Last twitch of the year & 2021 recap!

Happy new year everyone! I will start off by detailing my last quest for a target bird in 2021, and I will follow it with a recap of my bird & nature highlights of the year!

DECEMBER 28:

I woke up in the late morning this tuesday to excited reports of birders who had refound a Short-billed Gull at the Brooklyn Army Terminal pier 4. This particular Short-billed, or possibly a few different individuals of the species, have turned up along the Brooklyn coastline of the New York Harbor very sporadically the last few winters. I chased one back in 2019 but came up empty as it is a very unreliable bird, and extremely tough to pick out from the Ring-billed Gulls.

Until recently, the Short-billed Gull was known as the “Mew Gull” until scientists split this former species’ two geographic forms: the Pacific form residing along the western coast of North America is now known as the Short-billed Gull while the European form is known as the Common Gull. This species was split by the American Ornithological Society due to geographic & DNA differences that were discovered.

Anyway, back to my day: I took the ferry since from Wall Street it goes straight to Pier 4 where the gull had been reported. I was afforded with beautiful classic NYC views along the way.

And speaking of this gull’s identification, tricky to say the least. It looks basically like a slightly cuter version of a Ring-billed Gull with a smudgy head during the wintertime, and a ring-less bill. So when picking through dozens of distant Ring-billeds, it can be quite a task. Luckily at least one other gull was easy to pick out: this GREAT BLACK-BACKED:

Distant BUFFLEHEADS:

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT:

RED-BREASTED MERGANSER:

AMERICAN WIGEON with a RING-BILLED GULL. This was the distance from which I was scoping most of the birds so my hopes of finding the Short-billed were going down by the minute, not to mention I was burning through my three camera batteries in the cold weather.

More gulls with a female BUFFLEHEAD flying away. And none of them were Short-billed…

Well, after scanning for a few hours until my batteries were fully exhausted, I unfortunately ended my birding year of 2021 with a third dip in a row. To me it seems fitting for a year we began with such high hopes only to have them tempered, made more realistic, by the time this year is wrapping up.

Despite all this, 2021 also brought moments of great joy. In addition to moments made special by family and friends, nature was something that helped me to remain grounded through this crazy era in which we are living. So here are my natural highlights of 2021, mainly birds with a couple herps thrown in for good measure.

January 30 was one of the best days of birding in my entire life. When Oliver and I were birding Calumet, he received a report of a Gyrfalcon up in Waukegan and we chased successfully. An incredible, even emotional life bird!

Then Isoo and I high-tailed it to Indiana on the SAME DAY and got our lifer Common Crane, a mega rarity! Absolutely insane day.

A photographic lifer, also in Indiana, in mid-february in the form of a Black-legged Kittiwake was a more than welcome treat amid the cold winter we experienced in Chicago.

Then, an early-march twitch down to southern Illinois, not for a bird, but for a herp (and also with Oliver) turned into a huge success with our target Jefferson’s Salamander, Illinois’ most elusive terrestrial salamander species! It’s pictured here with a Smallmouth Salamander on top.

Late march brought another trip, this time an overnighter, down to southern Illinois with Simon, Peter, and Oliver. We got a TON of lifer herps but my favorite was this stunning Red Milksnake (harmless):

Late april brought my second year of seeing a vagrant Ruff in a row, this time much closer to home in Dupage County!

Another close-to-home twitch in early May was this incredible Broad-billed Hummingbird, an Illinois lifer:

A wonderful trip to the Indiana Dunes with Kim and Susie was highlighted by netting them several life birds including this Vesper Sparrow. Love sharing the lifer joy with others!!

Broad-winged Hawks were a crowd favorite on a record-breaking spring of Oak Park Bird Walks in terms of attendance, even in the face of a continuing pandemic!

American White Pelican was a clutch spot by Isoo (among many) on our record-tying big day of Cook County with Ethan on June 1. We got 132 identifiable birds — a fun day. Stay tuned for a 2022 recapitulation!!!

After a summer at the Chautauqua Institution performing opera, it was back to Idaho after a two-year hiatus. A family of Blue Grosbeaks, found with Poo and Kathleen, was a wonderful successful target bird of the first birding twitch of this year’s Idaho trip!

I had missed seeing American Dippers so much, and I soaked up every moment I could watching these fascinating songbirds foraging behind our streamside condo.

Burrowing Owl on the way back from a fabulous day at Lucky Peak with Poo, Kathleen, and Nubs was an absolutely clutch find.

As was a whole group of Dusky Grouse just spitting distance from the trail down Mt. Baldy on my last day in Idaho.

One successful twitch while briefly back in Chicago netted Kim H and me this beautiful Barn Owl:

Then, I got busy again with the fall semester, and was more hesitant to travel for birds due to multiple Covid variants, but I still managed some time for twitching: my lifer Pink-footed Goose was my absolute avian highlight of the fall!

And I have to include a lovely Yellow-rumped Warbler from one of my favorite birding spots in NYC, Fort Tilden, which I finally got to visit for the first time after the pandemic a couple weeks ago. I really hope the situation gets better this spring so I can get out to these wonderful spots more often.

So all this considered, a productive and enjoyable year of birds and nature! I observed exactly 300 bird species in 2021, and my goal for 2022 will be 350. We’ll see how I fare! 2022 has many exciting musical projects in store for me including many performances this coming spring at the Manhattan School of Music, returning to Chautauqua to sing with orchestra in Janacek’s “The Cunning Little Vixen” this summer, and making my Carnegie Hall solo debut in November. My full schedule can be found on my website: https://sites.google.com/view/henrygriffin

More near-future, though, brings an exciting birding opportunity: Tian and I will take American Princess Cruise’s “winter pelagic special” out of Brooklyn on January 8 where I hope to net a lifer or two in the form of Northern Fulmar and/or Atlantic Puffin! So my fingers are crossed for good weather, great health, and fantastic birds!

Wishing everyone a happiest of new years and a fresh, healthy start in 2022. And get your booster shot!!!

Blessings,
Henry
World Life List: 1126 Species