New Birds John Saw in 2010
The year 2010 is, to date (Sep. 2015), the year in which I've seen the most new birds for my life list, and the only year where I saw over 100 lifers (117 total). Nearly half (54) of them were seen on a mid-March trip with my HSU classmates to Texas A&M University in Kingsville, Texas, including 25 in one day, a personal best; on that day, one of my 25 lifers was #300, an Ovenbird. In the fall, our class went to Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah for the annual conference of The Wildlife Society, on a trip where I only added 7 lifers (though Sagebrush Sparrow retroactively became an 8th when it was split from Bell's Sparrow). That December, on my birthday, I saw 2 lifers, one of which was my rarest bird up to that time, a Code 4 Brown Shrike overwintering in Humboldt County (the other was Snowy Plover). Yes, 2010 was a great year for this birder.
avg. score: 13 of 117 (11%)
required scores: 1, 2, 3, 10, 16
