Day 40 - The February Slump
9 Days into February and no new year birds. I guess my "realistic" goal of 15 new year birds this month might be a stretch at this point. Strategically I am no worse for wear though. Of the 15 birds I had in mind for the month, I will see every single one at some point this year. The push to get them was merely a personal goal to keep my year list growing. But with 1/3 of the month behind me, I am now being more realistic about the coming 3 weeks.
There will be a small handful of new year birds before February closes out. I'm in no hurry to track them down and will just see what happens. This month has thus far been rejuvenating though. I haven't made a single outing to look specifically for birds. I have spent at least 15 minutes a day watching my feeders, or stopping to admire a Kestrel, Eagle, or Fluorescent Hopper. This month will be a major cut down on miles for the year, before the April-May-June rush begins. I suspect I will see potentially 150-175 new year birds in that stretch and will certainly have to make some tough chase decisions once migration is in full swing.
Because I had an efficient January there haven't been chases to make this month. I've debated taking a day trip under the radar to the corner of Narnia to look for 2 wintering species I've missed. However, staying under the radar is the hard part. I may yet disappear for a day and try for a little luck before things move on for the year.
I did have an interesting conversation this week with a follower of the blog that brought up a point worth considering. Said reader mentioned that as the year goes on and I inevitably am relegated to chasing new year birds that are in all likelihood vagrants, it should be easy to eliminate more states, and narrow down my identity. This is a good point. It's a valid point that I managed to hide in January with several mega rarities here in Narnia. Buried in day lists, with little mention of how rare they were. This is a must. A necessity. Even now as I contemplate how it will work when "1 new bird" days become the norm, I'm not sure what route I will take.
I can play off these rare birds as being common in my writing, but that can only go so far. The sporadic updates instead of daily doses might help as I can add 2-3 species in a week without being too specific about what was actually rare. I'll toy with this idea for the next little while--I still have a good 4 months till I'll really have to tackle the problem.
The February slump continues... But I'm okay with it.
New birds today: 0
Year List: 145
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