What's the best Life Bird added to your list this year?

The one I added this year that excited me the most was the Cedar Waxwing! I live just outside Oklahoma City and have wanted to see one SO badly. Actually, there was one big flock of birds stopping to drink the rainwater on the top of our shed and the flock was comprised of Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Is that normal?? They would come in together and take off together.

My second Lifebird this year was the Baltimore Oriole.. life is good :)

What has everyone else been seeing?

None completely new for me yet, but one British tick for me (Lesser Grey Shrike; pic below - seen before in Bulgaria), and two Northumberland County ticks (Great Snipe and Black Stork; seen before elsewhere in Britain).

Resin

Here's the Black Stork, just a couple of days ago (10 Aug)

I guess mine would be the Baltimore Oriole and the Osprey.

Carolina wren I didn't know that they existed.

Clan, I'm with you on the cedar waxwing! I'd always wanted to see ONE but it seemed I could lure most everything else to my yard BUT a waxwing.
One day when I was home at lunch, I heard a flock of something in the woods next to my house, right over the fence. I got my binoculars and saw what must have been 30 of them just staring at me. They flew across the fence, into my yard after we saw each other, and stayed in a tree right in my backyard for a good bit, just as if to say "you've been waiting for us lady. Get a good look." Then they were off. I'll never forget it. It was as magical as seeing a pileated wp in my backyard for the first time.

I saw lots of new birds this year and I just loved them all. Last year, I saw a Painted Bunting for the first time, and afterward I thought now I want to see an Indigo Bunting. This year, I had an Indigo Bunting! Both were migrating through and didn't stay more than a day, so that made it seem more magical.

I would have to say the Yellow-billed Cuckoo! I had been hearing them for weeks and when I finally saw one I was thrilled. My other best bird this year is the Indigo Bunting who are very well mannered at the feeders! I had so many new birds this year that it is hard to choose just one!

Oh Rose, I knew you would say the Cuckoo! How neat that must have been. I have only heard them in the nature preserve area on the military base near here. I thought it was just some camouflaged soldiers telling us to move out of the area they were war-gaming in. Until your postings of the hunt for them, I had thought they were "old world" only. This first year of birding is so wonderful!

I think mine would be this Plumed Whistling Duck - Dendrocygna eytoni. This is a duck mainly found in Northern Australia, but one unexpectedly turned up in Mathison Park here in Churchill, Victoria last December. It didn't stay for long, but came close to the shore so that I could photograph it and hear its lovely whistling call. I have seen one in a Zoo before, but this was the first I had seen in the wild,

Kennedy

Well, that is an easy one the Pileated Woodpecker! And that it came to my yard nearly everyday for 6 weeks was such a thrill each & ever time!

But like rose, so many new birds that I never knew excisted this year. It has been so amazing!

The Tufted Duck (a rarity in the US) was a great bird to see, and amazingly exciting.

But, the Short-eared Owls were super cool. Went back to see them a few times at Wallkill NWR, and enjoyed seeing them hunting at dusk with Rough-legged Hawks and Northern Harriers.

I had forgotten about those =) Had some good birds at the beginning of the year!! Sounds like everyone else has, too.

So this'll bring back memories . . .

I think I finally saw an Oriole in the yard...twice. I know they are in the area per maps, but never seen one. Then I happen to look outside at the right time and of course it didn't stay long enough for a shot. I saw it again weeks later in the same understory tree in the hedgerow. Only thing that seemed to match was a female oriole. Exciting!

And for those who want Cedar Waxwings....if you can, plant a serviceberry. I've only had mine two springs, and this spring the waxwings came back day after day to eat all the berries. It was quite awesome. Here's a pic: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5092799.

We used to get a flock of Cedar Waxwings at our last house late winter - they loved the wild cherry trees

Nice pic Kitty; I love it when I see the Waxwings!

I miss seeing them - no fruit trees near our new house

My most exciting new addition was also cedar waxwings back in January!!! It was unbelievable...

Yes, Resin! What a wonderful bird. I so enjoy the "tufter" on his head!!!

Wow.. Evie, I'm jealous and will start looking for that serviceberry!! I did also see an Oriole this summer. So many of our trees here in OK were destroyed due to the ice storm and so I believe that's why I saw the new birds.

We also had Mississippi Kites nesting not too far from our house :) They'd fly over during the day just to harass the other birds I think LOL

I've not been lucky enough to get a totally new bird. I have only added three new birds to my backyard list, but last year... After spending weeks listening to my bird CD, I sat on my front porch, watching and listening, and thought that I heard the call of a Red-breasted Nuthatch off in the woods. I was thrilled by that, but even more excited when he flew to a low branch of a tree right in front of the porch and looked directly at me. I've often joked that all new birds ought to come check in with me when they pass through the yard, but this was the first time that one actually did!

That is a great story Pillita!

I'm up in glacier nat. park in montana, and I was super excited to see stellers jays on the 1st day here!! Yippee!! got lots of pics of all kinds of new birds, will upload them when I get home to get ID's. (of course no telling when that will be since "home" is getting pummeled by hurricane Ike right now.....)

I saw my first American Woodcock this summer right in my neighborhood. My 11 year old grandson and I decided to check out the neighborhood with binoculars during his visit. And he was the one to spot it. "Grandma, what's that bird on the ground next to the robin?" He still teases me because I just kept saying, "This is a big deal! This is a very very big deal!" If he continues to be a birder, I've done one right thing in my life!

That is a great find boojum!

woodcocks do their spring flight near to us. they circle & you can hear their wings. Suddenly there is silence then you hear the "beep". We've always been interested in them as we used to raise cocker spaniels, deveolped to hunt the woodcocks. They are great to listen to in the spring, start flights at dusk.

I am named for my cocker-Boojum.

Very cute!

Nice pup. a note for getting the feathers on his legs clean--I bet he likes mud. Fill up a squirt bottle with water, then brush dry using baby powder. We did have many of them, but at times we had parti-colors. the same can be done with the buffy colored ones, using cornstartch.

Great tip, Lucy! Thanks.

Red-breasted Grosbeak. They made it easy for me… came to my back yard.

I think my all time favorite bird! (Rose-breasted)

I can't tell you the shock I was in when I looked outside my window and saw them. They were only here for a week or so, but it was great!

Great pic too!

I had a lot this year being it was my first spring migration on High Island this past April, but I have to say some of my most favorites were the cerulean warbler, blackburnian warbler and scarlet tanager. I also added western tanager to my list on my trip to Idaho this year.

Cerulean Warbler, WOW, lucky you.

Yeah, the Cerulean was on my top "most wanted" list for High Island this year, so I was pretty happy to see it. We saw a lot of different warblers including palm and prarie, but the cerulean is pretty special to me.

that's just great. Anytime you can see a bird on the watchlist is amazing.

Just added Citril Finch and Italian Sparrow to my life list on a short trip to the Alps. No pics, unfortunately, didn't take my 'scope as it was more a trees trip than a birding trip, and with my cheapo camera I can only get bird pics by digiscoping.

Whether Italian Sparrow really counts is debatable, some books say it's a species, others say just a subspecies of either House Sparrow or Spanish Sparrow, or a hybrid between those two. But they certainly look distinct.

Resin

Will hafta look them up!