Year-End-Review

2018 has been an amazing year in birding for me. I really got to see the effects of the studying that I have done and all of the tips that I have gotten from people much more experienced than me. I submitted a total of 255 checklists, documenting 179 species across seven states. 100 of these species are new to my life list, with 73 being added to my Kansas list alone.

I photographed 43 species. My highlight photo is between the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) displaying when I was near the nest, or the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) that landed in the tree right above me.

Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) landed right above me and sat
still long enough for me to snap a photo.

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) displaying as I neared the nest.

My best photo of the year, voted on by my Twitter followers, was the Great Blue Heron through the sunflowers, a photo that I am calling Sunflower Heron.

Sunflower Heron (Ardea herodias).

I am ending the year strong with the Manhattan, KS Christmas Bird Count and bird banding with Dr. Alice Boyle on Konza Prairie. The birds were a bit slow for the count this year, but we were able to find a group of Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) in a small tree-line. Our few days of banding produced the first Purple Finch (Haemorhous purpureus) caught for this project on Konza Prairie and helped me to see how much I learned while helping last year as well.

I hope that everyone has had as great of a year in birding as I have and that next year will be even greater for us all. I plan to post even more next year, as I take Ornithology during my spring semester.