A Year of Birds
Happy Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? I'm thankful for birds and my big year. This got an expected "Post too long for email" warning. A year of bird photos takes up a lot of space.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I’m thankful I’ve built a year around birds.
The year isn’t done, I’ll see birds between now and 2025—hoping for Razorbill (Alca torda), Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus), Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus). This isn’t about what I want to see; here are some photos of what I have seen.
This doesn’t include every species. No harrier (Circus hudsonius), no redtail1 (Buteo jamaicensis), no Black or Turkey Vultures (Coragyps atratus, Cathartes aura). I didn’t get photos of the California Condor I saw at the Grand Canyon (Gymnogyps californianus)2 and didn’t include pictures of a Cooper’s Hawk (Astur cooperii).3 No swallows, swifts, or titmice (Baeolophus). At first I only included new-to-me Phoebe species, Black (Sayornis nigricans) and Say’s (Sayornis saya), but didn’t want to snub Eastern (Sayornis phoebe).
I’m sad I didn’t get photos of that condor, but am sadder about other birds. A Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) at Big Branch Marsh NWR. A Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena) at Red Rock State Park. Tree Swallows in flight (Tachycineta bicolor) at Parker River NWR.
A Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera) at Sedona Wetlands; a Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia) at Malibu Creek State Park; a Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) at Wells Reserve; a Bell’s Vireo (Vireo bellii) at Bubbling Ponds Preserve; a Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) back east.
Then there were those I didn’t even get to see, let alone photograph. I did see a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) this year, but not the one drumming and calling—“high, clear…piping”—at Hamilton Audubon Sanctuary. At Silk Farm I was focused on ferns but had been told of a Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina). A Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) would’ve been nice to see at Popham Beach.
Many birders who do big years stick to a county, state, or region. It isn’t just about counting birds, but counting them in a specific area.
My year spanned half a dozen states and three regions. I counted wherever I went. Does that disqualify me? Don’t know, don’t care. My goal was joy. I saw a lot of birds and felt much joy.
While this year has been about birds, it’s also been about much else. I don’t think anybody does a big year just to do one.
called a big year “a chance for me to straighten myself out in the world.” 2024 was “my first ‘real’ year in two.” It’s been a good year, not just because of birds though I like to think that when birding is good everything else follows suit.
I selfishly buried myself in something I love—prioritized birds more than made sense. Fresh out of fucks, I did what I wanted and birded pretty fervently.
That said, a big year doesn’t always feel good. I remember waking up quite early one day to bird: Is this even fun? Looking for warblers as the sun rose was.
Some of the year’s birds stood out.
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)
Of the woodpeckers, Northern Flicker feels least woodpeckery. Maybe because they’re not black, white, and red. Maybe because they’re “Northern Flicker” rather than “[Descriptor] Woodpecker.” There’s nothing quite like a Northern Flicker.
Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus)
Seeing a Common Black Hawk felt redemptive.4
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)
I got decent shots of Bullock’s (Icterus bullockii) and Hooded Orioles (Icterus cucullatus), but only this of a Baltimore (Icterus galbula). I also included a shot from 2021.
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
I love a Carolina Wren’s song, but
says a goldfinch’s is “the sweetest.”Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys)
At a trail, a pair of birders saw my camera and asked: “Are you here for the Lark Bunting?” Newly aware there was a Lark Bunting, my answer became yes. I saw a photographer kneeling for shots of one, so also knelt to take photos.
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria)
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
I know. BOR-ring. Such a common bird. Such a ubiquitous bird. Wherever there’s a feeder, there’s a Cardinal. Where there’s a forest, a Cardinal. A hedgerow, a garden, a shrub, a single sunflower seed, a Cardinal. Check any eastern city, suburb, or wilderness, you’re going to find a Cardinal.
Roll your eyes, I have, but Northern Cardinals are great birds.
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
Some of my best birding days this year were in Louisiana with my uncle: “An impressive, fiercely intelligent guy. Hell of a dancer.”5 He likes Little Blue Herons.
