![\"\"](\"http:\/\/scottsimmons.smugmug.com\/DailyShoots\/2012\/2012-11-10\/i-DjS73c8\/1\/L\/_MG_1024-L.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>\n
\n I also added 76 life birds to my list, thanks in part to the ABA allowing me to count the Nanday Parakeet.I’ve included a list of them below in the order that I found them. The list I’m including below comes straight from eBird, so you may notice aBudgerigar listed, even though I don’t believe it’s ABA countable.<\/p>\n \n \n \n It would be hard for me to pick my favorite finds for this year. Near the top of the list would have to be the flycatchers though: Scissor-tailed, Fork-tailed, Ash-throated, Yellow-bellied and Vermillion Flycatchers, Western and Gray Kingbirds, and a Say’s Phoebe. Sparrows have also been fun this year: A Clay-colored right at Mead Gardens, then Nelsons, Saltmarsh, Grasshopper, Vesper, Field, Bachman’s, Harris’s, and even a Lark Sparrow at Fort De Soto. I also found a fair share new new warblers: Orange-crowned, Worm-eating, Magnolia, Blackpoll, Prothonotary, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Tennessee, Canada, Blue-winged, Bay-breasted, and Louisiana Waterthrush. I also enjoyed the shorebirds for this year: Wilson’s and Rednecked Phalaropes, American Oystercatcher, Purple Sandpiper, Wilson’s and Piping Plovers, Red Knot and a White-rumped Sandipiper (which I’ve probably seen before before I knew how to identify them). And I’ve even learned to appreciate gulls and terns, adding Sandwich Terns, Black Terns, Sooty and Bridled Terns, Great-black Backed, Lesser Black-backed, Bonaparte’s Gulls, and last but certainly not least, an Iceland Gull.<\/p>\n \n \n \n This year has also been a year where we’ve been able to see some wonderful birds we don’t normally get to see in Florida. We’ve had Red-breasted Nuthatches come to Florida inunprecedented numbers, a Snow Bunting decided to sunbathe at Playalinda Beach, Scoters have been frequently seen, and a whole slew of Razorbills have invaded Florida’s waters, extending south to Miami, rounding the penninsula and being seen even in the panhandle of Florida’s gulf coast.<\/p>\n \n There were a few birds I missed seeing, despite valiant efforts: Nashville and Hooded Warbler (which I saw last year but hoped to see again this year). I had a brief glimpse at what I still think was a Wood Thrush, but I didn’t get a good enough look to be sure, so I had to log it as Catharus sp. (totally unsatisfying). And even though I found an Orchard Oriole this year in FL, try as I might, I have not been able to find a single Baltimore Oriole anywhere in the state this year.<\/p>\n \n