From a small town to a big city...
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A Birding Blog
By Jared Conaway
From a small town to a big city...
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Hello all! I haven't gone birding yet this year but Anchorage is making me jealous. This past fall in Kenai and now Anchorage this winter there's been 2 separate HAWFINCHES! The one in Anchorage may be the same bird from March of last year, considering it's in the same area of town. Last March, everyday on AKBirding people were firing many reports of their success stories about the Hawfinch. I was not one of them! The Hawfinch had only been seen once before then on mainland Alaska, in Nome. That March, the Hawfinch was actually discovered by nonbirders who had a feeder set up. They opened their home to anyone who was a birder because even they thought it was something different. Enric, a guy I met at the Matsubirders club when he did a presentation, was the first to identify it. As soon as he saw it, he snapped tons of photos because this was one odd bird. Later, he confirmed it as a male Hawfinch, and when the home owners asked him the identity, he was like "ummmm, ummmm, ummmm" I mean, a Hawfinch isn't just some fat-billed chickadee, it's a freaking Asian bird! But he did tell them of their mega-rarity, so they opened up their home to every birder who wanted it. Instead of standing out in the cold, the homeowners had their guests stand inside and in about 30 minutes, they were rewarded with a Hawfinch sitting on a feeder only a few ft from the window, so there was no excuse for lack of fantastic photos! I was a bonehead, I didn't beg for my parents and I to chase the bird! Why did I do that? Anyways, despite the history of the Anchorage Hawfinch, that's actually not why I'm blogging today. In my last post, I asked for a vote for 5 AMAZING birds I saw last year. So far no votes, and what I didn't mention, was a voting deadline. The deadline is THIS FRIDAY, and also, the official bird while have his picture mounted on my wall. Today's title actually has everything to do with that, because below I will showcase my beautiful sketches as sample art to give you an example of what the official bird will look like as one of my sketches.
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Hello all and HAPPY 2018! Like everyone I'm sure, I have a 2018 resolution! Today marks the beginning of a new year, and the end of 2017. I promised myself- and everyone else on my blog- that I would only become a more aggressive, hardcore, and passionate birder over my upcoming years in my adventurous career! And that I will stay true to! So that being said, I plan on getting to 300 at last within just a few months of the year. From There, I push hard and fast forward for 400 species, a huge feat for such a young birder! While I'm at it, I should end up with about 261 state birds for Arizona, because my Jan- Dec Lifer Goal List (LGL) contains 102 species, but the list only includes birds that I could find in Maricopa commonly to locally. I exclude any rarities because the LGL is so I can determine what birds to go after I've obtained the 102 threshold. to get 261, I added my 102 county birds to my 159 species I have for AZ. The reason for such a huge goal is because; Between a likely trip to Southeast AZ for the Hummingbird festival to a possible trip to Minnesota and surrounding state because Dad wants to drive around Lake Superior and we could visit Kyle and Sherrie while we're at it, and my brother Ken, wants to take a trip to California this summer! So there you have it, my first trip to the east, my first time birding in California and southeast Arizona, I'm in for a lot of travel this year possibly, and all these new birding places for me opens up massive gateways for lifers to flock through and migrate to my Life List! I'm unbelievably excited and confident for this year, I really hope I don't get disappointed. Another New Year goal is to get 114 followers on my blog, simply go to Google plus and follow my Ak to AZ collection. So why the exact number of 114? Well, I just subtracted 400, my total lifelist threshold for this year, from 286, my current Life List. Do the math and ba-du-bing ba-du-boom, 114 Lifers I will have to obtain, so, a follower for every lifer I obtain this year! There you have it, my 2018 goals to accomplish! Birds of the year for 2017
ROSS'S GOOSE LESSER SCAUP WHITE-WINGED SCOTER SURF SCOTER HORNED GREBE CLARK'S GREBE SORA SEMIPALMATED PLOVER PECTORAL SANDPIPER STILT SANDPIPER RED-NECKED PHALAROPE ICELAND GULL CALIFORNIA GULL SABINE'S GULL FRANKLIN'S GULL RED-SHOULDERED HAWK FERRUGINOUS HAWK GREEN HERON COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD- not a lifer, but that hummer made my days... PARASITIC JAEGER LONG-TAILED JAEGER SOUTH POLAR SKUA- a record breaking bird!!!!!!!!!!! NORTHERN HAWK OWL LONG-EARED OWL GREAT GRAY OWL AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN NEOTROPIC CORMORANT RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER ROSY-FACED LOVEBIRD PRAIRIE FALCON OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER EASTERN KINGBIRD WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE DUSKY FLYCATCHER HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER COMMON YELLOWTHROAT MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER NASHVILLE WARBLER NORTHERN PARULA LUCY'S WARBLER PLUMBEOUS VIREO GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH SWAINSON'S THRUSH TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE WESTERN BLUEBIRD LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE BLACK-THROATED SPARROW MCKAY'S BUNTING SNOW BUNTING ARCTIC WARBLER WINTER WREN MARSH WREN BEWICK'S WREN As you can see, not every single bird I've seen in 2017 is on that list, because it represents all my favorites of that year. To break down that list, below is my TOP 5 FAVORITES, and then I will pick one of them to deem worthy of carrying the title as my NUMBER 1 FAVORITE BIRD OF 2017. However, I need help, in the comments below, vote for 1 of 5 birds to take that title, and whoever wins, will be made JARED'S OFFICAL BIRD OF 2017! In other words, every time I think of that year, I'll have a bird's name and face to represent a VERY successful year of birding! SOUTH POLAR SKUA NORTHERN HAWK OWL MCKAY'S BUNTING SUMMER TANAGER ROSS'S GOOSE Please vote for 1 of 5 feathered friends above... I'm Jared Conaway, HAPPY BIRDING, and stay tuned for my next post! |
About meJared Conaway Month Archives
December 2019
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Life List
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