January 2026

January = 306 Species!

Key Largo, Florida

Southern/Tropical Birding

Jan. 1
I awoke on day 1 to the sound of an Osprey chirping while fishing right outside our Key Largo condo. He's a daily visitor often seen perched in the mangroves along Adam's Cut. Great way to start the year and since it was chilly and windy (not a good fishing or pool day) we decided to head up to the Everglades National Park. I wanted to see a Flamingo in Flamingo, but it didn't happen. We did get 27 species in just a few hours including Wood Stork, Tri-colored Heron, Purple Gallinule, and Roseate Spoonbill. Our little resort complex is a great spot to see our resident Great White (Blue) Heron, Harry. He spends his time on our boardwalk or across the cut and squawks at the Great Egrets. He is larger than the egrets and has light colored legs and a much larger bill.

Jan. 3
While at the pool we noticed a vulture type bird flying with the vultures, that for sure wasn't a vulture. Fortunately, my sister had her bins and I was able to get eyes on it for some time. It was a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk. A very nice sighting!

Vegas, Baby

My January 4 - 9 Vegas journey was simply because I tagged along while my husband attended a conference. Without a car, I relied on rideshare and a website called BirdingPal.com. Through this website I connected with a fellow birder named Amanda who made location recommendations and also agreed to drive me back to the strip once we were done. We visited an excellent birding location called Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. We also visited the Clark County Wetlands Park and Cornerstone Park (where we picked up a very nice Harris' Hawk). I also visited Sunset Park on my own. I didn't expect to pick up so many waterfowl in the desert! I didn't get a Crissal Thrasher, but the Roadrunners, Verdin, Gambel's Quail, and noisy Coots were very cool. The sounds and sights of Anna's and Allen's Hummingbirds were absolutely the breath of summer this snowbird needed.

Tagging along to Pasadena, California

California from Jan 9-14

Highlights from this short stay included an evening Parrot Roost Walk by the Pasadena Audubon Society. My husband and I attended the Parrot Walk, not knowing what to expect. We walked to the 4:30pm meeting spot at City Hall and waited. What an amazing experience! Hundreds of wild, naturalized red-crowned, red-lored, lilac-crowned, and yellow-headed parrots came back from their day time feeding locations across the San Gabriel Valley to roost for the night in just a few trees The sound was epic. At one point a red-tailed hawk came through the the entire flock flew up.

An additional highlight was going out birding with Ed, a fellow birder that I met through BirdingPal. He picked me up at my hotel and we spent the entire day birding Griffith Park, Mt. Wilson, Monrovia Canyon Park, and San Dimas Canyon Park. Highlights included at Greater Pewee, Lewis's Woodpecker, Mountain Chickadee, and so many Acorn Woodpeckers I almost took them for granted.

Another fantastic birding location I birded with my husband was the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden. What a gem! The red-whiskered Bulbul were very cool and bird #100, a peacock, was a reminder of how my parents nurtured and encouraged my love of birds. At the amazing park, I met birders who took the time to put me on a Pin-tailed Whydah, a bird I had never even heard of!

Jan 14-19 - Morro Bay, California Birding Festival
What an amazing opportunity to bird with experts from around the country. Click on the logo below to view the eBird checklists and pictures.

Jan 19 - 22 - San Francisco

A birding pal, David, came through again! He suggested we meet at the Fort Mason Community Garden, a place that he regularly birds. Tucked in a small area behind historic Fort Mason is a sliver of land with a decade long waiting list for a plot. The surrounding mature trees provide a break from the Pacific wind and a natural refuge for birds. I stood and watched a California Scrub Jay for quite some time. We observed 36 different species including a Bullock's Oriole and many Red Masked Parakeets. In addition to birding the garden area, we walked around the property and I saw a lifer - Red breasted Sapsucker.
Since I was staying with my son and DIL about a half mile from Golden Gate Park, I birded there each day while they were at work. That park is an amazing oasis. The kids told me that they heard a Great Horned Owl the previous week, so at dusk we walked to the location. I did my best impression of a GHOW and one magically flew into the tree above us. It was pretty special to share the experience with the kids.