Brown Pelican
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)
Much to love about Horned Grebe.6 I like using “grebe” as plural—moose and moose, grebe and grebe. If asked what birds I saw, answering “Horned Grebe” is both vague and specific. We know the species, but do I mean one, four, seven? This works also for Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), the other grebe I logged in 2024. There are plenty of grebe. I’ve seen Horned, Pied-billed, and Red-necked (Podiceps grisegena). That leaves Eared (Podiceps nigricollis), Clark’s (Aechmophorus clarkii), Western (Aechmophorus occidentalis), and Least (Tachybaptus dominicus).
Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus)
If a Substack writer doesn’t write directly about birds, they still might mention them. Eastern Towhee make me think of
(Shy Guy Meets The Buddha).Recording: James Freitas.
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
I’m mixed on Bald Eagles,7 but they’re magnificent.
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)
Northern Pintail feel like my duck.8 No duck is as elegant. Harlequin? Wood? Beautiful, but not as elegant.
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Blue Jays are tough to photograph.
’s A Trusting Jay: The Blue Jay’s “intelligence and wariness make them…one of the most challenging birds to photograph.” ’s When the Blue Jays Have Had it with You: “[Blue Jays] are entirely too observant. Also absurdly clever. And way, way too suspicious.”Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
I was heading towards the heron, wherever they may be. I was also heading towards the bridge…Fifty-feet from the stanchions awe-laugher burst from my mouth. Blue Heron was standing on top of the support closest to the river’s southern edge. Who is summoning whom?
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Underrated. Their calls,9 which other birds understand; neuroplasticity10 to remember where seeds were cached. Their neuroplasticity also allows “brain neurons containing old information to die, replacing them with new neurons so they can adapt to changes in their social flocks and environment even with their tiny brains.”
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Corvids are brilliant. I wish I got shots of Fish Crows I encountered, with their “short, nasal” caw, noticeably different from an American Crow.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)
Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)
Recording: James Freitas.
These birds completely defined one of my birding days.11
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)
Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea)
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
Green Heron12 is special to me.
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
There isn’t a cuter duck.13
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
Emphatic: Conk-la-reee! A photographically cooperative bird.
Recording: James Freitas. (More than one species, but you can hear Red-winged Blackbird).
Brewer’s Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus)
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
The PB&J of birds. Go hungry, PB&J hits the spot. Slow birding day? American Robin.
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)
White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
My favorite bird.14
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)
Nothing looks like a waxwing but a waxwing. Cedar (Bombycilla cedrorum) and Bohemian (Bombycilla garrulus) look quite alike.
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
Song Sparrow (Melospia melodia)
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis)
Bonaparte’s Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)
An old poem I wrote:
Bonaparte’s Gull
The little black-billed
Bonaparte’s. The only gull
to build a nest of sticks.
Common mistake,
easy to make:
Laughing Gull
from afar, can pass
for Bonaparte’s. Often
I’ve been wrong. A Laughing
jeers, true to the name.
Petit Bonaparte’s
retreats to its nest—
of sticks! So very
un-gull-like. Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
The Belted Kingfisher’s call sounds like a battle cry, often antecedent to a splash. If Theodore Roosevelt were reincarnated as a bird: Belted Kingfisher. They act bigger than they are and exude joie de vivre.
Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)
Wondering what that distant gull is? In New England, Herring is a safe bet. Ring-billed (Larus delawarensis) too.15
Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
I logged them in 2024, but my best encounter was in 202316 when I took below photo.
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)
On a walk with no camera, a Great Horned Owl was in a tree. I used my phone.
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)
Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)
A treat.17 I didn’t get good pictures this year, here’s one from 2023. I loved learning their song, trees, beautiful trees—thanks, Larkwire.
Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica)
This is what it often looks like to bird for ducks.
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)
Common Raven (Corvus corax)
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)
King Rail (Rallus elegans)
Northern Parula (Setophaga americana)
American Bird Conservancy: “You'll hear birders say, ‘Look, there's a Northern ‘Pa-RU-la,' or ‘PAIR-a-la,' or ‘PAR-ya-la.’” The right way “is ‘PAR-you-lah,’ and ‘PAR-a-la.’ …the accent is on the first syllable.”18 I’ll always say “Pa-RU-la.”
Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea)
Barred Owl (Strix varia)
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)
Lucy’s Warbler (Leiothlypis luciae)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
American Coot (Fulica americana)
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)
I was pleased to log three species of chickadee: Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus); Carolina (Poecile carolinensis); Mountain (Poecile gambeli).
Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis)
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)
Great song, “a long, jumbled bubbling introduced by abrupt churrs and scolds.”
Merlin (Falco columbarius)
Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)
Yellow-rumped is abundant, Pine19 is reliable.
Elegant Tern (Thalasseus elegans)
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)
Western Cattle-Egret (Ardea ibis)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)
A distinct orchestra revealed them one morning—“nasal, hornlike notes…yank-yank.” One year I couldn’t go a day without seeing a Red-breasted Nuthatch. This year they were scarce for me. I wasn’t the only one:
Heermann's Gull (Larus heermanni)
You might not expect me to still be excited about a gull from spring. I am.
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra)
Wish it’d been an adult male.
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata)
Two prominent forms of butterbutt20 to know. In the east: Myrtle; west: Audubon’s. The former has a white throat, the latter yellow.
Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)
I saw two forms of junco: Oregon and Slate-colored.21 The former is in the west, latter the east.
Vermillion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus)
Like the Summer Tanager, I wish it’d been an adult male.
Gray Flycatcher (Empidonax wrightii)
Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens)
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)
Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana)
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)
Thoreau wrote: “What an ornament to a river to see that glowing gem floating in contact with its waters!” The drake is beautiful, but the hen is no slouch.
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)
Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri)
I saw but didn’t photograph a Ruby-throated too (Archilochus colubris). This year I saw more hummingbird species than I typically see individuals.
California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans)
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)
I was teaching a new angler to fly cast and saw these birds. We stopped fishing to watch. I started to well up.
Sanderling (Calidris alba)
Chances are you’ve seen a Sanderling.22 You can see them pretty much year round. Small sandpiper? My gut says Sanderling. Sandpipers can be tough.
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)
White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis)
Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris)
Nuttall’s Woodpecker (Dryobates nuttallii)
Bird of The Year:
Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Dryobates borealis)
A habitat specialist, this bird was brought back from the brink of extinction.23
This was my woodpecker year. I assign meaning to birds—which I did with these. When “the Woodpecker Spirit Messenger enters your life it is likely to be a time when you may be struggling to know what direction or action to take.” Woodpecker significance changes by season. I saw them in each.
In fall or winter, woodpeckers represent “others looking for you.” In spring, “perhaps there is someone new entering your life or new opportunities.” Maybe this all sounds too out there, but I find it hard to believe there isn’t something larger at work. If it wants to communicate with me, I pay attention to birds.
It’s been a hell of a year. I’ve prioritized birding, maybe more than was advisable—but I wanted to bird. I won’t do this every year, though am glad I did.
Big years are often about more than counting birds. They can also be all-consuming. When I chose to do one, I knew a successful big year might be at the expense of other parts of life. It’s good big years end—but also good to do them.
captures the price of a big year:24 “Everything that I poured into birding took time away from my other passions in life.” Passions, responsibilities—a big year takes no prisoners. It would’ve been easy and pragmatic to talk myself out of birding so much, but I’m glad I didn’t. Looking back on 2024 I can smile: I saw a shitload of birds.Life is short, tomorrow isn’t promised. If you want to do a big year, or whatever the equivalent is for you, do one.
Songs for birding:
Dear, [target species]: “I’ll be seeing you.”
Don’t fly off yet, I’m coming.
When you see birds and feel good:
The meaning I’d assigned the bird was “contingent upon seeing one, not photographing.”
I’ll leave Cooper’s Hawks to
, who often writes about them at Meditations on Nature | Korean-style Sijo poems:
What an impressive collection James!! So many adventures wrapped up in a single post🙌🏼 always a fan of birds of prey but I especially love your shots of the flicker and oriole here
Just an amazing collection of bird images, James. Those Osprey photos are incredible. I also like the centre photo of the White-breasted Nuthatch with them staring straight at you. Haha, excellent capture.
That's a great quote from Thoreau about the Wood Duck being an ornament to a river - a most fitting description! Thanks for the Cooper's Hawk mention as well - I do think they're my bird of the year.