400

 

That’s the number of species of birds we generally see in a year.  Good years, in terms of birding, we record more.  Last year we recorded a record 474.  This year, not so much.  We had a few distractions.  This year, in mid-November, we’re at 372 and probably won’t record many more.

 

Next year however, might be different.  We’re planning the long-awaited trip to Alaska.  We’ll head north in May.  We’ll get all the winter birds here in South Texas in January and February.  We’ll watch the migrants pass through in March and April.  Then we’ll drive north through Colorado, Montana, British Columbia, and Yukon to arrive in Alaska.  We’ll see west-coast birds.  We’ll see far-north birds.  We’ll ramble Alaska to our content, then begin the long march back south about the same time all the birds up north begin their return to lower latitudes.  We’ll just float south with them.

 

With that many habitats and that many months, how could we not see our normal 400 birds?  In fact, how could we not see many more than that?  We’ll be covering so much more ground than normal.  In 2017 we made a push at the end of the year and got to 474.  Maybe next year, in 2019, 500?  That sounds like a good target.  500 species in one year.  With us traveling all over the place, really, how hard could it be?