January 2009: Retrospecticus

What a way to ring in the new year! Not only breaking new records in traffic here at The Drinking Bird, but also a really successful month from a networking perspective as well.

As with all new things, the first part is spent looking back. For me it was the end of a Big Year and how I felt about that. Along with my five best nature moments of 2008.

Looking forward though? I’m still recovering from last year’s Big Year attempt and enjoying those moments at home that were far too infrequent in the past 12 months. But when I did go birding, I made it count, taking Mike from 10,000 Birds, in town for a science blogging conference, out for a little side birding to find his life Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Given how things turned out, maybe he should have said he was in town for birding with a little blog conferencing on the side…

But that certainly wasn’t the only bird blogger face time in the works, as the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, a team entirely made up of bird bloggers, took on all comers (except the five teams that beat us) in the Super Bowl of Birding! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed recapping the weekend’s events; the Hawk Owl before, the competition day itself, and the enjoyable day after. It was one of the best birding weekends I’ve ever had, and I imagine my teammates feel the same way. If you enjoy what I’ve written about it, then do yourself a favor and check out what they have to say too at Picus Blog, Hawk Owl’s Nest, 10,000 Birds, and Owl Box. More pictures, more thoughts, more fun. More is better, right?

Along the way I took a look at some of the new faces of environmental policy in the Obama Administration, and in this season of Big Years and Big Days, took a look back at my very first Big Day, and the life birds that came along with it.

So a great start to the year! I can only hope that the main course plays out as well as the appetizer has.