Birds: Totals

Hello all! Thanks for all the congratulations. I wanted to get in one last bird post before the end of the year. I really missed out on the bulk of fall migration this year. November was so busy with the rehearsals and recording dates, I wasn't able to get out at all. That had me kind of bummed because I did so well last spring. But on December 2nd I finally did get up to Derby to try and salvage my list. Fortunately I had really good luck with strong west winds bringing in our first major cold front of the season. Highlights were two POMERINE JAEGERS, seven BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, four PURPLE SANDPIPERS, and my long-awaited life SURF SCOTER! These and a handful of others brought my 2006 Region 5 Year List total up to: 230! I'm not very likely to add any new birds at this point but I reached my goal so I feel pretty good about it. My worst misses were Brant, Peregrine Falcon, Dunlin, Common Nighthawk and Northern Parula. There's also a handful of nemesis birds out there (you know who you are) that are going to be targets in 2007. I saw 59 life birds this year (most of them in Texas), bringing my North American Life List up to: 340. With the amount of traveling I'll be doing in the next few months, it's entirely possible I'll break 400 next year. I had four new birds for my New York State List, bringing me up to 277; eight new birds for my Region 5 List, bringing me up to 263. That's all for now. I'll try to get at least one more post in before the end of the year.