Ready to (Re)Launch

I took a blogging vacation for the first few months of 2021. Since I retired one week ago, it seems like a good time to take stock and restart. I suspect this will be more like a weekly posting unless something spectacular happens, and I'm always hoping for that.

This is what I listed as my 2021 goals back at the beginning of the year that I am still doing and the progress made:

· Add to my Life List – I’d like to be able to travel a little and expand my birding horizons as well – Since Jan 1 I’ve added 13 life birds!

· Get to know the Rhode Island birding spots I am unfamiliar with – I’ve been to 15+ new spots this year - lots more to discover and explore.

· Do bird paintings – Did three duck paintings as a prizes for a contest I ran at work called “What the Duck” – I am excited about doing more.

· Learn more about birds & birding – Song, Behavior, Biology – this list goes on. Actual take the classes & read the books I’ve purchased – made a small bit of progress, a lot more to go.

· Spend more time in nature – doing pretty well considering it has been winter.

· Have more bird moments – had a number of them and a lot more to come

Still no Big Year List in the goals, however, because of early success (and finding some life birds along the way) I’m paying more attention than I would have if I were farther down the list currently #6. Again – I never expect consistently to be a Tier 1 birder, takes more knowledge, determination and physical fitness than I can muster, but it is nice to sniff that rarified air on occasion. I’m happy to be high up in the second tier, but it is still early – lots of time to fall behind for whatever reason. There are so many really good birders in Rhode Island After all I am retired, I think that means I get to do what I want to.

I am not planning on working on my idea of developing a series of Rhode Island Birding Map paintings – lots of reasons, but primarily because I’ve decided to do the following:

· Upgrading the quality of my photos of birds already on my life list – I know I will never get some of them, but I want to try to have a show-stopping photo for each bird (check out my Life list on the website).

· Explore writing a book – with a well-traveled birder friend of mine in publishing on Birding and Leadership.

· Keep a Nature Journal – this will take some focus away from finding and photographing birds and put more on being in nature and documenting it through noticing, drawing and writing.

I’m excited about seeing how these turn out. I continue to enjoy an awareness of what a beautiful place I live in. Impromptu meet ups with other birders reminding me why I enjoy this merry band that drops everything when the text rings out to chase the next rarity. Come join me for the ride!

I will close with some of my favorite photos from 2021.