2023 Year in Review

It’s time once again for one of my favorite posts of the year. It’s always fun to take a look back over the year and relive some of the highlights. I think that I did less birding this year than in previous years. My job has been increasingly demanding and there were many days where I could have gotten out in the evening, but really I was just drained from the day. I tried to make up for it on the weekends, and by choosing the type of birding which gave me the most joy, it led to some excellent birding experiences. But, my Orange County year list suffered for it; 2023 was the first time I didn’t surpass 200 species in the county since 2015. I ended the year with a paltry 193 birds in the county. Somehow, getting over that 200 mark seems significant to me; something I realized a little too late in the year to make a push for it. Hopefully next year I’ll get back on track.

So, I never really know how I’m going to write this post until I start writing it; this year I’ve decided to provide my top three birding experiences of 2023, along with some honorable mentions. And then, of course, I’ll have my TOP TEN FAVORITE PHOTOS.

My favorite highlight of the year might not seem that exciting to some, but I am still overjoyed about not only finding, but also photographing a LAPLAND LONGSPUR in breeding plumage. The icing on the cake was that, in LALO terms, the photo is actually pretty good. I’ve been trying for years to make this happen, so I was very pleased when it finally did.

In second place, it was quite a year for UPLAND SANDPIPERS in Orange County. After several years of very few being observed in the county, this year I had several sightings. My first bird was a single Uppy, perhaps a little on the early side on July 21st. Unfortunately no-one else got that bird. Then, in on August 7th, I located 4 (!) Upland Sandpipers in the black dirt. I believe many birders were able to see these birds, and I saw them again on two more occasions. Finally, on August 18th, I had a close encounter with the above UPSA, as it walked across the road right in front of my car.

And in third place, on September 19th, after some storms passed through, I enjoyed a magical evening of shorebirding in the black dirt. When the rain stopped, Linda Scrima joined me, and we were treated to an amazing double rainbow which the birds kept flying right through. It was really something to behold and I am pleased to have been able to experience and document it.

Honorable Mentions:

• We went back to Ireland in the spring; I was able to get 12 life birds in spite of getting Covid-19 just days after our arrival.
• We spent a week on Monhegan Island. It was my favorite vacation in a long time; the birding was only mediocre but the birding experience is hard to beat.
• I somehow renewed my love of hawkwatching. It was actually the poorest year (numbers wise) since I started at Mount Peter, but the joy of hawkwatching somehow creeped back into my soul.
• I caught up with the Prothonotary Warbler at the Bashakill on June 4th. It was a life bird for me, the only life bird I would find locally in 2023.

And now for my favorite part – I love to look back a year’s worth of photos and whittle them down to my TOP TEN FAVORITE IMAGES. Some years when I look back, I’m somewhat disappointed with my work for the year. Which is weird because I’m usually pleased when I take them, but I guess in my mind they don’t hold up, I don’t know. But this year was different, and as I reviewed them, I was pleased. I had some great opportunities that I took advantage of, and I think some new gear (Canon R7 Mirrorless) helped as well.

As always, huge thanks to all my birding friends and to all the readers of the blog. And finally, thanks for all the comments on the blog – they make my day.