I doubt that I will get a chance to do a Big Year this year, because it seems like when I think about it, I never get around to starting one. I have thought about just doing a state Big Year, or perhaps just a county one, but the one I want to really do is be out there for an entire year, doing nothing but birding.
I don’t really have a species target number in mind for any kind of Big Year, to me I think it would be more about being out there, doing something and enjoying myself. I do not think that I have a reliable vehicle at the moment to attempt one though. Actually, it isn’t that I don’t think I have a reliable vehicle, I know for a fact at the moment I do not have one of those. I am not even sure if it would get me around the state of Texas, so it may be best to not do one this year.
I know that it is a main point that a Big Year start on the first of January and continue until the end of the year it was begun. I haven’t even done any planning for a Big Year if I were really going to do one this year anyway, but then again, that is what I prefer sometimes, to not plan my trips and just see what happens.
I just got back home this week from being out of town for two months and did not really get any of the birding I wanted done, done during that trip. I did; however, get to add two new species to my life list while I was gone. Burrowing Owl which I was finally able to see in Florida was a treat. I had been wanting to see this species for a long time and up until a couple weekends ago, I had not been successful.
It is not that I have not tried to see one before, just that by the time I got there to find it, it was no longer there. I got to spend a few days at the home of a friend who happened to have a Burrowing Owl living in the empty lot next to their house. It was a wonderful owl to finally see and I am thankful that I was able to see this bird and add it to my life list.
I also got to see Common Ground Dove while I was in Florida. I know we have those here in Texas too, but as far as I know, I had not ever seen one of them before either. I think it is strange sometimes to know I can see something here near home, but then never seem to be able to find them, or never recognize them for what they are.
This year was not too bad though, I added six new lifers to my list this year, increasing the number of species I have seen since I started birding to 319. The birds that I added this year are the Yellow-faced Grassquit, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Black-capped Vireo, Swallow-tailed Kite, Burrowing Owl and the Common Ground Dove.
I wish I could that many new species or more to my list every year, but I would have to spend more time in the southwest, west and northwest to get many more species that I currently have. I know there are also some that can be found in South Texas that I have not seen yet either, but I have not been down there in years either.
Maybe this coming year I should start making plans to maybe do a Big Year in 2013, but then again I say that around this time every year and just never seem to get around to doing it. One of these years I will do it and just enjoy things as I wander around for the year. I can continue to dream of a Big Year for myself until that happens and it will have to sustain me until then.

