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

Hummerseeker, I've not seen any of those! Can I come stay at your house??? LOL

Okay I want to change my mind please?

Since the Kinglets are so hard to photograph I'll choose them as my favorite new bird.

Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned

Show off Pelle!!

Hahaha

No changing allowed!! LOL

LOL,Okay Okay ^_^

We had a northern pygmy owl in our yard last spring. I was home at lunchtime, and noticed that the chickadees were putting up quite a fuss in a small stand of aspens. The owl was sitting on a high branch in the middle of the stand. I saw him several times at the very top of a young maple at dawn, and twice on the fence rail with a mouse. He stuck around for several weeks, and we heard him calling daily - for a mate, perhaps?

Thats really great,snow!

Now that would be cool!

It was really fun to have him around. I do hope he comes back again next spring.

I am also tempted to change my answer..... the cedar waxwings I saw in January were so awesome, but I was really really really excited to see Stellers Jays in Montana last month. Its a tough call, but I think I have to go with the Stellers since I will never be able to see them here, and the waxwings migrate through here yearly.

Stellars Jays are such a beautiful blue - and they are such characters. The ones around here like to imitate the local hawks and get everyone all riled up.

On February 18, 2008, I saw and photographed a male Painted Bunting here in Maryland. What was a Painted Bunting doing here in winter ?

He visited a resident's backyard feeder and drew countless numbers of birders to the area. I went to the site 4 times but only saw him once. I will probably never seen another one in Maryland.

Oh linth, that had to be cool!

I haven't seen too many life birds lately, although I've become reacquainted with some birds I haven't seen in a while. For example, in the field recently I saw a male American redstart, and several black and white warblers.

At home over the last couple of years, I was thrilled to have some migrants passing through, even if only for a few seconds. We've had female American redstarts, ruby-crowned kinglets, cedar waxwings, and (just for a second or two) a rose-breasted grosbeak.

Early in the year, when we went on a Carribbean cruise, we saw several magnificent frigatebirds, which were quite a spectacle soaring over the coast of Belize.

I forgot to mention that, at a Phillies baseball game in August, we saw a family of eastern kingbirds swooping over the field and lounging on wires that held up netting along the sides. We watched the parents feed the fledglings. Mind you, 99.9 % of the people in the stadium had no idea any of this was going on. But it was a real treat for me (in addition to the fact that the Phillies played great ball that day.)

Hi everyone. Long time, no see...uh, I mean long time no post! Things have been really crazy in my life lately.
Back to the topic at hand. The best lifer I saw this year would have to be the Wood Stork. Ugly things but I had never seen them before. I saw them perched on some dead trees near a shallow creek one afternoon as I was coming home from work. I have some pictures but I never have any luck posting them on this site...but I'm gonna try again.

Great picture of the wood storks!

I agree that they're not what you'd call attractive birds, but I think that even the ugliest birds have a certain majesty to them.

Neat birds!!

This happened years ago, when I lived beachside. I saw a group of Smooth-billed Ani in some trees...strange because they only are found in South Florida. But this was during the time the Everglades had so many fires burning, and I assume they traveled North for safety.

Oh, I've seen them in Puerto Rico!! How great to see them in FL!