When I started writing this blog I had no idea what 2012 would have in store for us. I think it really is good we aren't fortune tellers because we might not be able to face the next day if we knew what was to happen. In the case of 2012 there might have been parts I would have preferred to pass over and not experience. But with bad comes much more good and all in all I look back on so many memories that warm my heart. Rudy and I had so much fun birding. We had always done it as a bit of a sideline but 2012 we jumped in with both feet, spending so much of our "free" time in pursuit of expanding our bird count. Along the way we enjoyed countless hours outdoors-good weather or bad (mainly bad-that REI gear really does work). We explored parts of Washington state we had never been and we'd thought we'd seen most of it. We learned so much about birds and their habitats, manners, likes and dislikes, their many quirks and motions and sounds. I have to say that birding is not for the faint of heart. You are always out in the coldest or hottest weather. Your fingers so cold you can't even spin the focus wheel on your binocs or so hot your glasses keep fogging from the steam/sweat coming from your face. You go on paths, roads, bogs, cliffs, tide flats, sewage ponds, mountainsides, sage lands and anywhere normal humans don't go, just to find one more for the list. The anticipation is the best. It's just like hunting for treasure. Some days the bounty is overflowing and some days you think perhaps the world has ended and you are the last breathing creature left on the planet. One thing though, I don't ever think we had a bad day birding. Maybe we didn't add any to the list but we were always outside, seeing wonderful things and pushing the edge of our personal envelopes. If you can say that at the end of the day, or end of the year, it's all good.
I have often been asked which is my favorite bird or which bird would I most like to see. In retrospect I really have to say the same answer for both. "The next bird I see."
Final count that Rudy and I saw together from January 1 - December 31, 2012 =
179
