2014: A Year in Review


You Tube Slide Show of My Favorite Bird Photos from 2014
(a work in progress)

It's been a pretty great year for birding for me.  I'm especially happy with my results for Seminole County (details for this will be in a future post), but I had my best birding year yet.  And I also had a few trips up north (Boston, Philly), one to California, and one to Mexico. These were not birding trips, but they still allowed me to get several more lifers than I would have had otherwise.

Daytona Beach Shores
Glaucous Guill
Lifers are harder to come by now that I have well over 300 species in the state of Florida, but that's okay, I'm not complaining.  It makes the challenge all the more fun.  Here's my list of lifers from 2014:
  1. Western Tanager:  Lake Apopka North Shore Restoration Area, FL (01 Jan 2014)
  2.  Common Eider: Jetty Park, FL (04 Jan 2014)
  3. Western Gull: San Diego, CA (17 Mar 2014)
  4. California Towhee: San Diego, CA (17 Mar 2014)
  5. Lesser Goldfinch: San Diego, CA (17 Mar 2014)
  6.  Elegant Tern: Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, CA (18 Mar 2014)
  7. Egyptian Goose: Huntington Central Park, CA (19 Mar 2014)
  8. Allen's Hummingbird: Huntington Central Park, CA (19 Mar 2014)
  9. Nuttall's Woodpecker: Huntington Central Park, CA (19 Mar 2014)
  10. Rusty Blackbird: Lake Henrietta, FL (23 Mar 2014)
  11. White-faced Ibis: Audubon Park, FL (04 Apr 2014)
  12. Glaucous Gull: Frank Rendon Park, FL(05 Apr 2014)
  13. Kentucky Warbler: Fort De Soto Park, FL (23 Apr 2014)
  14. Mangrove Cuckoo: Pinellas Co, FL (30 May 2014)
  15. Snowy Plover: Siesta Key, FL (30 May 2014)
  16.  Ruff: Merritt Island NWR, FL (31 May 2014)
  17. Inca Dove: Acapulco, MX (03 Aug 2014)
  18. Neotropic Cormorant: Acapulco, MX (07 Aug 2014)
  19. Mangrove Swallow: Acapulco, MX (07 Aug 2014)
  20.  Nashville Warbler: Central Winds Park, FL (26 Sep 2014)
  21. Parasitic Jaeger: Pelegic Trip, FL (28 Sep 2014)
  22. Great Cormorant: Port Orange Causeway Park, FL (08 Nov 2014)
  23.  Franklin's Gull: Ft. Matanzas Peninsula, FL (15 Nov 2014)
  24. Dickcissel: Canal St., FL (17 Nov 2014)
  25. Pine Siskin: Home (24 Dec 2014)
  26. Groove-billed Ani: Lake Apopka North Shore Restoration Area, FL (30 Dec 2014)
These birds brought my life list up to 394, my U.S. life list up to 373 and my Florida Life list up to 325.  For the year of 2014, I had 320 species total, 305 in the United States, and 284 in Florida.  I had a hope of getting 300 species in Florida this year--a very doable goal, if you're willing to travel. But beginning in October, I wasn't able to travel much, and I did almost all my birding in my home county, little bits at a time.
Lake Apopka
Groove-billed Ani
I spent most of my time in Seminole Co, so I had far more species there than in any other county, but here are the totals I had for my top Florida Counties:


2014Life
Florida284325
Seminole Co.218236
Orange Co.177222
Brevard Co.170220

Next year, I'd love to get to 400 lifers, 350 Florida birds, and it's a tall order, but 250 Seminole County birds.  We'll see!

Audubon Park
White-faced Ibis
Siesta Key
Snowy Plover
Lake Apopka, Lust Rd.
Western Tanager
Huntington Central Park
Allen's Hummingbird
Huntington Central Park
Nuttall's Woodpecker

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