As the End of the Year Draws Near: July 27 to December 9, 2015

And so I arrived back in Ontario at the end of July with a list of 400 species I had seen since December 10 of 2014, when I started counting my 365 day "year" with a trip to California.  I was just curious to see how many birds I could see in a calendar year that featured trips to Florida, Michigan, California, Texas, Arizona and British Columbia, but while not doing a Big Year.  Between July 27 when I saw Solitary and Baird's Sandpiper in James Gardens and November 30, when a Mountain Bluebird came calling from the mountains of the Midwest, I added 8 more species, giving me a total of 408 for a full 365 days of birding with lots of travel.  In 2015 while doing my first Big Year, I saw 596 ABA Species.  Seeing upwards of 600 species is really hard,(and really expensive)!

However, the final list of birds wasn't too bad.  With a trip to Cranberry Marsh in Whitby for a Hudsonian Godwit, Algonquin Park for Snow Bunting, and a Townsend's Solitaire in Colonel Samuel Smith Park, the "year" was wrapping up quite nicely.  The last new species I saw before December 9 was the best of all.  On November 30 I was back in Whitby at Lynde Shores Conservation area for a very rare and very cooperative female Mountain Bluebird.  This species is very near and dear to me.  It was one of my first rare bird chases.  On January 1st of my 2012 Big Year we went looking for a Smew in Whitby Harbour, but it had already left; a few days later a female Mountain Bluebird showed up.  I chased, I found and I froze that day.

This year, on a lovey, but cloudy fall day another lost Mountain Bluebird showed up on the other side of the GTA.  This one was bouncing from tree to tree, giving all who were present amazing and close looks at this are visitor from the Midwest.  So, with the addition of the Mountain Bluebird I finished my 12 months, from December 10, 2014 to December 9, 2015 with a respectable 408 species.

Rare birds always bring out a host of avid birders: