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Laughing Gulls on the Outer Banks

Sometime in the middle of last night, eBird statistics reset. All those amazing birds we found over the past 365 days were relegated to last year's old news and it's time to start again.

It is still dark so first bird of the day, year, and decade has yet to be counted.

Winter Wren

What will it be, what will it be? In Florida a few years back I was so excited for the opportunity for first bird to be something incredible and wonderful. Maybe an ibis or a Boat-tailed Grackle. We set out before dawn for the beaches and bays, eager for manatees and magical new birds....

Merliln

Only I wasn't paying enough attention to not looking and got a starling in the pink lights of the predawn parking lot. Last year it was a Canada Goose flyover. This year, who knows? The sun isn't really up yet and there were no owls calling at dog walking time...although I surely was hoping. 

Sandhill Crane at Montezuma

2019 saw us traveling to the Outer Banks for the first, but hopefully not the last time. A couple of runs out to Montezuma, where we lucked out and got the White Pelican, which showed up as a life bird for me, although I have seen them many times on trips to the South. Real honest-to-gosh first time life birds included Lapland Longspurs, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, Winter Wren, and Short-ear Owls....man, did we ever work hard to get the latter!

Common Yellowthroat

Yesterday for the first time in ages the boss and I actually got out and drove around some of our favorite spots and had a high time. Lots of nice raptors!

Anyhow, I am eager for another year of pursuing birds in the county, state and country. Hope we are healthy and wealthy enough to keep playing the game. Wish us luck...and thanks for being patient with our adventures.

***Update: As I was typing this, waiting for the washing machine to jingle the little tune that tells me that it is done, I heard my first bird of the '20s. What are the odds that just as the sun came up on the first day of the new year my favorite bird would begin to shout to all the neighbors that he was up and hitting the ground running or the air flying as the case may be when you are a bird? I do love me those Carolina Wrens.