Day 122 - 1/3th of the Way There
It seems like just yesterday, April was in the books; and here we are talking about the year being 1/3 of the way over. These two things did happen to fall right in a row, so I figured it was worth a short post to wax poetic about that first third of the year.
The majority of the year birds are probably behind me now, and the first 4 months past in a hurry. I'm not sure how fast the ensuing 8 will go, but I imagine it will be New Years Eve in no time and I will be sitting here revealing who I am--or potentially running off an hiding the truth if I fail to reach a new milestone. That new milestone--the new number to beat weighs on my mind constantly. Throughout the day I think about it, and how the year will shape up. As I looks at my total today I know exactly how many spring migrants I need, how many breeding birds I need, and how many fall migrants I have to get. I roughly know what things I missed this winter that I'll have to track down in the last 60 days of the year. I have an idea of what birds need to show up that haven't. I know what it will take to make me chase a year bird, and what kind of buffer I can give myself on certain chases.
I know how many birds I will DEFINITELY see in 2016. It's that small number of birds to top my previous high that are the great unknown--and I think about them constantly. While I watched eBird sporadically during the day, and kept my phone close in case anything popped up, I birded close to home and added an Abundant Inspector followed up by a Gem-like Hobbit. Both these species are common and I will see dozens in the coming weeks and months. May started off slowly, where April started in a boom and ended in a bang. This is the last major milestone before the 1/2 way mark which is a mere 60 and 1/2 days from now. I'll use June 30th as the 1/2 way mark, and everything from July 1st onward is the lesser part of the year. Yikes.
I'm trying not to pay to much attention to the competition either. I am acutely aware of it, and think I know who is seriously going to take a stab at a big number now. Perhaps I have the upper hand in that I know who they are, while they probably have no idea I'm lurking out here doing this. The game is afoot and May will separate the proverbial men from the boys. I'm going to stay focused, stick to my plan, and hopefully keep on track for that new big number.
New birds today: 2
Year List: 218
FOLLOW ALONG:
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