It has been several years since I last kept an annual list of birds identified. This year I've begun to do so once again. Of course my personal contest will not be at all the same. I do not expect to approach the 259 species on the Niagara Frontier I recorded eleven years ago. With my eyesight and hearing declining, I can no longer make those quick calls that used to come so easily.
Listing is criticized by many bird watchers.
They feel that it takes away from the serious study of avian biology. Listers, they believe, are interested only in that first bird and pay no attention to migration peaks, nesting habits and other aspects of bird behavior. Indeed, there are some to whom that criticism applies. And it certainly does not exclude other aspects of ornithology. With my resolution in mind, I join Dick Collins and Mike Galas on New Year's Day to start our birding year.