Bring on 2015!!

     With 2014 coming to a close very quickly, my first year of being a birder is almost in the bag and boy was it a good one! At the start of the year, I was still learning the basic birds and had no idea about pretty much everything. The goal: learn as much as possible and fast!!  I met up with Chris Collins, another fairly new birder on the scene, but compared to me at the time, he was like the Hawking of birds. We started going on long adventures across the state to see 'rare' birds along with a few others from the Dayton area. I was hooked and my learning and studying got to be a bit out of hand. I was reading and storing any fact I could about birds, asking questions to anyone who knew more than I did, and was out in the field as much as I could be. By the start of May I had seen a lot of birds here in the state of Ohio, I don't remember the number but I think it was in top 3 (according to eBird). It was at the biggest week when I met Dan Sanders and Doreene Linzell for the first time. They are Ohio birding legends and do Ohio big years every freaking year! They share the record together (320!!!). At the time, they both had a higher number than me for the year, but I was VERY close which surprised me a little. I guess I was doing better than I thought. It wasn't until Doreene introduced me to someone as, "this is Jacob, he is doing a big year", that I realized, I guess I'm doing a big year! From that moment I really dug in deep and committed myself to this Ohio Big Year. Sure I made some tactical mistakes in the early going before I was fully committed and I missed on several birds I shouldn't have. I continued to make mistakes as the year went on, oh I should have done that or gone there, etc. I made it a point to chalk them up to rookie mistakes, learn from them, and never make the same mistake twice. I continued to bird my butt off and was slowly check birds off one at a time, learning a ton along the way from all my new friends and mentors. Next thing I know, its late October and I'm sitting at 299 species already!  Cackling Goose ended up being #300 for my Ohio big year on October 26th, making me one of about 12-15 people in the 300 club, the youngest to ever accomplish it, and one of the quickest to reach it (under 10 months). I couldn't be more honored. As of 12/26, I'm sitting on 308 (plus Trumpeter Swan) and already planning my trip to Lorain tomorrow to add Common Redpoll with Chris, how fitting! The birding and planning never stops! One of my favorite things is when I tell people that this is my first year of birding and they don't believe me (which actually happens a lot haha). It's a testament to how hard I've worked and studied birds this past year so I don't sound like a beginner anymore even though I actually am. I am looking forward to learning so much more!! The plan for 2015 is to travel more out of state and get accustomed to birding other locations and learning the other birds of the ABA area. It's going to be like a 'practice, mini-big year' or at least I hope it is. Don't worry though, I'll still be doing a lot in Ohio ;). Soooo much more to learn and I can't wait to get to started. Bring it on 2015.

Here are a few images of some of my favorite Ohio birds of 2014:

Parasitic Jaeger: Jen's Pelagic 9/27

Black Rail: Amish Farm 6/10

Yes I know its blurry but come on, its a black rail!!

Little Gull: Buck Creek SP 8/14

Red-Necked Phalarope: Conneaut Sandspit 8/16