Revised 2011 bird total:
437 species

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Oh what a year

As the sun set the evening of this last day of 2011 my Junior Big Year was ending.  What a year it was.  436!  436!  First bird: European Starling, out my bedroom window, January 1st.  Last bird: Bell's Vireo, "The Beanery" Cape May New Jersey, December 30th.  And 434 in between.

A few of the most memorable birds:

Brown Shrike
Gyrfalcon
Horned Puffin
Black-vented Oriole
Green Jay
King Eider
Prairie Falcon
just a few of the most amazing.

Now that the Big Year is done, I'll of course continue birding.  I will continue to grow my life list and keep a year list in 2012, but it won't be that intense traveling and relentless birding.  I will still have plenty of travel in 2012: Glacier National Park in Montana, Canaan Valley West Virginia, and Chincoteague Virginia.

I would like to give my thank yous to everyone that has helped me on this amazing Junior Big Year.  There is a very long list of so much help from so many people that I couldn't begin to list everyone.  But the biggest, most important thank you to my amazing parents for their incredible support.  I literally could not have done this Junior Big Year without you.

On another note, I am happy to say that Skyler Bol of Colorado is setting out tomorrow on his own Junior Big Year, inspired by me!  I wish you best of luck and tons of fun, Skyler.  His blog is http://2012juniorbigyear.blogspot.com/

Thank you to all of my blog readers for following my progress on this amazing year.

8 comments:

  1. Congrats, what an awesome accomplishment!

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  2. Great job getting such a high number in one year!

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  3. Congratulations on an amazing year and accomplishment. I have enjoyed reading your blog this year, and I hope you keep blogging about your birding adventures.
    Connie

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  4. What a great journey Gabriel. I am so proud of you. What a year it has been. I am so looking forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for us. i love you so much.. mama

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  5. Thanks so so much for getting my blog on the NARBA site!

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  6. This will surely be one of the most memorable years of your life! Congrats on such a successful Junior Big Year!

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  7. White-breasted and Red-breasted are what are the most common in Fort Collins.
    Skyler

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  8. Thanks to all for their wonderful comments. I really appreciate all the congratulations on my Junior Big Year. Skyler-I was happy to help you with NARBA. White-breasted and Red-breasted, interesting.

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