumed that perhaps it was an escape from a Florida zoo or collection, following Hurricane Andrew in August of 1993. Escape or not, it was a beautiful thing to see flying free -- and seen by many.
Hi Beverly,
198... nice! Do you keep other lists?(county,state) I'm an addict. I keep ABA(American Birding Assoc. area) , state, county, world. I've recently purchased Clement's, "Birds of the World, a Checklist". Now I'm recording all my world birds in that phone-book sized monster. I really could use some counseling.
dennis