The plan was to do one and done Average Year. Then I just missed our goal of 300 species and we couldn’t have that – another year to right that miss – which we both successfully accomplished. Somehow Ron convinced me to make a go of it for this third year. I am not completely convinced I want to bring that much stress to my life once again, but for now I’m continuing to fill out the tracking spreadsheet. The year isn’t exactly starting out well. Our switch to Arizona has brought several new lifers, but at a cost as it is hard to beat the number of birds roaming around Texas. How the rest of the year goes, no idea as our big trips are done. Regardless, Intrigued will still be filled with posts from our finds throughout the year. As soon as I get the chance, I’ll let you know how it is going and get some of the stats up.
Here is the latest updated as of 4/29/2024 – note, I am3 birds short as we still need to get those rare species added to our tracking spreadsheet.
Quick summary of counts:
The Cumulative Species graph:
Our Daily Species graph:
Our Monthly Species graph:
Here are couple of graphs to show how it is going compared to the previous year. It has been a struggle this year, but hoping the migration will pass through and bump me up a bit more.
As you can tell from the graph below, I have been all over the board trying to play catch up from all the missed birds on our January trip to Arizona. We made it back to Texas in March, but some of the birds had already migrated north and the migration was running a bit late so that kept the counts down as well. At least I clawed back from the -100 I was at in the first week of March!
Updates:
04/25/2024: Went back to Shaw Preserve in Gray Summit, MO for a long trail run. From my previous days explorations discovered this place was a LOT bigger than I had originally thought and had a large trail system complete with challenging hills. While heading to the trail parking lot, I noticed a small yellowish bird fly in front of the car and land on a nearby bush. First noticed the rufous cap and then the dark wings over the yellowish body. Kept a good eye on it until it finally revealed the yellow eyebrow – a Palm Warbler! An early specimen from the next wave of migrants. Only saw that one, so the full migration is still coming, but definitely appreciated the extra +1
04/24/2024: The previous day’s finds at Shaw Preserve were excellent, but I did miss a few birds that Merlin detected but I couldn’t get eyes on. Decided to go back and give it another try. Ended up walking over 7 miles going back to the river and exploring new areas of the preserve. Managed to finally get the Blue Grosbeak (there were 2) hanging out in the meadows and was able to get eyes on a Kentucky Warbler that was down by the river with a Northern Parula and Prothonotary Warbler. Got a bit lucky thanks to a couple of Orchard Orioles on the wetlands trail. They started squawking and getting all worked up and a supposed uninvited intruder. That ended up being a female Baltimore Oriole who wasn’t too keen on their Orchard’s presence either. After a few skirmished the Baltimore Oriole took off, but not before giving me the third +1 for the day.
04/23/2024: It was time for the Poodle Nationals at Purina Farms in Gray Summit, MO. That meant a week near one of my favorite parks Shaw Preserve. Headed over there with Linda between the boys’ run to see what was hanging about. Still slightly ahead of migration, but there were plenty of gaps on the checklist that I knew hung out down there. The day started out with a bang as I was able to get a Yellow-Breasted Chat – a miss from last year and a Yellow-Throated Vireo. Decided to take a walk down to the river for the first time and that was absolutely beautiful down there. A bit of a hike and it sits in the valley so you have to work for it – but worth it! I immediately made a point to come back in the following days and get some trail miles in. While down in the lush trees along the river, spotted a Red-Eyed Vireo and a Wood Thrush. Saw a Prothonotary Warbler and a Northern Parula as well, pretty, but those were not new for the year. From there we went over to the wetlands trail parking lot and took the .75 mile walk to ponds. There we got good eyes on the Orchard Oriole – heard several times, but unable to get a clean shot up to that point. On the way back, we spooked two Northern Bobwhites hanging out in the prairie fields. Shocked us at first, but then noticed they were Quail – a bird I had missed on multiple trips last year and went unchecked for ’23. Ron was lucky enough to get his check there last year so we knew they were there, now we know exactly where. In the parking lot I was able to add a Warbling Vireo to the list hanging out in the tall trees singing like crazy. A really good day that brought 7 new +1s. Also got a feel for just how big this park is – my previous visits didn’t even scratch the surface – definitely coming back to explore all the missed areas.
Wildlife Intrigued 