Christmas and my 2007 Year List

I had a really wonderful Christmas this year. Spent a few days with Sarah's family, got to do some birding, visited my family, lots of fun. One of the presents I get almost every year is some money to buy music with. Here's a few of the albums I picked out:

         

Sufjan Stevens, Ivy, My Morning Jacket - alt/rock bands I like a lot

Andrew's Sisters Greatest Hits - 1940s pop music with amazing harmonies

Vasen (with Mike Marshall and Darol Anger!?), Aly Bain & Ale Moller, Jonas Knutsson & Horn Please, Ranarim - great Swedish/Scandi bands

Radio Tarifa - Spanish/North African/Mediterranean music

Rosa Passos - Brazillan singer

Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon and Queen's Greatest Hits - what can I say?

     

Anyway, things are good here. It's been a quiet month for the most part. January is fairly busy and we've got a very heavy touring schedule for the rest of the spring. I don't really expect to get any new birds before the end of the year so I think my total is going to stay at 342. My goal was 350 but I missed about 10 birds in Colorado that I thought I would get so it's not that bad. I went birding in roughly 15 states this year and added 60 life birds, bringing my North Amerian total to 405. Highlights included my trips to Florida (Snail & Swallow-tailed Kite, Florida Scrub-Jay), North Carolina (Piping Plover, Red-cockaded Woodpecker), southern New Jersey (Marbled Godwit and other shorebirds), Washington (Band-tailed Pigeon, Rhinoceros Auklet, Western Grebe), Alaska (Red-faced Cormorant, Tufted Puffin, breeding plumage Harlequin Ducks, Aleutian Tern, Yellow-billed Loon, American Dipper) and Colorado (Stellar's Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Lesser Goldfinch, Green-tailed Towhee, Swainson's Hawk, Burrowing Owl) plus some notable birds here in central New York like Cape May Warbler, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Clay-colored Sparrow, American Avocet and Eurasian Wigeon.  The past month or so has been great for finches.  I've had multiple and very nice looks at Red Crossbills, Pine and Evening Grosbeaks.   Big misses for the year were Northern Goshawk, Baird's Sandpiper, Snowy and Short-eared Owls, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Bohemian Waxwing, Golden-winged, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll and Canada Warblers, Orchard Oriole and White-winged Crossbill.  My goal for next year is again to reach 350.  Have a great New Year's everyone.