Happy New Year, and greetings from Oklahoma! Gayla and I flew to Oklahoma City on Monday of this week to visit our son, Merritt, and his family. And, as you might imagine, I plan on doingsome birdwatching while here!
As 2024 comes to a close, I thought I would review some of mybirding highlights over the past year. Ifeel extremely blessed and grateful for all of the time I was able to spend innature, whether at home or abroad. In2024, I was able to visit nine different countries and birdwatch in sixdifferent states.
I accessed my eBird account to check on my species count forthe year—by country, state, and even on the county level. For the year, I submitted 283 checklists andobserved 880 species! This past year was,by far, the “birdiest” year I’ve ever had, thanks in large part to my internationalbirding.
The year started out with a three-week trip to Ecuador andthe Galapagos Islands in late January and early February. It was an amazing trip, as one mightimagine. I saw 383 species on that trip,and many of those were new to my life list. Highlights included seeing torrent ducks, Galapagos doves, Andeancondors, Andean cock-of-the-rock, swallow-tailed and lava gulls, andthirty-seven species of hummingbirds!
In late May, we traveled to Florence, Italy to visit our son,Jeremy, and his family. This was myfirst visit to Italy, and I managed to squeeze in some birding, with a total offorty-one species. From there, Gayla andI flew over to England and embarked on a 12-day British Isles cruise tocelebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.
While the focus of our cruise was not birding, I managed todo some birding in England, Ireland, Scotland and France. It was the first time I had visited each ofthese countries, and I had a great experience. I had local bird guides at four of our eight ports, and feel that I gota good introduction to the birds in those parts of the world.
In late September/early October, I travelled to Veracruz, Mexico. I went there specifically to witness thewonder of the bird of prey migration, the “River of Raptors”. I literally saw thousands and thousands ofmigrating hawks, and it was an awe-inspiring experience! While in Mexico, I saw 250 species whichbrought my Mexico species list to 466 species. I have seen more species in Mexico than any other country other than theUnited States.
I’ve also done a lot of birding in Arizona thisyear—especially right here in Yavapai County. For the year, I’ve seen 263 species in the state, and a total of 228 inYavapai County. It has been a great yearfor interesting and unusual birds in our area.
My passion for being outdoors has continued to grow throughmy experiences in nature this year. Idon’t think I will have the opportunity to travel nearly as much this year as Idid last year. At this point, I onlyhave one international trip planned—to Cuba. For the last few months, I have been studying up on the birds of Cuba inpreparation for my trip.
If you would like to get out into nature and go on some localbird walks in the new year, I invite you to participate in the free bird walkswe offer each week here at The Lookout. Checkout the schedule on our website at www.thelookoutaz.com, and call the store (928-443-5900) to sign up.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, whereyou will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Swarovski andVortex optics. Eric has been an avidbirder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
This past weekend was the winter solstice, the shortest dayand the longest night of the year. WhileI personally do not like the cold, I do love the winter night sky. Each morning when I go outside to retrievethe newspaper, I like to just pause, and look at the heavens and take in thewonder of the night sky.
Maybe like you, unfortunately I live in a neighborhood wheresome of my neighbors leave their outside lights on all night long. Why? Ihave no idea. To me it is annoying, anda poor use of precious resources. Welive in a time when we need to be so mindful of how we use energy.
One may think it is a little thing, a 100 watt bulb left onall night, but multiply that by hundreds and thousands of lights left on allnight and what a huge impact this has on energy use.
There is a dark sky ordinance in some communities. I personally like living in a community wherepeople value dark skies. I like livingin a neighborhood where there aren’t any street lights.
Another issue to consider is the impact of lights on wildbirds, especially when they are migrating. Lights at night disorient while birds, resulting in window strikes,resulting in an untimely death.
Several months ago the Courier ran an article about outdoorlights at night, and the impact on wild birds. I concur.
