End of the Year Review

I think this is my favorite photo of the year. I know I have better ones, 
but this is the only one that is on my wall.

   Somehow, as I start writing this, I feel this is going to be my shortest end of the year review in ten years writing this blog. Obviously, just like everyone else, I didn't do a hell of a lot. You've read all my stats about birds multiple times and quite frankly I'm bored with them too. none the less I'll leave them at the bottom of this post so I will be able to reference them in the future. 

  So here we go... One trip to NH. I hiked one mountain. Mt Tremont in September during peak foliage. I saw a bear on that trip 

   Surprisingly, I crossed one thing off of my bucket list. I saw and photographed a breaching whale. I went on three whale watches and one pelagic six pack out to a hundred miles.

   I also took the BI Ferry once specifically to look at ocean birds and once to get Tundra Swans on BI on January 2nd. Despite the world being turned upside down I did have some things that I will never forget- May 16th was probably the best day in the history of Rhode Island birding For the first time ever I completed the Bradley Challenge and saw all of the expected species of waterfowl in RI.

      I had a lot of fun on Sue Palmer's boat exploring Sandy Point and quahogging.  

  One of the most fun days of the year The whale watch where I saw them breach was incredible the whole time. Whales feeding, fin slapping and deep diving. I caught the largest fish of my life a 55 pound Albacore.

      Eating Oyster's at Jess's house was really fun with my friends.

  I got dozens of photo upgrades of birds. Birding 293 species out of a total of 318 seen in RI. My previous best was 291. I came in 9th for the state. Six of the eight ahead of me were retired. The other two worked their ass off to get the birds they got. The leader Carlos Pedro broke the RI yearbird record (as if you didn't already read that in the last post) he got 309. I saw 92% of all species seen and 95% of what the leader saw. My best birds I found on my own were Screech Owl and Wilson's Pharalope..

   Despite beating my old personal best, that was never my intention this year. When all of my plans got cancelled I birded on my days off. I spent many of my days off "playing catch up" Trying to find birds that had been previously seen while I was at work during the week. I really didn't enjoy this and took a lot of the fun away from birding. I found myself getting more and more frustrated throughout the summer as I put in a lot of time trying to see Marbled Godwit, Baird's Sandpiper and Royal Tern. The tipping point came a couple months later when I spent well over ten hours waiting for but never seeing a Connecticut Warbler to show. Over the next two weeks I am going to do some soul searching and try to figure out what I want most out of birding. I love seeing birds, but I had too many frustrating days last year and have to figure out my priorities. I'm sure there will be a future blogpost about it. 

    To sum up-      Like everyone else, I tried to make the best out of the year. I saw lots of birds and that was the highlight. All of my friends are healthy which is far more important than seeing a Connecticut Warbler. I did make many memories despite my plans going to hell in a handbasket. Birding was great, my one trip to New Hampshire was epic. So were my six pack trip, quahogging with Sue, and one of the whale watches. All in all I'll take it.