A Birding Year in Review 2011

Purple Gallinule

As 2011 draws to a close, I thought it would be good to look back over the year and look at the progress in birding I've made.  In 2010, I started recording every species I observe in eBird, and that has been a great help to me to remember what I've seen where.  I recorded 92 new species in 2011. Now most of these are not true "lifers;" I'd seen most of them before, but I did not have any documentation of them.  As best I can tell, though, I had about 37 lifers this year.

Florida Scrub Jay

Here's my eBird lifer list for 2011, including where and when I saw them.

1	Red-breasted Merganser	Cocoa	12/17/2011
2	Blue-headed Vireo	Cocoa	12/17/2011
3	Snail Kite	Kaliga Park	11/18/2011
4	Eurasian Wigeon	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	11/15/2011
5	Sedge Wren	Orlando Wetlands Park -- Birding Loop	11/12/2011
6	Painted Bunting	Orlando Wetlands Park	11/12/2011
7	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Lake Lotus Park	10/29/2011
8	Cape May Warbler	Lake Lotus Park	10/29/2011
9	Prairie Warbler	Lake Lotus Park	10/29/2011
10	Fulvous Whistling-Duck	Orlando Wetlands Park	10/15/2011
11	Short-tailed Hawk	Mead Botanical Gardens	10/1/2011
12	Swainson's Thrush	Mead Botanical Gardens	10/1/2011
13	Black-and-white Warbler	Mead Botanical Gardens	10/1/2011
14	Hooded Warbler	Mead Botanical Gardens	10/1/2011
15	Solitary Sandpiper	Orlando Wetlands Park	9/24/2011
16	Veery	Mead Botanical Gardens	9/17/2011
17	American Redstart	Mead Botanical Gardens	9/17/2011
18	Northern Parula	Mead Botanical Gardens	9/17/2011
19	Black-throated Blue Warbler	Mead Botanical Gardens	9/17/2011
20	Pectoral Sandpiper	Viera Wetlands	8/6/2011
21	Stilt Sandpiper	Viera Wetlands	8/6/2011
22	Yellow-crowned Night-Heron	Orlando Wetlands Park	6/4/2011
24	Purple Gallinule	Orlando Wetlands Park -- Birding Loop	5/14/2011
25	Spotted Sandpiper	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	5/14/2011
26	Marbled Godwit	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	5/14/2011
27	Semipalmated Plover	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	4/2/2011
28	Florida Scrub-Jay	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	4/2/2011
29	King Rail	Viera Wetlands	3/23/2011
30	Black-necked Stilt	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	3/22/2011
31	Black Skimmer	Merritt Island NWR--Black Point Drive	3/22/2011
32	Surf Scoter	Upper Hooper's Island (MD)	3/4/2011
33	Long-tailed Duck	Upper Hooper's Island (MD)	3/4/2011
34	Common Goldeneye	Upper Hooper's Island (MD)	3/4/2011
35	Horned Grebe	Upper Hooper's Island (MD)	3/4/2011
36	Common Merganser	Blackwater NWR (MD)	3/4/2011
37	Common Ground-Dove	Merritt Island NWR--Biolab Rd	2/12/2011

I just can't remember if I've seen a few of these---in particular, the Veery, Ground Dove, Semipalmated Plover--before this year. But now that I'm keeping accurate records, it's very fun to look back over the progress I've made.  Beyond these lifers, I also saw two morphs that I'm proud of: a white morph Great Blue Heron and a white morph Reddish Egret.  Here are some photos of my "lifers" from this year.

Snail Kite

Blue-headed Vireo

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Northern Parula