Day 364 - This Is It

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen  couple tweets earlier this week where I lamented that my year was basically over.  And it is.  Here at the end of day 364 I haven't seen a new bird in 9 days, and I have my doubts that I will add anymore in the last 48 hours.  Since I added my last two year birds there has been just 1 report of a bird I don't have for the year.  The big CBC push I had hoped to produce a few lingering needs didn't happen, and that's okay.  I've had a good year, and this is it--queue the Kenny Loggins:


Tomorrow, the 30th of December, and 365th day of 2016 I will take a couple hours and do some leisurely birding, take a few photos and enjoy the next to last day of the year.  No stress.  No wandering thoughts about what if.  Just me and the birds.  Saturday as the year comes to an end, I might make a push for that one last species--I might also reveal who I am...

I don't have a lot to say at the moment, so I'll try to keep this post pretty short.  It's a weird feeling when your big year is coming to an end and there are no birds to see.  There is a slight feeling of emptiness.  A little sadness.  And a lot of wonder.  I wonder why did I do this?  Why did I keep it a secret?  Why didn't I put in more effort on a few birds?  Why didn't I follow my instincts a couple times when I should have?  I wonder what people re going to think when I tell them I did another big year.  I think that is the thing that I wonder the most.  Most people won't care, but my friends and family will probably have some questions.

And I'll have to answer some of them... Not all but some :)

That emptiness though, its strange.  I think that no matter how many birds I saw this year or could've seen, I have this feeling I can't shake.  It is so meaningless a thing, but at the same time, when you are doing a big year--whether in your yard, favorite eBird hot spot, county, state, ABA, world, etc--it's important to you.  And it's consuming.  And it effects you in ways that are hard to explain to others.  It's weird.  Birders are weird.  We are a strange bunch, who do strange things (case in point).

I'll have more to say later.  For now, I'll get back to wondering, but not stressing.  2016 was a beautiful year.

New birds this post: 0
Year List: 358

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