We finished 2011 with a bird count of 384 species. Not a bad count, but not quite as many as 2010 when we got 397 birds. For perspective, our friend Jon McIntyre finished 2011 with 435 birds and he never left Texas! (But then, he’s a trained professional.) Our count might have been a little higher, but we *did* have abbreviated summer travels. We got a good start on this year. We had a quiet morning watching it rain, then headed out just before lunch when the weather cleared up. We hit the fields to the north for Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese, then headed south for Estero Llano State Park, the International Butterfly Park, and Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park. Got 69 birds for the day, not a giant number, but got a lot of *really* good birds. 450 Snow Geese. Chachalacas, Least Grebes, White-tailed Kites, White-tipped Doves, Clay-colored Thrushes, Altamira Orioles. And right at the end of the day, we stumbled completely dumb-luck into a Black-vented Oriole! How cool is that to start out the year with a Black-vented Oriole? Check it out:
Tomorrow we’re headed out to a different place to bird: Falcon State Park. Different habitat. Different birds. Two good days of birding to get our 2012 list off to a good start, then I’ll settle back down to work. Honest.