Day 31 - January in the Books

Just like that the 1st month of 2016 is gone.  Every year it seems to go faster and faster, just like I'm sure this year will be over before I know it.  I can't dwell on time, since I can't control it, so let's talk about January.  It was a good month.  I saw a lot of birds including 3 species I did not see on my previous big year attempt.  That's notable because the of the birds I saw in my previous attempt that I did not see this January, I fully expect to see all at some point this year.  That's a major win.

I ended the month 5 short of my goal of 150--I didn't end up getting out to look for much today, but figured I could only add 3-4 species legitimately, and none will make or break the year.  So I took it easy and let January come to an end.  The 145 species I tallied this month bested my previous big years January tally by a few and might have been one of my better Januaries in Narnia.

I did however miss 6 chased species.  Notably 1 species that was statistically the 2nd rarest bird so far this year in Narnia.  1 other missed species might also be a wash for the year--spring will be the judge of that.  The other 4 species I missed I think I will pick up at some point so I'm not to worried.
 
During January I spent at least 15 minutes birding every day, and in all spent 70.5 hours birding--or just under 3 entire days.  I traveled 23.63 miles on foot while birding this month, but I won't share my car mileage until years end.  I spent roughly $266 on food, gas, entry fees, and other birding related expenses.  I'm keeping track of this to compare to my previous big year, but also for the interest of knowing exactly what the cost of my year was financially and environmentally.  I hope to do over 500 miles on foot as the year goes on, while I'd like to keep total miles under 20,000.   I will also be happy if I can spend less than $2,500 on birding related expenses.

This will be my last daily post on the blog going forward until later in the spring.  For now I will write as things come to mind, and as I find new species.  This may be a few times a week, or as little as a weekly update.  My goal for February is going to be to add 15 species to put me at 160 by March.  It's a reasonable goal, and consists of some special interest birds for my year--including 2 more species I didn't get last time that I think I can track down this year.

The last thing I will mention is that it being the end of a month I will remove 4 states from the options of where I live.  To some these will be obvious, but at least now you can without a doubt say I am not doing a big year in:


That leaves 44 options to choose from.  My January Poll was which area of the country am I doing my big year in.  66 votes were tallied with 36% voting for the northeast, 32% for the northeast, 18% for the west, and 14% for the south:



Not that any of that is necessarily helpful at this point, but if you're doing your detective work, every piece of evidence will help make your case! So the big year goes.

New birds today: 0
Year List: 145

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