My Birding Goals for 2023
The Birders Show in the field
January is the perfect time to start setting birding goals for the year ahead. Whether you're an experienced birder looking to add new species to your life list or a beginner looking to get more involved in the hobby, setting goals can help you focus your efforts and make the most of your time in the field. In this blog post, I'll tell you my top birding goals for 2023.
I'm generally not one for New Year's Resolutions, but recently I've taken to coming up with a flexible list of birding goals for the year in January. In 2022, the plan was simple: reach 1,400 birds for my Colombia life list. Happily, I managed that by July. This year, my goals are less number-based (although 1,500 would be amazing!) and more focused on improving my birding experiences.
So here are my top birding goal for 2023:
Learn to sketch birds and improve my journaling
I've never had much talent for drawing. My Dad is excellent at drawing birds, so perhaps there's some deeply hidden genetic gift there, but I would settle for just being able to draw quick field sketches of exciting species that I spot in Colombia.
Additionally, in 2023 I'm aiming to improve my bird journaling. I may not make complete lists of each birding day, but I'd like to get back to making notes about each birding day: key species, interesting behaviors, and notable moments. The folks at Life List Notebooks generously sent me some of their lovely waterproof birding notebooks, so I have no excuses! As much as I love eBird for its ease of use and practicality, there's something so special about looking over old notebooks and reminiscing about memorable birding days. Looking back on notebooks in the future is so much more satisfying than checking old eBird lists.
My new Life List birding notebooks: there’s no excuse not to take more notes with these beauties!
Learn more birdsong
I could have a better ear for birdsong. While my hearing in the field is pretty sharp, I struggle to remember so many different songs and calls. It's especially tricky in Colombia with so many species to remember, the majority being resident, meaning I can rarely even discount species based on the time of year. But my goal this year is more straightforward: rather than attempting to remember hundreds of calls, I'm going to start small and try and learn a few key calls before each birding trip. Then, by breaking it down into more manageable chunks, the songs will stick in my mind better. That's the plan, anyway!
I was able to spot this rare Niceforo’s Wren because I knew its song, so learning more bird calls is one of my main goals for 2023
Film more episodes of The Birders Show abroad
Filming The Birders Show in Colombia is always incredible: we spend time with wonderful people, enjoy stunning species, and shine a light on some unique destinations. But we're itching to get out of the country in 2023 and shoot some international episodes. We have already filmed three in-the-field episodes in Bocas del Toro, Panama, in 2020, and we can't wait for another global birding adventure!
Donate more binoculars to young and passionate birders
Along with our partners at Kowa Sporting Optics, we've donated five pairs of binoculars to birders in Colombia. From young children just starting to dedicated older birders in need of support, we've been fortunate enough to help some amazing people in 2022. In 2023, we want to go even further and help achieve our goal of making birding more accessible to people worldwide by providing even more optics to people without the means to buy their own.
See a Crested Eagle in Colombia and a Kirtland's Warbler in the USA
I needed at least one target species to have a birding goals list, didn't I? One of my most-wanted birds in Colombia is the mysterious and rare Crested Eagle. Diego visited a nesting site last year, so I'm hoping the birds return in 2023 and I can finally lay eyes on my dream bird!
I'm also speaking at this year's Indiana Dunes Birding Festival in May. Traditionally, the local Audubon chapter lays on a two-day trip up to Michigan for speakers to see the endangered Kirtland's Warbler. I've wanted to see this bird since I read Scott Weidensaul's excellent book A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds, so hopefully, this year, I can achieve that goal.
Do you have any birding goals for 2023? Let us know in the comment section.