Jan 22 - 29 - Texas Trip Report

I flew from SFO into Austin (because it was the cheapest airport) and had originally planned to bird the coastal area around Rockport for a few days before heading farther south to McAllen. The weather forecast changed that plan as south Texas was in for record lows, ice, and snow in places that never get snow. My first stop before the storm was the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, where I saw my first Great Kiskadee, a bird whose song is embedded into my brain as the official sound of south Texas. Driving the rural roads toward my overnight stay in Rockport yielded a White-tailed Kite and a White-tailed Hawk, two very cool species. Saturday, January 24 was the date I had reserved one of my bucket list excursions: a trip by boat to see Whooping Cranes and many other species with Captain Tommy (an excellent birder) through Rockport Birding Adventures. The coast guard had issued small craft warnings, but Capt. Tommy explained that he didn't have a small craft. He and his deck hand did their best to keep me and the other 12 passengers warm with blankets, but it was cold and rainy. Tommy put us on nine Whooping Cranes and several other species, despite the wind and rain. We returned by noon chilled to the bone. I had stayed the previous night at The Inn at Fulton Harbor which was directly across the street from the dock, so I arranged for a late check out before heading south for the worst of the ice storm. I made a quick stop at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, which was super birdy despite (or perhaps due to?) the wind and cold. I wanted to stay longer, but the forecast was for icy roads along the coast that evening. During the drive I saw my first Crested Caracara of the year along with flashing "Emergency Storm Warning" signs on every road. I got to McAllen that evening just as the storm was hitting the state and cranked up the rarely used furnace at my Airbnb. I didn't expect to be so cold so far south.

Lower Rio Grande Valley Birding with Nolan Walker, a guide booked through Texas Birding Guides
Oh, the places we went (we are at the Brownsville Dump below)! This young man is an exceptional birder who put me on species I didn't even know existed. He had a plan for each of the three days and I got 24 Lifers!. Highly recommend!! Here's the trip report for my time with Nolan.

Jan 29-31 - Naples, Florida to Key Largo, Florida Trip Report

I flew from Brownsville to Fort Lauderdale, then drove across Florida to visit one of my favorite places to bird: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The feeders at the visitor's center are a reliable spot to see the beautiful Painted Bunting. The swamp is also the only place I've seen a Limpkin. As a young birder, I came across a write up about the sanctuary in a National Geographic magazine. We took a family spring break vacation each year to Siesta Key, Florida and I begged my mom to take me to the swamp during our upcoming trip. This was way before google maps and my dad had no idea how long of a drive it was from Siesta Key to Naples and he wasn't too happy about making the two hour trek. I was probably around 12 years old and I marveled at the variety and number of warblers. I recall being slightly afraid of the sounds of the Red Shouldered Hawks and the potential for alligators and panthers along the boardwalk. Since I had just been cooped up in the car, I began running the boardwalk beyond my parents and then back again (I was a pretty active kid). At one point my dad called me over and said, "I think you should slow down and you might see more" as he pointed to my first ever Limpkin. Solid core memory for me and essential birding advice.

After leaving my sister and bil's place in Naples (it is nice to have friends and family who live in birdy areas), I hit several Collier County hotspots with recent sightings of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers before heading south to the keys. I got lucky in the Picayune Strand State Forest when one was on top of a power line pole. I got a great look at him before he flew off - very prominent white cheek.

I would've birded more in the Everglades, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Another cold front with record lows was coming (see the pattern for record temps following me?) and it was drizzling off and on. I stopped several times along Highway 41 without much luck. I did have a Snail Kite fly across the road in the Miccosukee Indian Village area. Very cool bird that I see every year when we travel to the keys, but it never gets old and its tail makes it easy to identify.